Advice request re landlord, repairs, deposit protection

Sausage11

Hello All,

I'm in rented whilst renovating a house. Have been renting for 15 months. Always pay rent on time.

Landlord has been pretty poor at basic maintenance. There are a number of issues but the key issue is a leaking ceiling in second bedroom. This weekend I had to empty a washing up bowl that permanently sits under it to stop it overflowing. I reported the leak 5 months ago and have sent numerous reminders. Have received repeated "I'm waiting for another roofer for a quote" ever since.

2 roofers have visited and both have informed me that the roof is dangerous as not only are there tiles displaced but some are over the neighbours front door entrance and could easily come off.

I'm told there is asbestos in the roof by a neighbour (I don't know if this is true and I didn't think to ask a roofer to confirm) and I've developed psoriasis over the last 4 months which has necessitated consultations with a specialist dermatologist and a variety of treatments. I don't know if there is causation but there is definitely correlation.

I contacted environmental health yesterday after several warnings that if he continued to ignore the issue I would have to take action. EH said it was a serious issue and would contact him. He sent me a text message later that day saying he wanted me out of the house for reporting him when "it was not his fault that roofers were unreliable" blah blah.

I have several questions.

1. What is the process that he needs to follow to evict me?

2. Can I inform him that I will now reduce the rent on a daily basis until the repairs are complete?

I can live with moving out at the end of October - my house should be done by then. But I don't want to live here and pay full rent if the repairs are not done.

Finally, I suspect he has not protected my deposit. (I've spoken to two of the agencies and am awaiting a call back from the third.). Assuming this is the case what is my situation? I've read on these boards I can take legal action to recover 3 x rent (or is it 3 x deposit?) plus the deposit itself. Is this the case and, if so, what do I need to do? Could he retrospectively put the deposit into protection if I bring up the issue with him and thus avoid legal risk?

Thank you for anyone who has taken the patience to read this!

SerialRenter

Sausage11 wrote: »

I have several questions.

1. What is the process that he needs to follow to evict me?

2. Can I inform him that I will now reduce the rent on a daily basis until the repairs are complete?

1. Yes, he must follow the procedure which is outlined here:
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/eviction/eviction_of_private_tenants/eviction_of_assured_shorthold_tenants

Note that the deposit must be protected if he wishes to evict you. I suggest you search all of the schemes to see if it is protected, which you can do here:
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/tenancy_deposits/tenancy_deposit_protection_schemes/deposit_protection_and_tenancy_deposit_schemes

If the deposit is not protected, post again and we'll go into detail about what action you can take against the landlord if you wish to.
The landlord cannot retrospectively protect the deposit to prevent you from taking him to court.

2. Nope, two wrongs don't make a right i'm afraid. You are contractually obligated to pay the rent. However, there is a procedure you can follow to get repairs done, which is here:
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/tenants_repairs_and_improvements/tenants_doing_repairs

Best of luck to you.

Sausage11

Thank you for such a speedy reply!

I've now checked with all of the deposit agencies. The deposit appears not to have been protected. There was some confusion as the LL took over the tenancy from the original letting agency and the system showed the original letting agency was still holding the deposit in the protection scheme. Having spoken to the letting agent he says that's because they've not updated their systems and the LL should have protected the deposit once they received and cashed the cheque. The deposit agencies also say it looks like the LL has broken the law.

So it appears that the deposit is not protected.

I would like to take action. What would you recommend?

SerialRenter

The ever helpful shelter also has an article about this situation.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/tenancy_deposits/tenancy_deposit_protection_schemes/tenancy_deposit_protection

You are currently on step four.

If your landlord does now wish to evict you, and given what you've said about their respect of the law, beware they may attempt an illegal eviction. So that'll be worth reading up on too.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/eviction/harassment_and_illegal_eviction_by_landlord/illegal_eviction

Sausage11

Thank you. I've just had a long conversation with Shelter so I think I'm sorted on the basic approach.

However, one thing they did say was the minimum compensation that could be awarded was 1 x the deposit and the maximum 3 x deposit. But this is not added to the deposit (so you don't get the deposit back as well).

My understanding from reading these boards is the compensation could be up to 3 x deposit in addition to the return of your original deposit.

Do you think the Shelter person was correct?

SerialRenter

Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004 has this to say on the matter:

(3)The court must, as it thinks fit, either—
(a)order the person who appears to the court to be holding the deposit to repay it to the applicant, or
(b)order that person to pay the deposit into the designated account held by the scheme administrator under an authorised custodial scheme,within the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the making of the order.
(4)The court must also order the landlord to pay to the applicant a sum of money equal to three times the amount of the deposit within the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the making of the order.

Note that the localism act 2011 altered this slightly to be between 1-3 times rather than always 3 times, and removed the ability for the landlord to defend the claim by protecting the deposit late.

In other words, the landlord must either repay the deposit or protect it. And also pay a penalty of between 1-3 times the deposit. Plus your costs if you ask (which you should).

topdaddy_2

Sausage11 wrote: »

Hello All,

I'm in rented whilst renovating a house. Have been renting for 15 months. Always pay rent on time.

Landlord has been pretty poor at basic maintenance. There are a number of issues but the key issue is a leaking ceiling in second bedroom. This weekend I had to empty a washing up bowl that permanently sits under it to stop it overflowing. I reported the leak 5 months ago and have sent numerous reminders. Have received repeated "I'm waiting for another roofer for a quote" ever since.

2 roofers have visited and both have informed me that the roof is dangerous as not only are there tiles displaced but some are over the neighbours front door entrance and could easily come off.

I'm told there is asbestos in the roof by a neighbour (I don't know if this is true and I didn't think to ask a roofer to confirm) and I've developed psoriasis over the last 4 months which has necessitated consultations with a specialist dermatologist and a variety of treatments. I don't know if there is causation but there is definitely correlation.

I contacted environmental health yesterday after several warnings that if he continued to ignore the issue I would have to take action. EH said it was a serious issue and would contact him. He sent me a text message later that day saying he wanted me out of the house for reporting him when "it was not his fault that roofers were unreliable" blah blah.

I have several questions.

1. What is the process that he needs to follow to evict me?

2. Can I inform him that I will now reduce the rent on a daily basis until the repairs are complete?

I can live with moving out at the end of October - my house should be done by then. But I don't want to live here and pay full rent if the repairs are not done.

Finally, I suspect he has not protected my deposit. (I've spoken to two of the agencies and am awaiting a call back from the third.). Assuming this is the case what is my situation? I've read on these boards I can take legal action to recover 3 x rent (or is it 3 x deposit?) plus the deposit itself. Is this the case and, if so, what do I need to do? Could he retrospectively put the deposit into protection if I bring up the issue with him and thus avoid legal risk?

Thank you for anyone who has taken the patience to read this!

are you linking your skin condition to asbestos? Sounds like you would be beter off away from this useless LL and property.

Sausage11

You may be right. I figure I've been here all this time and it's only another couple of months to go. I'd only started to think about the link from the roof to my skin a day or two ago - could be directly related but not sure.

bris

He just needs to protect the deposit when you send the papers and your claim will fail.

Gigervamp

Psoriasis is usually brought on by stress and once you have it, it never goes away completely.

mrginge

bris wrote: »

He just needs to protect the deposit when you send the papers and your claim will fail.

Care to expand on this claim at all?