Is it legal to rent out a property if the boiler is held together with gaffer tape?

Mossfarr

Hi Smodlet,
I am a landlord - and I promise you I am a fair and honest one, I never let any of my properties until they are in a condition I would live in myself. I also know from speaking to my tenants that some landlords rent out properties that are disgustingly dirty, dangerous and often insecure.
Its very important to us good landlords that the rogue landlords are rooted out, make sure your neighbour follows the good advice ie contact shelter/council/environmental health etc etc.
Ignore the negative posters - they have no life so should be pitied.

G_M

Smodlet wrote: »

Gotta read more about these notices, unless you could precis it for me?..

Assuming this is England/Wales, and is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy:

A tenancy can only be legally ended by either

1) the tenant giving proper notice, or
2) mutual agreement (ie the tenant and landord both agree, ideally in writing), or
3) a court order

A landlord can never end a tenancy by himself. If a landlord wishes to end a tenancy he must apply to court and the court can end the tenancy Before doing this the LL must serve on the tenant either

4) a S8 Notice (for one of 17 specific reasons eg rent arrears - see Schedule 2), or
5) a valid S21 Notice (now form 6a) and then waiting 2 months

To be valid, a S21 Notice
* cannot expire (ie the 2 months end date) within 6 months of the tenancy start date
* canot be served within the 1st 4 months of a tenancy
* cannot expire before the end of a contractual fixed term
* cannot be served if any deposit has not been registered within 30 days of payment
* cannot be served if the landlord has not given the tenant an EPC, a gas safety report and the gov leaflet "how to rent"
* cannot be served if the council has given the LL an 'improvement order'

Additionally, if
* the tenant has written to the LL about repairs
* the LL then serves a valid S21
* the council then inspects and gives the LL an 'improvement order'
* then the previously valid S21 becomes invalid

The Protection from Eviction Act 1977 makes any illegal eviction a criminal offence (police, court, prison).

If tenant has not received this from the LL, give her a copy now: government leaflet "how to rent"

See also:
Tenancies in Eng/Wales: Guides for landlords and tenants

hazyjo

Mossfarr wrote: »

Ignore the negative posters - they have no life so should be pitied.

Now who's being judgemental.

I don't think that suggesting it be cleaned by her or a friend/relative is negative. I think it's very sound advice seeing as she's pregnant and the flat is obviously unclean.

Cakeguts

I don't want to put a spanner in the works here but people do not generally get pregnant by circumstance. So somewhere a choice was made. That choice led her to the situation she now finds herself in.

I have seen posts on here before where people have complained that they have had to clean houses when they move into them after they had been cleaned by the previous tenant so while the muck in this case may be unusual the cleaning out of houses doesn't seem to be.

The thing that bothers me most is the state of the boiler. There has got to be a gas certificate.

Smodlet

You are beginning to restore my faith in human nature, especially you, Moss, having the stones to come right out and declare your position. Do I wish I'd had a landlord like you, back in my younger days when I had to rent privately... if only.

You are so right about the negative posters, what a sorry bunch of ignorant (fill in the blanks) they must be. This board is supposed to be about mutual help and support, not the other stuff...

What rules on the forum, Jx? The forum rules! Try reading them! Nutshell version, "don't judge, be polite, even if you disagree, etc. etc." And why should any new tenant, let alone a heavily pregnant one, have to clean up that kind of crap? It's the LL's responsibility and, if she were not so afraid of being thrown out for daring to complain, that's exactly what she would have done the moment she moved in. Give me strength.

I will try to get the young lady aside, away from boyfriend, and just let her know I have done some research (thanks so much again, guys, it would have taken me ages without your help) I reckon I, and y'all have done all we can do, now but if anyone thinks of anything else that might help, please let me know. The good guys on here rock, the rest aren't worth the time.

hazyjo

I don't believe I have been impolite. I gave an option (and opinion). A valid one. At some point, she would have taken the keys or signed some sort of inventory. I'm sorry it's not what you want to hear, but that does not mean my opinion is invalid, rude, or judgemental. I feel very sorry for the woman and she is obviously in a predicament. Yes, it should all be sorted out legally and there are lots of things she needs to do and check, but cleaning... that I am afraid is priority and if she wants to wait for cleaners, the owner, agency, whoever, well that's up to her but if I were in her shoes I would be cleaning it myself or getting someone to help. Yes, she should take pictures so that when she checks out, complains, or if they try to dispute anything or keep her deposit (if she has paid one), she can at least fight her case and show how filthy it was to start with.

I have been on these forums for around 7 years and have been thanked for advice over 8,000 times. I don't expect one more from you as I appreciate you can't please everyone all the time. The world would be a very boring place if we all agreed, gave the same advice, or liked the same things.

Cakeguts

If a tenant leaves a place dirty like this one the standard system is to use the deposit to pay for the cleaning. So for the next tenants how much deposit has the current tenant had to pay?

Cakeguts

hazyjo wrote: »

I don't believe I have been impolite. I gave an option (and opinion). A valid one. At some point, she would have taken the keys or signed some sort of inventory. I'm sorry it's not what you want to hear, but that does not mean my opinion is invalid, rude, or judgemental. I feel very sorry for the woman and she is obviously in a predicament. Yes, it should all be sorted out legally and there are lots of things she needs to do and check, but cleaning... that I am afraid is priority and if she wants to wait for cleaners, the owner, agency, whoever, well that's up to her but if I were in her shoes I would be cleaning it myself or getting someone to help. Yes, she should take pictures so that when she checks out, complains, or if they try to dispute anything or keep her deposit (if she has paid one), she can at least fight her case and show how filthy it was to start with.

I have been on these forums for around 7 years and have been thanked for advice over 8,000 times. I don't expect one more from you as I appreciate you can't please everyone all the time. The world would be a very boring place if we all agreed, gave the same advice, or liked the same things.

I agree entirely with you on this.

Cakeguts

The big problem in this is that this lady makes choices in her life that she doesn't like the outcome of. She can't blame anyone else for this. She has decided to move into a house that needs cleaning so she has to make a choice again and true to form she has chosen not to clean it.

What I can't understand is the rush to live in this particular house? Where did she live before?

I feel that there is a lot more to this story that we are not being told. As it stands it doesn't make sense.

Smodlet

HazyJo, I'm so sorry; I am just so angry at the injustice in this country and on my doorstep. Have you read some of the stuff on this thread? You have been perfectly polite and, from your perspective, reasonable and of course, you are entitled to express your opinion. Have you noticed how the... let's just call them others have gone quiet, while you are still here? Good on yer! One of the other posters, elsewhere, is lamenting the lack of £30k, which is all that is keeping him/her from buying their dream £300k house... if my neighbour had £30k, do you really think she would be in the situation she is in? I think insensitivity is frowned upon in the rules so am very sorry if you feel I have shown you this. I really mean that.

Can you imagine, 'cos I can't, being one week away from giving birth and having to bend double, spend hours and hours on your knees scrubbing **** off of floors and skirting boards? With little or no support from your "man". I put that in quotation marks because no man worth the name would allow any of this to happen to his girlfriend. Yes, being pregnant is a choice, so what, CG? Maybe it's religious belief/moral conviction/free choice, whatever her reasons, they're no-one else's business and no-one deserves to be in the situation she is in, pregnant or not. I seriously doubt the deposit paid by the last tenant would begin to cover what professional cleaning would cost and already, inroads have been made to improve the place. How many times do you need to be told she is cleaning it, with very little help! Again, no more time for those who can't be bothered to read the thread. I don't suppose there is any legal provision for them to invoice the LL?:rotfl: