Rented property 20+ years - neglect

hinton7

Property is in england yes. He has now issued a 2 month section 21.

Mum put up with it as i said because council were no prepared to help, along with the fact he could issue a S21 at any point. 3 young children as a single mother is hard enough, let alone her anxiety and depression. She is a person who does not like to cause fuss.

theartfullodger

hinton7 wrote: »

Property is in england yes. He has now issued a 2 month section 21.

Mum put up with it as i said because council were no prepared to help,...

OK, understand but has she ever written to the landlord, as a 1st step, to sorting things out??

...... along with the fact he could issue a S21 at any point. .....

That's why in my 1st post I asked

theartfullodger wrote: »

....
Does your mother have an Assured Tenancy??
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/private_renting/private_renting_agreements/assured_tenancies
(That she has signed an Assured Shorthold Tenancy may not mean she has one..).......

If she moved in 20 years ago unless the landlord can prove he served a "section 20" notice - see
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/content/what-is-a-section-20-notice
- she would have had an "assured tenancy" not an "assured shorthold tenancy". And it would still be an AT, notwithstanding if she'd signed ASTs since, so there would be no option for landlord of an s21.

I realise that these are things that happened 20 years ago but it is VERY IMPORTANT so please, please, to help mum, when she 1st moved in did she have an AT and was she served with a "section 20" notice?

Is she on the council housing waiting list please?

Good on you for trying to help. Hope things get sorted.

dancingfairy

What do you want to achieve? Do you want to force the landlord to do repairs ? Help your mother move? Report the landlord for the offences/ make his life difficult?
There are 2 ways to enforce repairs 1 is going via the council, the other is following a specific process starting with writing a letter detailing all the issues and asking the landlord to fix them ( further details in the shelter website).
There are various people you can report him to - council, mortgage provider, health and safety executive, hmrc etc.
If you explain what you are trying to achieve people can advise further.
Also do bear in mind the landlord does not have e to provide double glazing ( although you might like it).
He basically has to provide a safe house with access to sanitation, cooking facilities and water I think.
Df

paddedjohn

Still can't see how your mother put up with the property for so long, there are always other options she could have pursued like looking for somewhere else to live. (Not a snotty answer, just being realistic)

McKneff

I cant stte how she has put up with it all therse years and to be honest, I cant see how you have stood by and watched her go throught itl

Did it not occur to you to help her to move etc

hinton7

Right. For the people who say "why has she put up with it" read earlier, when we asked the landlord to do repairs, he always told us to do repairs and then he pay us. So we went to the council who did not want to know, literally. We have never had a contact number, address NOTHING for him. He would just turn up at the door expecting to be let in the property. When ever he turned up it was always the same story, i have just come back from pakistan, sorry i have not been in touch.

He informed us Oct 2015 that he has the intention to sell the house and issued mum with a 6 month section 21, which was not legal apparently. Again council did not want to help mum. April 16 and we did not hear off him until 2 weeks ago when the Environmental Health got involved and ordered him to get a boiler installed, " as the old 1 is approx 60/70 years old and does not work".

raising 3 pre-puberty boys on her own after my father used to beat us daily, is something i will always be thankful for. She could of so easily give up, but no she give us everything we ever wanted.

I worship the ground she walks on so for people to say i wasnt helping my mum, i feel is disrespectful.

All i wanted to know is if we have reasonable grounds to get action against a rouge landlord.

This world is too judging.

Keep_pedalling

I think your priority should be getting your mother into alternative accommodation. Renting from a absentee slum landlord is no way to live, and there must be far better options for her that will geve her a better quality of life.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

hinton7 wrote: »

Right. For the people who say "why has she put up with it" read earlier, when we asked the landlord to do repairs, he always told us to do repairs and then he pay us. So we went to the council who did not want to know, literally. We have never had a contact number, address NOTHING for him. He would just turn up at the door expecting to be let in the property. When ever he turned up it was always the same story, i have just come back from pakistan, sorry i have not been in touch.

He informed us Oct 2015 that he has the intention to sell the house and issued mum with a 6 month section 21, which was not legal apparently. Again council did not want to help mum. April 16 and we did not hear off him until 2 weeks ago when the Environmental Health got involved and ordered him to get a boiler installed, " as the old 1 is approx 60/70 years old and does not work".

raising 3 pre-puberty boys on her own after my father used to beat us daily, is something i will always be thankful for. She could of so easily give up, but no she give us everything we ever wanted.

I worship the ground she walks on so for people to say i wasnt helping my mum, i feel is disrespectful.

All i wanted to know is if we have reasonable grounds to get action against a rouge landlord.

This world is too judging.

Strikes me you don't like any of the (very reasonable) responses. I think you should have done more for your Mum. Shame on you for letting her live in such squalid conditions. Shame on you for now trying to milk the situation for financial gain.

You'd be better off looking for a warmer, happier home for your Mum than looking to make a few quid.

What is this world coming to, when children let their elderly parents suffer like this?

theartfullodger

Come on guys, I think hinton may not be that old, he's trying to help mum..

Hinton, PLEASE answer my questions about mum's original tenancy & s20 notice. It is possible that her tenancy is not an AST & so there is no possibility of an s21 being valid at all.

tlc678910

Twinkletoes - a bit harsh - I assume we are speaking with someone who was a child for most of the time in question and could realistically have done very little to help his mum.

Hinton7 I think you must work closely with your council housing officers. If your mum's eviction is not legal and she leaves the property the council may find her intentionally homeless and not help her. Make sure she is going to the council and sharing all documents and her tenancy if she had one and can find it.

If the property is not fit to be lived in ask the council if they can inspect it and your mother may get to be on the housing waiting list because of this. I see you mentioned the council forced the landlord to install a new boiler so they may consider it is habitable with this in place?

If your Mum wants to move without a valid eviction and the council are not offering to house her she will need to find a new private rental.

Good luck with it.
Tlc

Edit: as an aside it is quite startling that generally we talk about what a landlord must do (with the implication that otherwise they will be in big trouble) and yet when someone is the most appalling landlord and doesn't even bother with gas checks or to provide hot water basically nothing happens?? (Yes they've been told to install a boiler but so what - it's what they should have done anyway?