Tenants advice needed

caspre12

Hey was hoping someone can help me with a bit of advice. My sisters house is currently rented through an estate agent. The landlord is a decorator/builder and the living room suffers with bad damp and rain leaks through. He has recently patched it up after requesting numerous times. My sister is going for a viewing at another house but says she will have to give 30 days notice and move in August. But I said that the house is in a poor living state for her and children so the estate agent/landlord should let her move with shorter notice as it just gets worse every time we have these heavy downpours. Am I right or will she have to wait until after notice period?

sandsni

AFAIK damp is not a sufficient reason to leave at short notice, (unless, possibly, there's a swimming pool in the living room every time it rains). The LL is taking steps to solve the problem, although it may not be to your sister's satisfaction. If she were planning to stay I would suggest writing to the LL and if the problem still wasn't sorted then try Environmental Health, who can serve notices on the LL (but unless they deemed the house uninhabitable your sister would still have to give the required notice).

The LL may or may not agree to an early or short notice surrender, but they are not obliged to.

Werdnal

As above, your sister can report the LL to the Council Environment Health Department, but if she is ready to move and only needs to give 30 days notice (check this as it is probably a full calendar month and if the tenancy is periodic/month-by-month, it must match up the a full tenancy period), by the time the EHO get their act together and issue notice to the LL to enforce the work, she will be ready to leave.

Of course, she can always leave earlier than the 30 days/month notice, but she must pay rent up to the last day of that notice.

dimbo61

We can only hope for nice warm sunny weather for the next 2/3 months
SUMMER!!!
The Landlord is stupid not to look after his investment and lose a tenant.
Your Sister needs to find another property to live in and very carefully read her AST ( tenancy agreement)
How long has she lived at the property?
Has she signed a new tenancy agreement in the last couple of months?
Is she in a fixed term or now on a periodic tenancy ?
Read the dates

G_M

The damp/leaks would have to be VERY severe for the tenant to claim repudiatory breach of contract.

See 'Hussein & Others v Mehlman' .

....bedroom had been made uninhabitable by the collapse of its ceiling: cold and dirt were being carried from there into the rest of the house; the sitting-room was letting in rainwater and part of its ceiling was bulging dangerously; the outside toilet was unusable and the hall wall was affected by damp. This situation was not improved by the ill-fitting doors and windows and the effects of the burst pipes. The landlord refused to carry out repairs.

...AND both Environmental Health and a surveyor had completed reports which the landlord had deliberately ignored....


Check the required notice period carefully - 30 days is unusual.

Ending/Renewing an AST (what happens when the Fixed Term ends?)(What is a Periodic Tenancy?)(How can a LL remove a tenant?)(How can a tenant end a tenancy?)