Private Tenancy, hot water and deposit issues..

[Katiayani]

Dear all,

I am a student in London, renting a 2 bedroom flat from a private landlord on an assured short-term tenancy (6 months and automatic renewal every month after that) with a friend for 3 years (start of the last contract september 2007).
Our landlord has always been friendly and helpful, however he is an old man and has got funny '50s ideas on tenant rights.
We had many issues this year with the water.

- It is impossible to have hot water in the morning because the pressure of the water is so low that the boiler does not start.
- the water goes from scalding to freezing continuously while we shower and I have been ill for most of the winters with colds and flu.

Furthermore, when there is heavy rain, we have water leaks into one of the bedrooms. The rooms are quite humid, with lots of cracks, creases and humidity bubbles and the occasional mold patch.
He is lovely but he just can't get that our living conditions are not healthy. And that mold could give me asthma.
I don't have the time to change right now because I am in hospital full time.

My friend is now leaving the flat, and the landlord does not want to return her deposit because he says that he needs a 2 months notice (when he said he needed only one). We have found a substitute for my friend, hence the flat will still be occupied by me and the new person. We guaranteed continuity with the rent as we know he needs the money.

How can we defend our rights to health and fair treatment, without damaging this nice old man? We are from Italy and we are not familiar with the British legal system, while he is a retired solicitor.
Every suggestion will be much appreciated.

Maria

[Enfieldian]

First, and most importantly...

Do you have a written tenancy agreement?

There is an extremely knowledgable poster here called MrShed who should be able to advise you, but I guess this would all depend on the documents between you and the LL.

[MrShed]

Have you written to him requesting these remedial works? What does your written tenancy agreement(if there is one) say regarding notice?

I realise you dont want to harm the landlord, but he has an obligation to provide certain basic living standards, and he SHOULD be harmed(financially) if he refuses to do these things.

Thanks for the recommendation Enfieldian

[Katiayani]

Thank you very much for your prompt answers.

Yes, there is a renting contract for a shorthold assured tenancy, which will be renovated to include the two new flatmates from the 1st of september.

It says ' Agreement for letting furnished dwellinghouse on an assured shorthold tenancy under Part I of the Housing Act 1988.'

The clause n. 5 on the contract specifies that 'The landlord agrees to pay and indemnify the tenant against all assessments and outgoings in respect of the property'. And it is literally the only mention of tenant's rights together with the 'quiet possession and enjoyment of the property'.

Whenever we mention the hot water issue the landlord remarks that it is a problem of the local water agency, and that if they don't increase the pressure there is nothing he can do. However, the water agency says it's the landlord who is at fault. In the meantime we get scalded/frozen 20 times per shower. His solution was 'shower in the evening if you have more pressure then.' I think it is still up to me to decide when to have a shower.

In the meantime we found out that the 3 flats and shop rented by the same landlord (it is a block of 3 flats) are all connected to 2 fuses only, located in the basement which we cannot access. The basement is the deposit of the charity shop, and is packed with flammable items (clothes and books).

Apparently, last summer my flatmate had a problem with the pay-as-you go electricity meter. She was left for 10 days with no electricity and no access to the basement, as the landlord was on holiday.

Furthermore, we found out today that the handle of the boiler (to change the temperature) is blocked again. Despite the fact that we had a corgi technician to fix it a few months ago. The same technician told us that, although the boiler is in very good conditions for its age (it beats 20 years) it should be changed in the next two years.

Also, the landlord keeps in our storage room a series of objects of no use, such as 7 old paint tubs, a fantastic (broken) iron SEWING MACHINE from the last century (2 tonnes in weight), and an incredibly useful turntable from the seventies. Except we don't have vynils. Further, he left one too much huge iron bed, too heavy to assemble/disassemble in case of guests staying over.

We'd love to use that space up for our luggage, hoover, ironboard, and the 5 spare chairs we don't know where to shove.

Believe me, I would have elegantly moved. But I just don't have the time and money to do it now. What can I do?


Thank you in advance.

Maria

[Katiayani]

Just a quick update. On the contract there is NO mention whatsoever of the legal time required to announce that one is leaving the flat. However, we were able to agree that my flatmate may receive her deposit back from the new tenants.
The other problems, unfortunately, remain.