CAB giving tenant stupid advice?

CAB giving tenant stupid advice?

9:32 AM, 3rd September 2014, About 10 years ago 28

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Hmmm, it never rains, but it pours .. having had a blissful tenant-communication free few months it all happens at once. We had two fighting last week, two separate fridge-freezers gave up the ghost within 3 days – ( I have never had one go before in ten years) , a washing machine had to be replaced and now I have a tenant in an HMO threatening me because the mould patch in his room has made him cough .. Nothing to do with the thirty-odd Marlboro’s a day then…! CAB giving tenant stupid advice?

He wants to leave straight away, and wants deposit back, etc. I have no problem with that even though he is only halfway through his six months on the AST, but he now says citizens advice have told him he can have back all the rent he has paid up to now as well..?

He signed his AST for 6 months on 25th May, has paid a deposit and rent in advance each month, last payment being received end July, so he is now technically in arrears by 1 week. I am inclined to ignore the threats and return the deposit minus a weeks’ rent…

What do we think..?

Thanks

Ian


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Comments

21:54 PM, 5th September 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "03/09/2014 - 09:46":

Sue for Mesne Profits, Yes - but Double Rent !
Me thinks there isn't a county court in the land that would award that.
Anyone have any examples to challenge this ?
Chris

Jim

12:01 PM, 6th September 2014, About 10 years ago

I'm lost here! have been renting lots of property for 25 years now and only just heard this phrase "mense profit" So how does a tenant sue the landlord for mense profit? Where did the suing for double rent bit come from? If it was me I would attend to his damp/condensation problem and get documented proof of works done, I would allow the tenant to exit the contract early but on the proviso that they pay for all re advertising costs. I would also charge for full rent until the property was relet. If the mould was caused by a condensation problem which it usually is, I would also charge for repair and redecoration costs. I would expect a reasonable success of winning from any deposit with the DPS provided the inventory stated that there was no physical defects in the property (ie mould) but would expect to get nothing from a county court judge.

Dr Rosalind Beck

13:01 PM, 6th September 2014, About 10 years ago

We have successfully used s18 of the Distress for Rent Act 1737 and it is true that the judge was not aware of it, had to go to his office behind the court room and look it up and was then excited and pleased to have learnt something new. But this was when a tenancy had become periodic, not when it was still in the initial first 6 months of an AST. I'm not a lawyer but I'd think that would conflict with the 'notice' the tenant gave to leave and I wouldn't risk trying to use it.
Re. the threats about environmental health, personally I'd ignore them. We've been threatened in the past with tenants' going to Environmental Health, so we've rung the council ourselves, told them about the issue and generally they do nothing as long as we've been given a chance to put anything right. I think they're interested in more serious issues. NB. we've even had rats several times and I think that is seen as a problem caused by the tenant leaving food out etc.
The number of times we've had tenants and their parents ranting in texts with all kinds of threats... They can frighten you when you're in the early stages of being a landlord, but you have to cut through the crap and assess whether there are any real grounds behind them.
Personally, I would just be trying to release the person from their contract now and give them the whole month's deposit back, as long as they've not caused any damage in additional to the condensation, just to get them off my back.
Like Julie (above) I also wondered whether CAB was assuming you hadn't protected the deposit properly, served the Prescribed Information etc. (if you haven't, that could be a problem)

Ian Simpson

13:08 PM, 6th September 2014, About 10 years ago

Thanks everyone ... He has left yesterday, and I gave him back the full deposit in cash, after getting him to sign two copies of an end of tenancy agreement. Have got a builder to assess the mould (about 2ft x 3ft in a corner where some bricks were stacked against the building outside!! So it will be sorted. Also got a new tenant signed up in the afternoon to move in in three weeks, so happy days so far....
.... Next problem is MR SMELLY - I am wondering whether to start a new thread on that one!!

Alan Loughlin

13:12 PM, 6th September 2014, About 10 years ago

know what you mean, we never cease to be amazed at how people live, we had a tenant who complained about mould along the skirting board, I went and put a wet cloth along it, and removed dog hair, no mould, just black dog hair, they had not even tried to remove it, it took me 3 minutes

Neil Robb

20:58 PM, 6th September 2014, About 10 years ago

Hi

Would it not be great if there was a law that held the person (CAB or Council Housing Officers and of course some of the charities) that deal with the homeless. Giving wrong poor advice to tenants on how to stay in there property and not pay rent. If they were held responsible for the cost to the landlord including their legal fees and outstanding rent owed.
I have saw a few programmes where they say to the tenant they must stay where they are until they are evicted by the baliffs. Adding a huge problem and cost to the landlord.

Alan Loughlin

21:29 PM, 6th September 2014, About 10 years ago

as they are contravening a court order surely they are perverting the course of justice, maybe we need a test case.

Farah Stehrenberger

22:23 PM, 6th September 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "03/09/2014 - 14:22":

Hi Ian

My opinion is based on the information provided in your article, if the deposit was protected properly and you complied with the requirements, your tenant would have hard time getting all the rent from you and if he smokes, hard time proving that his cough was caused by the state of the property.

I would include a clause about waiving all future claims against you in the surrender of tenancy agreement .

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