re repairs is the LL responsable

[charley686]

hi is the LL responsable for all the repairs,to the property before a tennant moves in ,and if so refuses,due to cost ,and lets the tennant maintain the property,for the 6 months then evicts him is there anything the tennant can do?

[pcwilkins]

hi is the LL responsable for all the repairs,to the property before a tennant moves in ,and if so refuses,due to cost ,and lets the tennant maintain the property,for the 6 months then evicts him is there anything the tennant can do?

If the LL said he would repair the property before the T moved in, then yes, he should have done it. The T should have got the LL to sign a written statement to this effect before signing the agreement.

Perhaps you should be more specific:
a) What do you mean by repairs?
b) Did the T sign the agreement on the understanding that these repairs would be carried out?
c) What do you mean by "let the tenant maintain the property"? What has the tenant done to maintain the property?

If the landlord said he would repair the property and then didn't, that is "naughty" but unless you have it in writing the T probably can't do a lot. Whether the L was right in evicting the T depends on the agreement.

Peter

[jeffrey]

Also remember L's obligations imposed by law: s.11 of LTA 1987.

[charley686]

ref repairs to property

If the LL said he would repair the property before the T moved in, then yes, he should have done it. The T should have got the LL to sign a written statement to this effect before signing the agreement.

Perhaps you should be more specific:
a) What do you mean by repairs?
b) Did the T sign the agreement on the understanding that these repairs would be carried out?
c) What do you mean by "let the tenant maintain the property"? What has the tenant done to maintain the property?

If the landlord said he would repair the property and then didn't, that is "naughty" but unless you have it in writing the T probably can't do a lot. Whether the L was right in evicting the T depends on the agreement.

Peter

he said he would get someone in to do the work,but he could not give us a date or amount of time to repair,so we said if he paid for the materials we would carry out the work but he never came up with any of the cost,so we ended out of pocket

[pcwilkins]

he said he would get someone in to do the work

What work? And did you get this promise in writing?

but he could not give us a date or amount of time to repair

Did you ask for a date or amount of time? Or did you just sign the agreement that he would carry out the repairs "sometime"?

so we said if he paid for the materials we would carry out the work

And did he do this? What materials and how much did they cost? Do you mean you carried out the work yourselves or you paid someone else to do it?

but he never came up with any of the cost,so we ended out of pocket

He never came up with any of the cost for what? Do you mean you paid for the work to be done and expected him to pay you back?

What work was it that you had done and how much did it cost?

Peter

[charley686]

ref the repairs

the repairs were 3 wall lights ,one was bare wires,the other 2 was hanging loose from the wall only one worked,a double socket has been split into two showing bare wires,blocked sink ,incorrect sink drainage housing was the wrong size the pipe to take away the dirty water was blocked,the floor was moldy, filthy,soaking wet in both the kitchen and bathroom,in the small bed room the wall was black and damp,the plaster on the walls was falling off,im sorry but this has to have been one hell of a bad LL to let this property get in this state

[jeffrey]

Are you the tenant here? Did you see the property before entering into the Agreement?

[charley686]

ref the cost of repairs

the LL prommised to refund all the money we had to pay out,we were paying full rent,we did 95% of the work,to save him money everyone says he is getting us out to incresse the rent,we spent in the region of 600.00 pounds for the tiles,paint, door,lights,cost of getting rid of the rubbish etc,we did this work in good faith?

[jeffrey]

the LL prommised to refund all the money we had to pay out,we were paying full rent,we did 95% of the work,to save him money everyone says he is getting us out to incresse the rent,we spent in the region of 600.00 pounds for the tiles,paint, door,lights,cost of getting rid of the rubbish etc,we did this work in good faith?

"Promised" -in writing or orally?

[charley686]

ref condition before we moved in

No,we Met At The Address,but The Tennant Was Still Living There At The Time,and We Did Not Want To Be Rude As We Guessed He Was Not Very Clean,so We Could Not Realy Get To See Much Of The Property,

[pcwilkins]

the repairs were 3 wall lights ,one was bare wires,the other 2 was hanging loose from the wall only one worked,a double socket has been split into two showing bare wires,blocked sink ,incorrect sink drainage housing was the wrong size the pipe to take away the dirty water was blocked,the floor was moldy, filthy,soaking wet in both the kitchen and bathroom,in the small bed room the wall was black and damp,the plaster on the walls was falling off,im sorry but this has to have been one hell of a bad LL to let this property get in this state

And you agreed to rent the property in this state sounds like the property isn't fit to be lived in.

the LL prommised to refund all the money we had to pay out

In writing? Or did you take his word for it?

we were paying full rent,we did 95% of the work,to save him money

Why would you want to save your landlord money? If you were paying full rent you were entitled to expect the landlord to do this stuff --- if he didn't do it, you should have left, not done it yourselves!!! A landlord who doesn't do what he promises is a sign that you should find somewhere else to live.

everyone says he is getting us out to incresse the rent

Have you asked him if he would let you stay if you paid more rent?

we spent in the region of 600.00 pounds for the tiles,paint, door,lights,cost of getting rid of the rubbish etc,we did this work in good faith?

You spent £600 improving someone else's property and it seems you don't have any proof that he agreed to pay you back your expenses.

Unless you have proof that the landlord agreed either to do the work or to pay you back for doing the work, I think you have a very weak case. Perhaps you will just have to learn the lesson and move on --- it sounds like you needed to learn it!! Next time, don't rent a property that you're not happy to live in, and don't sign any contract until you are satisfied that the work is complete. It's common sense really!

Peter

[charley686]

Ref The Ll

We Got All The Recipts,he Asked Us For So He Claim The Vat Back,we Did Most Of The Aggrements Oraly,we Did Not Think He Would Do This To Us,

[charley686]

Ref Peter

We Did Not Have The Finance To Get Anything Else,our Previous Ll Has Emmigrated To India,and He Decided To Sell Up,so We Had To Get Out With The Money We Had We Are Both On Benefits,and Our Finance:s Are Limited,

[pcwilkins]

We Got All The Recipts

Receipts only prove that you spent money improving the house. They don't prove that the LL agreed to refund your costs.

,he Asked Us For So He Claim The Vat Back,

How can he claim the VAT back when he hasn't even paid any VAT? He can't claim back VAT that you paid, surely?

we Did Most Of The Aggrements Oraly

Big, expensive mistake --- which hopefully you won't make again.

we Did Not Think He Would Do This To Us,

The LL is in it for one thing and one thing only --- money. It seems that he lied to get you into the property (by promising he would repair it), and then lied to get you to repair the property (by promising to pay you back). You should have smelt danger when he didn't do the work himself.

Sorry to be harsh but I think your money is lost. The only thing which might work is to threaten to undo the work that you did and see if it makes him see sense. For example, if you repaired the sink, undo the repair so it's back how it was. You might at least be able to get him to pay a proportion of your costs.

We Did Not Have The Finance To Get Anything Else,our Previous Ll Has Emmigrated To India,and He Decided To Sell Up,so We Had To Get Out With The Money We Had We Are Both On Benefits,and Our Finance:s Are Limited,

I'm sorry to hear it. Do either of you work?

Peter

[Bel]

Charley

Taking your eviction thread into consideration;

You could always stop paying rent now it looks like you wont be there much longer, at least until you have had your repair moneys worth of time in the flat. Technically, you owe rent for as long as you stay in the flat prior to eviction.

It would be then up to the LL to sue you back for rent money owed (this is a different court procedure to the eviction under section 21). You would then have a defense as to why you had not paid rent...ie. repairs, and the judge could put this in your favour. But he might not as you have not followed protocol. You would also take the chance that the LL will not sue as he will be shown up to be a rubbish landlord.