Quick response from legal or landlords please

[Chocolatedeficitdisorder]

Hi. I'm on my mobile in my car with a problem this afternoon. Dad and her boyfriend got keys for a small flat in their university town today. The viewed it with long-term tenant in and the flat was tired but they thought it would do.

Arrived today and it's awful. Filthy with rat poison down and previous tenants unwanted stuff. Rotten food in cupboards and no attempt at cleaning. Bare wires and grease coated appliances. All of this is fixable I guess but there's also no current pat tests, they all went out if date last year.

Auburn to ask for their money back and find somewhere else? Landlord wants to meet them later and have them show him the issues and said he will clean and get pat testing done tomorrow but list all faith on this guy.

Given that the flat isn't habitable is the conract broken and can we insist on a refund? Or do we have to give him a chance to fix things?

Sorry for fat fingered typing

Well... they could refuse to move in if there is a lot of the previous tenants stuff in... claim they don't think the property has actually been vacated... but, if you want clear, more reliable advice try on a specific forum, like the Letting forum of Landlordzone... the landlords over there are very good and very quick, if a tad grumpy sometimes

You (and they) also need to figure out what else there might be available to rent now. Most decent places will already be let.

If she's signed the lease she is bound by it. It's only possible to terminate a lease on grounds that the landlord has breached the agreement in extremely rare circumstances. The only case I'm aware of it happening, the ceiling was literally falling in (Hussein v Mehlman)

Isn't the lease breached if the electrical appliances and certificates aren't in date on the day the lease begins?

There's a number of flats round here that are available now. Student season hasn't really started yet.

At university I broke my tenancy. I lost my deposit but didn't have to pay any further rent. The landlord moved a drug dealer in with no notice. Came home one day and he was in the livingroom.
The landlord chased for rent but I just refused said I had moved out. It isn't worth them the money to take you to court that they would claim back. (In this part of the world anyway - may be diff in London etc)

Landlords don’t legally have to get the electrics tested.

There should of been a check in by the landlord / agent? A formal handover where they go through the inventory together and note the condition of the property. Has that been done?

They will be expected to leave the flat in the condition they found it - the landlord isn’t doing himself any favours. Did they go through a letting agent? I wound her then on site immediately and make sure your deposit is being held in one of the registered schemes.

Take photos of everything for evidence of how it was when they found it.

If there is an alternative place to move into and they would rather do this, then they should tell the landlord. (He May or may not give them their deposit back).

I would say you've got to give the LL chance to rectify the problem.

But it's outrageous that this has happened.

There are very little rights for tenants when it comes to the way a rented house is presented. There could be literal shite on the floor when they moved in and it's not illegal.
I doubt there is a lot they can do as they've signed the agreement now but get them to speak to shelter.

All is well. The agency have refunded their money and we're heading off to view another flat shortly that's newly refurbished and empty.

Landlords don’t legally have to get the electrics tested. That isn't always true. HMOs often do... it can be down to individual councils... and possibly a law change in the near(ish) future!

And hurray for common sense!

Home now after a long day with a car load of my DD's stuff!

I had to get very shirty today with the agency and the LL. The LL wanted to meet us at his flat at 6pm for them to point out the problems. It would appear that he's had a single man in there for a long time and trusted him to clean it up when he left. Even if the flat was cleaned up, it still looked horrific with broken window fitting, broken taps and dirty stains everywhere. There were huge gaps in the tiny kitchen with mouse pellets down. The furniture was all fit for a bonfire. I wouldn't have left my dog there overnight. I didn't see any point in meeting him as the flat needed much more than just a clean up to make it habitable.

We rocked up to the agency with the keys and they didn't put up a fight and transferred the money back into DD's account. They said they only do introductions for the LL and weren't aware of the state of the place (when they showed DD round, it had lots of plants and nothing was moved).

They have now found them a much better place for a wee bit more money, more centrally located, freshly refurbished and they are moving in on Tuesday :-)

Glad it worked out. The first place sounded appallling.