Can I take this NIGHTMARE landlord to court?

There is a way around... Whicb gives you more time.

##Double check with shelter though. ##

No gas safety it means the s21 is invalid.

Wait til s21 expires.

They'll have to serve again... Then they will have to go to court.

Find out the backlog at local court. This gives you more time.... When we looked into ours (advised by lawyer) it would likely be almost 9 months.

It also gives you negotiation position.

Dear landlord
The s21 you served is invalid.

However we are willing to vacate by (long time ahead) as long as you pay for xyz (for us when they sold a place from under us we'd been in for 7 years... We got them to pay for our 2k of moving costs....

It gives you lots of time, hold your nerve.

entirely upto you if you want to bring a case, but bear in mind the costs involved, which you will need to cover assuming small claim, unlikely costs will be awarded, and also that cases are taking along time to get to court atm. Personally I wouldn’t bother.

Yes correct. OP needs to establish whether there was a certificate and it just wasn't given to her or if there was no valid certificate in existence at that time.
She should contact the landlord let them know that she has not been provided with a certificate that was valid when she moved in and therefore will not be leaving in line with the invalid Section 21.

This

I was getting electric shocks off a shower in a rental. Called agent repeatedly about it and the landlords mate kept being sent round to fix it and it was never fixed. Then we discovered there wasn’t an electrical safety certificate nagged for that and landlord dodged it despite it being legally required. Paid for our own one and he disconcerted the shower and told us it was dangerous surprised no one had died the shower wasn’t earthed and had a live wire getting wet every time we used it. Landlord paid for his own electrical test got the same results and then evicted us I guess when he heard the cost to get it safe. My partner sought advice on it and we were told we could get the money we paid for our electric test back but unlikely to get anything else.

makes me wonder if you rented the same house! It’s shocking landlords can just get away with this

Solicitor here.

This is the legislation the OP is referring to (I think):
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homes-fitness-for-human-habitation-act-2018/guide-for-tenants-homes-fitness-for-human-habitation-act-2018I

Tenants may have an entitlement to compensation (as well as enforcing repairs to dangerous defects/conditions).

I'm not sure what OP could expect to be awarded - will depend on type of danger, how long it lasted before being addressed and what risk of harm to health (and if harm actually suffered). I would say it's probably not worth the hassle of court for a probably token award, unless the motivation is for the satisfaction of having the landlord publicly rebuked by the judge in court.

This is separate from the s21 process.

There may have been an up to date cert from the previous tenancy though.
So it’s not necessarily a case of no cert. Just no cert issued with the tenancy.

This in itself is an issue but not one that can’t be rectified by the landlord issuing it now and then the s21 again. A delay for the landlord but it won’t make much difference to OP.

You can have a case I would go forward with the claim .

Agree with this.

Theres no case
You brought up issues which were dealt with. That’s it.
He should have issued you with the Gas certificate but tbh it’s not that big a deal as he has actually had the gas checked. No cert is not the big deal you might think it is. The landlord will just issue it as soon as he realises or is told to. He may have to start the s21 again that’s all.

You haven’t lost any money or suffered any injury. It doesn’t sound like there was anything wrong with the house in your op. The lack of an EICR is not something you can sue over unless it somehow cost you. It didn’t

Not sure why you’re being so unreasonable but you have no chance of any court award here

How can he break a two year contract he has signed.

OP, can you please elaborate what the initial problem was that required major building work?

In my opinion, any claim you make will depend on whether the landlord can show they didn’t know about the defect, let the property in good faith and then did the necessary repairs as soon as possible. Even if they can show all of that, you may be able to claim an amount for lack of quiet enjoyment, but the amount would be proportionate to the above.

What was the follow up issue that required the council to be involved? Was it an electrical issue, or did they notice the electrical issue when they were there for something else?

As others have posted, if the deposit was not protected and no gas safety certificate was issued at the time of you moving in, the section 21 will not be valid so you can challenge it on those grounds. I’m not sure if a lack of EICR is also grounds to challenge a section 21.

But it sounds like you don’t want to stay, and want a refund of some rent? Your best bet is to challenge the section 21, then negotiate with the landlord a partial refund for the initial building work, perhaps by starting a small claim (say 50% of the rent for the time the work was happening, but accept less rather than go to court as I don’t think you have a slam dunk case…)

What is the case for court about?

This sounds standard for most rentals. You're lucky they actually did the initial building work.
Just be grateful this is just a temporary choice rather than your actual permanent living situation.

Not always. It doesn’t have to legally be 6 months. It can be whatever the landlord wishes it to be.

Are you sure you didn't get an EICR? It's often on the leaflet agents hand out when you sign the tenancy...

I had a horrendous experience with a landlord in my mid 20s. They were acting illegally. Had a bloke from their church overseas turning up at the house every day for weeks and weeks doing work that was supposed to take days. Landlady turned up one night, entered a spare room (house was a large, shared 5 bedroom with only three of us living there) and came out in her PJs announcing that she was staying the night!

Was told very firmly to fuck off, wouldn't leave until we threatened to call the police and report the guy doing the work. She left, telling us we had 30 days to get out.

I went to the council, told them the whole story (lots more to it that you just wouldn't believe) and they contacted her. Turned out it was her daughter who lived in the UK who was dealing with everything, landlady actually lived in Nigeria. Council told her we were entitled to 8 weeks notice, got us our full deposit back, and that we wouldn't be paying rent for the last eight weeks as recompense for what we'd been through.

Didn't cost us a penny, but they were obviously terrified at the prospect of the council/authorities getting involved.

Even then, knowing we were leaving, not having to go court etc, it was a super stressful time.

His unfit house is causing him a fortune, the OP has not asked for a solid gold toilet, just a safe home!

It's quite common for previous homeowners to think their landlord is a "nightmare". Sadly this is the state of the rental market right now. Many of us, myself included, have had landlords far worse than this. It's shit.

That being said, if you think you have a case and can win then go for it. Unfortunately most tenants are too time poor and financially insecure to take the risk.

Honestly, you are very unlikely to get much, if any, financial compensation out of this - but it will certainly cost you time, money, and stress.

Let it go and move on with your life.

It's unlikely that you would get the full six months' rent back, but it's tough to say without all the info.

You say that there was a period of time that a number of rooms were not accessible - You may have a partial claim for that time, loss of quiet enjoyment, etc. Especially if you can prove that the reason for the works was previous negligence.

However, going to court for this will be expensive, time consuming and incredibly stressful. Do you really want those problems?

I'm sure you're feeling wronged, but you need to weigh up whether the possibility of 'winning' this fight is going to be worth it in the long run.

Agents can be just as bad as landlords. They don’t care they just want you to sign the agreement.

Definitely get proper legal advice. And sorry you had to deal with a shit landlord. Appears most of them are and seem perplexed at having to spend money to keep their property in decent condition and fit for human habitation.

And a left field idea, but we found ourselves homeless admittedly for a shorter period but … airbnbs were the answer for us. Smaller generally, and with the complication of no fixed address plus having to put most belongings into storage. However, all were exerotionally well maintained and with responsive hosts who care about our happiness because reviews.

Many allow pets if that’s an issue. They can be slightly dearer than rentals but sometimes not by much (unless you live in holiday resort central) and many will give substantial longer stay discounts. Look in particular for non standard accommodation like annexes, massive Winnebago type things, boats, etc. We lived in an Airbnb railway carriage for a while in a similar situation. It was ace: the cost of the rental plus storage unit for our gear was very slightly dearer than an AST in a shithouse flat with dodgy landlords but we had none of the hassle of dodgy landlords which was a joy.