Ending tenancy due to disrepair

Huskymumma

I've always had problems renting a decent standard of home due to me being on carers allowance, my self employed job not bringing much money in and the fact I have bad credit and pets. I know on paper I look like a landlords nightmare, but I've never missed a rent payment ever and I always keep my home in good clean condition.

Last year we relocated about 10 miles down the road because of my husbands job and and my youngest girl was being bullied badly at school. We moved into a house on a 6 month AST. It was the only house available to us in the location we wanted to live. We noted one the viewing with the landlord that the wooden windows were rotten and most of the DG units had failed, and also that the carpets were manky and the stairs were actually threadbare. He said not to worry to much about that, as on his return from a month in Portugal he'd get the windows replaced completed and sort the carpets out. He wrote it on our tenancy agreement.

I feel such a fool now for believing him.

We've been in the property since 29/9 and we have no new carpets, the windows haven't been dealt with. We have moss growing on the INSIDE of the windows and we are fighting a battle with black and white mould weekly all over the house. The house is absolutely freezing and I've had to buy fan heaters to keep the kids bedrooms warm next week and I'm blocking the windows up with old quilts. Added to this the built in fridge freezer failed a month ago and he's gone all quiet on us and not replaced it. We've approached him several times about the repairs but he doesn't answer.

We've cleaned the carpets professionally when we moved in. We've decorated the kitchen. bathroom and one bedroom. We've put lino down on the kitchen floor and tried to make the place look nice replacing all the ugly light fittings with new ones and doing the gardens, power washing the yard etc. I feel such an idiot I'm so angry that we've been lied to.

We've decided to move out, we've sold a lot of our possessions to raise a couple of grand to do so, but we are in the last month of our tenancy. Our landlord took 2 months rent instead of using the DPS scheme and I'm hoping to get out of here by mid March. The problem is despite all we've done I don't trust him to give me the second months money back.

And I'm also worried how this is going to look to a letting agent. If I get into arrears with the rent here I will never be able to move forward, but I really do begrudge paying this man another £485 - my rent is due on the 28th

Any advice what to do? by the way I have 3 kids, one with a disability and receive housing benefits.

Pixie5740

If I am understanding correctly your 6 month fixed term ends 28th March and you pay your rent 2 months in advance therefore your final rent payment should be 29th January and you don't need to make a payment in February.

The easiest solution is just not to pay rent on 28th February. Then you won't have to try and claim anything back.

Huskymumma

Yes but if I give my one month notice now, and I've not yet found another property how will that play out? Its so difficult to find a property when you have pets, defaults, disabled kids and get housing benefit. I've put my name down on the council list but it could take years even to get offered a house that way. I don't want to look like I am in rent arrears and hamper my chances even more

Pixie5740

Sorry, I thought from your OP you'd already found somewhere else to live.

If you're stuck renting this place for the foreseeable then there are ways of dealing with disrepair. You can escalate matters to the council if your landlord won't carry out necessary repairs.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs

Is there an address in your tenancy agreement for serving of notices which is in England or Wales?

Pixie5740

If/when you move out and your landlord is not forthcoming with the rent you'd need to take him to small claims court. Although it would be easier just not to pay rent in your final month once you find somewhere else. Possession is 9/10th of the law after all.

Huskymumma

Hi Pixie
We are viewing a property on 1st March - we've told them about pets, self employment, housing benefit etc and they said its fine. We are keen on the property but equally keen not to walk into a situation like this again. I tried to get the viewing earlier so I could give notice before I was technically in arrears but the agent couldn't do it.

We do have an address to escalate the repair issues to, but to be honest we just want to get out of this property as fast as possible. My husband currently has pneumonia. He's never had a chest infection before and we suspect it might be because of the mould/damp/cold and the fact we can't open the windows as the frames are so swollen and rotten.

Do you think being in arrears for like one day would really matter to the new agent? I'm worried that if I tell them about all this they will think we are nuisance tenants who want every little thing doing for them etc and turn us down