Problems with estate agency - renting in London

Jo1231

Hi there,
my partner and I are having a terrible experience with a new flat we moved into. Mainly the agency but also that the place hasn’t been looked after for a while. The day before we collected the key the agency told us there are a few boxes and things left from the previous tenant and they’d not defrosted the freezer. We thoughts that doesn’t too bad and at least they warned us and sorted it. We arrived to find the entire store cupboard full of boxes and lots of items still left in the flat. The professional clean clearly hadn’t been done and they only had one key to the front door. We had to cut another key for ourselves and the agency that same day. 4 weeks on and we still don’t have a key to our mailbox. They finally removed the boxes from the store cupboard 10 days after we got the key. We asked if we could paint the place which we’ve barely charged anything for as we have a family friend who paints professionally. The problem is that the agency verbally agreed that it wasn’t fair to charge us for that first weeks rent as there were so many boxes left which made it really difficult for us to move in. They’re now also saying that the landlady doesn’t plan to do anything about the store cupboard, which also had a leak, marks all over the wall and mouldy carpets. I wish I could post a photo so you can see how bad that room is. The inventory states that there’s mould in the bathroom and we told them about it also but still nothing has been done. Based on the above are we able to end our contract early legally? 

_Penny_Dreadful

Jo1231 said:

Hi there,
my partner and I are having a terrible experience with a new flat we moved into. Mainly the agency but also that the place hasn’t been looked after for a while. The day before we collected the key the agency told us there are a few boxes and things left from the previous tenant and they’d not defrosted the freezer. We thoughts that doesn’t too bad and at least they warned us and sorted it. We arrived to find the entire store cupboard full of boxes and lots of items still left in the flat. The professional clean clearly hadn’t been done and they only had one key to the front door. We had to cut another key for ourselves and the agency that same day. 4 weeks on and we still don’t have a key to our mailbox. They finally removed the boxes from the store cupboard 10 days after we got the key. We asked if we could paint the place which we’ve barely charged anything for as we have a family friend who paints professionally. The problem is that the agency verbally agreed that it wasn’t fair to charge us for that first weeks rent as there were so many boxes left which made it really difficult for us to move in. They’re now also saying that the landlady doesn’t plan to do anything about the store cupboard, which also had a leak, marks all over the wall and mouldy carpets. I wish I could post a photo so you can see how bad that room is. The inventory states that there’s mould in the bathroom and we told them about it also but still nothing has been done. Based on the above are we able to end our contract early legally? 

As you’re within the first 90 days of the contract starting you could attempt to have the tenancy unwound. I’ll bet your landlord takes it all the way to court though. As a landlord I’d be mortified to let new tenants move into a property in that condition you describe. 

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/how_to_end_a_fixed_term_tenancy_early/right_to_unwind

I also recommend that you write to the address for the serving of notices given in your tenancy agreement listing everything that needs repaired and if your tenancy includes the store cupboard for the cupboard to be emptied. 

I know you went to the expense of having more keys cut, utterly ridiculous that you had to have a set for the letting agent cut, but I’d have gone a step further and replaced the barrels in the locks in this instance and I’m not sure I’d have given a set to the letting agent for what has clearly been a crap check-out of the previous tenants.