Breaking a lease

noblesquire

hi guys, i know theses types of threads are ten a penny but i thought i'd tell you my story anyway and see if you can give me any advice.

myself, my girlfriend and her son recently moved into a house that we are renting from an agency. it's been a nightmare since day one.

when we viewed it, it was in a bit of a mess but we were promised that it would be painted and done up.. low and behold, this hasn't happened.

the garden was in bits. the previous tenants had a dog that dug up the whole thing, it's just a mudslide at the moment. also, there was excriment all over the garden as well! it was a pretty big dog by the looks of things.

there were loose sockets, shoddy paint jobs, a broken side gate in the garden, and loads of junk left behind by the previous tenants.

the chimney was all blocked, we lit a fire and within 20 minutes the whole sitting room was full of smoke!

basically, the house was in a real state. anytime we rang our agency, we were told that they had to get in touch with the landlord so that he/she can give the ok to get these things paid for or fixed.

we then had a leak a few weeks ago with the wallpaper coming off the wall. we have told them about this and still nothing has been done.

to top things off, 3 weeks ago this weekend, we were broken into. luckily enough, not much was taken. it was a very flimsy door that had single panes of glass in them. the glass was broken through to try and open the latch. the chubb key was locked but they were able to kick the door in.
3 weeks on, we still have that same door that has a piece of wood nailed into the back of it.

we have a makeshift front door to our house for the last 3 weeks!!

it took us nearly a week to get an answer out our letting agency as to what was going to happen. we finally got an answer saying the landlord wants a pvc door and that it will take another couple of weeks to sort.

the respect and empathy shown by our agency throughout our tenancy has been disgraceful and when challenging them on the latest ordeal with the door, saying that i wasn't going to pay my rent until the door was fixed, i got this reply...

"you are living in the property . You signed a contract for a year . Your landlord has had the door repaired and ordered a new door which is being manufactured as we speak . Houses get broken in to . You cannot hold your landlord liable for this"

sorry for the huge rant but basically, we want out of that house as soon as possible, with or without our deposit back but i was wondering where to go to see if i have any sort of case for getting our deposit back.

thanks

djimi

The quickest way out for you is to look to reassign the lease. This means you find a suitable tenant and they take over the remainder of the lease. The landlord is not obliged to accept the first candidate you bring to them, but they cannot disagree in principle to the reassignment. All expense in finding the new tenant is on you, and also you are liable for any difference in rent between what they pay and what you are paying.

You may however find it difficult to find a tenant for a property in that state.

The other option you have is to persue the landlord through the PRTB if you feel that they are not living up to their obligations. This can be a drawn out process, but it may spark the guy into life to get the issues sorted. Basically, put every issue you have in writing and send it to the landlord, requesting a detailed response of what they plan to do to resolve the issues and the timeframes they propose. If you are happy with their response then see that they stick to it. If they dont respond, or fail to live up to their promises then write a second letter threatening further action. Make sure that everything is done in writing (registered letters, not emails/texts) so that you have a full paper trail.

For future reference do not ever take a landlord at their word about work that will be carried out once you move in. Assume that the state of the property when you move in will be the state of the property throughout the duration of the tenancy. If work needs to be done, do not hand over any money or sign anything until it is completed to your satisfaction.

quietsailor

djimi wrote: »

The quickest way out for you is to look to reassign the lease. This means you find a suitable tenant and they take over the remainder of the lease. The landlord is not obliged to accept the first candidate you bring to them, but they cannot disagree in principle to the reassignment. All expense in finding the new tenant is on you, and also you are liable for any difference in rent between what they pay and what you are paying.

You may however find it difficult to find a tenant for a property in that state.

The other option you have is to persue the landlord through the PRTB if you feel that they are not living up to their obligations. This can be a drawn out process, but it may spark the guy into life to get the issues sorted. Basically, put every issue you have in writing and send it to the landlord, requesting a detailed response of what they plan to do to resolve the issues and the timeframes they propose. If you are happy with their response then see that they stick to it. If they dont respond, or fail to live up to their promises then write a second letter threatening further action. Make sure that everything is done in writing (registered letters, not emails/texts) so that you have a full paper trail.

After these 2 steps above you can try threatening the LL with hiring people yourself to carry out the work and paying them with the rent money ie withhold enough rent to pay the tradesman's bills.

You'd have to get several written quotes to prove you looked for the best value and I'd imagine (I haven't had to do this myself luckily) that you'd give the LL one final chance to fix the problems at this stage.

be aware this is the nuclear option though ie once you do this there will be no civilized communication with the LL and they will more than likely hold onto your deposit

odds_on

What so many tenants, when they have a problem, fail to do is put the complaint in writing and indicate that the problem should be remedied within a certain period of time i.e. within 14 days of this notice, or, before such and such a date ( before 28 April 2013).

Basically, if the issue is not remedied by the specified date the landlord would be in breach of his obligations. However, the date line may be passed if, the landlord has made a good attempt to remedy the matter but has to wait for parts and/or professional workmen to complete the job.

Thus, if the landlord has delayed the repairs, he would be in breach of his obligations and the tenant has the right to serve a Notice of Termination giving 28 days notice and vacate the property.

By having written documentation showing the issues, time frames etc., the tenant has valuable evidence of the landlord's breach of obligations should there be a claim by either the tenant or landlord, with the PRTB.

ChrissySarah

This sounds like my agency! They nailed a piece of wood to our back door and one of the windows too... It would be funny if it was the same agency.

valleyoftheunos

OP Leases can be terminated in certain Circumstances, Get on to Citizens advice and Threshold to find out if its possible for you and how to go about it.