Rental Agreement

[tylers]

Currently renting a bit of a dump. Been given notice to vacate sec 21 so no reason given. I have been very vocal with condition of the house and sought they make good. Examples are, bathroom door fell off (onto daughter), infestation of mice (we keep house clean), no electric or gas safety cert despite constantly asking for them. Electrics dodgy, sparks from plugs, live wires in pools of water in toilet, water comes in through roof that has been put on by cowboy. Boiler/heating system not working properly. Front door insecure. I could go on. I have notified the agent and landlord of all these however, no action taken on their part. I gave 14 days notice I would get quotes for the door however, they ignored. I am due out at the end of July although if something else comes up I want to move sooner. Will I be in breach of contract if I do? I believe they have breached the contract by all of the above therefore it is nul and void...correct? Everything I have done is in writing. No inventory or condition report was taken on moving in, neither was meter readings. All bills up to date and we have been very good tenants despite the sh*t hole we are living in.

[tonywiltshire]

Move out if you have somewhere else to go on the date given in the section 21 notice, which must be properly worded to be legal, if you have not arranged alternative accommodation do not leave until you have if this is only a short time away, the Landlord must apply to the County Court to enforce the possession and this will take a little time.
Just because the landlord has allegedly not complied with the agreement does not give you the right to also ignore the terms, you can of course move out early provided you pay the rent to the correct date.

[tylers]

Thank you Tony, so what you are saying is the landlord can get away with it? End of lease is 31 July so a bit of time to go. The house is dangerous to say the least, insecure and infested with rodents. Surely I have some comeback on the landlord. I continue to pay the rent and do everything IAW the contract however, it grips me that the landlord and agent continue to ignore our requests for action.

[friedgreentomato]

Have you contacted the council? Most have bad landlord schemes and would be interested in agencies renting unsafe properties.

[Peter Pedant]

yeah I would take photos to be honest.

No you cant act as you like - TW's advice is tip top
and the contract is NOT void

Your contract will say how much notice you have to give to vacate yourself - it is probably about a month (the rent period). If you have been given notice to leave by lets say Jul 31 and you leave on the 15th I think you are still liable for the rent up to 31st. If you give valid notice you are gonna leave Jul 3rd and you do then I think you are liable for rent for the first three days of July


I actually let my tenants go if necessary at notice from them of 24h. Who wants dissatisfied tenants ? Others commonly demand rent for the notice period.

My advice is just leave on 31st Jul. Pack up go and close the door and get on with the rest of your life. Make sure the bills are paid which you are doiing anyway and dont forget to pay £25 to royal mail for the post redirected

[tonywiltshire]

No tylers you do not have to accept the situation, agreements work both ways and your Landlord has responsibilities, are you able to show you have informed the Landlord of the defects and asked them to remedy the faults, you may have mentioned it on the telephone but you need to show, preferably in writing, that you have asked the Landlord to remedy the faults.
My major concern would be Gas safety; it is a requirement that the appliances are checked in accordance with the Gas safety regulations 1998, each year. If you are satisfied that the Landlord is in breach of their repairing covenant your remedy is an action for damages, specific performance of the Landlords covenant or perhaps self-help, you may be interested in Lee-Parker v Izzet 1971.

[tylers]

Thank you Tony, grateful for the advice. Everything I have done is in writing so have all the paper work to back up my position that I informed them. Furthermore, I told them I'd hold them responsible for any loses I incur due to their lack/nil engagemet. The down pour we had tonight flooded the utility and kitchen yet again. I was minded to get quotes for repair, give them to the agent/landlord, if nothing happened within, say 14 days I was going to go ahead and take the £ from the rent, reasonable? This included the safety certificates. The fact the kids can't have sleep overs or I can't have family to stay due to no door on bathroom also p***es me off. Thank you again.

[tonywiltshire]

Taking the self-help option, under section 11 of the landlord & tenant act 1985, subject to some provisions of the agreement being for less than 7 years and signed after the 30 October 1885, the Landlord must keep in good repair the guttering and down pipes which the failure to do may have resulted in your flood. I suggest you get 3 quotes to carry out the necessary work write to the Landlord referring to the earliest date when you complained, and give him a reasonable time to carry out the work and if not done give warning your remedy will be to have the work done and deduct the cost from the rent owed, as S 11 L&T act 1985.
If this is ignored go ahead with the work yourself and deduct the lowest cost, what is a reasonable time to allow the landlord to carry out the work? Your 14 days I would suggest is reasonable if you are leaving at the end of July 2013.