Help Req'd - Landlord and possible eviction

[kregrs]

Hi, I'm hoping some of you can give me some advice on an issue I'm having with my landlord.

We took on the tenancy of a 19th century cottage on 16th June 2007, and at the time both myself and my partner were not working, claiming benefit and the landlord was made aware of this and that we would be making a claim for Housing Benefit. Despite numerous requests, we didnt receive our tenancy aggreement until the middle of October, by which point my circumstances were about to change due to me finding a job, because of which, both mine and my partners claim for Jobseekers finished. Now, I know we can claim for backdated benefit, and there is the possibilty that we may be able to get help with the rent due to only having 1 income, but until today we were unable to get the forms in. We couldn't claim whilst we were on benefit due to not having the Tenancy aggreement, and no rent has been paid apart from the 1st month when we moved in. After numerous conversations with the landlord, and telling him that we were trying to sort the situation, tonight we had a notice through the door explaining that he is now going to apply for us to be evicted. Some of what he claims on the form is untrue, namely that we have both worked since the tenacy was started and that we have boasted that we have no intention of paying the rent, the first we have proof that it is untrue, the second we don't know where he got that from, but it does say on the form that it is what we have told him.

Does anyone have any pointers on what to do?

Also, since we moved into the property we have had problems with it. Firstly there is a major rat problem, they have nests in the shed walls!, shed ceiling, under the shed, under the gas tank, in fact we have counted signs of at least 15 nests! Landlord was told of this, he supposedly told council and all blame was passed to next door, a kind of small holding. As an example of how bad the problem is, next door have, over the past few weeks managed to trap and kill at least 40 rats per week, although we still have the nests, and despite the landlord promising to deal with the problem, nothing has been done.
Secondly, there is a gas fire in the fireplace, the chimney having been blocked up in the past with concrete and newspaper with an outlet for the flue. Over the past few months the concrete/paper mixture has been falling out, and we suspect, by the noises that are heard, that there may be creatures living in the chimney breast. Again this has been mentioned but no remedy given.
Thirdly, on looking in the loft, there are 2 holes in the roof, and rodents living in the loft, with a lot of mess visible. Again nothing has been done despite us informing him.
Fourthly, after a pipe burst on the water meter, until we made a fuss, the landlord expected us to live without water for upto 48hrs while he made arrangements for repairs, instead of calling for emergency help. Problem being there was no water supply to the house due it being turned off because of the leak.
Fifthly, despite asking for the key to the front door, we have yet to be given one, as such we only have access through the back door. Also, the front door frame is rotten, with daylight visible through the bottom, again this has been reported but no remedy given.
Both my partner and I, and her parents, feel that the house isn't really fit to be rented out, how can we find out if this correct, who would we need to contact?

Any ideas on how best to proceed, and would any of this go in our favour should we need to attend court?

[Grid66]

Hi, I probably can't offer too much advice on how to proceed as I only recently started looking at tenants rights but my problem may well be a course of action for yourself.

My problem is related to my agent not protecting my tenancy deposit. (here's the thread http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...r-tenancy.html)

Now during investigating this it appears that if your landlord hasn't protected your deposit as specified in the Housing Act (C.34) he cannot serve you with an eviction notice. So did you pay a tenancy deposit?

Hopefully someone else can comment whether this is a reasonable course of action, but I thought it may well be relevant to your situation.

[kregrs]

That seems an interesting point, can someone clarify this for me? And would I be entitled to see any proof that this had been done?

One more thing, the house has gas central heating and a gas fire, does there need to be a safety certificate, and if so, should we have a copy of it?

[kregrs]

Just to add, the above isn't a case of us not wanting to pay our rent, we needed the tenancy agreement to sort out HB, in its absence we were given a form for the Landlord to sign, which despite a lot of phone calls and text messages to him, he refused to come and sign. We didnt have his address, all we had was his phone number.

[littlesally]

Your local council would probably like to hear about the rats and the state of the property.
Also, if you can prove all you say then if the eviction happens, you will not have made yourself homeless, so they will be duty bound to help you.
Shelter would be the best people though to get advice from about the present situation.
Sally x

[MrShed]

My thoughts:

- Your description of the property is damning, but in no way indicates an uninhabitable property.
- Indeed, most of the repairs he is not obligated to perform. Rats are not the landlords problem(unless they are caused by structural defects, which it appears some are), strangely enough I dont think he has an obligation to give you a front door key, or to repair the front door.
- As unfortunate as the situation is, the landlord is within his rights to evict in a legal sense, as you will be more than 2 months behind in rent. It doesnt actually matter whether this is due to HB, or his lack of supplying a tenancy agreement, or anything else.
- With regards the deposit, it is important to find out whether any deposit is held in a TDS scheme. If it is not the landlord cannot evict using a section 21 notice - however, he can evict using a Section 8, which it sounds as if he is doing - however, can you confirm please?
- If the deposit has not been held in a TDS, you are entitled to compensation of 3 times the deposit amount.