Advice on Landlord not fulfilling Special Conditions in Tenancy Agreement

jeid2018

I will try to keep it as short as possible, but would really appreciate some outside opinions as I'm stuck as to what to do.


We viewed a house in November, when we walked in, there were works going on in the bathroom (it was completely empty), no carpets in bedrooms, and was also told more works were being done to the en suite (replaced), kitchen to have new worktop, tiling and new oven, and carpeting being done in rooms upstairs, this was all a complete surprise to the letting agent I was with, as they had no idea it was being done.


Due to a language barrier with the current tenant (the landlords mother) I ended up having a phone conversation with the landlord who confirmed all the works that were being done to the house and he expected them to be done by 31st December.


I was a bit uneasy by the call, and asked for all the works due to be completed to be put in writing via email to the letting agent, with dates, for some peace of mind before paying a holding fee, this was done so I paid and that was that.


There were other calls in between then and the new year about tile/carpet colours etc, never told of any concerns about work being completed, I was even asked to sign the tenancy agreement in early December which reluctantly I did.


I made contact with the landlord on 4th January, 6 days before I was due to move, asking if I could pop to the house to measure some things up, with in the back of my mins wanting to check the property out.


I heard back on Tuesday 7th January to say there was some bad news, he didn't believe the bathroom would be finished, the carpets weren't in (but would be by end of week), no oven had been ordered, no new shed had been installed as promised, the en suite wasn't finished, the kitchen tiling needed to be finished, and could I move in on Sunday instead of Friday as per the tenancy agreement.


A van was booked for Friday and Saturday and I had people lined up to help me move so I said this wasn't possible, to which I was informed he would prioritise clearing and emptying the house, which had yet to happen.


Naturally I was concerned so I called the letting agent, it was then at this point they told me it wasn't a managed property and that issues needed to be raised to the landlord, but they could redo a tenancy agreement with agreements the landlord would have to adhere to - it is safe to say I feel the letting agent have been completely useless and since the day they received my holding fee it appears they kept no eye on the progress of the property being completed.


It has been agreed by the landlord that the landlord will replace the four bedroom carpets , this will be carried out on the 9th January 2020
 It has been agreed by the landlord that the landlord will complete the following works to the kitchen by the 10th January 2020;
New kitchen sink
Tiling
New cooker, extractor fan and to provide a working fridge
 It has been agreed by the landlord that the landlord will remove the old shed from the property and provide the tenants with a new shed in replacement by the 10th February 2020
 The landlord has agreed to renovate the ensuite, this is to include a new shower, toilet and sink. Works to be completed by 10th January 2020
 The landlord has fully renovated the main bathroom with new tiles, toilet, sink, accessories and new heater. There is still minor works outstanding. This is to be fully completed by the 14th January once the tenant has moved in

Above is what they added in, from instruction by the landlord regarding dates, which we re-signed.


When I arrived on Friday to collect the keys, the only area complete was the carpets, the house was clear at least and I could move in.


Now, on the 24th January.......
The kitchen has had a new worktop and oven but the tiling is not finished.
The downstairs toilet has not had the sink plumbed in or attached to the wall and has painting to be done.
The bathroom still has tiling, boxing in of pipework, bath panels, sink plumbing in and attached to wall all to be done.
En suite has tiling to be painted, sink attached to wall, and there's currently no floor tiles, just plyboard.
On top of that outside has had guttering removed which means rainwater is coming out filling buckets, which landlord has said is to be sorted.
There are lots of other jobs such as covering exposed pipework around the house, fixing a gate in the garden, making safe the garden wall and paving slabs.


We have had no one here working this week at all as the tradesman employed to do the work has been away on other jobs.



Now, we are really pleased with the house, and obviously he is getting a lot of work done which eventually will be great but I can't help but feel this really isn't good enough.


I feel like I'm in such a tough situation that I have no back up of a letting agent, and I don't want to get too annoyed and frustrated with the landlord as he has the power and could just not bother to renew our tenancy at the end if he chooses?



I have 4 children, one of which has severe autism and to say this has unsettled her is an understatement, as well as a 7 month old baby, we plan on being here for a long time.



There are probably things I've missed despite all I've written, I hugely appreciate anyone that takes the time to read and let me know your thoughts.

theartfullodger

Does tenancy say what happens if those clauses are not met, please?

What actual £££ have you lost, please?

By you actions of moving in I think you may have said goodby to any compo.

Why have you waited this long before asking ?

Sorry about your experience

G_M

Start date of tenancy on the contract you signed?

If you were unable to move in on the start date eg property uninhabitable, you could claim your consequential losses eg cost of hotel, meals out, cancelled removals etc.

If you moved in and the property was habitable, you may have a claim for
* direct costs attributable to ongoing works eg time off work to grant contractors access; meals out if no cooking facilities etc
* indirect loss for breach of contract eg claim reduced rent as the property provided is of lower standard than property contracted

Have you discussed with the LL? I'd have thought any half-decent LL would accept they's let you down and offer you a rent reduction till the work is complete.

Legal action would be a last resort as
* not guaranteed
* it's always stressful
* bound to lead to eviction when the fixed term expires - no LL will want to keep a tenant who has sued them - whether succesfully or not!

AnnNother

I will preface it by saying I'm a cynic and have been burned many times so I have a hardened approach, and use my intuition a lot, but: do you know why the LL was suddenly doing this work? Does your rent reflect a "newly renovated" property with newly fitted en-suite, shed in garden, all new carpets etc?

My gut feel is that the LL is renovating it to sell as "ready to move into" (and hopes to have a tenant paying rent in the meantime to cover the gap).

The LLs mother as the current 'tenant' is a bit of a red flag given the rest of the info..

[Also Letting agent wasn't aware of the work, and presumably the agent wasn't facilitating the LL's letting of their house to their own mother, so this is a "new instruction" to the agent. Did the agent visit the house to take photos and so on for advertising? Was it in a "being renovated" state then, in which case how could they be unaware, or was it in an "old, tired" sort of state with old bathroom and so on and advertised on that basis? And then when you viewed it, it didn't look like the photos? Or were there no photos?] (I didn't make it explicit, but I would think "property imminently being renovated" would be a great selling point a LL could give to an agent.)

Set up an alert on rightmove for properties being listed for sale in 'your postcode' and (depending if it's a level of conflict you are comfortable with) have the conversation with the LL..

jeid2018

Thank you, I really appreciate your time to read and respond.


Does tenancy say what happens if those clauses are not met, please?
It doesn't state anything about what may happen no - I just assumed that as a legally binding contract, he should in effect have to do what he said he would.


What actual £££ have you lost, please?
Haven't lost any £££ as such, but we have paid the deposit and first months rent in full, next month's is due on the 8th Feb.

Why have you waited this long before asking ?
No particular reason, I don't use forums too much, but have always received great advice on here so thought I'd see what came, just needed somewhere to vent it.


I don't want to resort to legal action either for the very same reasons you state, we do want to be here for some time.


I haven't directly asked for anything as such, and have been particularly accommodating to all these issues, as like I say, I have a family to think about and don't want to have to be in this same scenario next year if he chooses to not re-let to us - inside I am so annoyed about it as it feels a bit like he's not too fussed about us as tenants.


The story with the work is that it had already been up for rent since June '19, so can only assume that selling wasn't an option.



The manager of the letting agency who I also spoke to when I viewed a different property the day after said that they had advised it needed modernising but he hadn't taken the advice, had to drop the price advertised for, still nothing, so decided to do the recommended works without informing them. All photo's did match and were taken by the agent, a lot has remained the same, it was just the dated and worn kitchen, bathroom, carpets etc.



He has stressed to me numerous times that it will be for long term let and he has no intention of selling, I do also wonder if he will want to increase the rent a fair bit next year due to the works, this is something that I suppose he is entitled to do?