Eviction notice in the pipeline

caseyann

My daughter has been told by the landlord to remove a shed that she has erected in her allocated parking space (she still parks the car there as well). She did receive verbal confirmation that it was okay to do so but the property manager left and someone else took over.
She has been told that if it is not removed within a week she will be given two months notice to quit the flat. The rent is up to date and always paid regularly.
On the other hand about twelve months ago she reported that the floor was covered in black mould. Apparently there had been an ongoing leakage from washing machine before she moved in. Nothing has ever been done about it and the situation is quickly getting worse with more and more of the floor becoming affected. It wouldn't surprise me if the floor caved in and it is doing her health no good. Many items, including old family heirlooms have been ruined by the mould and many items have now had to be stored in the shed to try to preserve them yet she is now being asked to remove the shed at such short notice.
If she ignores this request and they give her notice to quit can they take her to court.
The building is not even that old but very poor quality build.

PasturesNew

It's likely the shed issue is in the building lease - and the person she asked, that left, was slack about worrying/bothering about these things.

She's no rights - LL could give her 2 months' notice (presuming she's on a periodic AST) at any time for any, or no, reason. So, she's been told, she has to do it or await an eviction letter ... irrespective of who she spoke to and what he said.

All other issues in your post are irrelevant from a point of law.

caseyann

There's nothing in the lease that would cover the shed - in fact there's not a lot at all in the lease.
We were landlords ourselves for many years until about six years ago and it appears that there have been considerable changes in the law since then. We would have bent over backwards for any tenants that paid their rent on time and were no bother at all.

Having looked at the Shelter website it would appear that what is happening does constitute harassment:-

"(the landlord) allowing your home to get into such a bad state of repair that it’s dangerous for you to stay"

Think possibly we will be in touch with Shelter and the Local Authority Environmental Health Department.
I just cannot understand why a landlord/owner would allow a relatively new building to deteriorate to such an extent that it is dangerous very quickly devaluing.

zarf2007

caseyann wrote: »

There's nothing in the lease that would cover the shed - in fact there's not a lot at all in the lease.
We were landlords ourselves for many years until about six years ago and it appears that there have been considerable changes in the law since then. We would have bent over backwards for any tenants that paid their rent on time and were no bother at all.

Having looked at the Shelter website it would appear that what is happening does constitute harassment:-

"(the landlord) allowing your home to get into such a bad state of repair that it’s dangerous for you to stay"

Think possibly we will be in touch with Shelter and the Local Authority Environmental Health Department.
I just cannot understand why a landlord/owner would allow a relatively new building to deteriorate to such an extent that it is dangerous very quickly devaluing.

I think you will find that whatever she does they will evict and she has zero comeback....unfortunately the law is toothless on this.

paddedjohn

Its an allocated car parking space, not a shed space. Be sensible.

Kynthia

Has she repeatedly reported the mould in writing to the address for serving notices in the contract? Has she followed this up with updates if what she had done to mitigate the situation and damage, and asked for action in a reasonable timeframe? Has she taken photos as evidence to show the seriousness of the situation? Has she then gone to environmental health if she believes it is dangerous or uninhabitable? Or instead has she begun to follow the process set out by Shelter that will eventually allow her to complete an urgent repair and deduct the cost from the rent?

These are things that can be done. A structure placed in the parking area is likely to contravene the building lease if it is a leasehold property. It is very likely the freeholder is threatening the landlord over the issue and therefore the landlord must take action against their tenant.

Road_Hog

caseyann wrote: »

There's nothing in the lease that would cover the shed - in fact there's not a lot at all in the lease.

This is all a red herring/strawman. If the LL wants the property vacated and the tenant is on a periodic tenancy, then they can give two month's notice. The choice is simple, move the shed now, or move it in two months time.

zarf2007 wrote: »

I think you will find that whatever she does they will evict and she has zero comeback....unfortunately the law is toothless on this.

The law is not toothless. A tenant enters into a contract for say 6 months, then probably defaults to a periodic tenancy. Tenant has to give one months notice, LL two months notice. Why should the tenant have a right to stay longer? What if I as a LL ran into financial difficulties and needed to sell the property?

If I was one of the other tenants, I wouldn't be best pleased with sheds in parking spaces.

And in answer to the OP, if they serve her notice to quit and she doesn't then yes they can take her to court, to evict her. The answer is simple, remove the shed or start looking for a new place.

lavalamp

caseyann wrote: »

On the other hand about twelve months ago she reported that the floor was covered in black mould. Apparently there had been an ongoing leakage from washing machine before she moved in. Nothing has ever been done about it and the situation is quickly getting worse with more and more of the floor becoming affected. It wouldn't surprise me if the floor caved in and it is doing her health no good.

I am surprised that she's not happy to move out if her LL hasn't sorted out something as big as this! I'd have moved out long ago!

G_M

To get sensible advice you need to tell us what kind of tenancy she has:

* fixed term? Start date? Length or end date?
* Periodic ('rolling')?

As for the shed, is this a flat (with allocated parking)? If so, the LL/owner has to comply with HIS lease on the flat, which may well say the space is just for cars.

As for the mould - separate issue. Do not treat these jointly. See

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

moromir

OP you are misinterpreting PasturesNew's use of the word "lease", they didn't mean the contract between the landlord and the tenant.

They meant the contract between the landlord and the flat development.

The Head Lease will almost certainly contain clauses prohibiting the erection of structures on amenity lands or the use of a parking space for anything other than the parking of a motor vehicle without the consent of the management company or freeholder.

dancingfairy

2 completely seperate issues.
Does she want to stay in the house?
If she does I suggest she will probably need to loose the shed.
After a fixed term has expired she can be given notice to leave at any time (subject to obviously being given the correct notice which appears to be 2 months).
What tenancy does she have?
Has she written to the landlord about the mould? taken pictures? documented what methods she has tried to resovle the problems? Does she make sure that she is not drying laundry inside? closes doors when cooking? opens windows after showering? cleans any mould off with correct cleaner?
Has she tried a dehumidifier? (not that she has to I'm just interested as it may help).
If the landlord has not responded to her letters in writing then has she tried environmental health at the council?
df
Edit: there are no guarantees that the landlord will carry out repairs. If she is not in a fixed term contract any more then the landlord may just decide it's not worth the hassle and just give her her notice so she needs to be aware that this could happen.