To be fuming at my estate agents

[PrivateRentNightMare]

I rent. My first house was a 2 bedroom council house in my hometown. My plan was to stay there forever really. But then I had to flee because of DV, ended up in a hostel then temporary housing for 2.2 years. A leak started in temporary housing which ended up being the water tank. The ceiling came through.

The council said we could either go back into temporary housing anywhere they gave us or there was a private rent around the corner we could have and they would pay the bond ect

We wernt allowed to decorate or bring in our own furniture ( I left all of mine anyway but we couldn't buy new things and have them in the house ) so I jumped at the offer of what I thought would be our permanent home

The house was disgusting when we moved in, mould in the shower, leaking shower, rubbish all hidden underneath overgrown nettles ect, sockets hanging off. The estate agents and council said the estate agents would fix it all. They never have. The oven hasnt worked since I moved in. I've had to buy a halogen oven to cook our food. None of the windows lock, all the window frames shake and the doors are all cracked where they join the house. The latest is the ceiling has started leaking due to the wood rotting at the front of the house ( they sent a roofer out when I first rang but no one has been since ) no matter how much I clean the bathroom it stinks of urine. It's awful

I've emailed, text rang the estate agents over all these issues. I've contacted them 24 times over 6 months. I have anxiety and depression and struggle making complaints so it's been hard to keep texting and ringing and not getting anywhere

I've been looking for a new house and found one. I've never done the rent process myself so dont m ow how it works but they contacted my estate agents for a referance.

My estate agents rang me being really rude saying I needed to give them a months notice if I wanted to move out and before they gave a referance they had to come out and take photos of the house

When I said I have my own photos of how bad the house was when I first moved In and repairs not being done their tone changed slightly and they booked an appointment to come and do an inspection

It says in my tenancy agreement that i have to give a months notice but it also says that the landlord has to do repairs in reasonable time

The new house I'm hopefully moving to is more expensive than the house I'm in. ( my application is still being processed )

If all goes well I'll be moving before my rent is due. I'm not in any arrears and pay my rent early every month. I know the landlord or estate agent is going to try and make me pay for the months notice but can they actually enforce this if they havnt been doing repairs for the last 6 months?

I'm so cross that I've been trying to get repairs done for months and now they know I want to leave they want pictures of the house

Forgot to say I took the private rent around the corner as my daughter was just about to start school too

Yes they can enforce it. I know it doesn't seem fair, but the two things (agent not doing repairs, and you not giving notice) are teo completely separate points. Have you spoken to CAB for advice?

I imagine they can yes, as I can’t imagine these two parts of the contract are dependant on each other,

You’d probably have an easier time, giving a months notice tbh. But contact your local CAB.

Glad you’ve found a decent house! Hope all goes well.

Ring your environmental health team on Monday. This is what they are there for.

They will attempt to get you for the last month’s rent- if you don’t pay it I assume they will take it from your deposit? Or is your deposit not due back to you?

Keep on the same track you are currently on re the repairs. Send emails referencing the dates you advised them of the maintenance issues and how long you have been living with the issues. Say that their lack of response over the course of X months is tantamount to breach of contract and therefore you do not consider a notice period to apply.

You might not be legally in the right but if you keep on and keep on, they may just let you go.

It's really not fair. I feel like theyve took the absolute mick out of me.

No I havnt gone down any route of complaint ect other than to the agents as I'm aware revenge evictions can happen and I just cant bare the thought if us going back into temporary housing again.

My little boy spent his 1st birthday in a hostel and his 2nd and 3rd in temporary housing. Hes 4 soon and I just want a nice stable home for my kids.

As I said previously I've no experience of private renting so although I knew I had to give notice I just assumed I'd have to pay rent up until I was In the property. I didnt realise if I moved out I'd still have to pay rent for say the next 3 weeks

You can also request an inspection from the councils environmental health department, particularly for things like leaks and mould etc. They will then contact the LL advising work needs to be done and making sure it gets done. I'm sorry you have had such a terrible time of it recently and hope you can get sorted for yourself and your child

It says in my tenancy my deposit is to be paid back to me ( it's in a deposit scheme ) but I know they are going to try and keep it. They have arranged to come around next week to do an inspection to be able to give me a referance but it's a bit suspicious that theyve not bothered to do repairs and now I want to leave they want to come and photograph everything ( she said shed be taking photographs and her tone changed when I said I had my own )

So I think their going to try and not give me my deposit back -

Send emails referencing the dates you advised them of the maintenance issues and how long you have been living with the issues. Say that their lack of response over the course of X months is tantamount to breach of contract and therefore you do not consider a notice period to apply

You might not be legally in the right but if you keep on and keep on, they may just let you go

I'm going to have to try something, my rent is £600 and I cannot afford to pay the rent for this place and my next house in the same month.

Yes they can. Are you in London. I've found agents here have a 'relaxed' approach to repairs & safety. I had a private rental , bond paid for by Housing Dept. There were fire/safety issues. I got ignored until I rang the Council Environment Dept & they put me thru to a private rentals dept (never knew it existed). Fire regs stuff got sorted asap . Good luck in your new home.

xsamix86 will the council even be interested if I've moved out though?

I've tried to just plod on these past few years but my whole housing situation has been so unfair.

With the new house I need to show them my bank statements showing my rent payments and I need a referance from my estate agents before they will process my application, so i dont even know if that means I'm definetly going to even get it yet

The deposit scheme will decide what or if anything gets taken out of the deposit. If the agents put in a request to keep the deposit for whatever reason you can fire back with copies of your communications inc their lack of response and the pictures of when you moved in. I highly doubt they will side with the agents.

I had a few private lets, my first was dodgy af but others were not so bad. I pulled in the council health department for mushrooms growing out of the floorboards once though.

You give one months notice and pay rent to the day your notice ends, easier if you time it for when rent is due but naturally can't always be done. Their might be an agency that can back you up in terms of getting the reference. I have heard of a place called living rent in scotland but not sure if they are set up anywhere else. Might be worth looking for similar? They help people not be screwed over by rouge landlords and make landlords/agencies accountable.

Good luck op

Have you tried ringing Shelter for advice? I think they will be able to help you with advice on how to move forward. I’m so sorry, it sounds terrible.

Another recommendation to contact your councils Environmental Health team. They should come out and will inspect the whole property. Depending on the nature/severity of issues then a notice can be served on the owner/agent forcing them to do any work needed.
Good luck.

Did they do an inventory and check in report at the start of the tenancy?

Could you contact your new rental and ask if you can start your tenancy on X date (when your notice has been served on your current property)?

You need to serve notice the correct notice, otherwise your current tenancy is not ended correctly and you are still liable for the rent.

They cannot just decide to keep your deposit. Check whether you had an inventory on move in that records the condition. The landlord should receive the property back in the same condition except for reasonable wear and tear - e.g. it is reasonable for you to have walked on the carpets, it is not reasonable for you to have set them on fire.

Check where your deposit is being held and read up on the dispute procedures now.

They have been rubbish to you, but sadly you can't be rubbish back. Do some research, make sure you do everything absolutely perfectly.

I would have thought you would be morally if not legally be entitled to a refund ! How can you live in a house when you can’t cook ? Surely you have some tennant rights as well ? There must be someone who could advise you ?!

Thank you for the replies.

No I havnt rang shelter but I'm going to ring a few different things tomorrow and see what they say.

Worried74 No, no inventory check. I've been reading online today and apparently they should of checked all electrical and appliances before I moved in. They didnt and havnt since I've lived here

They cannot just decide to keep your deposit. Check whether you had an inventory on move in that records the condition All I've got is the tenancy agreement, that's all i was given. Theres nothing on paper saying how bad the house was before I moved in aside from my messages and emails asking them to fix things

I would have thought you would be morally if not legally be entitled to a refund Morally I definetly am but legally I dont know where I stand.

It's not right that theyve left us like this for this long and now they want more money off us when we just want to leave

I'm so disgusted with them