Landlord Breaching Contract

abcarter

Hi everyone,
I'm just finishing my Masters degree and due to leave student housing at the end of June. I've had a few problems my landlord of 5 months and wanted some advice. Sorry for the long post!

I'll start with the most serious heading to least serious.
-25 days before our joint tenancy is due to end (today) two strangers let themselves into our house with keys from the landlord and all their stuff. Luckily I was home and promptly asked them to leave. Apparently the landlord gave them keys and told them the property is empty. I'm furious and called my letting agent who knew nothing about it as the landlord went behind their back. I requested they contact him and he replace the locks. I had no response for 4 hours then they closed. I'll be calling back tomorrow.

- This house is not licensed as a HMO (house of multiple occupancy) property, one contractor doing work told us that the property failed on sanitary and fire safety reasons. We found this out about 3 weeks ago and again are very unhappy that we've been living here for 5 months paying rent on an unsafe property.

- I reported rising damp in a downstairs bedroom 4 months ago and was provided with a dehumidifier to run at my expense. I contacted them 6 weeks later to inform them this (obviously) hasn't fixed this issue as the damp is coming from the ground they sent someone out to look at it who was the one who informed me it was rising damp and they had this problem last year and thought they'd fixed it, I haven't heard again since.

- We received no inventory when moving in despite 3 written requests for one. The contract clearly states that the landlord must provide us with one.


I'm just wondering where we stand, and do we have any right to make a claim at small claims court? I'm more disgusted that 3/4 new tenants have keys to our property with over £10,000 worth of contents and about the HMO licence which is a criminal offence.

In the interest of getting acurate advice, today when going through out contract I noticed this clause,
"At the expiration or sooner termination of the Tenancy:
Prior to the end date of the Tenancy Agreement at least six weeks written notice must
be sent by the Tenant(s) confirming their intention to vacate at the end of this Tenancy.
Notice is to be received by the Landlord or Landlords Agent in accordance with the
method as set out under 6.1."
Now as we were on a fixed tenancy and honestly forgot about this clause we did not serve the 6 weeks confirmation in writing so I am concerned this does effect our position.

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks

anselld

If you are leaving at the end of June anyway there is a limit to what you can realistically achieve.

(1) Locks - dont trust the agent to do it. Buy an new lock barrel and do it yourself for circa £10. Keep the old barrel to replace when you leave.

(2) Licensing. Not all HMOs require a license. Have you checked the local Council rules? If you think they are breaking the rules then report to the Council for the benefit of future tenants.

(3) Rising damp will not be cured by end of June - forget it.

(4) Having no inventory is to your advantage in any deposit dispute. Check that your deposit is protected in one of the approved schemes.

(5) Small claims - nothing to claim for. At this point you have suffered no material loss.

(6) You can leave on the last day of the fixed period without notice. The quoted clause is pointless and unenforceable.

abcarter

Thanks Anselld,

1) I'm concerned about changing the locks myself as I'd hate them to show breach of contract and remove some of the deposit due "damage" caused by doing so. I've also only changed yale/chub locks before and this looks different being in a PVC door.

2) The property requires a HMO licence due to the location, I've checked local council register and the properties next door are also licensed. I the council didn't seem to care when I asked stating he was in the process of getting remedial work completed. It's been 6 months and we've seen nothing. I will have to trust that they will take care of the issue when I move on..

3) The rising damp has damaged notes that were stored in cardboard boxes on the floor, and I'm fairly confident it's why my laser printer jammed up and got stuck about a month into the tenancy. Although I can't prove it.

4) Excellent, I thought it would go against us. The deposit is held by "mydeposits.co.uk" and looks to be approved. Although thanks to your reply I just noticed we're not appearing in their database so it may never have been registered. We went through an agency so I'll confirm with them tomorrow.

5) I wasn't sure if breaching the contract and the fact that others have access to our house was enough reason. Thanks for advice.

6) I did think it was very strange. I have rented 5 placed in the UK and one in NZ and have never seen such a clause requiring us to confirm we're leaving at the end of our fixed tenancy. It's even stranger as 8 weeks before the end we received a notice from the letting agency with an "intent to reclaim" the property on the last day of Tenancy.

Thanks for all your help anselld!

G_M

Excellent advice from anselld, but beware the locks.

Is this an HMO? If yes, the landlord and his agents have complete right of access to the common areas (but not each tenant's unique area - bedroom).

Do you each have seperate contracts or is there a single 'joint and several tenancy'?

edit: just seen you said:

25 days before our joint tenancy is due to end

so just do everything anselld said!

G_M

abcarter wrote: »

Thanks Anselld,

1) I'm concerned about changing the locks myself as I'd hate them to show breach of contract and remove some of the deposit due "damage" caused by doing so. I've also only changed yale/chub locks before and this looks different being in a PVC door.
unless you're a complete muppet you can't cause damage unscrewing a screw and doing it up again. Use google to find a utube guide to changing your type of lock. eg here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vHnzeSlOY4

2) The property requires a HMO licence due to the location, I've checked local council register and the properties next door are also licensed. I the council didn't seem to care when I asked stating he was in the process of getting remedial work completed. It's been 6 months and we've seen nothing. I will have to trust that they will take care of the issue when I move on..
so either chase the council, or don't. But you're moving out so ....

3) The rising damp has damaged notes that were stored in cardboard boxes on the floor, and I'm fairly confident it's why my laser printer jammed up and got stuck about a month into the tenancy. Although I can't prove it.
you could claim via Small Claims Track here. You'd eed to prove
a) damage was cuased by damp and
b) you reported the damp and it was ignored

4) Excellent, I thought it would go against us. The deposit is held by "mydeposits.co.uk" and looks to be approved. Although thanks to your reply I just noticed we're not appearing in their database so it may never have been registered. We went through an agency so I'll confirm with them tomorrow.
Read:

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

5) I wasn't sure if breaching the contract and the fact that others have access to our house was enough reason. Thanks for advice.

6) I did think it was very strange. I have rented 5 placed in the UK and one in NZ and have never seen such a clause requiring us to confirm we're leaving at the end of our fixed tenancy. It's even stranger as 8 weeks before the end we received a notice from the letting agency with an "intent to reclaim" the property on the last day of Tenancy.

Read:
* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

:beer: :beer:

dimbo61

Check if the deposit is in the Lead tenants name.
Speak to the letting agents and ask them for a copy of the deposit and prescribed information details.