no tenancy agreement

[auntsallyann]

my daughter and her boyfriend have been renting a flat for 4 months off a guy they no, my daughter keeps asking for a tenancy agreement but as yet have not got one (the guy has now moved to spain), no safety checks were carried out on the elec and gas. now they have just received their first gas bill which was for �450, they have the heating on for around 2 hrs in the morning and 4 -5 hrs in the evening. The boiler and tank is ancient and decrepid. My daughter has asked if the landlord will get the boiler checked as the gas bill seems a bit excessive, but is refusing to do so, so they asked if they could reduce the rent by �25 per week for the next month or so and they would get the boiler looked at and repaired if necessary but he is refusing, does my daughter have any grounds with not having a lease. many thanks for any advise

[mandimoo]

its a bit of a bl00dy minded solution, but if she has no tenancy agreement, and he is in spain i would stop paying the rent altogether and look for somewhere else (no need to rush though). it would seem he has no regard for their rights and you reap what you sow.

[buildersmate]

Landlord has a duty under the Gas Safety Regulations to undertake an annual check and issue the tenant with the certificate. See here.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/faqtenant.h tm#faq2
Remind him of this and say you are stopping paying rent until he complies.

[auntsallyann]

thanks folks

[Twenty20]

Without a written agreement, by default they have an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) agreement and this does give them certain rights in Law.

There must be a gas safety check annually - the landlord can go to prison if this isnt done. Electric checks arent compulsory (yet). If they have paid a deposit it must be held in a deposit protection scheme - they can claim compensation of 3x the rent if this isnt done.

I wouldnt advise stopping paying the rent completely but if there are serious faults which the landlord isnt fixing they can get the work done themselves and deduct an amount to cover this from the rent (give the landlord notice of your intention to do this in advance).

[auntsallyann]

thanks twenty20 thats really helpful, my daughter will write to LL and inform if that this is what they will do