Serious landlord problems - student house

[Morder]

Hi!

I just found this forum in my search for information regarding my legal rights regarding an issue with my landlord.

This is a fairly complicated case, and I'm gonna try to explain the matters as well as I can.

I'm a full time student in Liverpool. Me and 4 of my mates found a 5 bedroom flat in an ideal location this winter, and signed a tenancy for this year starting on the 1st of july.

When we first saw the flat, it seemed to be in a decent condition, however, since then, a few problems have appeared.

There has been a leak from the drain pipe from the roof, causing water to leak in through one of the walls (it is a basement flat). This room now smells really bad. the land lord has now put a dehumidifyer in, and he is not gonna do anything more until its water tank has stopped filling up.
Considering the state of the room, there is no way anyone can live there until it has been severely improved.

There is no hot water in the kitchen
The shower is mouldy
The smoke detection system is worse than dodgy, it has a control surface with error lights flashing, and it randomly goes of every now and then. This system covers the entire house, though the flat we are moving into is the only place where it actually works at all.

On top of this, noone seems to have paid gas or electricity bills for years. A bill of about £8000 has accumulated and they are threatening to shut the gas and electricity off. Apparently, the landlord does not know of this.

I know most of this from speaking to the previous tenants as I know one of them, and I helped him move out. The previous tenancy ends on the 30th of june, and our tenancy starts at the 1st of july.

I currently live in the same house, but in a different flat. My tenancy ends the the day that the tenancy in the new flat begins.

Some of my mates have already left their personal belongings in the new flat at the previous tenants' permission, and have gone abroad, as they are forreign students, and wanted to stay in their home countries in the summer.

The current tenants have also gone, but are however coming back to remove their personal possessions near the end of their tenancy.

One of the guys that already moved out passed his keys straight on to me.

As the landlord didn't have a key to the flat, I made arrangements with the handyman so that he could access the flat using the back door and a key which only he had.

Since then, however, some of the possessions kept in the flat has gone missing (in particular a pair of £600 studio loudspeakers). I immediately asked the handyman about it, and he got very angry, and claimed that someone had put the latch on the secondary lock so that he couldn't get in (so that it couldn't possibly have been his fault).

I told him I'd have to call the police, as the owners insurance company wouldn't cover theft unless it'd been reported to the police. He then called the landlord, aggressivly explained the situation to him, then put me on the phone with him.

The landlord was then very agry, and said that I wasn't allowed to stay there in the summer at all. I explained to him that I didn't have a choise.

He then said that any theft or damage to the entire building over the summer will be my responsibility if I'd stay.

As I have a job here over the summer, I have no choise but to either get a different flat, or move in when the tenancy starts in less than 2 weeks. My current tenancy ends the day the new one starts.

All I want right now is to get away from this place. In 10 days I'll either have to move in to the new flat, or find myself somewhere else to live.

I have a massive amount of instruments and musical/studio equipment that needs to be stored somewhere safe, and preferably where I can use it.

If I do get a new place to live, I assume my £300 deposit is lost. I'm however not sure how it'll affect the rest of the flat. They might (probably) want to move out as well, but I don't know the terms of out contract as we haven't been given a copy of our own!

Sorry about the rant, I'm not in a great mood. Hopefully someone can give me some advice, which I'd really appreciate. Thanks

[rhig123]

Hi Morder, sounds like a pretty bad situation, is your house registered with the university accommodation service? If the landlord is a member go and see them and they will inspect the house, if they are assessed and graded in Liverpool the differences should be noticed by the university. Otherwise tell your landlord you will be writing to their landlords association.

Your landlord isn't liable for any of your possessions and will also not be insured for them. The only way he could be liable would be if it was proven the theft was committed by someone working on his behalf on the premises or as a result of his or their negligence.

Are you paying full rent as of July? You say the landlord has said you cannot live there over the summer; did you pay a retainer to store your things in the apartment during summer? If it is a full tenancy the landlord cannot make you responsible for theft from or damage to the property, the exterior of the property is his responsibility and is covered by his insurance. If you are on a full tenancy your landlord cannot forbid you from staying in the house or hand over his responsibilities.

Unless you can get out of the contract, either by offering him a deal or taking action based on the deterioration of the house you will be obliged to pay him. If you all signed the same contract you are all responsible for the rent and which will cause problems if you don’t all pay.

The electric shouldn’t be a problem, call the company and say you have just moved in and you should be set up, they may want some payment in advance if the house has unpaid bills but you aren’t liable for the existing ones.

If you are able to get the student accommodation service involved it probably wont be possible at your end until your tenancy begins or if a current tenant asks them.

Good luck with your new house but remember it isn't yours yet, I would write to your landlord that you expect it to be in as good a state as it was when you visited but talking it further while you are not a tenant would not only be unfair to him but be pointless. It is his currents tenants responsibility to request repairs to the house, obviously if the house is in an unacceptable state when you arrive you can complain.