Taking letting agent to court

sophfree

I would like to know if I have a case against a letting agent. 
I recently signed a 3 month contract with a letting agent for a 'studio' in London. I was not living in London at the time so I had to take it on 'site unseen' but we spoke on the phone, she sent me images and it was listed on airbnb. She told me it would be furnished with dining table and chairs, sofa, bed, shelves and a hanging rail, she knew how important a kitchen was to me as I like to cook. She said I had the choice of 2 and I could choose when I arrived which one was best. When I arrived it was awful. The outside was covered in graffiti (which she said had been removed when I sent a query of a street view image). Walking into the building there is a rat infestation and graffiti on the walls. The 2 studio flats were appaulling and unliveable. The smaller of the studios did not have a bed or storage for my clothes, the bathroom window was broken so the cold air was getting in and it was a security risk, the fridge was mouldy and there was damp and mould. The bigger studio was a room with a bed, dining table, chairs, an unusable sofa, a kitchen sink with a worktop that you could not use as it had a small fridge on top and a portable hob. You could not use the worktop to cook at all. There was no washing machine, oven or anywhere to cook. The windows were not insulated properly so it was noisy and cold. There was a leak from the ceiling which had started a few days before but had just started dripping through that night. I told the agent when I go there I was not happy and I would not stay. It was not what was advertised and she started to try to back out of what she had sold me. She rushed me and told me she had to get back to her daughter, so she left stating she will sort everything out. 
I stayed 1 night but left the next day as I could not stay. I was starting a new job the next day and I had nowwhere to put clothes and I had a sleepless night from the noise, feeling unsafe and cold.
She has since given me my deposit back but kept my month's rent which she says compensates me for breaking the 3 month lease. I told her why I left and she does not accept responsibility for misleading me. She told me she would have sorted out all the issues but they should not have been issues as big as those in the beginning. I do not want to live somewhere where there will be workmen sorting out the damp, leaks, broken windows and not having storage for my clothes. To me the place was unihabitable. She threatened me and said if I take her to court she will counter claim for the 2 months rent and childcare and other fees. Can she do that?
The rent was over £1,000 so it is a lot of money and she should not be able to treat people that way. She said it is all my fault as I did not see the flat before moving in but I told her I was not able to as I did not live in London and she assured me it was a lovely, liveable place and even joked she was not a 'rogue landlord' like on the programme.
Please can you let me know if I have a case. I have photo's, emails and the airbnb listing she sent me which she used to advertise the property. I also have a text message where she blatantly lies about the graffiti being painted over and was not there anymore.
Thanks
Sophie

tacpot12

Do you have any evidence of the state of the property when you arrived, e.g. Photos or Video? Without this evidence, I think you will have a hard time proving your case. Could you get a friend to go round posing as a prospective renter? They can take the photos you will need.

She can't claim her childcare off you, but can claim the three months rent and other fees, and there is a small chance that she might win. 

I would suggest you have two options; you could send her a letter before action (without getting the evidence above) and suggest that she returns £500 to you as full and final settlement of her debt to you and vice versa, or with the evidence, you could write a letter before action asking for the full £1000. I think you need to give her something to cover her costs and to let you out of the contract, but £500 is the most I would offer her for this. 

sophfree

tacpot12 said:

Do you have any evidence of the state of the property when you arrived, e.g. Photos or Video? Without this evidence, I think you will have a hard time proving your case. Could you get a friend to go round posing as a prospective renter? They can take the photos you will need.

She can't claim her childcare off you, but can claim the three months rent and other fees, and there is a small chance that she might win. 

I would suggest you have two options; you could send her a letter before action (without getting the evidence above) and suggest that she returns £500 to you as full and final settlement of her debt to you and vice versa, or with the evidence, you could write a letter before action asking for the full £1000. I think you need to give her something to cover her costs and to let you out of the contract, but £500 is the most I would offer her for this. 

Yes, I have all evidence when I arrived the state of the property.
Why would she win though?
Surely, her giving me my deposit back is her saying she is allowing me to break my lease? I did offer her the night I spent at the property and £100 for her inconvenience and she turned it down and that is when she said, if I take her to court she will go after me for the last 2 months. The place was not liveable in - how can she win??

princeofpounds

Hi Sophfree. The problem you have is that you accepted the keys and stayed the night. That means you started the tenancy. In full knowledge of what the property was like - you were there. The fact that she had lied previously doesn't matter, because when you accepted the tenancy, you knew exactly what you were getting into. 

Her giving you the deposit back and accepting the keys back is effectively her saying that she is allowing you to surrender the tenancy, yes. But that does not mean that you get all your money back. Depending on how it is paid, rent is usually 'apportioned' monthly. You stay one day of a monthly period, you owe the full rent for that month.

Furthermore, we also get into the complication of whether this letting agent was actually the landlord, or not? You actually rent from a landlord, the agent is just their representative.

Did you sign a written tenancy agreement, or was it totally informal?

Is the agent a member of any professional ombudsman-type schemes?

sophfree

princeofpounds said:

Hi Sophfree. The problem you have is that you accepted the keys and stayed the night. That means you started the tenancy. In full knowledge of what the property was like - you were there. The fact that she had lied previously doesn't matter, because when you accepted the tenancy, you knew exactly what you were getting into. 

Her giving you the deposit back and accepting the keys back is effectively her saying that she is allowing you to surrender the tenancy, yes. But that does not mean that you get all your money back. Depending on how it is paid, rent is usually 'apportioned' monthly. You stay one day of a monthly period, you owe the full rent for that month.

Furthermore, we also get into the complication of whether this letting agent was actually the landlord, or not? You actually rent from a landlord, the agent is just their representative.

Did you sign a written tenancy agreement, or was it totally informal?

Is the agent a member of any professional ombudsman-type schemes?

got it - how frustrating. It was late, I had so much luggage, it was raining and she was rushing me and I was in shock, so that is why I stayed.
She was definitely the letting agent as her company is registered as a letting agent and she said she worked for the landlord, so does that mean I take the landlord to court?
How can these people get away with this??????
Yes, I did have a written tenancy agreement.
Will check for the professional type scheme but doubt it. Can I claim anything back from my bank?

princeofpounds

Hi Sophfree - rather bizarrely I've just replied in another thread and discovered something that you might want to look into (see below). Similar to that case however, it's not clear if you would qualify for this - I doubt it, but only you know all the representations that were made to you. Also, this route would require you to implicitly accept that the tenancy existed, so it would enable the LL/A to try counter-claiming for the months of rent missed if you failed.

Lesson for the future - don't put yourself in this type of situation again.

"There is no statutory cooling off period on tenancy contracts, it seems, despite being consumer contracts. However - and I have to admit I've never come across this before, even on this board - it appears there is a 'right to unwind' if you have signed a tenancy contract as a result of false representations. Consumer Protection (Amendment) Regulations 2014.

It requires you to apply to the courts within 90 days and it's kind of an all-or-nothing tactic it seems - either the court agrees with you, or it doesn't and you remain liable for everything. I'm not sure a just sales gloss would cut it - the light fitting exists, even if it's damaged. The shower may be a bit mouldy but there isn't a guarantee of cleanliness. Based on what you've said so far I wouldn't go for it, but you might want to look into it.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/how_to_end_a_tenancy_before_you_move_in
https://england.shelter.org.uk/legal/housing_options/private_rented_accommodation/unfair_trading_practices"

moneysavinghero

You need to look into 'Unwinding the tenancy'. Does not matter that you stayed for one night - if you sucessfully unwind in the first month you will get all your money back.

https://www.courtyardsolicitors.co.uk/news/unwinding-tenancy-after-being-misled-landlord-or-agent