Landlords (Bringing them down)

[Kingy_85]

We moved into a house in Anstey July last year, its 100 years old but renovated inside (to some degree).

Once winter came along it became apparent that there was a serious issue with the central heating. The new combi boiler fitted onto the old radiators/pipes system was not powerful enough to heat the house. There is no double glazing (except the large bay windows at the front of the house) so the house was stone cold, with or without the central heating on. You could leave the heating on all day and still return to a freezing home. The kitchen was Inhospitable.

The paint along the supporting wall of the living room began to peel off, revealing a serious damp issue unmentioned upon moving in. The windows in the bedroom grew mould, thick green and furry. The bedroom corner of the ceiling also grew a thick line of mould.

At this stage it became apparent our landlord was useless, on several occasions he ignored our claims altogether, when he did make it out to us nothing changed.

At one stage (during the heavy snow) the system packed up altogether and it took 4 days and 4 visits till he got it back on.

Our little lad kept getting ill, and after the fourth visit with the same symptoms his Doctor Advised that we should move out. Later that day we told them we were leaving and wouldnt be seeing out our months notice.

They are now requesting the rent for the 1 months notice (£525). They refuse to come back to me regarding the return of our deposit (also £525).

I have involved the Enviromental health who advised me that i have a strong case, and have written to the landlord. I have also involved the Goverment scheme "Bridge" who help with tenant problems.

What else can i do ? Do i have a case ?

As always your advice/mickey taking/cable into the tv guidelines is most appreciated.

 

[camberwell fox]

We moved into a house in Anstey July last year, its 100 years old but renovated inside (to some degree).

Once winter came along it became apparent that there was a serious issue with the central heating. The new combi boiler fitted onto the old radiators/pipes system was not powerful enough to heat the house. There is no double glazing (except the large bay windows at the front of the house) so the house was stone cold, with or without the central heating on. You could leave the heating on all day and still return to a freezing home. The kitchen was Inhospitable.

The paint along the supporting wall of the living room began to peel off, revealing a serious damp issue unmentioned upon moving in. The windows in the bedroom grew mould, thick green and furry. The bedroom corner of the ceiling also grew a thick line of mould.

At this stage it became apparent our landlord was useless, on several occasions he ignored our claims altogether, when he did make it out to us nothing changed.

At one stage (during the heavy snow) the system packed up altogether and it took 4 days and 4 visits till he got it back on.

Our little lad kept getting ill, and after the fourth visit with the same symptoms his Doctor Advised that we should move out. Later that day we told them we were leaving and wouldnt be seeing out our months notice.

They are now requesting the rent for the 1 months notice (£525). They refuse to come back to me regarding the return of our deposit (also £525).

I have involved the Enviromental health who advised me that i have a strong case, and have written to the landlord. I have also involved the Goverment scheme "Bridge" who help with tenant problems.

What else can i do ? Do i have a case ?

As always your advice/mickey taking/cable into the tv guidelines is most appreciated.

Hi Kingy,

I would think that you at least have a case to get your deposit back. I would (if you haven't already) ask your GP to put in writing the fact that your son was ill 3 times and that (in his/her professional opinion) this was caused by the environment which you lived.

I hope you have photos and copies of the contracts to keep.

Make sure you have as much info about the problems as you can, write down dates and times of events, calls to the landlord, times when he didn't turn up and so forth. This is a bit of a pain in the arse but it is better to get it all down now while it is fresh in your mind.

If it were me personally i would pay to join Which, it isn't a lot of moneya nd they give excellent legal advice. They will be able to tell you what you can and can't do and probably how much money you are likely to get/lose if the case went to court.

You can of course claim off the landlord through the small claims court, but this has limitations.

If all else fails petrol bomb the bastards house!:icon_wink

 

[Willlow]

Hi Kingy,

I would think that you at least have a case to get your deposit back. I would (if you haven't already) ask your GP to put in writing the fact that your son was ill 3 times and that (in his/her professional opinion) this was caused by the environment which you lived.

I hope you have photos and copies of the contracts to keep.

Make sure you have as much info about the problems as you can, write down dates and times of events, calls to the landlord, times when he didn't turn up and so forth. This is a bit of a pain in the arse but it is better to get it all down now while it is fresh in your mind.

If it were me personally i would pay to join Which, it isn't a lot of moneya nd they give excellent legal advice. They will be able to tell you what you can and can't do and probably how much money you are likely to get/lose if the case went to court.

You can of course claim off the landlord through the small claims court, but this has limitations.

If all else fails petrol bomb the bastards house!:icon_wink

You could say you are trying to help him warm the place up :icon_wink

 

[camberwell fox]

You could say you are trying to help him warm the place up :icon_wink

:icon_cool

 

[Darth Vodka]

my old landlady was an utter bitch and she witheld my deposit on spurious grounds

but after the threat of me telling the council she was paying single person council tax and telling HMRC that she wasn't paying income tax on the rental income...

the deposit magically appeared in my bank account

 

[pork pie fox]

Is your deposit held in a deposit protection scheme?

It should be by law. If it is then there is a process for appeals against landlords withholding deposits.

The following link might help (I haven't bothered to see if it does as I'm off to the pub in 5 mins :icon_wink):
https://www.depositprotection.com/Public/Legislation.aspx

 

[Willlow]

my old landlady was an utter bitch and she witheld my deposit on spurious grounds

but after the threat of me telling the council she was paying single person council tax and telling HMRC that she wasn't paying income tax on the rental income...

the deposit magically appeared in my bank account

You should have still dobbed her in :icon_lol:

 

[fosseboy83]

You should have still dobbed her in :icon_lol:

do it, do it

 

[Cate Fox]

We moved into a house in Anstey July last year, its 100 years old but renovated inside (to some degree).

Once winter came along it became apparent that there was a serious issue with the central heating. The new combi boiler fitted onto the old radiators/pipes system was not powerful enough to heat the house. There is no double glazing (except the large bay windows at the front of the house) so the house was stone cold, with or without the central heating on. You could leave the heating on all day and still return to a freezing home. The kitchen was Inhospitable.

The paint along the supporting wall of the living room began to peel off, revealing a serious damp issue unmentioned upon moving in. The windows in the bedroom grew mould, thick green and furry. The bedroom corner of the ceiling also grew a thick line of mould.

At this stage it became apparent our landlord was useless, on several occasions he ignored our claims altogether, when he did make it out to us nothing changed.

At one stage (during the heavy snow) the system packed up altogether and it took 4 days and 4 visits till he got it back on.

Our little lad kept getting ill, and after the fourth visit with the same symptoms his Doctor Advised that we should move out. Later that day we told them we were leaving and wouldnt be seeing out our months notice.

They are now requesting the rent for the 1 months notice (£525). They refuse to come back to me regarding the return of our deposit (also £525).

I have involved the Enviromental health who advised me that i have a strong case, and have written to the landlord. I have also involved the Goverment scheme "Bridge" who help with tenant problems.

What else can i do ? Do i have a case ?

As always your advice/mickey taking/cable into the tv guidelines is most appreciated.

do you have any kind of tenancy agreement?

 

[manxfox]

did you get the deposit protection? also if you went through an agent get them to sort the landlord out

 

[Motown Fox]

do you have any kind of tenancy agreement?

The tenancy agreement should state what the landlord has to do and their responsibilities, so go through it in detail. And proof re doctors opinion (letter) photos of mould etc are essential

 

[Cate Fox]

The tenancy agreement should state what the landlord has to do and their responsibilities, so go through it in detail. And proof re doctors opinion (letter) photos of mould etc are essential

yeah, which is why I asked if he had one

 

[Darth Vodka]

You should have still dobbed her in :icon_lol:

do it, do it

crossed my mind

but i would never see her suffer, so couldn't be bothered

 

[Leesoh]

From the very little L&T I did, the landlord has a duty to supply minimum services, and this is an implied term of any agreement, so by failing to do so, he would be in breach of contract. Or that was the case in our sample brief.

My advice to you would be to seek legal advice. You are perfectly entitled to use the Small Claims Track to try and get back your deposit, but it is likely that your landlord will counterclaim the rent; if both claims are successful, you'll cancel each other out. You obviously don't want that. If successful, your opponent should bear your costs.