It is a milestone for the company, which has been trying to get permission to develop housing for years as it looks to diversify.
Bromley council…
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This is a question to the blog clinic from Anna, who is a tenant in England.
I moved into the HMO property in March 2024 (one tenant out of 4 moved out and I replaced her) where we signed a new agreement with all other tenants (we are all liable according to the contract).
I paid my deposit to the previous tenant and they edited our names to the Deposit Certificate with the 2010 date.
The landlord gave a 2-month notice within the first 3 months of the tenancy (as I’ve recently noticed we have a no break clause within the initial 6 months). I’d like to know if I am able to complain and expect them to cover expenses for a more expensive rent, moving costs, broadband cancellation fees, etc.
They have been renting out the flat since 2010 and when I moved in 6 March 2024 we signed a new contract. They sent an inventory list back from 2010 and expect us to have the property in the same condition (it wasn’t signed by me or any current tenants at any point).
Speaking of the TDS, instead of re-processing the deposit, they edited our names in the deposit certificate with the start date of tenancy to 2010, which doesn’t look legal. I don’t feel it’s fair to expect us to be responsible for all tenants that have been living in the property since 2010 when I personally moved in just 5 months ago.
I’d like to understand my rights in this situation as this has caused me financial loss, stress and I understand this agency has been very unfair. I am a Ukrainian refugee so I might not understand some legal things and would appreciate any help.
P.S One of the tenants refused to pay for the last rent, and the agency and landlord were super pushy and demanded to cover her rent. They didn’t show any sympathy or appreciation for this and created a lot of stress by their emails that weren’t showing any sympathy towards us being vulnerable in this situation.
I assume the two-month notice served by your landlord is a ‘section 21′ possession notice. However, as you signed a new tenancy, I doubt whether this is valid.
You need to check the tenancy agreement that you signed to see what the ‘term’ of the tenancy is. Normally it will be for six months or a year.
The term (or fixed term) is the period of time that your landlord has agreed to let the property to you and your co-tenants. The significance of this is that during this period, he cannot evict you under the ‘no fault’ ground for possession.
So, if the notice he has served on you will expire before the end of the fixed term of your tenancy agreement, the notice is invalid. This means you can ignore it and stay in the property. So the question of compensation for moving expenses etc, does not arise.
You will find more information about possession notices and tenants’ rights on my Renters Guide website here.
If you did not agree to or sign the inventory I doubt it will be enforceable against you. It was signed by tenants in respect of the previous tenancy.
To be able to claim for damage your landlord must show that the item claimed for was in good condition at the time the tenancy started. Which is March 2024.
So if a claim is made which you do not agree with, you should apply to your deposit scheme and ask for the claim to be referred to adjudication. There are time limits for this so do not delay.
If it is necessary for you to do this, you will find guidance on your scheme website, plus the scheme has a free telephone helpline which you can ring for advice.
When challenging the deduction (which should be done by all tenants jointly), make sure you tell the adjudicator in your application that the item was damaged before the start of your tenancy and that the inventory relates to a different and older tenancy.
You will find a free article on tenancy deposits on the Renters Rights Guide but you will have to sign up (which is free) to read it.
So far as your final point is concerned, if you signed a tenancy agreement jointly with the other occupiers, you are, I am afraid, jointly liable with them for all of the rent, not just your share.
So, the landlord (or his agents) is entitled to ask the other tenants to make up the difference if one of your co-tenants fails to pay.
I know it seems harsh, and I am sorry the agents approached this in an unsympathetic way, but they were within their rights. If you feel that they were unnecessarily unpleasant about it though, you could consider making a complaint to their Property Redress Scheme.
If you want further advice, generally, you will find a list of further advice services here (some of them free).
The post Eviction notice and deposit problems experienced by tenant appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.
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Welcome to our weekly Newsround, where we bring you highlights of housing news and more.
Rightmove states that the rental market is showing no signs of letting up and the number of enquiries per property is now 17. This is more than double than in 2019. but lower than last year which was 26 per property.
This has pushed rents up, whilst the number of available rental properties is still 20% below pre pandemic levels and 22% more tenants are looking to move more than in pre pandemic 2019.
Their research shows that around 120,000 more properties are needed to bring the rental price back to pre pandemic levels. Rightmove is calling for more support for landlords from the government to encourage investment and making properties more energy efficient. Tim Bannister of Rightmove said
With 17 enquiries for every available rental property, the market remains out of balance and difficult for tenants. We need landlord investment to increase stock and help achieve a healthier supply and demand balance in the market.
Zoopla has written to the government with recommendations to raise the standards of letting agents. They have recommended:-
They hope do this via training and education, and setting minimum standards, which they say should then improve the quality of rental homes. This should be achieved by making training mandatory for all those who work in the PRS sector. At present anyone can let a property with no specific requirements, mandatory training should be across the board.
The board also supports the introduction of a private rented property database, which is currently in the Renters Rights Bill.
Nicola Thivessen, chair of Zoopla’s Lettings Advisory Board says
The Board remains keen to see the introduction of mandatory qualifications for those operating in the PRS and we encourage the government to review and prioritise this in future legislation, to ensure a minimum standard of knowledge and support for tenants.
A landlord has been ordered to pay back £800 holding deposit to a prospective tenant as she failed to disclose a clause in her tenancy agreement that stated ‘A guest is welcome and is charged £30 per night’.
The prospective tenant viewed the room and paid the holding deposit, he then found the clause and asked for it to be removed, which the landlord refused. There was an argument over how much of the holding deposit should be returned and the landlord falsely claimed that she had previously disclosed the guest charge during the viewing.
The tribunal ruled that because they had not entered into an agreement, the holding deposit was a prohibited payment under the Tenant Fees Act and was to repaid in full.
This is a case that exemplifies the Court’s power to extend time limits. A social tenant applied to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal against her possession order. The application was out of time and she applied for extension.
This was refused as the delay was significant and her case was considered weak.
City lauds highly unusual approach to ‘non-compliant’ landlords
Landlord’s appeal against huge rent repayment order fails
The real cost of making a property energy efficient
Half of ombudsman complaints from London residents
UK housing decarbonisation to accelerate by up to 13 times faster under Labour plans
What would the Monopoly board look like with modern house prices?
Newsround will be back next week.
The post Landlord Law Newsround #349 appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.
