Being made temporarily homeless by private landlord while girlfriend pregnant – help!

VicariousThrills

This has been a saga and I'd really appreciate some advice. I live in a one-bedroom, privately rented flat with my girlfriend who is currently pregnant. We have had damp in our flat since we moved in a year ago. Our landlord finally agreed to carry out works last week. We were informed by our managing agent that we would only be out of the property for one night, Monday, and we agreed to this and stayed at my parents.

When we returned to the property on Tuesday, it was completely uninhabitable. The kitchen sink had been removed, the washing machine had been taken out, the rest of the kitchen was covered in dust sheeting, the laundry we'd had drying in the garden had been put in the bath and garden had a cement mixer in it, we had no hot water, every room was incredibly dusty.

We ended up spending the entire week out of the property.

We have spoken to our managing agent who has said that we can have a rent abatement for the period we were out of the property and can be refunded costs incurred due to being out of the property, but we cannot have any compensation for the “mental distress” (her quotes) of what happened.

This does not make sense to me as it suggests that our compensation should be the same as if we had been told in advance that we were going to be out of the property for a week. Believe me, trekking halfway across London after work on a Tuesday evening with your exhausted, naseous pregnant girlfriend trying to find somewhere to stay, not knowing when you can go home, is incredibly stressful and unpleasant. There was also the practical inconvenience of not having enough laundry for a week, having to throw away food etc. that could have been avoided.

I would like to suggest we are due some funds to reflect the needless distress and disruption caused to us by not telling us in advance that we were in effect going to be made temporarily homeless.

I wondered if anyone was aware of any examples of such compensation being awarded in the past? I have no idea what sort of figure to come up with. Any ideas?

Pixie5740

I could be wrong, but if the property you are renting is uninhabitable whilst repairs are being carried out then I think your LL has an obligation to rehouse you.

I'm not sure about claiming compensation though so maybe you should give Shelter a call to clarify what your rights are in this situation.

VicariousThrills

Thanks Pixie. I didn't think about ringing Shelter - I'll give that a go. Don't know how that passed me by - I used to work in a local authority housing department. I think sometimes you just don't think of yourself as the type of person that might need these things.

agrinnall

Given that the LA has already said that you'll get a rent abatement and refund of additional costs I can't really see that you have any further claim to make. It's annoying that it took longer than expected but sometimes when work is started it becomes clear that it won't be as quick as originally planned. You now have a more habitable property, you won't be out of pocket, and your priority should be preparing for the forthcoming birth, not wasting time trying to squeeze a few quid extra out of a LL who has done what they should and may get annoyed with you and respond with an S21.

VicariousThrills

agrinnall - if the works had genuinely taken longer than reasonably expected, I would agree with you and move on.

However, having seen what has been done, we're talking about major structural works here. They're still unfinished although the property is habitable now. But it was obvious that these would have taken longer than one night. Whether we were not told this out of simple disregard for us or out of some sort of misguided optimism is not the point - it caused us a huge amount of stress and inconvenience this week which was avoidable and I believe that given this was the landlord's fault he should bear some of the costs of that.

HappyMJ

VicariousThrills wrote: »

agrinnall - if the works had genuinely taken longer than reasonably expected, I would agree with you and move on.

However, having seen what has been done, we're talking about major structural works here. They're still unfinished although the property is habitable now. But it was obvious that these would have taken longer than one night. Whether we were not told this out of simple disregard for us or out of some sort of misguided optimism is not the point - it caused us a huge amount of stress and inconvenience this week which was avoidable and I believe that given this was the landlord's fault he should bear some of the costs of that.

If the landlord was misguided into believing the works would take 1 or 2 days then it isn't the landlords fault.

They've offered to pay you all your extra costs so what extra do you want? You don't normally get compensated for distress without taking the LL to court. if you take the LL to court to claim compensation you can expect your tenancy to end. The stress of court and being homeless without a reference is much greater than the stress you have now.

pmlindyloo

This is what Shelter says about compensation and disrepair.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/common_problems/compensation_for_disrepair

You need to write formally to the landlord asking for compensation (keep a copy and keep the receipt from postage)

If it is refused you can make a small claims through the court.

Whether you want to do this or not is up to you.

You may not win, particularly since the LL has agreed a rent rebate and funds to reinburse you for being out of the property. On the other hand you may win because of the stress and inconvenience of having to find a place having been given incorrect information.

What sum are you talking about?

The downside of going to court is that the LL may give you notice to quit (if they legally can). Are you in a fixed term or periodic tenancy?

Since your girl friend is pregnant you need to weigh up everything carefully - more stress re a court case or possible eviction process.

As I said, up to you.

VicariousThrills

I don't know what sum we are talking about. That was why I was posting here - I was wondering whether there was any case law which established what was reasonable here.

We had been on a two year tenancy with a one year break, so the landlord has not been able to give us notice. However, we've just reached the break clause, so he can now. So as you say, it may be more trouble than it's worse. I hadn't thought of this, thanks.

We pay through the nose to live in this property - far more than the mortgage costs. We are consistently treated with contempt. I have reason to believe the landlord was not granted permission by his mortgage provider to let the property, that there was never planning permission to convert the house into flats, meaning the house is an unlicensed HMO, and in fact the house is in a conservation area where splitting houses into flats is forbidden. And yet the landlord and letting agent know they could fill this flat in two seconds if we left. One political party really needs to improve the situation in the PRS because this is a complete joke.

bris

You are not due anything for mental distress get over you self.


You are being compensated for your costs, and not getting charged the rent for the period, that is all you are entitled too.

Halle71

I think it comes down to common sense.
The 'only' thing the landlord has done wrong is to give you the wrong info and he may not even have known himself. His offer seems fair.

It seems as if you want to stay in the flat so, short term inconvenience aside, I would have thought you would be happy the work has been done before your baby arrives.

princeofpounds

Again, you are not due anything for 'stress'. The LL and LA are being pretty fair in living up to their obligations in terms of housing you and paying the expenses; many try to wriggle out of that.

You are entitled to have repairs completed within a reasonable amount of time. If it requires as much work as it does, then I'm not surprised it's going to be a single day.

The way to think of it is this; even if you owned the property and were organising the repairs yourself, you would still be out of the property for some time.