Tenant blaming landlord for their own laziness and for being irresponsible

I don’t think age of boiler matters, it’s if it works. Old boilers can just keep going…

No gas safe cert is just not on as are the other things.
He sounds like a night mare.

I would’ve moved out if not getting anywhere.

1 Like

in the 13 years you were there it was not all covid . You should have kept on at them . You have only yourself to blame for not following up with this I am done replying now

5 Likes

Covid they said. Not enough staff available to cover

Here is the irony. Landlord is happy with the condition of the interior (go figure) :roll_eyes: but won’t approve the release of my deposit due the rear garden ( a garden that he ignored and I fixed the roof shed)

If the landlord is not bothered whom am I…(Please see attached)

Just for the sake of understanding (I’m not defending landlord!)

EPC is not required to be renewed during tenancy, only needs to be valid at start of a new tenancy.

Electrical safety test is not a legal requirement to be done every year, some landlords will do an annual PAT test. A valid EICR is however required and usually last 5 years though can be less.

2 Likes

I was even collecting his post for him… :joy::joy::joy:
Add that to the list

Vardeep, with so many things wrong with the place, why don’t you leave?,
oh, I see you did leave, but want your deposit back, is that it?

2 Likes

Hi Christine, I moved out just over 3 weeks ago. I enjoyed living there. The irony is I cared more about the property than the landlord. At one point I was thinking of buying it but covid pandemic changed that sadly…

Just in the middle of a claim process with the DPS as the landlord refuses to communicate with me.

Hi Mark, I believe a valid EPC is required THROUGHOUT any rental, so, as Vardeep says, it should’ve been renewed by 2020.

Hi Sue,

I have found a few sources that agree on the below. Of course this isn’t conclusive….

“As per the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations 2012, a rental property is only required to have a valid EPC when it is being marketed to new tenants; therefore if an existing certificate expired during a tenancy, the landlord would have to obtain another before listing the rental and signing an agreement with new tenants.”

If the law changed during an active tenancy, to require a higher EPC than the previous one then a new EPC would however be required.

However, having just read further into this, it seems that a valid EPC is required in order to be able to issue a valid s.21.

1 Like

seems to me to just renew all certs you need in order to rent out . A new EPC is not too dear and tax deductible

Hi Mark, thanks for your legwork on this … interesting one, and a school day for me! I’ve automatically got one 10 years on, even with no change of tenancy, assuming it was a legal requirement. (For c. £40 it was a no brainer). But you’re right, most sites, including Gov.uk, suggest it’s only required when marketing to Sell or Rent. [The mandatory rules on GSC’s and EICR’s being more frequent are clearly more safety-related, than energy efficiency]. Re: the guidance on a valid one being required to serve a S.21 notice, which I’ve also read, I’d hazard a guess, though, that L/L’s have satisfied courts based on complying just with having served a “valid” one at the start of a tenancy ?
The gov.uk extract on S.21 evictions simply reads… “before they rented the property”:-

You also cannot use a Section 21 notice if you have not given the tenants copies of:

You must have given your tenants the gas safety certificate and the ‘How to rent’ guide before they moved in.

You must have given your tenants a copy of the property’s Energy Performance Certificate before they rented the property.

Separately, there’s no legal requirement on the L/L to provide updated ‘How to Rent’ guides throughout the tenancy either. S.21 1/A/B itself doesn’t state it has to be a valid EPC at the time of service.

@Sue6 I believe that’s mostly correct. You do have to provide an updated How to Rent booklet if the tenancy becomes periodic and the publication has changed, but otherwise not.

If the Gov’t does introduce a requirement for all rented properties to achieve EPC band C in 2025 then I assume that those with a valid EPC but with a lower band will need to get it renewed in order to prove compliance with the new MEES, but that’s still not confirmed.

How you proceed will depend on when your deposit was paid and how.
For any tenancy commencing after 2007 your deposit should be in a deposit protection scheme and you can reclaim it from there.

For tenancies commencing before that date if the landlord refuses to repay it you need to take action in a small claims court

If you believe it was retaliatory eviction you should have raised that as a defence to the section 21 notice - but its a bit late for that after you have moved out.

It seems your money is with a deposit protection scheme so you should provide them with evidence to .the contradict the landlords claims. They will make a judgement.

It does not matter what other landlords or tenants on this forum think - the only opinion that matters is that of the deposit protection scheme so you should ensure you submit your evidence to them.

While it is OK to submit photos of the general condition of the property you should ensure you directly address the landlords claim about garden maintenance.

I am not in favour of any tenants they only raise issues when it comes to leave and after waking up to a fact that they have deposit to rescue. I appreciate if you can share historical communications regarding your complaint. Even then lack of ventilation and heating will cause these. Try drying clothes indoors with dehumidifier and you will collect at least 3lt of water and now try splashing this water to the walls every time you dry something indoors.

4 Likes

Yes you are correct as long as you have served a valid epc at some point during the tenancy (before or during) then you can serve a section 21 even if the epc has expired best way of looking at it is it’s a marketing tool hence a new one only needed when it’s expired and you sell or tenant changes

1 Like

Do you have air bricks / ventiulation in the property? If not, might be worth installing or something like this…

I have these fitted in one of my HMO in each room for fixed velation

I think we again need to get more an more inventive to overcome tenant inflicted damp and mould. I am not talking about structural issues at all. With the rising heating bills we are likely to see more damp as tenants might not turn heating on enough. You hand over a dry working home and then getting damp mould complaints later on! And this changes from tenant to tenant. I wonder if a damp and temperature monitoring for each room which logs the data can be way forward. It can show some usage tendencies. I am sure there are homes who needs in structural repairs and I am not talking about those. I like the vent Idea but I am sure there will be someone who will tape over it! I have been called into property repoting leak and it turned out all silicone around bath got mouldy and it stopped sealing and resulted in a leak! This is a fairly new house with proper insulation and extractor ( pull cord). We lived in this one and had no issues and as soon as we rented got this!!! Not sure how you LLs tackling with such tenancies. May be there should be damp and mould awareness course people should attend to qualify for tenancy!!!

5 Likes

Hey all,

Definitely would have helped the damp and mould if I had double glazing throughout the house and not just the kitchen window when I moved in back in 2010. Took ten years of moaning to get some and even then it was one by one replaced (installer told me. Pretty common amongst tight fisted landlords so they can collect the installation certificates)

The irony is he can’t rent the house now (needs major work including a complete rewire, new fuse box wasn’t compatible with the 40 year old electric cabling. Kept tripping the sockets) after years of ignoring me saying, dude what’s going on. Luckily I don’t have young kids. Property needs maintenance like any vehicle would…

In the news today a two year old died from exposure to damp and mould after family were ignored for four to five years.

I’m not a fan of landlords either that ignore issues when mentioned and tennants like myself that spend there own money on a property that doesn’t belong to them but do it from the kindness of their hearts…