Landlord issue (inventory)

[NewYoiker]

Just recently moved into a lovely cottage, it really is gorgeous. However the previous tenants had a lot of issues with our landlord never fixing things. Previous tenant came round yesterday to drop off 16 sets of front door keys (!) and was whinging about the landlord keeping their deposit. I mean it was a total shit tip when we moved in so I'm not surprised! They also didn't ever have the fire swept and lit it and smoked themselves out regularly, they asked the ll to fix it but the house is so far away from
The letting agent and ll they never did it and it seemed to be a massive issue with him.. we had it swept ourselves and had 5 buckets of nest material removed at our own cost and it now works fine.

However, we moved in 2 months ago and have been pushing weekly for an inventory. I took extensive photos when we moved in, but there is no official inventory and I'm really concerned that when we leave they'll just make stuff up about the house?

Anyway! Do I need to push more for the inventory? Should I be worried that the previous tenant had so many bloody keys?! He seemed to think he might have more knocking around somewhere..

If your landlord or agent didn't arrange a moving-in inventory then it can only negatively affect them, not you. It is the landlord's responsibility to 'prove' any damage caused by you during your tenancy and without an inventory they'll not have that proof to give to the deposit scheme. More fool them.

Is your deposit correctly protected and have you been given the details of which deposit scheme it is being held in?

It's not no. We had a look at all the schemes and it's not in any of them. I might just leave it. It's there issue to sort it

If they havent done an inventory then if will only be bad for them not you. They won't be able to prove you've coursed damage without one, not that you would. Just out of curiosity why did the old tennant have 16 sets of keys? Lol

*caused

If you have no inventory, the LL can't demand anything from you - and if he's tried this with the previous tenants, he hasnt got a leg to stand on

Literally ANY damage you do to his how HE can't now prove.

YOU however have images of how the house was when you moved in - make sure the files have date stamps - or send them to a photo print place and get them posted to you so you have a date stamp of when they were printed and you're more covered than a covered thing.

If I were you, I'd get the lock barrels changed and then change them back when you leave. Just to be safe that there are no other sets of keys knocking about that you don't know of.

Check the deposit is protected - if not get legal advice about forcing it to be or taking the matter further and getting him to pay out a massive compensation to you

ll is mad. if its not iin a scheme they can be fined 3x the amount (I think). its a lot anyway. so if there are any issues all you have to do is threaten to report them. plus as others have said ll has to prove things were damaged since you moved in. do you have a gov booklet telling you about renting.....bet they forgot that too?

Pretty sure it’s illegal to not have the deposit in a protection scheme. I’d get on to the agent about that ASAP.

Good news they haven't lodged the deposit. When you move out a court can award you your deposit back and up to 3 times that in compensation.

It’s a legal requirement that your deposit is held in a scheme, otherwise you may never get it back. You need to push the letting agents to do this.
Tbh your landlord seems pretty shoddy

Your landlord should have pit yoir deposit in one of the government protection schemes so that if thete is any issue when you move out it can be mediated. I would be suspicious that the landlord sees that deposit money as theirs to keep already, tbh.

Have you an AST tenant agreement ?
Have a look on GOV.UK.

@dreamingofsun no we literally have a tenancy agreement and and that's it. The gas safety certificate is potentially invalid as well because we have a gas aga that hasn't been serviced in 5 years. We have asked for that to be done and got the response 'we've spoken to our contractors and they don't need servicing'  must be fucking magic then as all the other agas we've had needed servicing..

They had so many keys because there were 6 people living in a 3 bedroom house with a bed in the basement, attic room and both bedrooms upstairs. All adults all related.

Have a chat with local Citizens advice. Get a case logged with them, all good evidence.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-a-home/

Your landlord is rogue, sorry.

They are breaking the law in at least 2 ways from what you have said already.

Right. I'm going to speak to citizens advice.

Thanks!

I'd be very concerned, on lots of levels! Get your deposit protected IMMEDIATELY! I had a HELL of a battle to get mine back (LL simply ignored my requests once I'd left!). Even with my deposit in the TDS, it took 3 months to get my money back. It would have taken much longer if it had been unprotected and I'm sure going to court would have been expensive and time consuming. You should not be paying for repairs yourself either!! That's crazy! Stop...immediately...and consider finding another property with a decent landlord!

I would speak to Shelter if you can't get through to CA!

Woah... no gas cert!? no boiler check? no aga check - This is totally illegal!

www.hse.gov.uk/gas/landlords/index.htm

@Ecofluffynanny the only reason we fixed the log burner is because we had one previously and had lots of wood to use so didn't want to use the central heating if we could avoid it.

Check out the "How to rent" booklet on gov.uk

You should have been given this. It lays out the statutory requirements.

Op l am a LL and this is all illegal, yes it means the LL is facing more problems than you BUT, for your own safety you need to,

1. Force the issue of protecting your deposit.
2. Force the full service of the aga and gas appliances and get a tenants copy of the gas safety certificate. 3)Force him to install and check (in front of you) carbon monoxide alarms in the entry, bedrooms and kitchen. Also smoke alarms.

These are the safety things you MUST force him to do for your own safety. To do this:
Contact Shelter,
Read the How to Rent Booklet (which by law should have been given to you with the Tenancy agreemant) find it online but make sure its the 2018 version..it clearly sets out his obligations and where to get help for you if he doesn't.
Speak to the agency if he uses one.

The inventory is a minor issue for you, follow what others have posted re photos dated etc. keep all proof of any repairs you have done, dated, and photographed.

Make sure your rent is paid by DD so it is always traceable in case of disputes later.

I’ve had some major issues with landlords, one in particular who we successfully sued.

Two issues. An inventory is a requirement. It’s now too late, so there won’t be one when you leave and it will be their issue. It can complicate getting repairs done though.

The deposit must be protected with one of the 3 schemes within 30 days, no exception. You can file a letter before claim now, to insist they do. It’s important to have your money protected right now. If they have not protected within 30 days, regardless of if they eventually do protect it, the courts are clear: with absolutely no exception the landlord will be fined up to 3x the deposit, which is payable to you. You could claim that right now technically, but I would advise you to insist it is protected right now. Once it is you’re safe until you leave. If you so wish, you can then file a claim with the small court against the landlord for not protecting it in time. The amount they award will depend on how long it took to protect it. They are ‘fined’ x 1, x 2 or x 3 the deposit total, payable to you.

I successfully sued by landlady for not protecting our deposit- we only found out when she issued us with a revenge eviction. She had to pay us £3, 960.00 within 14 days. Before we left the property. We also won a claim for compensation for failure to provide consistent hot water & adequate heating: £2,500 settled in mediation.

Do you have proper contact details for the landlord and are they in the UK? If your deposit isn't protected you can be awarded 3 times the value of the deposit link - but if the landlord can't be properly traced then getting them to comply with any court order will be tricky.

Don't worry about the inventory. The lack of inventory means that it will be illegal for them to retain the deposit based on anything that they therefore can't prove was present and in working order when you moved in. Stop pushing for that.

Don't stop pushing on getting gas-safe certification. Your lives could be in danger. Give written notice that unless they make arrangements for the service and certification to take place within the next 3 weeks, you will make arrangements yourself and deduct the cost from your rent. They will not have a leg to stand on if they object as they are acting illegally in failing to do this.

The landlord works for the letting agency. I know exactly where they are.

I've got an appointment with a solicitor on Friday, friend of a friend doing us a favour :)

The landlord works for the letting agency ?

They can't even plead ignorance then

Excellent. You should be fine then op. Do give us an update after Friday.