to stop paying the rent as of today

[AdelaideJo]

Going to try to make this as short as possible!

Rent a 3 bedroom flat privately, have been here since September 2009. Since we moved in we've had numerous things go wrong/break down. We rent through an agent so have always had to go via them for maintenance. We've had:

5 plumbers visits
2 electricians jobs
1 x washing machine repair man
1 x guy to fix the oven back under the kitchen work surface..

...you get the picture.

When we moved in we registered with all our utility companies. Imagine our surprise when we get a whacking great bill for almost £200.00 from the Water supplier, who casually let us know that our meter is linked to 4 other flats, and we had "unwittingly nominated ourselves" as the main account holders and were now responsible for collecting monies from these other people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Landlord - won't speak to us directly, puts the onus on letting agent.

Letting agent - had no power to make water company close account or change account name.

Freeholder - a total crook who refuses to put account BACK INTO HIS NAME as they are his tenants!

This morning the hot tap in the bathroom broke for the 4th time. I rang letting agent wwho said they would send a plumber tonight. I went down to pick up the post, to my absolute horror there is a letter from my landlord's solicitor giving us notice of possession...as if we are crooks who haven't paid rent/paid on time (which we have, every month).

The letting agent told me this evening that the landlord is refusing to pay to fix the hot water tap because he has this week given us notice to quit in 8 weeks!

Is it actually legal to take money from tenants when they have no hot water to the bath?

We are really worried that the landlord, who uis clearly pretty bloody underhanded and unpleasant, is going to keep our deposit in lieu of all the maintenance work he's had to pay out for over the last 4 months....should we just not pay our last months rent and let him deal with the agent?

Oh, i'm 26 weeks pregnant too. This is just FAB as you can imagine.

I would definitely stop paying rent immediately. It will strengthen your negotiating position when it comes to getting your deposit back (landlord will only get his rent if he agrees to have the rest of the deposit released to you).

It is unfortunate but it's often the only tool tenants have in negotiating with landlords when leaving a property.

not any use as to legalities but if it just the bath tap broken, copuld you fix a hose from hand basin temporarily?

I think not paying the rent would put you legally in the wrong - someone else will come along that could quote law and stuff at you.

Why don't you move? There's a 3 bed house for let next door

Oh nightmare! I honestly don't know the answer to your question I'm afraid.

The only thing I can suggest is that you get in touch with your local Citizens Advice Bureaux pronto and maybe even speak to the OFT to ask their thoughts on what's happened.

www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/estate-agents-act/

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

I don't think it would be wise to just stop paying your rent without having first sought advice though. You could end up making things considerably worse.

Hope you get sorted quickly.

You are entitled to something called "quiet enjoyment of the property". What you describe violates this and you could actually sue the landlord. Although not paying the rent puts you technically in the wrong, if you are having to move out it will probably be offset by the loss of your damage deposit.

Your best option may be to just cut and run...assume you won't get the damage deposit back and leave as soon as you can without paying any more rent. If they get arsey with you, threaten to sue them for breaching your tennacy agreement and denying you quiet enjoyment - you could do this quite cheaply in the small claims court.

Also, I doubt the water company can get away with saying you "unwittingly nominated yourselves" or whatever...this sounds like it violates the fair contracts principle.

I would advise you to keep record of all phonecalls etc and move out as soon as possible.

Good luck.

The situation sounds a nightmare.

As galling as it is to be given notice to quit when you are the aggrieved party, I think you'll be better off out of there and away from that landlord. The sooner the better.

I wouldn't waste time/energy fighting. But take legal advice before you simply stop paying the rent. You may be morally in the right to do so, but be careful it doesn't backfire on you legally.

If you pay more than £200 per month rent your deposit should be in the rent deposit scheme or he is liable for 3x your mthly rent.

They will arbitrate to ensure you get a fair amount back....

YANBU, but I would definitely advise against not paying your rent. Do everything completely by the book and get legal advice, then see whether your awful landlord has a leg to stand on. The better you look in the eyes of the law the easier it will be to get legal aid. Do as Spannerweb says and go to the CAB - they are excellent and can guide you every step of the way.

Don't forget to play up the fact that you are pregnant, as it's a fantastic negotiating tool, and take picures of everything you can where relevant. Take copies of all the letters too, and show them to the CAB along with any other evidence. It seems like you have more than enough to sue the pants off these people if you so wished, so make sure you don'r give them any leverage over you by doing something illegal. You also don't want them to be spiteful and make it harder for you to rent elsewhere witha bad reference.

Thanks for all the replies!

We know we have to leave, and are in no doubt that we want to, in 8 weeks time.

When we moved in, the place was in such a state I did an additional written and photographic inventory to attach to the inventory that the agents did. They didn't acknowledge that inventory nor comment on it, it was like it was totally irrelevant. This is why I am concerned that if it goes to arbitration people will say "what inventory that you did?".

Our rent is due on 7th February. We have it, I just can't believe we won't be able to have a bath until we leave. To answer a question, a hose from sink hot tap into bath wouldn't work as the water pressure is so poor its just a trickle. The place is really really dreadful.

The other point is, the agents never reply nor acknowledge any emails I've sent over the last 4 months - they also don't appear to have kept records of the maintenance visits as they "don't believe" the bath tap has been fixed 3 times before!!

Our deposit was 750 quid, we just can't lose it because someone feels we are troublemakers (which is kind of what the solicitor letter smacks of).

Do you have copies of all your sent emails?

I agree you should speak to the CAB. They were very clear and helpful when we had problems with our landlady (trying to get us to pay months of rent when we had moved to a rolling contract). There is a lot of info on their website too. Good luck!

Ok stop paying your rent. The deposit should be in a scheme, but be prepared for a long legal battle to get it (which quite frankly is too much hassle as you are preg)
So.... you have to be 2months fully in arrears before any legal action can be taken, and as you are leaving anyway no worry there. They will just take your rent out of your deposit. So if your rent is £600, and you paid a £750 deposit, they will return £150 minus any costs incurred from damages/repairs to property. Id rather lose £150 than have the stress of trying to get £750.

yes inter.

Am going to ring the CAB tomorrow. What a bloody nightmare. I was 7 weeks pregnant when we moved in, going to be 34 weeks when we move again. Am so f***d off with it all.

Agree with Spannerweb and Intergalactic. You need to CAB URGENTLY!!!!

I think you are allowed to withold up to 2 months rent in leiu of repairs but you need to seek proper advice before you go down this route as I'm not sure of the ins and outs.

Your deposit should be held under the Rent Deposit Scheme so if your landlord refuses to give you it back you are able to state your case to them.

The water company thing is just horrendous and you need to get this sorted ASAP so they're not chasing you for months and months worth of other folks bills.

We were in a rented 1 bedroom flat with DS1, and knew that we would shortly be moving into a housing association flat. In the time that we had lived there, we had had leaking pipes, a repair that went beyond farcical conducted by a friend of the landlord, were left with a front door we couldn't lock for a week, no heating and hot water while I was pregnant and again when DS1 was a baby, badly fitted "new" windows that left holes in the walls, were requested to pay an additional £100 deposit when a relative of the landlord managing his properties fucked off with £20k of his money and they had cashflow problems, repairs we had to pay for ourselves...it was endless. We didn't pay the rent for the last three months we lived there, and forfeited our deposit. Yes, we could have built a case and looked to get our deposit back and the money we had paid for the repairs, but I have known people go through that process and it can be long and painful, and I just couldn't bear it at the time. I think there are better regulations now though in terms of deposits, etc - this was a few years ago now.