Morally what would you do about this situation(notice for unlivable flat)

Viberduo

The situation was/is that my friend moved somewhere 5 weeks ago, was messed around by landlord who did things like alter contract after signing to a higher amount, LL ignored repair emails, flat has bad damp and stinks badly of mould and he had no water until today when I fixed it for him.

Basically my friend sent a letter template from Shelter mentioning he had 7 days to do repair or friend will leave as the property didnt meet repair standards and due to no water was unlivable.

LL has ignored the letter and the 7 days has passed but friend cant move for 2 weeks (if it wasnt for the fact he had his tv and computer and hoover and computer desk etc he would just leave) I went to my friends to look at problem, found a rusted jammed valve which with a lot of effort I fixed and now he has water.

But after I fixed it I realised now its working he can no longer say its unlivable therefore cant leave contract but he has already paid deposit for elsewhere! But due to the miserable property he doesnt want to live there anyway so I was thinking of when he leaves jamming the valve off but think this is dishonest but may be only way to get out now without LL's agreement.

Thoughts?

MrsFingersCrossed

I think the fact it has bad damp and stinks of mould and the landlord raised the price after signing contract are enough to take this to the Ombudsman anyway. My daughter had an unreasonable landlord (similar issues as your friend) who withheld her deposit and she went to Ombudsman and won the case and got her money back plus some, I think.

G_M

I'd be interested to hear which 'Obudsman' MrsFingers is referring to....

Putting a deposit on a new property when you have an existing tenancy is unwise....

There are several ways to end a tenancy:

* mutual surrender - needs landlord's consent
* leaving at end of fixed term - I'm guessing this is 6 or 12 months???
* tenancy contract is 'frustrated' - impossibl to continue due to reasons beyond anyone's control eg lightening strike destroys property
* repudiatory breach of contract by the landlord - this I suspect is what you are claiming. Be advised the burdon of proof for this is difficult & it is an unusual and extreme circumstance:

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. Both EH and the surveyor had repeatedly highlighted the issues to the LL and been ignored.

In this case, the tenant has not by any means exhausted the normal procedures for enforcing repairs, and (in my opinion) the LL has not as yet met the criteria required for repudiatory breach of contract.

If he tenant wishes to claim repudiatory breach of contractI would strongly advise getting legal advice from a professional specialising in landlord/tenant law.

Viberduo

I forgot to mention this is in Scotland, and my friend was "happy" to pay rent up to the date he left as its paid by housing benefit anyway.

He/we have proof the advertised rent was cheaper(but he has not paid it yet to accept it) has copies of emails and letter sent to LL which was ignored and photos of damp on walls(but not the cleaning he did to window frames, sideboards, the cobwebs and dead spdiers on walls and the time he spent with a dustpan and brush(about 2 hours) on hands and knees cleaning then the new hoover he bought to clean it.

It still stinks though and there is some cracks to the windows, and what looks like burn marks on the bath and there is still some dirt on the windows frames as he just used cloths and couldnt get it all off

The one time the LL/agent contacted back they promised someone to come out and fix the water, but no one arrived but someone did turn up as the toilet had smeared mess inside it and the bedroom wardrobe was wide open(peeking in it I guess)

They are outright ignoring his phone calls and emails and we did a bit of digging and found out this landlord is mentioned on websites as being a dodgy landlord and how people have sucessfully sued him, and found some of his ex tenants in my local area who say he never did repairs with them to the point of leak getting so bad their neighbours flat was flooded and it had to be repainted and replastered and he never chipped in and just put a cheap pipe in wall to remove excess water but it was right over the back exit so people going into garden got water over them.

Shelter originally told him to use a template letter to give him X amount of days to fix the problem then if he didnt to hand back keys, but now the water is working they say to report him to the board and see what they say, and if he leaves he risks being told to pay rent so the keep as much evidence as possible.

G_M

Viberduo wrote: »

I forgot to mention this is in Scotland,.

Sigh!

Then ignore everything in my previous post.