Compensation for tenancy???

Manet1832

Hi,

Im just reaching out for some advice.

I was renting a grade 2 listed property from 2018-2021 which had multiple problems including damp and inefficient heating. However, following the landlords decision to sell the property a survey was carried out by a prospective buyer and part of the building (the original stairwell) was deemed unsafe and condemnable. I actually raised the condition of the stairs to the agent when they carried out their initial 6 month check on the property and they brushed it off as being fine. As my family and I were living in the property when the stairwell was in such condition I was wondering if we would be able to claim back our rent for that period? 

We had moved out before the the survey was carried out.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks 

BarelySentientAI

Even if you can, and I don't think you can, I also don't think you should.

What grounds would you want to claim back rent on?  You can't say it was uninhabitable, because you were habiting it.  You can't say that part of the property was unusable, because you were using it.

user1977

Your rights are to demand the landlord carries out repairs (if those are necessary). It doesn't sound like you've done that?

Mark_d

So you and your family were put at risk, by an unsafe stairwell, for a period of time but you suffered no injury/no damage to your possessions. There we no consequences to you caused by using the unsafe staircase.  So how much do you think you can claim?

pinkshoes

Manet1832 said:

Hi,

Im just reaching out for some advice.

I was renting a grade 2 listed property from 2018-2021 which had multiple problems including damp and inefficient heating. However, following the landlords decision to sell the property a survey was carried out by a prospective buyer and part of the building (the original stairwell) was deemed unsafe and condemnable. I actually raised the condition of the stairs to the agent when they carried out their initial 6 month check on the property and they brushed it off as being fine. As my family and I were living in the property when the stairwell was in such condition I was wondering if we would be able to claim back our rent for that period? 

We had moved out before the the survey was carried out.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks 

Compensation? How very American.

What are your financial losses? 

Why are people so quick to demand money for what could have happened yet took no action at the time?

If you genuinely felt the stairs were dangerous and the agent ignored you, then you get someone in to take a look at them, and if they condemned them then you would absolutely have a case to be compensated for the inconvenience of having to move out whilst repair work was done. If this house was so damp and the heating so awful and the stairs so bad, why stay? Why not move?

My advice would be to move on with your life and stop chasing what ifs. 

theartfullodger

Yes you can ask for compo...  No, Landlord doesn't have to pay unless IMHO you suffered a loss.

Not doing anything whilst living there is not the position to start from.

Wonder what else Landlord got wrong - probably loads of paperwork.  So would likely have been unable to force eviction.

Just because landlord sells does not end tenancy nor compel tenant to leave.  You stay, new owner just becomes new landlord. 

Manet1832

I thought it was illegal to let a property that was condemnable???

Schwarzwald

the time to take action was when you lived there.
not some 3 years later.

also, just because some buyer's surveyor says xyz it doesnt mean it is xyz.
so no, it hasnt been established that the property is or was condemnable. it's just an opinion by some surveyor.

plus, the purpose of a staircase is to ... go up and down. so were you able to .... go up and down?
if yes, there was no actual negative impact on you.

and if there were, you should have raised it years ago. 
quite astonishing way of thinking tbh.

BarelySentientAI

Manet1832 said:

I thought it was illegal to let a property that was condemnable???

No, it's illegal to let a property that has been condemned.  That's a very different thing.

It's not illegal to let a property that at some time after it has finished being let, a builder (who has no ability to actually condemn anything) then says that a part of it might be unsafe.

Kim_13

As the survey was carried out after you left, there is no evidence that the property did not meet the required standard while you were a tenant.

In regards to the damp/heating, presumably it had a valid EPC when let to you (of at least an E or with an exemption registered if the tenancy began in April 2018 or later.) There is only so much that a LL can do with a listed property, which is probably part of the reason that an exemption system exists in the first place. Even if it did not, the LL being fined is most likely.

Things change over time and there is only your word that it was like that when you lived there. Environmental Health should have been contacted about the stairway if you weren't satisfied with the agent's response that it was fine. The agent may not even have told the LL that you raised the stairway with them, as you appear not to have done so in writing. The LL cannot be expected to address an issue if they are not made aware of it.

MEM62

Manet1832 said:

I thought it was illegal to let a property that was condemnable???

If that is the case the you would need to be able to prove that the landlord knew that the building was condemnable.  Are you able to do that?  As others have said, the time to address this was during your tenancy.