Update on friends situation with dodgy landlord. More advice required please.

diggingdude

swingaloo said:

kev25v6 said:

Why repair anything? The landlord sounds like he has no money so needs to sell, why should your friend think they can just decide they are staying and it doesn’t matter what happens to the landlord? They will be evicted at some point so why not start looking elsewhere now before they get the stress of court cases and bailiffs and extra costs when they can do the decent thing and not try and bankrupt the person who’s house they are living in. 

Thank you for the reply but to clarify a few points. Firstly they will not be evicted, they have never been a day late with rent and there can be no valid notice served.

As for doing the decent thing for the landlord! 
This is a landlord who has misled them and cheated them for over 3 years. For the first 12 months he was great and because he seemed such a nice guy and kept reassuring them that they would be long term tenants (this house is my child's  inheritance etc, etc) they had new flooring/carpets/tiling all done at their own expense. They repaired a lot of damage done by the previous tenants themselves to save the landlord the bother. 
This is a landlord who recently let them spend over £1000 of their own money (which he said he would refund to them but never did) damp proofing and pointing the outside of the house to make one of the rooms habitable for the winter after the landlord said he was too ill to do the work at the moment. Bear in mind that he is a builder by trade. He also knew at that point that he was going to put the house up for sale but still let them go ahead and do the repairs at their own expense. They emailed him to say the work had been done and mentioned at the same time that they were decorating right through before Xmas to which he replied that he appreciated that they were taking such good care of the property. Then 4 weeks later he tells them he is selling and gives them 4 weeks to leave!
This is a landlord who has had bailiffs at their door because he had been sued by an unhappy customer twice. He has also folded his business twice and then started up again under a new name to avoid debt.
He has a current court case going on now with another customer suing him. He still uses my friends address as his business address. 
This is a landlord who has let them live with dodgy electrics for 3 years, he got an inspection and report done a month after they moved in but said he could not get the work done until the following summer which was over 2 years ago and it is still not done
despite the fact that he has his own electricians working for his company.
On top of that he has taken over £1500 from a lady in the village for materials and building work he has never started . This happened over 12 months ago and she is still trying to get her money back.
He is driving round in a van which has not had a valid MOT for 10 months and deleted the phone number from the side of the van so people cannot contact him.
He is the true definition of a cowboy builder and cares nothing for the safety of his tenants so perhaps they don't feel obliged to 'do the decent thing'.

He sounds useless but tenants are not children, they have chosen to stay there and spend money a property that isn't theirs. They have chosen to live like this 

Morbier

He sounds useless but tenants are not children, they have chosen to stay there and spend money a property that isn't theirs. They have chosen to live like this 

I agree. At what point do these tenants realise that it's time to cut their losses and make plans to move?  I think the best way the OP can help his/her friends is to help them look for a new home. 

HRH_MUngo

Why are they even wanting to stay in this property? They have all the time in the world to find somewhere more suitable, including approaching the council. 

daveyjp

Two ways forward.

They move out.
They stay put and this morning contact the local Council's housing standards department who will investigate.  

AdrianC

swingaloo said:
Thank you for the reply but to clarify a few points. Firstly they will not be evicted, they have never been a day late with rent and there can be no valid notice served.

As for doing the decent thing for the landlord! 
This is a landlord who has misled them and cheated them for over 3 years. For the first 12 months he was great and because he seemed such a nice guy and kept reassuring them that they would be long term tenants (this house is my child's  inheritance etc, etc) they had new flooring/carpets/tiling all done at their own expense. They repaired a lot of damage done by the previous tenants themselves to save the landlord the bother. 
This is a landlord who recently let them spend over £1000 of their own money (which he said he would refund to them but never did) damp proofing and pointing the outside of the house to make one of the rooms habitable for the winter after the landlord said he was too ill to do the work at the moment. Bear in mind that he is a builder by trade. He also knew at that point that he was going to put the house up for sale but still let them go ahead and do the repairs at their own expense. They emailed him to say the work had been done and mentioned at the same time that they were decorating right through before Xmas to which he replied that he appreciated that they were taking such good care of the property. Then 4 weeks later he tells them he is selling and gives them 4 weeks to leave!
This is a landlord who has had bailiffs at their door because he had been sued by an unhappy customer twice. He has also folded his business twice and then started up again under a new name to avoid debt.
He has a current court case going on now with another customer suing him. He still uses my friends address as his business address. 
This is a landlord who has let them live with dodgy electrics for 3 years, he got an inspection and report done a month after they moved in but said he could not get the work done until the following summer which was over 2 years ago and it is still not done
despite the fact that he has his own electricians working for his company.
On top of that he has taken over £1500 from a lady in the village for materials and building work he has never started . This happened over 12 months ago and she is still trying to get her money back.
He is driving round in a van which has not had a valid MOT for 10 months and deleted the phone number from the side of the van so people cannot contact him.
He is the true definition of a cowboy builder and cares nothing for the safety of his tenants so perhaps they don't feel obliged to 'do the decent thing'.

Well, there's a long list of reasons for the tenants to do the "decent thing" for themselves... and move.

Why are they so determined to continue to live in a substandard property with a landlord who doesn't give the first toss?