Anyone got any advice for private tenant.....

[milki]

...... who may not have contract renewed because I've got the council involved regarding condition of my flat? I am a bit ahead of myself as contract up for renewal in Feb but I don't know yet whether landlord will be spiteful and not renew because of this.

Basically, my neighbor arranged for a council officer to have a look at her windows as they are rotting, like mine, and because I chat (moan?) to her a lot about the condition of our windows etc she asked whether I wanted him to look at our flat too. So the officer has now sent out a letter to our letting agents detailing several areas of disrepair in both our flats and requesting remedial action. Our main gripe is the commonways (we live on top floor and lift hasn't worked for 6 months, she's over 60 and I have 2 under 4s).

My DP and I have no money to pay all the up-front fees involved in moving and we can't afford other rental properties locally. The rent on our current flat is relatively cheap, which means we have up to now overlooked a lot of the problems with the flat. I am worried that I have landed us in a bit of hot water by getting the council involved and that our contract will not be renewed come Feb so leaving us in the s**t.

Has anyone got any advice on what to do if this does happen? We're not currently on the council house list, should I get on that? Would the council be able to help house us?

Any advice or reassurance would be much appreciated.

Look at your contract but usually landlords have to give two months' notice so, if you haven't heard from him yet, you should be OK to renew.

Does your locsl council have an 'accredited landlord' scheme and if so is yours a member? The scheme ensures private tenants are treated fairly and landlords look after the property properly.

Contract does say 2 months notice but I assume he can serve that at any time? Even 2 months wouldn't be enough time to save up for deposits, fees etc and we'd still be stuck with the problem of not actually being able to afford to rent anything else! But I am probably being a bit panicky. I will look into accreditation scheme too, save worrying before I need to, I just suddenly felt very vunerable...

and breathe....

Thanks lala and Iklboo

The likelihoood of them giving you notice probably depends on the likelihood of gettign other tenants quickly.

They'll still need to get the problems fixed for the council, so would they want to have the hassle of having to find a replacemnt tenant ?

if you've been good tenants otherwise and been long term, they'd be unlikely to get rid of you over this.

fingers crossed!

I think you're worrying too much. If they got another tenant they may not pay the rent - therefore you are a good deal

You are right, your landlord does have to give two months notice.

He is unlikely to want to do that, just to prove a point.

I always advise my landlords to allow good tenants to stay. Why serve Notice on you, risk the property being empty with no rent coming in, and then having new tenants move in? It is a pointless exercise if done just for the sake of it.

Sit tight.

You could always give the letting agent a call and say "just wondered if you knew what the landlord's intentions are. We love the flat and really want to be able to stay on. Would you mind finding out for us"

Thanks all - I spoke to landlord directly, he is willing to do some repairs and I think appreciated the chance to give me the excuses he had lined up as to why he can't do others.... didn't say he wanted rid of us for being a PITA, so I was over worrying!

First time I have disliked our renting situation though, and I still feel a little uneasy at the 'don't rock the boat' scenario - but that is possibly in my head a little bit.