Landlord - do I have a chance?

Monty Burns · 29-01-2008, 10:47 AM

Hey guys

my gf and I after having moved around a bit (countries) finaly settled in the UK last year, June, in a great house. We spoke to the landlord and although we only signed a one year agreement we did agree that we would be in the house for at least 3 or 4 years.

Guess what?

He now does not want to renew the lease. He made some heavy modifications to it so that his disabled wife could live there and now she wants to move back in. I have no idea where she lives at the moment and tbh I don't care.

This sucks, will cost us thousands and I doubt we are going to find another house so suited to us. I don't think we have a leg to stand on as we don't want to move, are we stuffed or can we legally tell him to poke it?

v CJ v · 29-01-2008, 11:16 AM

Check the contract.

My parents own several houses which they rent out, and they recently kicked someone out (but this was due to unpaying of bills(

There may be clauses such as being able to remove the tenant for personal finance reasons.

However, if there are no obvious clauses, then he's stuffed, as you'ved signed to say you're there until xxxxxx.

Was it organised through an estate agent or direct to him?

sim667 · 29-01-2008, 11:17 AM

If your one year contract is up you have no choice.

Bilbob · 29-01-2008, 11:19 AM

Yeah, sorry to say that AFAIK, if you signed a one year contract, and it's up, then that's that.

Razor · 29-01-2008, 11:21 AM

You only have a 1 year contract so thats the period you have legally agreed on.

Monty Burns · 29-01-2008, 11:23 AM

yeah thought so guys. Sucky. Thanks for the bad news

madmarv187 · 29-01-2008, 11:48 AM

If your contract is only for a year, legally he has the right to give you your notice and move you out.

Its his house after all...

Daddy k · 29-01-2008, 12:13 PM

we had the same issue, they seemed to wait until we had the house looking extra nice, and newly painted etc however our landlord tried everything to keep our deposit

tried to charge us £300 for the carpet to be relayed by profesionals as it had shrank.
£80 because the door chain was broke and £50 as a piece of coal in the fire place was dirty (dont ask i never even bothered!)

i said do one, demanded the keys back said ill rectify them myself.

paid a carpet fitter £30 who restretched the carpet job done, and purchased the same door chain from the pound shop! and installed it within 20 seconds!

low and behold 2 days later when passing by all the carpet from living room was outside!
i look in and the landlord decided to purchase laminate flooring!

now maybe im paranoid but i cant help thinking he was trying to scam us into paying for the new floor he wanted for when he moves in!

Razor · 29-01-2008, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daddy k

we had the same issue, they seemed to wait until we had the house looking extra nice, and newly painted etc however our landlord tried everything to keep our deposit

tried to charge us £300 for the carpet to be relayed by profesionals as it had shrank.
£80 because the door chain was broke and £50 as a piece of coal in the fire place was dirty (dont ask i never even bothered!)

i said do one, demanded the keys back said ill rectify them myself.

paid a carpet fitter £30 who restretched the carpet job done, and purchased the same door chain from the pound shop! and installed it within 20 seconds!

low and behold 2 days later when passing by all the carpet from living room was outside!
i look in and the landlord decided to purchase laminate flooring!

now maybe im paranoid but i cant help thinking he was trying to scam us into paying for the new floor he wanted for when he moves in!

There are good and bad landlords and good and bad tenants. I have been a landlord for over ten years now and consider myself a good and fair landlord. I have seen how some tenants can treat my property and property of some of my customers (also run a building company). I know that some landlords like to keep the whole deposit where possible which IMO is wrong if a tenant has looked after the property. I always advise a professional inventory be taken on the day you move in and out of the property. Also try and hand the property back to the landlord in the condition he/she handed it over to you in. Do this and they will have no choice but to hand back the full deposit.

Intya · 29-01-2008, 1:07 PM

I used to do the inventories for a lettings company - Was difficult trying to explain to landlords that you just can't charge tenants the entire cost of a replacement carpet if they've damaged it when the carpet was already five years old to begin with

If you've only signed for a year, then yes as long as your landlord's given you two months notice that he wants the property back that's as long as you've got. You could try appealing to him for some money off the last months rent or something as it's costing you to move and you did originally indicate you'd be after a longer term occupation. It's worth a try

sim667 · 29-01-2008, 1:39 PM

took me 8 months to get my deposit bank from my old landlord.....

it wasnt cus id damaged anything, he said 'i've spent it' and 'cannot afford to repay it'.

In the end i threatened to take him to court and got it back, was a shame really he was such a nice bloke.

Uridium · 29-01-2008, 2:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monty Burns

Hey guys

my gf and I after having moved around a bit (countries) finaly settled in the UK last year, June, in a great house. We spoke to the landlord and although we only signed a one year agreement we did agree that we would be in the house for at least 3 or 4 years.

Guess what?

He now does not want to renew the lease. He made some heavy modifications to it so that his disabled wife could live there and now she wants to move back in. I have no idea where she lives at the moment and tbh I don't care.

This sucks, will cost us thousands and I doubt we are going to find another house so suited to us. I don't think we have a leg to stand on as we don't want to move, are we stuffed or can we legally tell him to poke it?

Looks like your stuffed Monty, on the plus side I've found a new gaff for you.

Monty Burns · 29-01-2008, 2:34 PM

lol - cheers mate!

h4rri · 30-01-2008, 11:57 AM

It's one of the perils of renting tbh, you only have short tenancy and any work you do on the house benefits them in the long run. It's a pain when you have to keep moving, one of the reasons I decided to buy a place in the end.

Adam Shaw · 30-01-2008, 1:02 PM

When I rented I would always leave a house in a better condition than I found it in, paid all the rent and bills bang on time, and then never ever paid my last months rent anywhere, and simply told the landlord to keep my deposit.

Monty Burns · 30-01-2008, 1:11 PM

Ummm.... doesn't that leave you open to court action?

Also, my deposit is 1.5x a months rent so i'd lose out.

I feel I should make it clear as some seem to think that things have gone "bad". All the landlord has said is that he will not renew. I kinda figured I was stuffed but hoped as you do :-) Also, I don't think I will have any issues getting any money back as the house is pretty much the same way we got it - we have photo's to help back it up should we need it.

h4rri · 30-01-2008, 1:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monty Burns

Ummm.... doesn't that leave you open to court action?

Yep, tried it once with an extremely obnoxious landlord [long story] and he basically stated the same. The last one even tried to charge me £3 for the packet of grass seed he *had* to buy after a neighbour tried to poison our grass LOL

Better to keep the place in good nick, have evidence to back this up and rely on common sense to prevail

Adam Shaw · 31-01-2008, 5:00 PM

It takes 6 months to get to court, and then the court will offset any money the landlord has of yours (such as deposit) agains the rent owed.
This is why deposits are now 1.5-2 months rent.

There are some very good landlords out there, but a much larger number of very bad ones, so always worth covering yourself

Monty Burns · 01-02-2008, 8:29 AM

and when you lose, even though it's off-set, doesn't that then mean a CCJ?

Adam Shaw · 01-02-2008, 2:52 PM

Nope, you have got to be really pushing it to get a CCJ, its not as easy as those threatening letters from your electricity company would have you believe.

MikeTV · 01-02-2008, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Shaw

...then never ever paid my last months rent anywhere, and simply told the landlord to keep my deposit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monty Burns

Ummm.... doesn't that leave you open to court action?

Yes. The landlord can sue you for damages, such as the legal costs involved in the debt collection process, as well as any other losses they might be able to dream up and claim. So as a renter, no matter how bad the situation might be, the best advice is to never withhold rent payments - no matter what.

As for getting your deposit back, the best advice is to offer to put right anything they consider "damaged", and don't agree to any "financial payment" - just offer to put it right yourself - and demand the full deposit amount back. If they refuse, then consider legal alternatives. Put everything in writing and keep copies of any correspondence.