Originally published at: The New Decent Homes Standard for the Private Rented Sector
The government is planning to introduce a Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector for the first time, as part of the Renters’ Rights Act. Once it becomes law, landlords in the private rented sector will be legally required to meet a minimum standard for property conditions. A public consultation is now open and…
By and large I wholeheartedly agree with the proposed changes and as a landlord I try hard to even outperform the proposed standards. I have one ‘tricky’ property though and would appreciate others’ views. I own a flat in a converted Georgian house. Its one of five freehold flats and has a communal maintenance agreement. It is the only flat in the block which is tenanted. Recently the flat has shown signs of water ingress which has been diagnosed to be a result of porous Georgian/Victorian brickwork. As the landlord of just one flat in the building, surely I cannot be held responsible for fixing the structural issues of the whole block?. The other flats are all owner occupied and not all will be willing to undertake/pay for the necessary works to the block - equally the root cause of the problem as porous brickwork is not something that I can unilaterally deal with for my tenants. Where will I legally stand once this legislation is passed?. If I cannot provide or meet the New Decent Homes standard will this be an acceptable ground for either the landlord or the tenant to end the tenancy?. I probably will not be the only landlord with a tenanted flat in a block of otherwise owner occupied flats in the country.
Is there a management company over the block?
They will all have to share the cost. Not self management is it?
I’m not convinced by this diagnosis. If the water ingress is through the bricks, why hasn’t the problem manifested before now on a property that’s around 200 years old? What has changed to make the issue appear now?
There are other things that you can do to stop water coming through the walls, such as having a waterproof membrane fitted on the inside of all the exterior walls. This would be very expensive, but I assume would not require the consent of the freeholder/all the other leaseholders.
You would not be allowed to simply allow damp/mould to go untreated in a tenanted property, so if it makes the flat uninhabitable and you can’t afford to fix it, you would need to evict the tenant and stop letting it.
You can spray brickwork with a clear waterproofing liquid . I have used to great effect on my garage, then when I hosepiped it, the water just ran off it
Yes, there is a management company who are good - they are however unable to act unless all owners agree to the cost of the works ahead of instructing contractors - which is not unreasonable and pretty standard practice. The majority of the other owners are elderly and do not have the funds to pay for the works and are prepared to put up with a bit of damp - there is of course no legal imperative for them to act, whereas as a landlord I am concerned that I will be on the wrong side of any new legislation here. I pride myself on being a decent landlord but as the cost of the entireity of the works will be considerably more than the value of the flat, I’m feeling a bit between a rock and a hard place, and am just not sure of where I would stand under this new legislation. There must be a boat load of landlords in bigger blocks where this could happen, am thinking of those with cladding issues etc. where one owner simply cannot rectify a building wide/structural issue on their own.
Colin - thanks for your practical advice though. Dave
Thanks David - I have already investigated and cannot do anything in my property which would affect others - and as a mid block owner anything I do unilaterally to just my property, such as spraying just my bit or lining my own walls would not be permitted. The other part of my quandary was ‘can I evict the tenant because I cannot solve the damp problem - as much as I would like to, I simply cannot see a way to.’ If this tenant gives notice and leaves, then I will simply sell - but if she stays and seeks her new ‘rights’ I’m feeling pretty stuck.
At the moment you can use s21 to evict the tenant without a reason. However, the RRB when enacted will restrict notices to those under s8 of the Act. This will include the need to sell the property or move into it. It also includes a new ground 6A covering the need to comply with enforcement action by the local authority. This would mean that if the Council served an Improvement Notice on you that you could not meet due to lease restrictions, you may be able to use this ground to recover possession, although you would clearly not be able to let it again. There may also be other consequences of the Council’s enforcement action if you allowed the situation to go this far.
As things stand, I really don’t think that this is a suitable property to let as landlords are held to a higher standard of repair than owner occupiers and you have no way of meeting this. I think you need to give urgent thought to what you want to do with this property given this fact.
Having said that, my first action would be to book a call with the Leasehold Advisory Service to see whether there is any way to force the management company on behalf of the other joint freeholders to make the required repairs.
I would agree totally with you that as I cannot meet the new soon to be legal requirements the property is now not suitable to let to tenants. I have reduced the tenants rent by £100 a month to mitigate any additional costs to heat the property and have offered to waive any notice if she finds an alternative rental. As a single Nigerian mother of 3 under 5’s, I think it likely she will struggle to find anywhere else, as although she is a delightful lady with beautifully polite children, her circs don’t look good on paper. Whilst she certainly shouldn’t have to put up with a damp property. If I issue a S21 now to put myself ahead of the legislation, her likely end point will be one room in a local authority B&B.
Is this definitely water entering from outside as opposed to condensation being created from within? Most areas have had very little rainfall this year ? When did these problems appear in regards to the tenant taking up residence?
Is it cavity wall construction?
That’s likely to be the outcome whether you issue the notice now or later when you’re forced to do it by the Council. I’d get ahead of this if I were you. Awaabs law may only be the start of your problems. There’s also MEES, (EPC grade C) and a range of other requirements that a property of that age may not be able to meet.
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