I’m glad I’ve been of assistance. The Landlord is legally obligated to lodge the rent money with a government approved scheme.

If he’s not and you get into a dispute over any proposed deductions which nds up with an ombudsman or a court then it will transpire that the oney was never protected. Then the landlord will autmoatically lose any rights to retain the deposit and may be obliged to pay up to 3x the deposit money back to you.

It sounds draconian against the landlord, but when the legislation was drafted there was a problem with too many rogue landlords speding the deposit on a holiday / car / whatever and not returning it to the tenant.

Also, the landlord’s Section 21 notice will be unenforcable shold you decide not to move out. And if you fancied you could play merry hell with your rather rubbish landlord. Imagine this:
- It’s the day you’re due to move out;
- You refuse;
- Landlord says “move out or I’ll go to court”
- You still refuse
- He goes to court. Court says OK, this is procedural, lets check some details. Oh, you’ve not protected the deposit. The Section 21 notice is invalid.
- Landlord says “what does that mean”
- Court says. Protect the deposit, put in a new Section 21 notice and tru again.
- Lardlord says. But I;ve exchanged contracts. And a new section 21 means another two months wait. I’ll be unable to complete. I’ll have to pay damages to the buyer.
- Court says. Not our problem. Next case, please.

Look at the blog on Section 21 for a less frivilous story about Sectoin 21 notices. I’m not suggesting you do this – it would not be the action of a nice person, but just realise that your story suggests you hold all the aces in this situation. Use them to get a fiar result for you.

Many thanks for your reply. It helped a lot. I have one question though: About the deposit, you said the landlord may have problems making deductions for damages. Don’t quite get that, as it seems he has all my money in his own account, so he can just keep it all and I’ll be defenceless. What can I do about this ? (and I’ve already asked about this both verbally and in written, and he has ignored my requests)

Thanks,
Alex

I don’t mean this to be flippant, but. Ask the agent. I don’t know what deal they are offering you and if you don’t understand it then ask them to explain it to you until you do understand it.

Remember it’s up to them to explain it in a way you understand, not you leanr their lingo.

Also: If the house is this bad, then I’d not pay one penny for terminating the contract early. I’d argue the contract is already voidable at your discretion by the landlord failing to maintain it in a condition it was advertised at and the premium price the rent has been set at.

Looking for some advice. My partner and I signed up for our renewal on 30/11/11 for our 12 mth ast. Since we did so we have had nothing but problems, the back door no longer locks, the electrics in the kitchen light have broke ( we need the upstairs floor boards ripped up, to fix it), the gas fire in the living room has failed the gas safety check and is deemed unsafe, the gas cooker (landlords) is not up to current gas safety regs. We are getting damp in the bathroom even tho the windows is always open, the upstairs toilet has broken.

All problems have been reported but nothing done.

We also have no double glazing and it’s freezing in here. But we obviously knew about that when we moved in. Also the back gates have fallen apart, so we really have no security at all at the back of the house, which really would void our insurance should something happen. ( touch wood)

Tuesday we got offered another house through a friend, it’s been done to a high spec and is £35 a month cheaper. I rang the agents today to ask about ending the ta. They said we could give 1 months notice but would be liable for rent to the end of the ta. I asked about what if the ll agreed she said then we can pay £350 plus vat, landlord fees for finding a new tenant

Do they mean then as long as we pay that then the contract will be terminated and we are free to move or do we have to wait for them to find a new tenant, then we can move?

If you’re in England or Wales, you should be offered a minimum of two months notice to quit under an assured tenancy agreement.

My feeling is that your one month’s notice is not legal and if you don’t feel like moving then you don’t have to.

No your landlord is not in breach of your tenancy contract, he’s commited a breach of H&S regulations. Failure to arrange a gas inspection can carry a heavy fine, even if no harm has come.

In order to make the contract Voidable based on the state of the gas, you’d need to show it was in an unsafe condition; remediation was not possible and immediate vacation of the property was essential. Bearing in mind you’re nearly at the end of your tenancy and you’d need to pay to get experts in to get these opinions, it’s probably not worth your time and cost doing this.

However, you do have a major bargaining chip to make your landlord behave responsibly. The H&S would be interested to hear about not arranging safety inspections. They may turn a blind eye to a few days overdue, but not 2 1/2 years. He’s only one phone call away from having his gonads put on a plate. If you’re so minded: Make him understand his reasonable behaviour in the last few weeks of your tenancy determines if you decide to make that phone call or not.

As far as viewings are concerned, you’re entitled to “quiet posession”, which you’ll find well defined in this blog. You are entitled to a minimum lead-in time, usually in the contract and often 24, 48 or 72 hours. Even if you get this lead in time and it’s inconvenient, you can say no. You may be having a dinner party that night: Who wants prospective buyers trapsing round the house? And you’re entitled to refuse any entry when you’re not present. If you know this is happening, threaten to make the H&S call! Also “several” viewings per week sounds excessive. I’d suggest to him you’d allow one visit: All prospective purchasers need to take that slot or miss out.

But you can’t use quiet posession to un-reasonably refuse any visits. If you can’t make a certain date, always suggest a sensible alternative.

Lastly, if the deposit has not been correctly lodged your landlord may have difficulties with making deductions for damages.

Hope this helps.

My questions:
- Is the LL in a breach of contract for the gas check and the deposit ? Is the contract void because of this ?
- The contract says that I have to allow viewings “in the last weeks of the contract”, how many weeks ? Can I refuse to let people in to see the house while I live in until the last 1 or 2 weeks of the contract?

Thanks

during this time, actually, 5 days after we moved in the flat, we saw mouse in the kitchen. We notified them, they sent some guy from an pest control agency and they have put poison in the kitchen but it was obvious that the kitchen has so many holes in the walls that its most likely the mouse came from there. This guy came couple of times and the last time he said they need to get a permition from the agency we are renting the flat through so they can check the other flats in the building as it might be a problem with mice between the flats , the walls. Now, it past about 2 months or so and the agency didn’t do anything about it. And just last night we saw a mouse again in the living room.

This agency has been so awful towards us since we moved in the flat. The lied to us that there was an shower facility apart from bath when it turned up there wasn’t and their comment was that it was out fault , that we assumed wrongly. There are other issues too, like the flat is suppose to be unfurnished and the landlady who owns the flat left a stinking sofa that takes up so much of our living space. We never asked for it and when we told them that we need the space as we are expecting a baby, they simply said well you asked for the sofa to stay in the begining.

I am loosing my patience with them. I am so mad at how they are treating us. When we call them in the agency, they don’t even want to speak with us and hang the phone down when my husband called today.

Sorry for going on and on with this long comment, but we really need an advice from someone as to what should we do, and what our rights are. Can we stop the monthly standing order for payment of the rent?

thank you so much in advance

Sorry I’m confused.

First up, notices to quit should not come in flavours of less than two months. This might not be a valid notice to quit.

If they’ve provided a contract and that’s all, i.e. you’ve not signed it then you’re not bound to it.

Too many “might’s and if’s” to offer you concrete advice. Would you please mind re-posting with a bit fuller story. Thanks,