Moved into private rented house in February this year It was recorded on the inventory before we moved into the house that there was a loose step at the very top of the staircase - nothing was done to make it safe before me moved in despite the Agent/Landlord being aware of it. The step has since deteriorated to such an extent that it is now extremely dangerous. It is breaking loose and there is a gap running along it in which you can see into the downstairs. We asked the agent to get it fixed again, they sent a contractor around a few weeks ago and then said they were going to shop around because the price the contractor gave was too costly. Its been two weeks and my husband rang them on friday to tell them it needed to be fixed immediately and they fobbed us off yet again So my husband emailed the council friday after work. Yesterday we got an email from the original Contractor (the Agent/Landlord could not even be bothered to inform us) that he could come and fix it. My husband countacted the council and was told that they had ordered the landlord to see it having seen our photos and the evidence on the inventory.a Our landlord did nothing about it until we got the council involved and we have had to live with it for 9 months. The landlord lives in Australia and has been difficult to get hold of to get permission to fix things because of the time difference but surelt the Agent also should not have allowed a house to be rented out with a loose step. We are very angry that we were allowed to move into a house that should have been safe before we moved in. Is there anything we can do?? I had to move out into my Dad's with our two small children because we had to keep escorting the 3 year old up and down the stairs and could not take the stress of him tripping on the stair any longer. We feel that we have been treated like rubbish.

So when are we supposed to ask to change it to monthly?

We can pay it, but we asked if we could pay monthly as my husband now has a job and it is of course far nicer to pay monthly. I guess we took for granted that she would be nice and go along with that. Oh well.

My husband hasn't lost a job, he has gotten a job.

Yep, they wanted the next 6 months in a lump sum. If I complain and say it is void because of the signature thing could they ask us to leave despite the fact we have paid until end of August when the 1st 6 months are up?

I have an 'Agreement for an Assured Shorthold Tenacy' for 12 months. Because neither myself nor my husband had a job my landlord would only accept us if we paid the first 6 months rent up front. We did. Now we are supposed to pay the next 6 months rent upfront 4 months into our contract we moved in in February. However now my husband has a job so we asked out landlord if we could change the agreement to paying monthly but she says no and if we dont have the money by the end of the week she will start charging us interest. We think this is very unreasonable given that she intended to rent her place out monthly and were it not for the fact that neither myself nor my husband had a job at the time and now my husband does we think she is being unreasonable. She knows he has a job, we paid the first six months up front and we have small children etc. Anyway, so now we are trying to find ways out of the contract because we do not want to give this woman any more of our money! So upon looking at our contract again we see that she did not sign our copy, nor we hers. I said to the estate agents at the time shouldnt we all be signing the same copy and even my landlord was annoyed about it. We asked the agent to do something about it - which they didntand the landlord didnt press for it to be seen to. Also, its probably just trivial but they spelt my husbands name wrong. Again i brought it up with the agents as did i with the landlord and she and we were both annoyed about it but yet again nothing was done to correct it despite my asking the estate agent to and the landlord asking them to as well. Do any of these things mean in any way that the contract is void? If not oh well, i like living in the house, just do not think our landlady is being fair to us.

Hi, I am just about to make a claim for Housing Benefit for my family. I have a husband, son and about to have another next month. The tenancy agreement is in both mine and my husbands names however the claim for Housing is in my name only. Basically my husband is American and has a spousal visa but does not have recourse to public funds. I have still put him on the claim form but I am wondering if it will be a problem having his name on the tenancy agreement? I am worried because I dont want to arose suspicion from the landlord as its been hard to find a place and I've had to not mention that I am DSS. Both myself and husband are unemployed, just moved back to be close to family and husband cant find a job, we came at the worst time! Will I need to tell the agent to put the tenancy in my name alone? I am worried as have paid all the fees and my dad had to loan us 6 months rent in advance as no one would accept us both being unemployed. What if the council rejects the claim because 6 months rent been paid in advance and tenancy is in both our names? Does anybody know? I've never claimed for anything like this before so have no idea what is going on. Thanks Beck