Anyone got any advice on this

I am currently renting a flat - 6 month contract, 4.5 months have gone by.

It was supposed to be non furnished - the second bedroom has a bed which we asked to be removed as we do not need it - it never has been. The second bedroom had a major leak in it which was eventually fixed, however - its now and has been for three months been left with the damp plaster exposed - and not replastered and not redecorated. (so we have payed for a room which we could never use!). The front door was supposed to be replaced and hasn't been, as a result my girlfriend is unable to get through the outside gate or the front door by herself. The gutter above the front door pours water all over you as you come and go - even when the rain stopped hours previuosly, again this has not been fixed.

We have attempted to get this resolved with no luck, the landlord would not even supply us his addresss so we could put these things in writing.

We moved out of the flat after 2.5 months for these and other reasons - problem neighbours which again we beleive the landlord should have told us of.

Since the landlord insisted we had a six month contract , we decided to put this down to experience and pay the rent and bills for 6 months even though we have not been there after 2.5 months. (some of our things are still there as we are now staying with friends who have no room for our stuff - and we may as well use the flat for storage at least since we are being forced to pay for it)

Sunday night the landlord phoned up and said he had someone who wanted to look round the flat and could he have the keys, so we let him have them.

Monday night after having been round he phoned my girlfirend and said someone wanted to take the flat in January and he would let us out of the lease - ie not pay the last months rent. However as part of this agreement - he had a "family friend" who needed to stay for three nights. My girlfriend agreed,asking for him to leave the agreement in writing in the flat.

In addition some of our stuff has been thrown in the bin, its not of much value - say thirty quid to replace, but thats not the point.

We have since been round - there is no agreement there, and he is not answering phone calls.

I suspect he has pulled a fast one and will deny any agreement was made, and that noone even stayed in the flat, and try to enforce the last months payment - even though he verbally agreen otherwise.

The person who stayed has left food in the fridge, and someone has put bedding and some kitchen machinerery in.

We are moving the last of our stuff out at the weekend and cancelling the tenancy as has been verbally agreed.

We are taking pictures of all the stuff that is wrong with the place, there is some eveidence again that others have sayed in a falt we are still the tenants of, and we have logged the time and duration of the phone calls with the landlord.

Unfortunatley the landlord is from a respectible family (god knows why they are) with many influential friends. I personally think hes a dishonest scum bag and am more nad more convinced he will purseu us for all six months rent - andnot return our deposit.

Anything else I should do. (I have seen CAB, who though well meaning where useless)


Merry Christmas Everybody!
Paul

Have you asked at the Citizens' Advice Bureau?

Live there for a few days in January, and don't leave until you get your deposit back... refuse to let anyone else in until you have it.

Have a few large friends visit you during this time!!

J.

Yes I have seen the CAB - who basically advised us to put things in writing to the landlord and keep asking and keep paying the rent.

Which I am sure the lanlord is happy to receive the money and ignore phone calls - we don't have his address which he won't give us.

They weren't very helpful - though well meaning - it takes 4 weeks here to see someone from the CAB with any knowledge of the subject as opposed to a well meaning pensioner.

I have agreed to move out at the weekend and cancel the contract - which is what I want to do. If I go round for a few days in Jan - the lanlord could say I was still in possesion of the place - cancelling the agreement to move out now.

I could hang on to it in Jan - to ruin the new tenacy he has supposedly agreed - however maybe the new tenacy was made up to get the keys and us to agree to someone staying a few days. Even if the Jan tenancy is real , if I go round in Jan I'm going have to pay Jans rent.

What should I do with the keys? ie I want it obviuos at the weekend - that as far as I am concerned as it was agreed the tenancy is at an end, I don't want to hold on to the keys as he would argue I had handed them back - I have no address to hand them back to!

This is a real bummer. :-(

Have you, or did you at any time give one months notice in writing?

Noooooooooo

When he asks for the key again tell him that you will drop them off at his home address

if that fails get someone to follow him home, then you have his address to send the letters to.

Noooooooooo
That I'm afaraid is your second mistake, your first was renting directly from a private landlord.
Go through a reputable agency, having said that just don't pay him any more money, if what you say is true and you can prove that flat was in a bad condition I doubt a court will award against you.
If he didn't have your new address then what could he have done?

Private landlord never again.

Difficult to do anything about 1 months notice - even if I had an address he wouldn't have accepted the one months notice?

Private landlord never again.
Good and bad in all walks of life I'm afraid, there are bad agencies around too.
I shouldn't tell you this but if you pay monthly in arrears you will always have some leverage regarding your deposit;)

Yes I have counted the deposit as a month rent - as the c**t is unlikely to give that back.

Ie have paid 4 months and deposit, so 5 months and as agreed Sunday night thats it the 5 months is up and paid for.

Unless he denies agreeing of course.

Isn't it normal to have the landlord's (or agent's) address on the tenancy agreement?
It might be worth speaking to your local authority as I believe they have some powers to do with the condition of houses (even privately rented ones). They might also be able to advise you on your other problems or at least point you in the direction of someone who can.

Being from the U.S., I have no idea how leases are enforced in the UK. I did, however, located a couple pages of links with various tenent advocacy groups in the UK. It's a good place to start.

http://www.worldtenant.com/uk_tenant_federations.htm
http://www.worldtenant.com/uk_tenants_associations.htm

I had a hard time identifing the governmental body responsible for housing, but if you can get them involved and perhaps declare the housing unfit, that should protect you from any future attempts by the landlord to collect money. As far as the money you've already paid, well, I doubt you'll have a prayer of getting it back even if you go to court.

Thanks everyone - I'll move out at the weekend - and if he wants the last months rent hes going to have to take me to court for it. I have reasonable evidence that he verbally agreed 5 months so good luck to him!

Personally, I'd change the locks on the door. When he wants somthing, tell him you pushed the keys through the letter slot when you left.
I'm suprized he doesn't want you to pay for the damage to the bed his lack of repairs caused.