Landlord using the garage for storage

Adsrhodes

Hi all,

Just after a little bit of advice.

I moved into a property at the end of December last year. It suited me perfectly with two off-road parking spaces and a single garage. When I viewed the property I spoke to the landlord about the garage (which at the time was full of stuff) and he said that he might leave a few things in it at first but move them out over the first couple of months. I thought that was ok as long as it didn't drag on.

When we moved into the property, the garage was even fuller than previously. We contacted the letting agent and they said that they had been told that the garage was to be used for the landlord's storage except for space for maybe a couple of bikes - not what I had agreed to!

The landlord then said that the garage would be cleared by the end of March as he was out of the country (visiting a sick relative, of all things!). Now this has come and gone without any communication (we've had some other things they are reticent to sort out). We have contacted them again to demand an answer within 5 working days, but want to formulate the next move.

I spent some time going through the lease and found in the agreement that we take for term and rent:

"the use of the garden and garage save for any Exclusions as specified in Clause 8."

Now, there is no Clause 8 in our contract, but the section after Cause 7 only has sections on termination, termination notice and costs.

Now, to my (non-legal) mind, this means they have no right to leave anything in the garage that we don't want.

Basically I am after advice on what steps we can take. Some more gung-ho personages have recommended chucking all of it into storage and charging them, or refusing to pay a bit of rent. However I don't fancy being evicted!

Anyone got any good experiences or advice? Cheers!

A

anselld

Adsrhodes wrote: »

We have contacted them again to demand an answer within 5 working days

In writing (pen, paper, stamp, proof of posting) ?

Yorkie1

You are right that the tenancy agreement does not formally allow the LL to effectively withhold the use of the garage from you - but he hasn't actually stopped you from using it by locking it, it's just rather full (a technical difference).

Do not withhold rent.

Do not chuck the stuff out on the street. You have a legal responsibility for it.

Do not put it into storage unless you are prepared to a) pay for the storage, and b) pay for any damage the LL alleges you caused in moving it.

What do you want out of this? If the LL refuses to empty the garage, do you want to stay living there?

There are 3 options:

1. If you don't want to continue living there, then up to you how much fuss you create at this point about it, and then just leave at the end of the fixed term tenancy - with or without giving a decent amount of notice. You may find he challenges you on the deposit return.

2. Ask him to empty it; he'll either be OK (i.e. agree to empty it) or he won't be. If he's not OK then he might decide to issue you with a retaliatory s.21 notice which will lead to eviction.

3. Don't ask him to empty it, and live with it anyway.

da_rule

Is there a clause 8 or does it skip to clause 9?

moneyistooshorttomention

Maybe try telling him that you WILL be putting a load of your own stuff/friends' stuff that you will be storing for them temporarily etc into YOUR garage on such-and-such a date and that it needs to be cleared out by that date obviously.

If the stuff is still there a few days to that date, then tell him it MUST go by day before that date or he won't be able to get at his stuff (as you will be putting your stuff in on top of it).

If it comes to it, you could probably pick up a load of old junk to put in the garage for peanuts and proceed to do exactly that if, come the date, his stuff is still there.

Russe11

I'm always surprised when people agree things verbally when moving in then just hope the desired outcome somehow happens.

always get additional agreed terms written into the contract.