Can I take this NIGHTMARE landlord to court?

[DisgracefulBehaviour]

We sold our house last year to release funds as we inherited a house in a different area that we wanted to live in ourselves due to position, large plot etc, as our forever home but the house itself needed fully gutting and we also wanted to add on a self contained annex for our disabled adult son which we needed planning permission for. Our youngest son was also due to start GCSEs so we decided to rent while we completed work on inherited house and he finished school when we will then move up there.

We found a rented property literally a few streets from our old house and stressed that we needed to rent for two years, landlord wanted long term renters so no problem.

Within a short time after moving in it became apparent there was a major issue in the house, house was tenanted previously but letting agents apparently were not aware. After months of toing and froing, landlord had to get builders in and complete costly work which took 8 weeks. We’d been in the property 3 months.

Landlord not happy as said he could not afford to do the work.

We’d requested compensation for the inconvenience as having builders in was a major disruption and we had issues with them leaving mess in the house. I was very upset that we had to leave people we did not know in the property while we were all out.

Landlord said compensation was not justified! Decided not to pursue it as we didn’t want to antagonise the landlord and get kicked out.

A month ago, I contacted environmental health due to a further issue the landlord has refused to deal with. The officer also noticed a major issue that needed immediate rectification so landlord had to do more work.

We have now been served with a Section 21 - no reason given - after 6 months.

I am absolutely furious I have to say. Rent paid on time, house immaculate etc.

We put up with all the work being done as we expected when it was done, we’d be left to it and obviously didn’t want to move again in such a short time considering our timescale. We’d never taken the property if we had known this would happen. It’s a high rent for our area too!

We also never had a copy of the EICR, a serious safety hazard pertaining to that was what was picked up by environmental health, so we are assuming a report was never done.

I have an online court claim prepared to sue the landlord for all 6 months rent in compensation, for stress and breach of quiet enjoyment. I think I have a chance of success.

AIBU?

OP you go for it ! It’s not your job to know if a house is fit for human habitation. That’s on the landlord.

As for the poster above who thinks you should keep quiet and not upset the landlord when they have been both negligent and irresponsible by not having the correct certification - what utter bollox . It’s behaviour like that that encourages shit landlords .

Landlord and Tenant law is not my specialty however based on the fact that the correct certification has NEVER been in place , plus the 8 weeks of disruption.. I think you have an excellent case to get your money back and should definitely pursue this claim.

@DisgracefulBehaviour ignore most of the unhelpful and wrong advice in this thread, e.g. (not that I work for them but...) Shelter doesn't only help people in social housing!

For a start read the link I am sharing below. It's on the gov.uk site so you know it's official. The law regarding evictions will change at the end of this year, but for now the following stands when it comes to tenancies.

When renting, a landlord has certain obligations to perform outlined here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-rent/how-to-rent-the-checklist-for-renting-in-england

One thing that sticks out to me is that your landlord did not provide you with a gas safety certificate before you entered the property. Do you have proof of this? I am assuming it should be easy to prove as legally you would usually sign an electronic or hard copy of your tenancy agreement to indicate you have also received the required documents, e.g. the How to Rent booklet, a gas certificate and an EPC. If it goes to court, the onus is on the landlord to prove you received this at the start of the tenancy, so check the date of the one they subsequently provided you. If it's after your move-in date, which it should be, they're in trouble.

Also, did your landlord protect your deposit property and provide the prescribed information relating to the tenancy deposit within the required 30 days?

For me, it's the lack of the gas safety certificate at the start of the tenancy which sticks out. The fact that they did not provide one (even though they did so later) renders the Section 21 invalid, so they can't evict you.

Above all, I hope you kept your correspondence with your agent/landlord/environmental health/council, by email only so you have proof of the silverfish/damp/electrical/leak issues.

If the landlord did not protect your tenancy properly or provide the prescribed information after 30 days of protecting your deposit, you're entitled to claim up to three times of your deposit from the landlord.

To answer your question, yes you might have a case for taking action against your landlord.

In March 2019, a new law came into effect (the Homes Act) which stipulates that a property must be fit for human habitation. Read about it here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homes-fitness-for-human-habitation-act-2018/guide-for-tenants-homes-fitness-for-human-habitation-act-2018

You can see that a few of your issues are in Step 2.

If you believe your landlord has taken too long to fix the issues, go to Step 7.

I think you should seek legal advice as you do have a case against your landlord.

I’m aware. But not that soon. So it won’t effect OP.

What do you mean by ‘not unthinkable’. The changes made for Section 8 still won’t obliterate a LLs right to get their properties back if they haven’t followed correct procedure. It may be a bit more hassle, it may take longer, but it wont deny them the right.

Unless there’s something in it I haven’t noticed of course.

Re The lack of a gas cert.

Whilst the lack of a gas cert at the beginning of tenancy is an issue the working reality in the courts it that as long as they have one now they’ll wave it through.
They can’t deny the landlord his property back forever.

If they didn’t when the s21 was issued it will be thrown out. The LL will need to issue one and then issue another s21 after.

It has yet to be determined whether failing to provide a gas safety certificate before the commencement of the tenancy makes a s21 invalid. The landlord could commence possession proceedings, but you could defend on the basis the s21 may be invalid, and let the court decide. I can envision making a very strong argument as to why it is invalid.

Is there a valid epc, and were you given the how to rent booklet. And was your deposit put into a scheme within 30 days of the commencement of the tenancy, and were you given the prescribed information within the same timeframe?

No it isn't. It's 2 months.

Silverfish are notoriously hard to get rid of. You say they've been treated three times. You are annoyed that you had to vacate for the exterminator but are also annoyed that he didn't come more often?

You seem to be in a temper that the landlord has evicted you even though you didn't like the rental. It sounds like he's spent substantially more than your rent on repairs that you demanded. No landlord would keep you on.

YANBU but don’t expect to get anywhere. In my renting days, we had to get environmental health out in one flat for the following reasons; husband kept getting electric shocks through the pull cord in the bathroom/water dripping through the light fittings in the kitchen and bathroom/mould/damp.

However, not only did Environmental Health do nothing, the landlord gave me a S.21 a week before Christmas right after her visit 🙄

So thankful that we own now.

I keep posting re this.
We’ve seen this before.

The LL will get nothing more than a slapped wrist. As long as there’s a gas cert now the judge will waive it through!

Been there!