Broadband down on lodgers agreement - advice needed please!

HampshireH

Is it worth the hassle for little more than a tenner? Really? Your LL if MSE (even if not up on being a LL) may have a £20 package. You arent owed a lot. Thats on the asssumpton that you are sole tenants. If your in a HMO then sit that between those "lodging" in other rooms.

Sounds like more hassle than its worth

getmore4less

What package did they have?

Bet they cancelled it

As a "lodger" your utility of that is just a share so not even the full amount.

You could consider just changing the locks and stay as a tenant.

Tell them as they have not lived there you are a tenant and staying

Then get your own lodgers in to use the room they should have been using.

chanz4

Your not a lodger if the landlord doesn't stay there, trust me on this one when I took over my fatherin laws hmo and used a solicitor. Your a tenant, also if you have paid him a deposit and I bet hes not secured it you could take legal action against him.


Broadband wise, ask him to buy you a mifi for the property if cant get any sooner

G_M

As others have said:


* the broadband is a non issue (unless perhaps you can prove that he cancelled it rather than that it's a mistake by the BB provider, or a fault). Things break or fail. Your boiler might break - provided the landlord acts reasonably to fix you are not due compensation.


* you are almost certainly a tenant, not a lodger. So by law:


Since 1/10/15, new tenants must receive the 'Prescribed Information':
* government leaflet "how to rent"
* EPC (min E rating)
* Gas Safety Certificate if there's gas
* Smoke detectors on each floor
* CO alarm if there's solid fuel heating.

* From 1/2/16 landlords must check tenants' immigration status.

* furniture - certified fire-resistant
* electrics & electrical appliances - safe.
* Security deposit - registered & 'Prescribed Information' provided within 30 days of receipt. Failure has serious consequences.

Honeylife

Hjad wrote: »

So it is a lodgers agreement -
But the landlord hasn't stayed since we have been there in March, only for post etc.

Deposit was paid at the time.

Hoping I am replying to the comments correctly - sorry not sure how to use the site yet as very new to it!

Thanks :-)

If the Landlord is not living/staying there in a designated room regularly, you are clearly a Tenant, not a Lodger. He just using the address for post.

Regards the original query about loss of Broadband. I really think you should question whether it is worth the hassle of badgering for a two week refund. Which really isnt very much in real terms its just you clearly have been inconvenienced. But you are leaving and want to leave smoothly ie you want your deposit back without any delays and aggravations. That is far more valuable than quibbling about two weeks of broadband refund.

Unless you pay in cash every month, reporting him to HMRC is just another unnecessary aggravation. You actually dont know if he is or is not paying what he is supposed to but I do know someone who reported their Landlord to the HMRC and was told the Landlord paid his taxes correctly and on time and there was nothing to investigate!

Some you win and some you literally have to walk away from. You are leaving in a matter of days, focus on getting your full Deposit back and make sure the next place you rent you are a Tenant with the correct AST.

Murphybear

AdrianC wrote: »

As with anything else, the general rule-of-thumb is whether you'd be able to get it sorted substantially quicker if you were an owner-occupier.

If this is down to a problem at the supplier's end, then so long as the landlord is on them and it'll be fixed as soon as the supplier can, there's no more that can be expected. Any compo from the supplier would come under the terms of the contract - and for a residential connection, that's usually minimal.



If broadband is so important to you, are there workarounds you can take to mitigate the outage? A 4G router or tethering to your phone, perhaps?

We had a similar problem last year. Our broadband went down and it took them 3weeks to sort it out. We asked for compensation from the supplier, Plusnet, but their response was "we don't guarantee you will get broadband":(

We would have gone with someone else but as the property was a farm on the edge of Dartmoor Plusnet or BT were the only suppliers available.

Comms69

Murphybear wrote: »

We had a similar problem last year. Our broadband went down and it took them 3weeks to sort it out. We asked for compensation from the supplier, Plusnet, but their response was "we don't guarantee you will get broadband":(

We would have gone with someone else but as the property was a farm on the edge of Dartmoor Plusnet or BT were the only suppliers available.

They should refund the bill payment for that period.

Comms69

Honeylife wrote: »

If the Landlord is not living/staying there in a designated room regularly, you are clearly a Tenant, not a Lodger. He just using the address for post.

Regards the original query about loss of Broadband. I really think you should question whether it is worth the hassle of badgering for a two week refund. Which really isnt very much in real terms its just you clearly have been inconvenienced. But you are leaving and want to leave smoothly ie you want your deposit back without any delays and aggravations. That is far more valuable than quibbling about two weeks of broadband refund.

Unless you pay in cash every month, reporting him to HMRC is just another unnecessary aggravation. You actually dont know if he is or is not paying what he is supposed to but I do know someone who reported their Landlord to the HMRC and was told the Landlord paid his taxes correctly and on time and there was nothing to investigate!

Some you win and some you literally have to walk away from. You are leaving in a matter of days, focus on getting your full Deposit back and make sure the next place you rent you are a Tenant with the correct AST.

There is a suspicion that the landlord may be claiming exemption under the rent a room scheme - common when providing 'lodgers agreements' to tenants

martindow

As the LL has not complied with his legal requirements, this give you a lot of leverage if there are any issues returning your deposit. The LL's losses if you chose to go to court over not protecting the deposit are considerable. You have six years to consider whether you want to take court action or not.