Has my landlord broken any laws? ...

[1catherine1]

Ok, I'm moving out of my property and am having problems with my landlord. He is quoting law to me and I kinda need something to come back at him with. I know a lot of what he does is bad practise but is it actually against any law... I've looked but can't find any.

So here are a couple of things that I think are at least bad practise...

1. No fire door on my 2 bedroom flat. It is a folding door so has quite a gap down the middle of it. The flat is the only 2 bedroom flat in the converted house where the rest (4) are just bedsits.
2. My electricity meter is in the next building (also owned by the landlord). He fit an economy 7 meter and has knowingly wired all the meter units to go through to clock up as night units. My electricity company told me and I told them I couldn't get to it so passed on their message to the landlord - he has done nothing about it.
3. The central heating system is controlled by a boiler in another flat. The tenant of this flat has sole control over when the heating comes on and off (radiators) and also pays the bill for the whole block. I'm not sure he knows this but I know it is why the previous tenant moved out. I do not use the central heating as it is unreliable and have electric heaters instead.
4. There is no insulation between flats. By this I mean the landlord requested access to my flat so that he could fit a light to the flat below by lifting a few boards. Is this against some sort of fire regulations? Also on a windy day some of my cupboard doors fly open.

I know there are a few minor things he has done or failed to do which are minor civil complaints but are any of the above anything really wrong? Bit annoyed with him as I have always been accommodating but now I'm moving out he's trying to be difficult. Typical!

Just some help on where to find the info would be nice.

If you're moving out then the stuff you've mentioned won't make any difference, except to the next tenant.

What are the problems you're actually having with him?

He withheld my contract and because of that I wasn't aware of a clause in it. I have requested a copy of it several times over the last 18 months and have never received it. Yes I signed it 18 months ago but it was quite big and rather unreasonable to expect me to remember its contents. I asked one of his staff about it and said I needed it and he summarised what was in the contract and told me as far as leaving goes all I need to do is give a months notice. So I did but now he says that in my contract it says I must give notice to terminate my contract on rent day only so this means that he is going to charge me a whole extra month rather than the week after rent day I intended to stay.

I just want my deposit back. I was hoping that I would be able to give him his keys back and him be fair about it. I was also hoping that if he wouldn't be fair about it I could convince him that it would be less hassle to just give me my money back rather than make an enemy of me. I know it sounds petty but we are talking £600 which I really need and I have been a good tenant.

It is normal that a notice period would end on a rent day. However, he is on dodgy ground by not giving you a copy of the tenancy agreement. I would contact CAB to ask for advice.

my understanding is that yes the notice must end on a rent day. the same goes for if the landlord was to give you notice, it must end on a rent day. eg rent due on 15th of the month, the notice must be to end on the 15th of the month. you can give notice before, say 7 weeks notice, as long as it ends on the day rent due and at least the minimum notice period.

How many storeys is the building? Is it above shops?

he is breaching on a number of fronts. the property may be considered a "house in multiple occupation" and require licencing. there is no way that it would be licenced with the conditions that you describe. the premises also would not pass a fire risk assessment. The door is definatly a major problem. Smoke can kill in less then 2 minutes. The premises would also fail gas and electrical safety checks based on what you describe - you should be given copies of both certificates when the property is let to you. I would contact your local environmental health team for further advice - they have powers to serve notice on him to do the work necesscary and he would be prosecuted if he disregards the notice. Your local fire service may well also come out and inspect the premises - I know mine do and usually with in a day if i report a hazard. Its not my area of expertise but def contact environmental health in the first instance.