Rental advice needed.

treelove

I'm afraid we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. I had become ill and needed major surgery. My husband couldn't put enough hours into our company so we then had to claim housing benefit. It only covered 3/4 of our rent which meant we had to cover the other £300. We did this by selling everything of any value, even our wedding rings. We struggled with that rent and were very much hand to mouth. I was bedbound for most of the day. Our daughter is autistic and doesn't cope with change. During the whole time the agent would send people round to do quotes then after a week or so would tell us the LL either refused the quote or they couldn't reach her. It was an awful time. The first 6 years were fine. It was only once the agent took over things got stressful. I've not long had my surgery and during my recovery I've been looking at the communications and to me it looks like the agent hoped we'd leave and when we didn't they advised the LL to evict. I have paperwork and emails which confirm everything I've said is fact. She did breach the tenancy agreement and the property was falsely advertised. I can understand your points about the heating and accept that it would be a waste of time. But I have a solicitors letter from her stating it was expensive to heat the property but she had advertised it with a false energy rating whilst a bill for the exact time showed a bill for over 2x that stated amount for the time the property was vacant after we had left. Im genuinely concerned about the rental field in general if tenancies can be breached, officials lied to and properties falsely advertised. I honestly appreciate the responses

theartfullodger

Sincerely sorry to read your story:

There is great advice on Shelter's website on what to do if landlord won't fix things...
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/what_to_do_if_your_landlord_wont_do_repairs
- but too late for that (but not next time...)

If you think you have a good enough case, take court action: In your shoes I'd go see CaB and get their advice on this: With the greatest respect, and ignoring the morality/cause-of-problem, I doubt court action would be worth it. We are dealing with what the law will decide, which is not always (usually not..) the same as what is fair.

Hope I'm wrong.

If there is a gap between rent & HB then you can always claim DHP - e.g.
http://www.slough.gov.uk/benefits-and-money/discretionary-housing-payments.aspx

Best wishes

AdrianC

I'm sorry, but I just could not follow what you actually wanted.

But you're claiming for extra gas used, due to the sash window cord having broken - but you propped the window closed... So there was no extra gas being used?

You say the window invalidated your insurance. What losses did you suffer as a result?

As far as the general energy efficiency of the property - the EPC is done by a third-party professional to industry standards. You stayed in the property for six years, so you must have accepted that the EPC was as wrong as they ever are, albeit in the opposite direction to usual.

[Deleted User]

Are you in the UK?

treelove

Originally when I first wrote the post I wanted to claim for part of our fuel cost back and breach of tenancy. The sash window was an original feature and although we proped it up with wood, there was still a gap at the top and space between the two frames. The window was also rotting in places. There was no epc certificate when we let the property in 2008. The agent added the false epc rating to their website in the advert after we had left .The advert on the national property sites didn't have the epc on there as a link is needed to prove the authenticity of the epc rating. Sorry if I'm not explaining myself very well. I'm still quite medicated with pain relief from surgery.

treelove

Yes we are.

treelove

We were sent final fuel bill which was only partly ours. The part belonging to LL (she did pay it) for heating empty property for just over two weeks was over £140 yet at the same time she was allowing it to be advertised as only costing £68pcm in fuel and will a b energy rating.

Bob_Bank_Spanker_2

Let it go...

mrginge

I'm afraid you are wasting your time pursuing this.

Get on with your life and be glad you are out of there.

NYM

Coastfodder wrote: »

No, for breach of tenancy. We full filled our obligations of the tenancy: to keep the property heated and aired to prevent mould. The LL failed in hers, to fix reported faults. But, I also feel that the agent has been unscrupulous here. We let the property for 6 years with no issues. They falsely advertised it and led us to believe we had an awful LL who wouldn't ok repairs and wouldn't let us pay for them either.

:think: Am I reading this right? Are you the OP ?

treelove wrote: »

No the deposit was given to us in full 2 days after we left. We want apply for a % of our fuel cost and breach of tenancy. The monthly fuel cost for the property we live in now is £80 pcm so we are not excessive. That property got very cold quickly and the dining room would also get mouldy with a week or so after the window broke. We just couldn't keep it properly heated.