Rented flat to become a building site - rights?

all_the_wines

So, our kitchen and living walls have been gettingincreasingly damp over the past year - to the point where the plaster hasfallen off and even the brickwork underneath is crumbling. Our landlord has beenin consultations to bring someone in to fix it and we have just heard backabout how the work is going to progress. They will have to rip out the wholekitchen - rendering it unusable for 'up to a month' and they also plan tolaydown polythene and corex sheeting through the flat which is understandable toprotect the wooden flooring but essentially the flat will become a buildingsite for the duration of the job. He has offered to maybe reduce our rent by50%, but as we only have one bedroom, a living room, a kitchen and a small bathroommore than half the flat will be unusable. On top of that we will have to use alaundrette, plus eat out or get takeaways every night which, in London, is ahuge expense, and also put the cat in a cattery. My question it - what are ourrights? What does our landlord HAVE to do to accommodate us?

G_M

If the property is going to be permenantly unfit for the remaining period of the tenancy, then the tenancy may be 'frustrated' - legal jargon for the inability, through no ones's fault, of the contract to continue.

Tenancy ends. You lose property and you owe no rent.

If the property will be made fit again during the life of the tenancy (ie before the fixed term ends) then the tenancy continues.

You must continue to pay rent and the landlord must continue to provide accomodation which is fit for purpose. A building site, with no working kitchen, is not fit for purpose. So the LL should provide alternative accomodation.

Hopefully this can be achieved through amicable discussion and some give & take. You may need to compromise on where you live temporarily.

Of course, the difficulty arises if the LL simply says you must stay there, nothing wrong with the property, and refuses to re-house you. You then have o enforce your claim to be re-homes, either via he courts or wih help from eg council private tenancy officer, Environmental Health, Shelter etc.

all_the_wines

Thank you! This is really, really helpful. The only sticking point may be that he has said to us that we can live with the damp and he won't do the works if we'd prefer to not have the disruption (he said it in the nicest way possible - he's a very good guy) so does that count as offering an alternative? It does need doing badly. Does a reduction in rent count as providing an alternative?

G_M

Depends what you want!

You can negotiate / agree whatever you want.

If you are happy to live there during the work, for a reduced rent, and he is happy to reduce the rent, then there's no problem is there?

But whatever is agreed, get it confirmed in writing.

pinkshoes

How bad is the damp? A friend of mine lived in a flat in London that had such severe damp the walls were growing mould and fluff!

They got Environmental Health round who condemned the flat as unsuitable to live in, and as they were in a fixed period of rent, the LL had to pay for them to live elsewhere.

G_M

pinkshoes wrote: »

How bad is the damp? A friend of mine lived in a flat in London that had such severe damp the walls were growing mould and fluff!

They got Environmental Health round who condemned the flat as unsuitable to live in, and as they were in a fixed period of rent, the LL had to pay for them to live elsewhere.

As explained above, LL might have been able to claim 'frustration'.

But let's not get side-tracked form the OP's set of circumstances.....

all_the_wines

pinkshoes wrote: »

How bad is the damp? A friend of mine lived in a flat in London that had such severe damp the walls were growing mould and fluff!

They got Environmental Health round who condemned the flat as unsuitable to live in, and as they were in a fixed period of rent, the LL had to pay for them to live elsewhere.

It's pretty bad, might think about the environmental health route to be honest - what we really want is to be given alternative accommodation so could be worth it!

AdrianC

Are you still in a fixed period of your tenancy, or have you gone periodic?

I rather suspect the work is going to end up delayed until any fixed period expires, at which point you'll receive an s21.