Hi folks I would like an opinion on something I'm really not happy about... My daughter and her boyfriend were living in a flat (basically the lower half of a semi-detached split into two). The boyfriend was living in it originally and my daughter moved in, so all things relating to the let and the landlord and going through the BF. Towards the end of April the toilet blocked. The BF informed the landlord who told him to try and unblock it himself. He tried with no success. This plus the level of mould in the place finally led to them moving out of the property on 1st July. The toilet was not useable during this time. They gave notice that they were moving out but only a few days before they did. The landlord told the BF that they had to stay in the property until 27th July. The landlord is now after: £425 - March's rent (which they admit they owe) £425 - for July (technically the notice month) He's 'rounded' that up to £900 plus he now says he wants £200 interest for late payment He has £600 bond of the BF's. Things that I consider make the property uninhabitable/dangerous: Toilet not working for approx. 2 1/2 months - it seems that an incorrect waste pipe was attached to the toilet - rather than being ceramic it was the plastic 'flexi-tube'-type Awful level of mould, which the landlord is now blaming the BF for The gas mains pipes in the property were plastic Could someone give me their opinions on this as the landlord is now threatening court action (not that the threat bothers me at all, I'm a veteran!) Thanks

Hi, I need some advice as I am unsure of my position at the moment. Oct 2012 I found a property to rent through a local letting agents, I paid £300.00 in fees. I applied for the Council bond scheme which had no end of issues with it, fast forward too today it is now all sorted. I am now at the point of signing the AST, however a recent inspection of the property has found both white and black mold all over the place, the wall are not just damp but soaking wet, and the damp proof that was supposed to have been done, wasn't. When I viewed the property in Oct 2012 none of this was evident, and without stripping wallpaper there was no evidence of damp and/or mold issues. At the moment the property is uninhabitable, my partner has serve asthma that a temp drop can set off an attack, it can also affect my health seriously. The Landlord is not refusing to get it sorted but is very apathetic about the whole property. I have found another property that is in better condition etc and tempted to take it, but my question is what can I do to recover the £300.00 in fees I have paid as this is no small amount as I am unemployed after ill health and struggling to find a Job. The fees where to paid for one credit reference on me, drawing up a tenancy, and guarantor paperwork and reference. I have also refused to sign the AST until the issues are either sorted or I get my fees back bar a reasonable charge for the above items.

Hi, It is difficult to write the whole incident but I will write to the point and any kind of help and input will really be appreciated. My 2 bedroom flat was flooded with sewage water on 2nd Jan, 2011 and 2 rooms were fully flooded and cleaners and insurance company declared it uninhabitable (though living room was not flooded as I was there and water did not enter in living room), 4 flats in same floor were flooded, so it was definitely not LL fault or my - tenant fault, this was caused by community living in that building which has 70 flats, so can not blame anybody in this case. I lived with my friends for initial 2 days and then moved to a guest house and payment was made by my landlord’s insurance but only for around 3 weeks. (I paid for initial 2 days but I got that back from my LL insurance) Flat was not fixed during this time and my landlord then wanted me to end the contract (because it may take several weeks before flat will be fixed), I had no place to go and all my stuff was still in the flat, During this time I also started looking for new accommodation as well as some other cheaper alternative accommodation and found one but that was not available till 12th Feb, 2011. On 14th Jan I gave him notice of 4 weeks, told him that tenancy will end on 14th feb as 4 weeks of notice was required. I used to pay rent on 20th of every month, and before 20th Jan I came to know that my landlord or his insurance company is not ready to accommodate me anywhere, I called my LL and told him that I am not paying rent because 1) you or your insurance company is not providing me an alternate accommodation 2) There is a clause in my tenancy agreement - (4.2) the Landlord will return to the Tenant any rent payable for any period during which the Property may have been rendered uninhabitable by fire or any other risk which the Landlord has insured on 25th of Jan I vacated guest house and went to my friend's place, I needed accommodation for another 3 weeks as new house that I found was not available before 12 th Feb, 2011. After lot of discussion with my spouse we decided to go back to same old flat and started living in living room (rest of 2 bedrooms were uninhabitable), we are a couple and 2 children (4.5 years and 8 months) as we found it extremely difficult to live anywhere else because of access to kitchen and kids were not adjusting well. Before moving back I informed my LL as well as his insurance well in advance that please please arrange some alternative accommodation or else I may move back. I thought of moving to a hotel but by that time I already spent good amount money for initial accommodation, packing , moving , taking time off from work etc that I did not want more financial exposure. There are two problems here – 1. My landlord expects me to pay full rent for last 3 weeks, though I was not able to make full use of property, moreover I moved to flat because I did not have any other option left. Agency claims that insurance was ready to accommodate me till 12th of Feb but that was not true as I have emails communication from them, basically either agency is lying or LL misguided him, I have written proof of it in form of emails, which I provided to agency and he kind of agreed on phone that LL should pay me all deposit back in such case. 2. My landlord/agency never protected my deposit till 4 months after I paid it to agency, who then paid it to landlord. I chased them after 4 months and they said they will do it but I never got nay kind of communication from them and I checked with all deposit schemes and it is not protected anywhere. Agency is not ready to help me; they initially said I should get back my deposit in full and now asking me to speak to landlord directly. Please suggest, is it worth going to court, if yes are they two separate issues? My tenancy has already ended on 14th feb, LL has not paid me deposit back as we have not been able to agree to how much he should return, I even offered him to keep i/3 of rent just to close this matter but he wants to take full rent. I did not mention other problems like issues in contacting LL etc and no reply from him as they can not be proved in court. I also visited CAB today and lawyer suggested me to file a court case for not protecting deposit. Thanks in advance