Landlord from hell

Landlord Discussion Legal
1

Hello all. I’m in a dire situation and not sure what are my rights.

Seven month ago I moved in to one bed property managed by a private landlord.
On the day I moved in I realised that boiler is leaking and was cutting off all the time. Landlord was officially notified. Month later bathroom developed a horrific smell that made me think there was a dead rodent in the wall, landlord was officially notified. At the same time door lock stopped working due to rust, landlord was officially notified. After countless email and 7 month later none of the issues were fixed… Every time I was given different excuses like ‘landlord was unwell” or accusing me of inviting problems thogh I have photographs to prove all the issues. I couldn’t deal with this any longer so I rented a different apartment and gave a landlady two weeks notice on the basis negligence of landlord responsibilities. Now she is threatening me to withhold my deposit which is ample. What can I do, what are my right? Thank you all in advance.

Regards, Kirill

2

How long was your contract?
Did you have a break clause?
I am sorry to say
If you left in an AST you are laible for the rent, no matter what
The correct procedure would be to call environmental health and let them know about the property. Our LA has a service to report rogue landlords anonymously

3

Sorry for your problems.

Did this landlord give you all the correct paperwork when you took the tenancy? Is your deposit lodged with one of the schemes?

Was there a Gas Certificate if the boiler was in such a state?

Phone up the deposit scheme or go online and find out how to disagree with the landlord keeping your deposit.

Phone the council and see if there is a Housing Officer who can give you advise or preferably contact this landlord on your behalf.

Once third parties are involved and especially the Council she may back down as it would appear there were serious issues which she chose to ignore.

You can also phone Shelter.

All you can do is go down the routes you should have gone down when you were in the property and see what happens.

4

You should have sought advice at the time. As said above, you can’t just end a contract or tenancy in this way and the landlord is actually within their right to demand all the rent for the remainder of the fixed term of the contract.

As above, ring Shelter for advice.

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