Compensation for disrepair

45012168

Hello - this is a long post. Sorry - really need to clarify first n then in need of some advice.

I have been renting this property from a private landlord for almost 6 years. Throughout this period we have had several disrepair issues which we always reported to the landlord. We have always been patient and given him adequate time, in most cases more time than required to carry out any work.
In the last 6 years, I have had to contact the council twice and we have had an environmental officer inspect the property to view the damages. It was at this point we saw the landlord step up and get the work done - this was after him causing us weeks/months of inconvenience. The first major incident involving the council involved our downstairs toilet being out of use since we moved in and eventually leading to the ceiling collapsing due to water leaks in the ceiling. It was finally repaired after 3-4 years from being completely out of use.
The second and most recent incident, which we reported this year in April, involving our boiler not working at all and resulting in no hot water or heating. Our boiler was always faulty and whenever reported either nothing was done about it or after weeks of chasing the landlord he eventually sent out some cowboy plumbers who did nothing to get it working effectively and all said the boiler is knackered and needs to be replaced. So eventually the boiler packed up in April completely and since then (almost 5 months) we have had no heating, hot water. Just to add we also have 3 children under 5 including a baby. Beginning of this period while it was really cold still I had to take my children to stay at my parents, paying a lot for travelling and spending ridiculous amounts on running electric heaters. I also suffered an incident a few months ago where I cut my hands, this made it impossible for me to wash the dishes with cold water as I had fresh wounds. I then resorted to buying paper plates n cups so I could dispose them instead of washing.
In 6 years my landlord always received the rent for a property stated as 'furnished' on the contract yet there was nothing here when we moved in except some ripped/unusable items of furniture which we had to remove and replace ourself. We have always tried to carry out repair work ourself but since this boiler issue I just had enough and got the rent transferred to myself thinking it would kind of push the landlord into taking action and get the work done. I am just sick and tired of it and the inconvenience it caused my family. I am also a carer n look after my parents so all this has made it even more stressful for me.
Just to clarify I only owe the landlord 2 months rent. It is going back to him now. And we have also been served with a section 21 because of the arrears. So now I have another situation to deal with and more inconvenience as my kids will be starting school a day before the eviction :-(
I looked into all this and have contacted shelter housing who have suggested we stay put. I intended to give the landlord his overdue rent however the boiler is still not working. We are still in the same position we were months ago. He has been given 5 weeks by the council to get the work done.
There is so much more I can complain about but il be here forever. The landlady has sent me messages threatening that she will make sure I get CCJs for not giving them rent. A bit personal I think and uncalled for as I never intended to not give them the rent - I just wanted the work done.
Any advice/help on what I can do in terms of the inconvenience this has caused my family. I have been told I can get compensation or my rent reduced?
Thank you.

G_M

Have you been signing regular new tenancy agreements (eg annually) or is your tenancy periodic (rolling/monthly)?

If you are in a fixed term, when did you last sig? Before or after 1/10/15?

If after, AND you've reported the repairing issues, the (subject to some conditions) you cannot be evicted via a S21.

But if you have arrears of 2 months, you could be evicted by a S8 Notice.

You could repair the boiler yourself and deduct the cost from the rent BUT, you MUST follow the correct process. See Shelter or below.

* Repairing Obligations: the law, common misconceptions, reporting/enforcing, retaliatory eviction & the new protection (2015)

* Shelter ( claiming back cost of repairs via rent)

45012168

That's another point I need to mention. I have only ever signed 2 contracts - at the beginning. They are all 6 months each. I have requested a new contract many times but never got one.

I was told as long I signed a contract at the beginning of the tenancy that's the main thing. I don't actually have a signed contract at the moment. :-/

45012168

Shelter is advising that rent can be reduced only for minor repairs that the tenant carries out.
I don't think replacing an entire boiler is a minor job and I know it would cost quite a bit.
What about the 5 months we have had no hot water or heating?

pmlindyloo

This is very complicated and I suggest you telephone Shelter again asking them specific questions and/or go to CAB (make sure they have a housing specialist if possible)

So, first of all Shelter have given you the best advice - sit tight and wait for the landlord to go to court to evict you.

Since the landlord has issued with a Section 21 then this is not about your rent arrears. It is notice for possession and usually it has no defence except........

Has your deposit been protected and have you been issued with the prescribed information? (use Shelter's website to check the schemes)

Are the dates on the section 21 correct as regards the notice the landlord has to give?

If either one of these are incorrect then the section 21 is invalid and the LL will have to start again. You can use these reasons as your defence to the section 21.

Court orders for repossession under a section 21 are usually given if everything is correct (see above).

So really you are only employing delaying tactics.

If you do not pay the rent arrears then you can make a counter claim for compensation for a non working boiler and argue that the rent arrears should be offset against this compensation. You would need to show evidence of the boiler not working and what has happened since you first reported it through paperwork.

It could be that the judge will not entertain your counter claim for compensation and say this must be dealt with separately. No guarantee about this. You would then have to make a claim through the small claims court for compensation.

So these are some of the questions that you need to be asking of CAB and Shelter.

If you have legal cover on your home insurance they may give you free legal advice. If you are on benefits/low salary you may get free legal advice from other sources.

Certainly in the long run you will have to leave your current place but it can all be delayed. Whether you defend the court order or make a claim for compensation is down to the professional advice you receive, whether you can get some free legal advice or whether you prefer to just move on.

lincroft1710

Until your boiler is replaced, why not boil a kettle, pour into washing up bowl and add cold water until it is the right temperature.

At the moment you could only claim compensation for 4 months without a boiler (April to August}

45012168

pmlindyloo wrote: »

This is very complicated and I suggest you telephone Shelter again asking them specific questions and/or go to CAB (make sure they have a housing specialist if possible)

So, first of all Shelter have given you the best advice - sit tight and wait for the landlord to go to court to evict you.

Since the landlord has issued with a Section 21 then this is not about your rent arrears. It is notice for possession and usually it has no defence except........

Has your deposit been protected and have you been issued with the prescribed information? (use Shelter's website to check the schemes)

Are the dates on the section 21 correct as regards the notice the landlord has to give?

If either one of these are incorrect then the section 21 is invalid and the LL will have to start again. You can use these reasons as your defence to the section 21.

Court orders for repossession under a section 21 are usually given if everything is correct (see above).

So really you are only employing delaying tactics.

If you do not pay the rent arrears then you can make a counter claim for compensation for a non working boiler and argue that the rent arrears should be offset against this compensation. You would need to show evidence of the boiler not working and what has happened since you first reported it through paperwork.

It could be that the judge will not entertain your counter claim for compensation and say this must be dealt with separately. No guarantee about this. You would then have to make a claim through the small claims court for compensation.

So these are some of the questions that you need to be asking of CAB and Shelter.

If you have legal cover on your home insurance they may give you free legal advice. If you are on benefits/low salary you may get free legal advice from other sources.

Certainly in the long run you will have to leave your current place but it can all be delayed. Whether you defend the court order or make a claim for compensation is down to the professional advice you receive, whether you can get some free legal advice or whether you prefer to just move on.

Thank you for the advice.

I'm not sure about the deposit. I will look into all that.

I was under the impression that S21 is issued if u are in rent arrears. Isn't that one of the reasons it is served? Other than 2 months rent arrears I have done nothing else to warrant a S21.

From what I understand the tenant had to be in atleast 8 week arrears for a notice to evict to be issued. My landlord agreed that I could keep £200 from my rent, which would cover the cost for some other repair work we carried out ourself. So technically would I still be in 8 week arrears if I minus £200 from what I owe? I'm not sure how that would work. Or would I have to account for the 8 week arrears and then take £200 out. I was trying to figure out if that would make the notice void.

45012168

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Until your boiler is replaced, why not boil a kettle, pour into washing up bowl and add cold water until it is the right temperature.

At the moment you could only claim compensation for 4 months without a boiler (April to August}

We changed from a normal kettle to one of those one cup breville kettles a while back. I would have to wait a long time to fill up the washing bowl as the kettle only releases one cup worth of water at a time.
Not the landlords fault but if I was to go buy another kettle that would make it his fault. Why should I have to spend more?
It would be different if he was willing to pay for it but that's unlikely otherwise he would have got the boiler sorted long ago.

Pixie5740

45012168 wrote: »

Thank you for the advice.

I'm not sure about the deposit. I will look into all that.

I was under the impression that S21 is issued if u are in rent arrears. Isn't that one of the reasons it is served? Other than 2 months rent arrears I have done nothing else to warrant a S21.

From what I understand the tenant had to be in atleast 8 week arrears for a notice to evict to be issued. My landlord agreed that I could keep £200 from my rent, which would cover the cost for some other repair work we carried out ourself. So technically would I still be in 8 week arrears if I minus £200 from what I owe? I'm not sure how that would work. Or would I have to account for the 8 week arrears and then take £200 out. I was trying to figure out if that would make the notice void.

You are confusing a Section 8 (ground 8) notice with a Section 21 notice. The Section 8 can be used when there are arrears whereas a landlord needs no reason whatsoever to issue a Section 21 and providing it has been issued correctly, deposit protected correctly, etc there is no defense against it.

If you were to be evicted using the Section 8 route you might have found the council less willing to help as you would have intentionally made yourself homeless by not paying the rent whereas they are more likely to help re-house you with a Section 21 based eviction.

Pixie5740

Unfortunately as you aren't protected by the new law preventing retaliatory evictions for repair requests (they're only for tenancies which started after 1st October 2015 at the moment). All you can really do is keep escalating the repairs to the council but now that your landlord has issued a Section 21 it's a bit pointless as sooner or later they'll get you out of there.

I doubt you'll be able to claim any compensation or rent reduction for the period you've been without a working boiler but Shelter would be able to advise better than me about that.

So I guess it comes down to what you want to do OP. Do you want to wait for the bailiffs to physically remove you from the property so that the council will help re-house you (gatekeeping) or do you want to chalk this up to experience and find a new home before this reaches court where you'll be protected from retaliatory evictions thanks to the Deregulation Act 2015?

G_M

45012168 wrote: »

That's another point I need to mention. I have only ever signed 2 contracts - at the beginning. They are all 6 months each. I have requested a new contract many times but never got one.

I was told as long I signed a contract at the beginning of the tenancy that's the main thing. I don't actually have a signed contract at the moment. :-/

You were told right.

You have a periodic tenancy that rolls on month by month (or week by week) for ever, or until either you, or a court, end it.

Your signed contract is the last one you signed - the terms have not changed except the way it ends.

See

* 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?