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Original poster

Landlord wants to do major work to the house

136 replies

Frosty66612 · 15/05/2018 11:46

I’m moving out of my rental early autumn as have bought somewhere. My landlord has been In contact to say he is putting the house on the market but will need access to do lots of work to it before I move out (installing double glazing in most of the rooms, painting the house, changing the whole boiler system, putting new carpets down etc). This is going to be incredibly inconvenient as I run my business from home and I also have a cat who would need to be put into a chattery whilst all this is going on.
I would have to move to my mum and dad’s for a couple of weeks while he gets people in to do it all. They will be having to move all my furniture and the whole situation is making me feel stressed just thinking about it.
I’m guessing I cant really ask him to wait until I’ve moved out and will just have to let him get on with what he needs to do? Thanks

OP posts:
Pengggwn · 15/05/2018 14:19

If he wants you to move out earlier, he doesn't get to have you pay rent as well!

Treacletoots · 15/05/2018 14:22

Actually... he may have a slight in on this. If you're in the last month of the contract and given that you've handed him your notice, he may well have rights to access the property for a few reasons including;

Allowing new tenants to view
Allowing new prosepctive buyers to view
Allowing maintenance works

If I were you, i'd try and come to some agreement, such as a significant reduction in rent. If, as you say he didn't put your deposit into a legally required scheme it sounds like he has little regard for the law and it will be in your best interests to avoid any hassle/piss him off. This way, you'll get a saving on your rent and he gets to do the work he needs to do to sell. WIN/WIN

Sunnyshores · 15/05/2018 14:25

NO he has no rights to do viewings etc, during the last month or any other time

obachan · 15/05/2018 14:25

No, the landlord doesn't have any additional rights to access during the final month of the tenancy. It doesn't matter if the tenancy agreement states this, either: it's not legal and is unenforceable.

Original poster
Frosty66612 · 15/05/2018 14:25

@treacle there is no contract. I only had a one year lease back in 2012 and ever since then it’s just rolled on. I haven’t given official notice to move out (he asked me if I had plans to move out this year and I just gave him a vague answer that I was thinking about autumn at some point but couldn’t give him a definite date yet. He then said he wants to sell it and will be doing all the work on the house over the summer months so it’s ready to be put on the market by autumn when i move)

OP posts:
myfriendbob · 15/05/2018 14:27

My landlord has been In contact to say he is putting the house on the market but will need access to do lots of work to it before I move out (installing double glazing in most of the rooms, painting the house, changing the whole boiler system, putting new carpets down etc)

Just say no. There is no way to make you do and you don't have to agree. Why would you? He's chancing his arm.

Pemba · 15/05/2018 14:28

I know this is not helpful at all now, so I'm sorry for that, but I wonder why you decided to let him know you were leaving in the autumn? Or did he find out another way? Given you are on a rolling contract, you should really have kept quiet and then given him one month's notice when you knew you were almost ready to leave (from the particular date in the month the tenancy runs from, so could be a more than a month, but less than two months).

It's terrible if you told him because you were trying to be considerate, but due to the landlord's selfishness that has now turned around on you and is causing you problems.

Tenants should always just give the minimum notice legally required, IMO, because even if the landlord doesn't want to start a major renovation, like this one, the letting agents will probably want to start advertising the place and doing viewings as soon as they know. All of which is intrusive and disruptive to the tenant.

Treacletoots · 15/05/2018 14:28

OK - sorry what I should have said is that he may TRY to do these...

Although my point of trying to negotiate a compromise was still valid and if I were the OP i'd be looking into it, half price rent, yes please?

Sunnyshores · 15/05/2018 14:28

OP - I missed that info, you dont have an Assured Shorthold Tenancy? what are you calling a Leasback? How did that come about

(this may change the deposit and notice periods)

Original poster
Frosty66612 · 15/05/2018 14:33

@Pemba there are no agents as it’s a private let (found the house on Guntree and rented it directly through him).
It was stupid of me to tell him I was moving out in autumn. I didn’t know at that point that he was planning on selling or doing renovations so I was trying to give him lots of notice to find another tenant in time.

@sunnyshores not sure what you mean. There was a short assured tenancy for a year when I moved in back in 2012. After that he just never mentioned resigning another lease and we both just forgot about it.

OP posts:
Sunnyshores · 15/05/2018 14:46

@Frosty - sorry I misread....you only had a one year lease - BACK in 2012. Not you had a leaseback in 2012. As you were!!

Original poster
Frosty66612 · 15/05/2018 15:02

@sunnyshores haha no problem. I was getting confused there. Thanks for your help and everyone else who has commented, you have all been very helpful

OP posts:
Fatted · 15/05/2018 15:06

Tell him to piss off and wait until you leave! I had a landlord try to sell their house before we left and it was a nightmare having the estate agent round all the time and people trying to do showings etc while we were still there.

LakieLady · 15/05/2018 16:03

Did you have a valid gas safety certificate when you moved in, OP?

If you didn't, he can't get you out - ever! It's one of few things that can't be rectified after the event, there's case law on it.

I only found this out the other day, despite having worked in housing support for 11 years. No-one else on the project knew it, either. Bit of a cock-up on the training front!

Original poster
Frosty66612 · 15/05/2018 16:27

@lakie there wasn’t one when I moved in and I had to hound him for about a year to get one done. Since 2012 there have been 2 that have been done (think the last one was summer 2016)

OP posts:
Cuppaoftea · 15/05/2018 16:56

I think you're crazy to have stayed in a property with no current gas safety certificate.

He certainly does need the gas man to have access then and will probably look to get all the boiler work done at the same time.

Still can't fathom why you're so desperate to stay there wasting money on rent instead of using those funds to pay tradesmen in your new home to assist your DP. Both take some holiday to crack on with the jobs you can do and get moved in together.

You own your own home and your landlord wants to sell his house. Let him get on with it in a couple of month's time, there's no need for all the acrimony others are suggesting, you're not going to be homeless.

Original poster
Frosty66612 · 15/05/2018 17:06

@cupoftea if it were that simple we’d be doing that. There are so many reasons why what you’re suggesting isn’t possible but I don’t want to list them as they could be outing.
He can’t just get the boiler work done at the same time as a gas check. He is wanting to replace the whole system and change the location of the boiler and remove the water tank etc. It would be a huge job and take a few days and be very disruptive

OP posts:
Mummyoflittledragon · 15/05/2018 17:30

Cupatea
No op shouldn’t just let him. One thing for sure he has to get the boiler sorted. By law. Urgently.

Frosty
You’re letting yourself be taken for a ride with this idiot. In your situation I would give him 2 weeks to get the gas cert sorted.

myfriendbob · 15/05/2018 17:31

Let him get on with it in a couple of month's time, there's no need for all the acrimony others are suggesting, you're not going to be homeless

why should she let him get on with it? Zero benefit but much hassle for her, why should she? Why would anyone?

Original poster
Frosty66612 · 15/05/2018 17:40

@mummy i’ll Speak to him about it when I see him next week and tell him to get another check done pronto. I did ask him last month and he said he would sort it out but he’s so slow at getting things like that done.
The house was all re wired recently and the ancient fuse box was replaced. The electrician couldn’t believe how dangerous the sockets all were as nothing was earthed.

It would be so inconvenient for me to just move out in the summer and stay with my parents. My cat couldn’t stay with them as they have two aggressive male cats already. I don’t know anyone else who could take him in. I also have health issues and need a bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor which is why the house im in now works for me, and the house I’ve bought will work for me as will have the same layout. My parents house would involve about 3 flights of stairs to get to the bathroom. Plus the fact I also run my business from my home and can’t just uproot it without careful planning (and I don’t get sick pay as self employed so also can’t just take holiday to help with renovating the house which is nowhere near where I live now). I don’t see why I should put myself through all of that stress when he can just wait until I move out in October to do major work and then get it on the market. It might not be ideal timing for him to sell two months before Xmas but it’s a very popular area and I can’t imagine he’ll struggle to find a buyer. He’s loaded anyway so it’s not going to cause him financial issues if the house does have to be empty for a couple of months

OP posts:
Want2bSupermum · 15/05/2018 17:46

frosty Follow what specialsubject posted.

It's understandable you can't get your new home ready in time and this LL needs to back off. It doesn't matter that you don't have a tenancy agreement. The rental laws apply here. It's actually to your benefit that there is no agreement. I can't believe there hasn't been a gas safety check performed. What an idiot LL.

I'm sorry you are going through this but if you send a letter as specialsubject said, you will find the LL backs off. If they don't back down you have evidence of the LL being unreasonable.

mayhew · 15/05/2018 17:55

Basically he wants to do the work while still renting so that
: he can tax deduct the cost from his rental income because he is still a landlord
: he gets your rent for as long as possible

specialsubject · 15/05/2018 17:58

let him cock up the section 21. with no gas safe even if he pays the deposit back it will fail. and it is a criminal offence with penalties. doesnt matter if he gets a lawyer or writ es it out in crayon.

you arent renting again but anyone else reading this who i s - please read the how to rent guide. bad landlords prey on the unin formed.f

excuse spaces, crap mn coding and reports ignored.

Original poster
Frosty66612 · 15/05/2018 18:16

I’ve just had a nosy at his Facebook account and can see that he moved into a new mansion about 3 months ago. I don’t have that address to send him a letter to so i’ll Ask him for up to date contact details when I see him next week. Grrrrrr!

OP posts:
Cuppaoftea · 15/05/2018 18:34

I think you'll find it difficult demanding he get a gas man round to do the check but then at the same time refusing access for the boiler work he wants done. If any repairs are needed on the boiler at all the landlord will say he wants it moved/replaced at same time.

Yes the windows, decorating and carpets can wait and I'm not suggesting letting him just get on with it all, I'm saying refuse for two months. I think it’s easy to say on here you can refuse to leave in the summer/Autumn and stay there longer even if he gives you notice then tries to evict but the reality of that is going to be very stressful and not conducive to running a business with quiet enjoyment of the property.

Op with the details you've given as to the current state of your own property I don’t think your partner's promise for even early October is realistic if he's working full time while trying to do it all himself on weekends. I understand from your update why it's difficult for you to help but I'd still suggest trying to afford even small amounts of help for him and very much focusing on the rooms you need finished to move in.