What are my rights??

[gethsemene]

I signed a 6/12 tenancy at a flat in december and as soon as I moved I requested the advertised parking permit. This has despite many promises never materialised and 1/12 previous I requested a reduction in rent to compensate for this. The manager of the letting agent told me he thought this was reasonable and would get back to me with a revised amount. A month has passed and I phoned them as I was aware I was in arrears (can't pay rent if you don't know the amount). The manager admitted he had not spoken to the landlord and went to do so before returning saying they will not reduce the rent and there are no longer parking permits available, he would only attempt to get me one if I agreed to sign another 12/12 contract.

I have no intention of signing a 12/12 contract, new parking charges make not having a permit untenable so do I have the right to leave without giving a full notice period??

 

Many thanks

Ben

[rebel11]

Hi get

 

Welcome to CAG

 

The guys will advise as soon as they are available.

[BankFodder]

it sounds to me as if you may have that right. However don't start thinking that you are not liable to pay anything. You would have to pay some kind of reasonable rent for the time that you have been there. – Even if you make proportionate deductions for the lack of parking.

[Steve__M]

What does your contract say about access to parking?

 

If your contract gives you the right to park you may be entitled to claim for your losses - eg. if you had to pay for parking on the street. If your contract does not give you the right, it may be harder to prove your case. An assurance prior to signing the contract may not be sufficient (except for a complaint to trading standard perhaps).

 

It does not sound like a fundamental breach that would be sufficient reason to terminate the tenancy.

[gethsemene]

I understand and rest assured have no intention of defaulting on this rent, I am ready and willing to pay (as soon as they ask me to). My only concern is do I have to give notice and if I don't can they withold my (protected) deposit to cover this?

[gethsemene]

To Steve m I have both the original advert and communication promising me the permit and admitting that the parking is part of the contract.

[Steve__M]

By leaving early or leaving without giving the requisite notice you are at risk of a claim for lost rent and readvertising costs.

 

If LL is not prepared to negotiate, your only options appear to be a court claim for your losses due to the breach of contract you believe to have taken place, such as parking charges. However, what was in the final contract may be taken to be what was agreed rather than what was promised beforehand - I am not a lawyer.

 

How are the permits issued? Can you buy one yourself?

[gethsemene]

Permits are on annual basis at £500 a year, believe you need to be an owner to get one. Flat is in walled complex with small amount of visitor parking which the management are fed up with people like me using to save £500 a year. Contract states parking is by permit in allocated bay, does not specifically state the permit will be provided so don't know if they can wriggle out there?

Thanks for the help so far.

[Planner]

I understand and rest assured have no intention of defaulting on this rent, I am ready and willing to pay (as soon as they ask me to). My only concern is do I have to give notice and if I don't can they withold my (protected) deposit to cover this?

 

If you have signed a tenancy agreement and moved in, then you have already agreed to pay rent - they are under no requirement to remind you on a monthly basis that rent is due - you would be better off paying what you owe and subtracting your parking expenses and await their response.

[Ed999]

My advice is applicable only if the rented premises are entirely within England and Wales, and only if you were granted a shorthold tenancy (under which you [and your spouse/partner/children if any] had exclusive use of a seperate dwelling, which was not shared with another tenant nor with the landlord) and you were over 18 years of age when the tenancy was granted.

 

 

It does not sound like a fundamental breach that would be sufficient reason to terminate the tenancy.

 

It CANNOT be grounds to end the tenancy, because it has nothing to do with the tenancy. A breach of contract might be a fundamental breach of that kind if the landlord had no legal title to the dwelling, or had already let the dwelling to someone else. But not otherwise.

 

 

If you leave the premises without first validly ending your tenancy or licence, the rent continues to accrue, and can be deducted from the deposit; and you can be sued if the deposit doesn't cover it.

 

If you do nothing, your tenancy or licence will end if and when the premises are re-let. A re-letting by the landlord always ends the previous tenancy, and stops the rent continuing to accrue due, because re-letting is an act which is incompatible with the continuation of the original tenancy.

 

There are two ways to end a shorthold tenancy, if it's a periodic tenancy in which the rent is payable monthly: you can give not less than one calendar month's notice in writing, expiring on the day before a rent day (but if the tenancy agreement requires a longer period of notice you must give the notice which the agreement specifies); or you and the landlord can agree an immediate surrender of your tenancy, by a deed signed by you both. The rent ends when the notice period ends, or on the date the deed of surrender specifies, respectively.

 

If you paid a rent deposit to the landlord or his agent at the start of the tenancy, you probably won't get it back; so if the landlord is holding the equivalent of one month's rent your best tactic is to not pay the final month's rent, i.e. to let him take it out of the deposit.

 

 

If you paid a deposit, read the FAQs about the tenancy deposit scheme, under which you might be entitled to sue for compensation if you had a shorthold tenancy -

 

- Tenancy Deposit Scheme

 

- Tenancy Deposit Protection - First High Court Decision

 

- TDS eligibility, implication of breach and legal questions answered

 

 

The case of Tiensia v Vision Enterprises means that if the Landlord protects or repays the deposit even as late as the day of the court hearing, or at any time before judgement (if later), the court will not be able to award you the penalty of three times the amount of the deposit.

 

That was NOT overturned by the final Court decision in Potts v Densley, when the long overdue reserved judgement in that case was finally given.

 

Suing for the penalty, or merely threatening to do so, might cause the landlord to return the entire deposit to you, without any deductions, thus resolving a dispute over disrepair; although the landlord could, alternatively, put the deposit into a TDS scheme instead, and continue to argue for deductions for disrepair.

 

While the deposit is not protected the Landlord cannot serve notice of eviction under section 21.

 

The Act expressly states that the parties to the tenancy cannot agree not to protect the deposit. So it's futile for the landlord to raise this defence - but many still try to!

 

 

Also read the FAQ about what deductions the landlord can lawfully make from the deposit -

 

- Unfair deposit deductions