Any landlords out there?
 

I rent a 3 bed house privately! been living here for 6 months and the landlord has up til now not done any work on the house! i have phoned him, wrote him 2 letters, been up to his farm to see him and still he wouldnt come out!
I then had to get environmental health involved as i had floorboards missing, plaster falling off the walls, windows which leak and damp throughout the house!
he then comes round 6 weeks after i see EH and goes ballistic <sp?> at me for involving them even though i had tried my hardest to get him out in the 6 months i've lived here! (also have 22 month old baby running round the house!)

he then comes out puts in a new floorboard slaps a bit of plaster to cover the gap where the damp has pushed off the wall and then tells me i can decorate! surely the damp would just completely ruin any decoration?
also he is expecting me to decorate the house even though it is in that much of a state!

just wondering how much notice i have to give him if and when i find a new house to rent? also how do i go about getting my bond money back as the house is still in the state it was when i rented it from him?
I signed a 6 month lease and have signed nothing since! its 6 months today so surely i should be signing something else?

help appreciated as im looking for somewhere else to live!
Tams :D

Your notice will depend on your tenancy agreement but as you are clearly living in awful conditions then you'd be better off just leaving when you feel like it.

Of course you are highly unlikely to get your bond back taking this route but then you shouldn't have given him a bond in the first place if the property was in that condition from day one.

If it was a 6 month assured shorthold tenancy agreement you signed then there is no need to extend it after the 6 months is up, it just continues as before. The 6 months period is really to allow the landlord to ask you to leave at the expiry date.

You need to look at the lease you signed, but most are generally 6 months minimum term, with 1 month rolling lease after that.

ie, give notice today, and you only have to pay him 1 months more rent. Of course, he may have made it 2 months.....your lease will tell you.

The deposit is always tricky. Sounds like he is an evil landlord, so who knows if you'll get it back.

Sounds like you DO need to get out though.

As spoon says

+ dont pay him rent for a few weeks, cover your bond money and leave.
Leave whenever you find another place. Dont bother giving him any notice if this is how he behaves.

You could try witholding a months rent instead of getting the deposit back. You would most likely be in breech of your tenancy agreement but if you are leaving anyway..... sounds like you are better off out of there either way!

i have all my furnishings etc etc but there is no decoration whatso ever!
as for the bond surely he cant keep this if nothing has been done to the house? ie its in same condition he let it in? surely he cannot refuse to give it me back after he has not done any work on the house? the house was unsafe for 6 months and aint much better now after he came and spent a couple of hours making a mess in it?

Only reason i took this house was as i was getting pretty desperate to find somewhere in such a short period of time!
Ill dig out my tenancy agreement and see what it says.

cheers guys knew i could rely on scoobynet
tams :D

Trouble is, it'll be your word against his unless you used an 3rd party to rent the property...(who would have assessed the state of the property at the outset).

He'll just claim you made the mess, and you have nothing to prove you didn't.

Sounds like a right hovel. You MUST have been desperate! Start looking immediately for somewhere else to allow you to leave ASAP!

i have pictures which show part of the house ie pics of my boyf and lil boy say in the bedroom or living room and you can see the state of the house behind? and also the previous tenant lives approximately 4 doors down and she could never get him out to do any of the work on the house either!

and yes i was depserate hence the reason i took it! otherwise i wouldnt have bothered! shame i believed him when he said he would do the work! :rolleyes: tosser :(

have got 3 papers and a number for a house to let in the same street time to start looking :D

cheers

Well, hopefully he'll give you it back, but if not, your only recourse is the small claims court really....it's a civil matter between you & him.

Flamin- You sound like you think the bond was money for the landlord to make repairs with.

Trying to avoid stating the obvious but the bond is insurance money paid to the landlord, which he gets to keep should the tenant damage the property.

Your property was not in a rentable condition from day 1 and without pictures or witnesses the landlord will simply claim he saw you smoking the floor board one evening.

Look for somewhere now, withold the bond amount in rent and get in your wagon when you can.

Edited to say you have pictures.

how much is this bond worth, in terms of monthly rent?

£4000 a month :eeek2:
have previous tenant as a witness as she moved out december i moved in in january! :)

loverly typo's ;) £400 and :eek2: but u knew that anyway

You could just not pay the last months rent and move out now, but this is something landlords HATE :D

He would then have every right to pursue YOU for the money as you'd be in breach of contract....

In the first instance, be nice, give him your notice and ask if you'll get the bond back. Take it from there....

i need to find somewhere to live first :mad:

A personal question Tams, are you paying the rent yourself or is the DSS? If it's the DSS, the only recourse you have is to go through the Small Claims Court to try and get your bond back. That's why it's always advisable to rent through a third party like an Estate Agent, as they normally retain the bond/deposit money in a Clients Account on behalf of the Landlord

DSS pays it til i start back at work. bond had to be paid by me as they wont pay it.

looks like i'll be sending the big boys round to get my bond money back :eek:

Nice to see your awake after the bla bla thread lynne :D

Have you tried asking him for your bond money back?
If you have and he said no then go down citizens advice,if not then try asking and see where you stand.

No i haven't as yet. Im currently looking for another house to live have called 2 places today! i guess i have to find somewhere first then i can get out of here!

The above post of mine should have read dss pay some and i pay rest!

Thanx for your help!