renting advice

dopeysue

coal9011 wrote: »

Yes, dissatisfied as you may be you still should (and must) pay the Rent.

If you don't then this gives your landlord what they call "mandatory" grounds on which to evict you which in effect speeds up the whole eviction process.
Also District Judge's usually side more often with tenants in "landlord & tenants disputes" apart from where rent is witheld when they must award the landlord possession.

In any event, you can not be evicted without an Order of the Court.

If the repairs situation is unacceptable to you, and your concerns are genuine, then invest £50 or £80 in issuing a County Court claim against your landlord for an order that your landlord do these repairs and for reasonable damages (which the Judge is likely to reduce or disallow) Or as others have said look for somewere else to live.

Issuing a court claim may spur your landlord into doing the repairs? In my opinion, getting the Enviromental Health people involved at such an early stage looks bad as you should have tried harder at reaching a compromise with your landlord to solve the problems. Yet, if you had to do this because you were being ignored - then press on with a claim. "Good Luck"

There is still 8-9 months on my AST, with Environmental health and my list of repairs that I have complained about, it is unlikely that any judge will evict, all I need to is ensure that there aren't two months arrears overdue on the day of any court hearing.

Basically the LL is screwed until the end of the AST, by which time this will have cost him a hell of lot more than it would have done if he had dealt with my complaints earlier, I am also positive Environmental Health will give him a list of other jobs for him to repair, I have told the LA that I won't pay until all the jobs I have listed are done to my satisfaction and any other jobs hilghlighted by EH, however as mentioned earlier it might be wise to just pay a little bit off just before any court hearing.

dopeysue

fac73 wrote: »

Sue I really sympathise, but this is like being given a golden ticket. We're in a not too dissimilar situation and my LL wants a month's rent as compensation for me to leave.

Why I want to leave? I'm 33 weeks pregnant and there is rising damp in the kitchen, also damp in the bathroom, and in the six months I've been here they haven't found the time or money to repair a fence panel.

If it's a case of the LL not really caring about maintaining his property (as in mine) then find a private LL who does care.

This week we met a fantastic LL who is doing everything he can to make sure we can move into his house asap... and I can't wait to see the back of this place.

Good luck.

Hi Thanks for your advice

I've told the LA that im not interested in moving and I think that option isn't on the table anymore, IO also want to make sure that LL understands he has to meet his obligations, until then he doesn't get a penny. (not sure where I stand with my Hb though, can they apply to hav it payed directly to him?)

sooz

You have asked for people's advice here, and then chosen to ignore it. Sounds like you are in training to be a "professional tenant". Why would you want to make life that difficult for both yourself and your landlord?

Pay him the rent, and then do the repairs yourself, and take it off the next rent. Follow the steps in Olly's excellent post, and you won't find yourself up in court.

sooz

fac73 wrote: »

Sue I really sympathise, but this is like being given a golden ticket. We're in a not too dissimilar situation and my LL wants a month's rent as compensation for me to leave.

Why I want to leave? I'm 33 weeks pregnant and there is rising damp in the kitchen, also damp in the bathroom, and in the six months I've been here they haven't found the time or money to repair a fence panel.

If it's a case of the LL not really caring about maintaining his property (as in mine) then find a private LL who does care.

This week we met a fantastic LL who is doing everything he can to make sure we can move into his house asap... and I can't wait to see the back of this place.

Good luck.

Off - topic..........


Really glad to hear you have found somewhere nice now. It must be such a relief!

coal9011

It sounds like you don't need any advice from anyone on this forum!

Technically your right about not having 2 months rent owing at the time of any court hearing - but it does not look good - and judges's are not stupid.

"sooz" may well be correct. I'm now not sure what your agenda is? As it appears that you are only at the start of a 12 month AST and already there are rent issues.

The landlord can ask Housing Benefit to have payments made direct to him (you can have your say on the matter, but it will be agreed between the local council and your landlord).

I have been renting my property for the past 9 years. In court battles the odds are usually stacked against the landlord. But if the tenant is unreasonable or blatently calculated with his or her actions they will not succeed in court.
Your not so "dopy" Sue. :rolleyes:

daphne_descends

sooz wrote: »

Off - topic..........


Really glad to hear you have found somewhere nice now. It must be such a relief!

Thanks sooz, it is - or will be when it's definite - the LL is changing his mortgage to interest only so we are waiting to see if we can afford it. He usually lets it room by room for a lot more than we can afford but wants the security of one family so is sacrificing financial gain for that - but it's a LOT bigger/nicer than what we would have been looking for so can we afford it? Watch this space! And cross your fingers for me!

Melissa177

dopeysue wrote: »

The LL has already offered me to move out without any penalties, but I want him to realise he has a legal obligation to maintain the property to a safe and legal standard.

Why should I move out ?

Because you're not paying the rent?

Plus, I'm not sure that the landlord does have a legal obligation to maintain a property (this was discussed on another thread a while back, I seem to remember)...

What is wrong with the property anyway?

A_Nice_Englishman

Melissa177 wrote: »

What is wrong with the property anyway?

I asked what the outstanding repairs were a while ago but we haven't had the answer yet. If we knew these were serious we might have more sympathy.

Melissa177

I agree - I'm a bit wary of the OP given that she's been very vague about what is wrong with the property!

A_Nice_Englishman

... and why did she take the property in the first place if its condition was unacceptable to her? Surely all the things she wants repaired haven't broken since she moved in?