Ending a tenancy early

supermassive

We are hoping to be able to end our tenancy early due to harrassment from the neighbours (serious harrassment) and our landlord not fulfilling her obligation to repair the house (I feel like the kitchen ceiling is going to be falling in from leaks at any point). Not only this, but I could do without the landlord's brother having a go at us for hours on end on a night out and ruining our evening - Does he own the property or live in it? No. So bog off.

I am looking for advice on whether her lack of repairs to make the house suitable to live in without getting soaked is reason enough to be able to leave the tenancy?

Guest101

supermassive wrote: »

We are hoping to be able to end our tenancy early due to harrassment from the neighbours (serious harrassment) and our landlord not fulfilling her obligation to repair the house (I feel like the kitchen ceiling is going to be falling in from leaks at any point). Not only this, but I could do without the landlord's brother having a go at us for hours on end on a night out and ruining our evening - Does he own the property or live in it? No. So bog off.

I am looking for advice on whether her lack of repairs to make the house suitable to live in without getting soaked is reason enough to be able to leave the tenancy?

Depends. Have u reported this to the LL I'm writing?

Have u reported behaviour to the police, both neighbour and brother? - though this is really secondary, as not related to the tenancy

supermassive

Guest101 wrote: »

Depends. Have u reported this to the LL I'm writing?

Have u reported behaviour to the police, both neighbour and brother? - though this is really secondary, as not related to the tenancy

Everything has been reported and logged etc. It's literally just a case of she can't be bothered, and I don't particularly want somebody that's "not bothered" dictating whether or not I live in squaller.

Guest101

supermassive wrote: »

Everything has been reported and logged etc. It's literally just a case of she can't be bothered, and I don't particularly want somebody that's "not bothered" dictating whether or not I live in squaller.

Step 2: council and orders to repair?

theartfullodger

Follow this guidance

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

Pixie5740

Why is the LL's brother having a go at you? Write to your LL and say that if their brother contacts you again you'll report them to the police for harassment.

supermassive

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Why is the LL's brother having a go at you? Write to your LL and say that if their brother contacts you again you'll report them to the police for harassment.

That was my thought. The whole situation was bizarre. He even said he wanted to kill and eat my dog. :rotfl: I had to laugh or I'd have shoved my glass down his throat.

Everything's been reported to landlord & police regarding these matters. I'm just waiting to find a decent place to live now before I drop the bombshell that she's the world's laziest landlord and her brother's a chav trainwreck.

G_M

Sorry - I don't get this brother business?

If the brother 'has a go at you' on a night out, how is that the LL's fault? Unless the LL told him to 'have a go'?

If someone you meet on a night out starts annoying you (for whatever reason. It happens.) you walk away.

Repairs. Unless the repairing issues are severe enough to constitute repudiatory breach of contract (unlikely) you cannot end the tenancy on those grounds (see link below).

As advised, where a LL does not undertake repairs, either follow the Shelter advice and/or contact Environmental Health (a pre-requisite for
repudiatory breach of contract !).

Ending/Renewing an AST (what happens when the Fixed Term ends?)(What is a Periodic Tenancy?)(How can a LL remove a tenant?)(How can a tenant end a tenancy?)

supermassive

G_M wrote: »

Sorry - I don't get this brother business?

If the brother 'has a go at you' on a night out, how is that the LL's fault? Unless the LL told him to 'have a go'?

If someone you meet on a night out starts annoying you (for whatever reason. It happens.) you walk away.

Repairs. Unless the repairing issues are severe enough to constitute repudiatory breach of contract (unlikely) you cannot end the tenancy on those grounds (see link below).

As advised, where a LL does not undertake repairs, either follow the Shelter advice and/or contact Environmental Health (a pre-requisite for
repudiatory breach of contract !).

Ending/Renewing an AST (what happens when the Fixed Term ends?)(What is a Periodic Tenancy?)(How can a LL remove a tenant?)(How can a tenant end a tenancy?)

LL's brother approached us due to LL's whinging about being asked to do repairs and stand up to her side of the tenancy agreement. It was clearly vile intimidate on her behalf, even if it wasn't at her command. Sorry if that wasn't clear. I've never met him in my life (I think) so would have no reason for interaction with him. He seemed to know far too much about me for my liking, and that's certainly come from LL.

If something happens on a night out, you walk away? Brilliant piece of advice if I was 18 and a bit stupid. Unfortunately, I'm 26 and live in the gutter of society where if someone wants to harrass you on a night out, they will follow you, corner you, and basically hold you in place until they decide they're finished. Regardless of that, I didn't ask for advice on how to negotiate unexpected social interaction with the people from "Skint" (it's the actual people from skint.)

Just to clarify: I do, infact, suspect that the LL put him up to harrassing us. Purely because she wants us to stop trying to make her do her duties as a LL. Her brother is not a person I would've otherwise come into contact with. Needless to say, I do not mix in the same circles as breakfast-time-special-brew-drinkers.

FYI Environmental health have already been contacted regarding a mouse issue we had earlier in the year due to the state of the garden she said she'd rectify at the start of our tenancy and still hasn't touched.

Repairs to the house include water coming through the ceiling whenever the taps are run upstairs. I don't know if the leak is going to near any electrical cables, but it's a possibility... and the bay window in the kitchen being completely rotten and sagging, with rain coming through the roof when it rains. I'm quite sure those are health hazards as they're accidents waiting to happen. Not to mention the mice.

Yet I still don't know if they're grounds to end a tenancy. I guess it's all legally bound in the tenancy agreement.

G_M

supermassive wrote: »

Yet I still don't know if they're grounds to end a tenancy. I guess it's all legally bound in the tenancy agreement.

Unless the repairing issues are severe enough to constitute repudiatory breach of contract (unlikely) you cannot end the tenancy on those grounds (see link below).

Ending/Renewing an AST (what happens when the Fixed Term ends?)(What is a Periodic Tenancy?)(How can a LL remove a tenant?)(How can a tenant end a tenancy?)

and to help further:

In a few very rare and extreme cases, a tenant may be able to claim repudiatory breach of contract, return the keys, and end the tenancy. In 1992 ('Hussein & Others v Mehlman') the judge ruled that rent was not payable from the time the keys were returned. BUT, in that case the LL had deliberately ignored a multitude of very severe repairing issues, previously referred to both Environmental Health & a surveyor, over an extended period of time.

The breach must be of a sufficiently fundamental character, to amount to repudiation.

Because of the uncertainty of the law in this area, plus this was only a County Court ruling, tenants are strongly advised to seek very specialised legal advice before relying on this to end their tenancy.