Private Rented Q please

Emmanuel1998

Ahead on rent.

Repairs needed and landlord is not happy about repairing even though we have water leaks inside the property.

We are on a rolling contract, as of now no valid gas or electrical certs and found out today deposit is not protected.

How much notice can we be given please and do we have any rights?

anselld

Report lack of LGSR here ... https://extranet.hse.gov.uk/lfserver/external/lgsr1

Notice and other rights depend on type of tenancy... check here (for england)
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/downloads_and_tools/tenancy_checker

Yorkie1

Assuming you're on an AST in England/Wales you can't legally be given notice under s.21 until your deposit has been returned in full (or, to be more precise, they can try to give you notice but the court would not order any eviction as the notice would not be valid).

No need for electrical certificate as such (though of course the house must be safe electrically).

Report gas certificate as above.

What do you want from the situation?

Emmanuel1998

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Assuming you're on an AST in England/Wales you can't legally be given notice under s.21 until your deposit has been returned in full (or, to be more precise, they can try to give you notice but the court would not order any eviction as the notice would not be valid).

No need for electrical certificate as such (though of course the house must be safe electrically).

Report gas certificate as above.

What do you want from the situation?

Thank you, we dont want to move but he is being very difficult xx

Yorkie1

Have you written to the LL at the address on the tenancy agreement to set out what has happened and also the damage (presumably) being caused. You need this audit trail. If you haven't yet written, do so and get a free certificate of posting first class from a post office.

What actually is leaking, how long has it been going on, and what impact is it having?

Kazzaroo

Emmanuel1998 wrote: »

Ahead on rent.

Repairs needed and landlord is not happy about repairing even though we have water leaks inside the property. duty bound to repair or when moving out any damage caused because of it is his responsibilty HOWEVER he has be made aware of them in a way a court will accept,you need to send a letter to the address in your TA for serving notices and get proof of postage from post office

We are on a rolling contract, as of now no valid gas or electrical certs and found out today deposit is not protected. no gas certificate is illegal,no obligation to have electrics tested every year but obviously they have to be safe to use

How much notice can we be given please and do we have any rights? LL could attempt S21 eviction but you can ignore it totally (dont even have to acknowledge it and even if you did it wouldnt make a difference) as because your deposit isnt protected he cannot use S21,S21 involves 2 months notice but even after the two months he cant physically remove you and you continue to live there (keeping the rent payments that would be due in a separate account) until a court date, on the court date you attend and say the deposit wasnt protected and judge will throw it out of court on the spot and tell him to give you the deposit back and then serve S21 again so he's back at sqaure 1

Hope that helps you

G_M

Good advice above, but it would help if you answered the Qs asked.

Emmanuel1998

I am pretty sure we are on AST, we had a fixed tenancy until 04/2012 and since then it has been a rolling contract.

The roof has been leaking for a fair while, he has asked us to previously repair (town house so high roof with no safety in place so we declined) he has patched but the problem is persisting, basically in 3 rooms when we have heavy rain water is leaking into 3 rooms, in 2 it is bearable as it is slight, in our daughters bedroom however it has caused the ceiling plaster to separate and has stripped the plaster off the wall giving a wrinkling effect, we were away during the summer and had heavy rain and it warped the wooden floor that we have laid as there was no flooring in place when tenancy started. Also we have had to move daughters bed away from the wall as the mattress and bedding was getting damp.

So far i have recorded everything in email but i will write to the address for serving notices and obtain a receipt for postage tomorrow.

With regards electrics, my partner is an electrician, he has discovered cable cancer when we fitted MCB's as we were fed up with fuses and bulbs blowing all the time. The majority of other properties locally are LHA and were re wired donkeys years ago, my OH offered to re wire the property at cost but this was declined by LL. We have electrical appliances supplied by LL that we have safety checked (the LL did not)

I dont want to move as our kids have made some good friends, i was more concerned that the landlord has said he cannot afford nor does he want to repair the roof and will only patch again, neighbours in LHA have had roofs completely re done and solved the problem.

I am more concerned as to what we should do, if and when the landlord gets any more difficult and what effect not protecting the deposit has on any attempts he may make to evict us when we have been good tenants (re decorated top to bottom, wooden floors, new light fittings etc at our cost ) and always paid rent on time, often we are ahead on rent.

G_M

1) you now understand the pros/cons of getting the deposit registered. You decide.

2) As explained, report all repair issues by LETTER to correct address. Also list all the previous times you've reported by email, phone whatever, so there is a record of repeat reports.

3) Do NOT start doing /paying for repairs yourself! (but see below) as you could be held liable for any problems

4) Always get permission in writing for re-decorating etc

5) Remember if you spend loads of cash improving the property, you have limited long-term security & if you (have to ) move, that investment is lost

5) with repairs that are health/safety related (eg electrics) you can ask Environmental Health at the councul to inspect, and enforce.

Finally, there IS a mechanism for paying for repairs yourself, and deducting the cost from future rent, but you MUST follow the detailed process outlined here:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/disrepair_in_rented_accommodation/repairs_in_private_lets/tenants_doing_repairs