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Legal matters

Landlord being unreasonable, but is it illegal..?

12 replies

Gooders79 · 19/04/2013 14:54

Our ll gave us 2 months notice on our rental property at the end of march, it was unexpected from our side. I was at the time 37 weeks pregnant and ll indicated that he was happy to negotiate on rent payments if we found somewhere to move to earlier than the formal end of tenancy. We have found somewhere and plan to move imminently. We remained under the Impression that he would negotiate as the property has been advertised on a letting agents website as being avail 3 weeks before the end of our tenancy and the details also state they will have completed significant structural work before it is next available, ie we would need to have vacated the property by the end of this month to allow him time to complete... Today he states that he will hold us to the end of tenancy and has no intention of negotiation... Does the fact that the letting agents have advertised the house as available give us any rights??

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RedHelenB · 19/04/2013 15:13

I can't see why but but you have the right to stay in the house till the end of the tenancy so I would! You may find that if he wants the structual work done he will change his mind!

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Xenia · 19/04/2013 17:13

No, they can advertise it as vacant as they probably expect new tenants will take a while to find so not much point telling people you are still in it. However as RH says you certainly have a right to stay until the end of the tenancy and indeed if you wanted to be difficult and cause the landlord a lot of cost you could refuse to budge and make him get a court order to remove you although you might have to pay the costs of that so not so wise.

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YoniIfYouSayPlease · 19/04/2013 17:41

Just use it for 'storage' until the end of the tenancy, just to make sure he isn't fleecing you!

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SuedeEffectPochette · 19/04/2013 22:31

did you pay a deposit? move out and sue him for 1-3 times the value of the deposit for not protecting it in a scheme or alternatively for not giving you the prescribed information. It is very tricky for landlords to get this right, and almost all mess up providing the prescribed information in my view. But the landlord can make you pay till the end of the tenancy, yes.

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Gooders79 · 20/04/2013 07:24

Unfortunately he has used a deposit protection scheme so no recourse via that route. I think this house is about to become the most expensive storage facility I've had for a while.... I think we will probably delay keys handover etc until last day of tenancy and ensure that he continues to gain access etc with our consent etc rather than us paying for him to have his workmen here. On the plus side I could make my parents stay here after the baby is born, might give us some much needed family space and get them out of our hair....

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RedHelenB · 20/04/2013 08:11

There you go then - every cloud has a silver lining!

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Gooders79 · 20/04/2013 09:25

At nearly £3000 a very expensive silver lining though.... Last thing we need with moving costs, likelihood he will shaft us n deposit as well and any due tomorrow...

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NotMostPeople · 20/04/2013 09:28

There's every chance that when you tell him you'll be staying until the end of tenancy (he doesn't need to know that it'll be storage/parents) he may well change his tune if he wants to get in and make repairs etc. you can be difficult about viewings regardless of what your contract might say you can state the law about quiet enjoyment.

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EllieArroway · 20/04/2013 11:58

So - you verbally agreed with him that, if you found a new place before the expiration of the notice & end of tenancy, he'd be a nice guy and probably do a deal on the rest of the due rent? Well, there's nothing in law that could hold him to that if he's changed his mind, I'm afraid.

Are you sure the notice he gave you was absolutely correct with dates & stuff? It's amazing how frequently LLs & agents get this wrong. It's not just two months notice he needs to give - it's very, very specific to dates.

If he has got it wrong, then this would give you leverage to end the tenancy early.

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SuedeEffectPochette · 21/04/2013 11:45

Even if he did protect the deposit in a scheme, did he do it within the required time limits? Did he provide you with the prescribed information within the time limits? Most if not all landlords and agents are not complying with these requirements, IMO. You can google this and see if he complied. If not 1 - 3 times the deposit is yours for the suing!

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Gooders79 · 02/05/2013 11:12

He has provided adequate notice and used the deposit scheme appropriately. Now we have moved out but still paying he wants access to complete some general works, rehanging of doors etc which I think is classed as improvements rather than repairs (we have never had a problem with the doors!) he wanted access on bh Monday which we have refused as we are busy, now says he's coming next Tuesday and wants access himself too. Feeling frustrated that we are in effect now paying and having to provide access to tradesmen in a property I want nothing more to do with... On top of having a 1 week old baby and an endless stream of visitors...

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fubbsy · 02/05/2013 11:20

You can still say no to Tuesday. You have just given birth FFS. It's obviously not convenient.

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