Tenancy Help

[webcrawler2050]

Evening all,

Basically looking for some advice if possible. Basically, my partner and I have been in our new house for 4 months - we have an assured short hold tenancy and there are alot of repairs that have cropped up whilst up being here. In short, the landlord refuses point blank to do these repairs

Now, the question is - can I withhold the rental payment or not? I've been told conflicting stories.

[danielf]

How long is the tenancy for?

Is it with a letting agency, or directly from the landlord?

What sort of repairs are necessary?

[webcrawler2050]

It's a 24 month Tenancy

It's with the Landlord direct

Theres no earth from the fuse box to the gas box
The shower doesnt work
The washing machine died I paid to fix this
The front door has dropped and won't lock properly

[danielf]

Originally Posted by webcrawler2050

It's a 24 month Tenancy

It's with the Landlord direct

Theres no earth from the fuse box to the gas box
The shower doesnt work
The washing machine died I paid to fix this
The front door has dropped and won't lock properly

I'd suggest a visit to your local CAB (take the tenancy agreement with you). I can't judge issue #1, but it sounds dogy. Numbers 2 and 3 sound like they are contract dependent. Number 4 depends on what you mean with 'properly'. Is it in any way a risk?

Either way: if you decide to withhold payments, notify your landlord that you've opened a bank account to hold the payments that you're withholding, and pay the rent into that.

If things ever come to court, it'll look very good if you can show that you've diligently put the rent monies into this account, and can cough up the arrears immediately if the repairs are carried out.

[webcrawler2050]

1) Is very dodgey -

I'm seriously considering it - he is expecting me to pay for all of his repairs and he gets away with it scott free

[danielf]

Seriously. Visit the CAB. If he's in breach of regulations, you'll have a strong case that'll help with the other issues.