Breaking a lease due to landlord's conduct

silvercar

Charski wrote: »

Because we have only just had to start paying for boiler repairs ourselves. The boiler has stopped working at least once a month but it is usually something wrong with the dial and timer which has been replaced four times in our stay.

I think it's fair not to want to pay for boiler repairs, right?

I would be questioning why the same part developed a fault four times.

Of course it isn't right that you pay for boiler repairs, but that doesn't give you the right to leave early rent free. Suggest to the landlord that you take the cost of the repairs off the last month's rent.

Charski

To give a brief update;
We managed to finally make contact with our landlord after we went through the letting agent we got the property off originally.
He agreed to let us out of the lease a month early without penalty and also that he will come and inspect the property asap so that we can get our deposit back. He apologised for lack of contact, for not treating the damp and also the boiler issues but was most concerned about his garden. He said that he will have to charge us £50 for him to come over and do the gardening which we agreed to. Anything at this point to see an end to the situation.
Lastly; we did ask why the boiler kept failing because of the same issue time and again but were told that combi-boilers fail a lot with no other explanation. Sadly there wasn't much we could do as the landlord always sent the same guy around - a mate in the trade - to do the work and would only pay him.
Thanks to you all for your help.

vuvuzela

Charski wrote: »

To give a brief update;
We managed to finally make contact with our landlord after we went through the letting agent we got the property off originally.
He agreed to let us out of the lease a month early without penalty and also that he will come and inspect the property asap so that we can get our deposit back. He apologised for lack of contact, for not treating the damp and also the boiler issues but was most concerned about his garden. He said that he will have to charge us £50 for him to come over and do the gardening which we agreed to. Anything at this point to see an end to the situation.
Lastly; we did ask why the boiler kept failing because of the same issue time and again but were told that combi-boilers fail a lot with no other explanation. Sadly there wasn't much we could do as the landlord always sent the same guy around - a mate in the trade - to do the work and would only pay him.
Thanks to you all for your help.

In my experience over the last 20 years, combi boilers certainly don't 'fail a lot'. Your landlord is a lazy lying scumbag.
What necessitates him charging you for doing the gardening ?

Pixie5740

You're LL is talking nonsense about combi boilers. The £50 for him to come and do your garden, as you've said yourself, is probably not worth fighting. I hope you're next home is better.

Charski

vuvuzela wrote: »

In my experience over the last 20 years, combi boilers certainly don't 'fail a lot'. Your landlord is a lazy lying scumbag.
What necessitates him charging you for doing the gardening ?

We are not entirely sure. He spent a day with the previous tenant (who had gone to prison mid-lease) gardening so that he could get his security deposit returned with no care for the state of the property inside. The garden was immaculate when we moved in and now, I guess, it isn't, what with winter. I argued and argued but eventually agreed, as did my fiance, that the hassle of the entire situation was such that we would do anything - we have even discussed happily letting our security deposit go if it came to it - to get out. The entire situation has effected my fiance's health (he's had inner and outer ear infections and become asthmatic since living in the property and we can only assume it is because of the damp) and our electricity bills have been ridiculously high due to running two dehumidifiers (upstairs and downstairs) day to day. We just want out now.

G_M

If the garden was immaculate when you moved in, and now isn't then either

* you could do the gardening
* you could pay the LL to do the gardening
* you could pay someone else to do the gardening
* you could leave the garden and have a deduction from your deposit

Of course, in winter a garden does not look like it does in summer, but you've been there 11 months, so the difference bwteeen a December garden and a January garden...........

fairy_lights

I can't imagine the garden needs much more doing to it than cutting the lawn and maybe trimming a few plants back, easy enough to do yourself so really no need for the landlord to charge you £50. Or does it need a lot more work?

Voyager2002

I still think that you should involve Environmental Health, if only for the sake of the next people to live there.

Charski

I said we would do the gardening. It's all paving stones. He basically wants the money to do a bit of weeding and strim some hedges. He said it was important to him because he is selling the house that the garden is perfect and so he insisted on doing it himself, at our expense.

He isn't planning to rent the property and is going to try and sell it which we doubt he will manage quickly. The smell of damp hits you as soon as you step into the house - via the back door because the front door is road facing with a gap of around 3 foot between the road and the door (so we've never used it). It's an old cottage with ceilings low enough in the bedrooms that you can't extend your arms fully and can fix the light fittings without reaching up too far. He hasn't got a hope of a quick sale due to the position of the property as well as its general state and construction.

Personally speaking I think he's asking for the money to get something out of us for some sort of ego soothing exercise but I'm honestly past caring.

Summer-Sunshine_2

Have you got recipets of any proof that you paid for the boiler man to repair your boiler? If so keep them!

Also I defo would get onto Environmental Health!

Hope all goes well, let us know :j