To expect a flat that is habitable after shelling out £12k to move in

[orangefusion]

I have posted this in legal but for traffic I am posting here too. I am so upset...

...I have just returned from dropping my son off at his first flat as a tennant- he is in his second year at uni having had halls last year. The flat was found by his friends while he was away over the summer and he did not see it until today.
The place is unibhabitable. There is six inches of damp above all the skirting boards, one bedroom is "being treated" the floor is soaking concrete, the whole place stinks of damp- the air is so humid that nothing will dry, it is insecure and the windows need to be open to breathe but it is a basement in New Cross- there are no bars or proper window locks so the windows have to be kept shut. The b***d landlord has taken 6 months rent off the boys, and a £2100 deposit. There was a dead rat in the bin which had clearly been a live rat when it climbed in. I had to leave him there but I wanted to bring him home again or check him into a hotel.
What rights have these poor kids got? The place is disgusting and I am at a loss to know how calling the agent is going to make any difference because they knew it was like this when they let it. They will fob me off with platitudes but they do not have to live there.
I want to cry- he was so excited about living out of halls but this is just so awful.
Any legal bods out there who can suggest the best thing for me to do to help?

Oh Jeees, I just read the press article. FFS how can this still happen in the fucking 21st century UK.

www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/topstories/4165676.Landlord_brothers_fined___41_000_for_breaking_safety_rules/

Well they should get a custodial sentence! My goodness.

Just goes to show that fines mean nothing :( They must make so much money renting dodgy property to unfortunate people that £10k is a price worth paying.

crossing fingers too! hope EHO nail this bastard.

can you sue this LL for the money back? can you call shelter and see how you can recover money?

Each of the tenant should file with small claims court for the amount they have paid, then they will have an individual judgement for each. And it's a smaller amount to enforce and hopefully recover.

I wouldn't delay, who knows whether they will refund ASAP knowing they're rumbled but it wouldn't risk waiting and I'd also be suing for expenses etc etc.

My god I hope they really do jail them, the lettings industry should be regulated, it's a joke people can get away with this repeatedly.

I want the press on this too. Anyone with contacts in the media here?

It will have to be three claims via SCC but I have done it before, I can do it again.

Bloody hell OP those links are shocking!

You're doing amazingly well to stay so calm when dealing with the LL. Hope it can all be worked out satisfactorily soon.

I am not calm now. I am shaking with anger.

You don't need contacts "in the media" Orange. Just get in touch with South London Press (when you are a bit calmer). They will listen.

Thanks Minty
I will do just that in the morning. I am going to bed now and will watch Declan poison Charity in Emmerdale- it is light relief after this :)

Sorry for spoiler! :)

Student digs in London are shite and expensive. Some of my sister's (UCL, 1990s) were hair-raising (think packet of pasta disappearing into rats in the kitchen within 20 mn of accidentally being left out on the counter- this flat was above a butcher's).

My children so far have made an active decision not to apply to London precisely because they don't want to live in an expensive shit-hole.

Hope your DS manages to sort something out. Is there a student accommodation service that oversees these things?

Duchesse, I am afraid that at Imperial they don't really give much of a damn. they are not affiliated to the NUS. It is down to us to sort this out. We will. Its going to be an expensive and stressful autumn :(

Wow! I used to live in the house next door to that one, many many years ago when I was a student. It was a shitpit too but not as bad as your son's digs orangefusion. You certainly can't have the windows open on that road. I never opened my bedroom window and my curtains were still black with pollution.

It sounds like you're doing a great job. Your son is lucky!

I've just read the news articles on the landlord. Bloody hell! Shouldn't there be a point at which someone should be banned from letting out properties?

Mrs Frumble
You would think that there ought to be a way of stopping people like this going on to do more of the same. But get get clever, they use agencies, family etc. this lot are turning over £300k per month in rents if what I read is to be believed.
Anyway, I'm going a bit careful now. I need to keep the powder dry for a few days.
Will update when I can.

I just wanted to say another big thanks to so many lovely posters here who have really helped.

Those of you who have an interest in this should lobby your MPs for England to introduce the same protection as Scotland has.

We have a similar system of what we call Short Assured Tenancies but

1. It's illegal to charge tenants any agents' fees.
2. All landlords must be registered with their local authorities. It's a criminal offence to let a house if not registered.
3. If the house doesn't meet the Repairing Standard (statutory standard higher than Tolerable Standard) tenant can apply , free , to the Private Rented Housing Panel who can order repairs. Even if the landlord ends the lease he cannot relet the house if there's an outstanding repair order.
4. Deposits can only be placed ìn a deposit scheme into which the whole deposit is paid- no insurance based schemes.
5. At the start of the tenancy it is mandatory to provide a Scottish government information leaflet about all of this.

Scotland sounds like a bloody dream. England definitely needs to catch up.

It's good here in NI too, if the property is older than 1945 it has to be inspected and you can't rent it without a certificate. Deposit has to be lodged in a scheme (although you can choose an insurance one if you want) and the landlord has to be registered.
There should be no insurance schemes and the interest from all the deposits should be used to fight bad landlords.
I rent out one house so am hardly a property magnate but I don't begrudge any of the measures I have to meet.

Very best of luck OP. Their previous form has I'm sure made you furious but that might be the very thing that helps you get the money back and the lads out of there. Are the other parents being of any help?

If there's no epc for the basement, ring the local building control to see if the conversion ever got signed off. Building regs (Part L1b) require one. Sign that other pertinent bits of the regs will have been ignored, which they have form for per those articles.

before we all get too excited about the Scottish utopia - the effect of this legislation was to put up rents. There are also other ways that fees are charged.

all for regulation (and I'm a landlord) but also don't get excited about using interest on deposits for anything. Not with rates at 0.5%.

Yes, good point. I suppose I was thinking that if every landlord could only put it into a deposit scheme that would still be a fair few quid knocking about.