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[AlexR]

I would be putting in a claim through the Small Claims Court for monies owed by the old landlord - details of how to do this can be found on www.gov.uk. It seems obvious from the story that the old landlord ran away from his obligations and you seem to have plenty of documentation to back up your case...

[AlexR]

Local Councils follow rules, laws etc and I guess you will need to de-register your house as a HMO before they will consider it as such. There will be some way to do this probably only known by an official in the council. I always took note of the Council people who ran or attended the landlords meetings...

[AlexR]

Three unrelated people sharing a flat constitutes a HMO. Any such house is subject to fire regs ( fire doors, alarms) etc. However in certain areas of Reading there are section 4 directives prohibiting the creation of new HMOs in certain areas even if the landlord wished to create a HMO.

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[AlexR]

There is plenty of regulation - it's inspection and enforcement that is needed. If Local Authorities were more proactive and helpful then perhaps more could be done to improve the sub-standard housing....

[AlexR]

I have sold six properties over the last few years and once they go on the market they go to whomsoever puts in an acceptable offer - five of mine went to investors but they were modified as HMOs. Lately Estate Agents have restricted numbers of viewers and only allowed cash buyers to view or offer...

[AlexR]

I managed to get my terraced house (built circa 1900) up to a D, 66 points, 3 short of a C by insulating the walls with thermal board , insulating under wooden floor, newish boiler etc. But it cost far more than the 3,7 or even £10,000 quoted above by the time all of the remedial work was done. I...

[AlexR]

The tenants are usually invoiced and if they do not pay it is deducted from deposit at the end of the tenancy....

[AlexR]

This is a standard approach with student lets. The house has to be put into a position so that it is as clean as at the start of the tenancy so that the new tenant gets a clean house to start with and all of the new tenants are held to the same standards at the end of the tenancy. It is really hard...

[AlexR]

I ran a couple of large HMOs a few years back and basically the council just want 1) the rubbish put out on the correct day in the right place for collection, 2) no 'wrong' material in the recycling and 3) the bins taken in again once emptied.

I am sure you are correct in trying to get...

[AlexR]

Insecure window off a flat roof - yes it's potentially problematic. The window does not look antique and can I see a locking bolt on the right edge just above the middle bar of the window? It's definitely a question for the landlord....

[AlexR]

A quick Google search says: Before 6th April you would include an EPC asset chart on a set of particulars. These rules have now changed so that from 6th April 2012 you have to:

• Obtain an EPC for all commercial sales and lettings properties.
• Obtain an EPC for all residential sales and lettings

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[AlexR]

This is what the black bags looked like the day after the tenants left. £10 per bag is meant to be a deterrent but it does depend what is in the bags!...

[AlexR]

My houses had a loft room when built in approx 1900....

[AlexR]

We are in a similar position although we do not know what our cleaning bill will be yet despite a three week discussion with our Agent! I agree with your figures and you need to complain to the Agents and get a breakdown of costs which I would expect to be eg 3 cleaners x 2hours @ £x per hour = £...

[AlexR]

I used to own and manage several victorian terraced houses with an attic room in each. Each attic room had similar issues - very cold in winter and very warm in summer which was caused in my case by the lack of insulation. This means that you have to use a disproportionate amount of energy to make the...

[AlexR]

These are not massive jobs and could be sorted in short order. An email informing the agents of work promised to be done, if done in a polite manner, is not out of order.