UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi all

I am a landlord but am posting for a friend whom has hit a problem which I just thought could not happen??? 

She has a house she has rented for a few years now and has withheld the rent from her landlord for the last few months on the grounds of breach of contract with regards repairs which have not been carried out - the heating system leaks in her small childrens rooms and therefore the radiators have been switched off and have been all winter. The leaks have caused damp and if the radiators are switched on then the water runs to the downstairs light fitting and more seriously the boiler which was condemned as unfit to use by a gas engineer whom notified the landlord it needs parts before being used.... none of this has been fixed. She has not had an electrical or gas safety certificate in all the time she has been there and only just found out he also did not register her deposit with any scheme!

He has demanded the rent and has threatened eviction via a section 21 which I know will be invalid as the deposit has not protected so he will have to go down the section 8 route..... however.... I thought a tenant was within their rights to withhold rent if a breach of landlord contract was found?  She has called Shelter and Citizen advice and the council and they have all said they cannot help and she has to pay the rent or he can evict her. The council have said she will have to make herself homeless in order to get on the housing list - I have no knowledge of how council housing works - but this all sounds crazy as she has 2 small children, lives in an unfit property and could well be homeless very soon - and this really goes right against my grain as a good landlord whom would never leave a young family without a boiler over winter.

If there anywhere she can go for help?

Thanks

Tee 

My advice would be to get the heating fixed, deduct this from the rent withheld, and carry on paying something after this time.


A S21 won't work as you say.

Just holding him ransom by not paying, should work, but it obviously isn't.

She could also get the certificates done, and deduct these as well.

If she is on benefits she should look at green deal, and get the heating done for free!

Although it doesn't seem fair when you're freezing your nuts off your "friend" needs to be reasonable about the costs of the repairs and the rent due.

Plus the landlord needs to stop being a douche.

This all sounds like a bad situation, but a Tenant is not entitled to withhold rent. The Council, CAB and Shelter saying this rams it home in a very unpalatable way, I would assume, when you know what's going on. A Tenant can arrange to do (arrange to have done) repairs but the Tenant has to be completely sure they follow the correct procedure - even Shelter's advice page on this starts with "It is important to remember that you don't have the right to withhold rent." - so my advice to be very careful is repeated deliberately...

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/tenants_repairs_and_improvements/withholding_rent_over_repairs

...if the Tenant has been withholding rent on the basis of repairs not being carried out, please tell us that the rent has been saved in a separate account or something like that, not just lost in the overall scheme of things, like life. Having it set aside at least proves that the rent is available, not squandered.

I hope that URL might help, it clearly states "However, if you do follow the correct procedure, you will have a defence if the landlord starts possession proceedings against you."

Although all that advice only applies to council and housing association tenants?

Not sure why it is, or could be different to private landlords, but Shelter specifically exclude them from that advice?

Try this Shelter URL as well... I still note the "Tenants do not have the right to withhold rent..." text and this rings true with the way I always understood things.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/tenants_repairs_and_improvements/tenants_doing_repairs

That's very informative that is.

I think any landlord who had been treated in the way they describe would be an absolute Richard head to object.

With reference to the council comments, the procedure for emergency housing is they put into bed and breakfast accomodation for a period of time and then they will rehouse you; this could take up to 6 months in not an ideal situation. I only am aware of this as my best friend herself in a situation that she needed emergency accomodation. It may be slightly different for some councils but the basis is  the same.

Good luck