Tenant In Distress – Mowing The Lawn

Reply to the comment left by "Seething Landlord" at "29/11/2016 - 09:24":

I can assure you that I received the email from Jill this weekend.

Other than her email address and what has been written here I know nothing more about her.
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Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "29/11/2016 - 11:09":

In that case she must be just winding you up, probably much to the delight of the loonies ? on the other forum.

Sounds like a Harry Potter cottage , just get harry to wave his wand ! Things are changing fast in the PRS , but a gentlemans agreement is a gentlemans agreement - if I were the landlord I would honour the agreement...... and sort the windows and the heating , which may require a rent review for the tenant to decide wether to accept or move on.

Jill & Mark I have enjoyed your thread going backwards and forwards. You both raise some interesting points. Hopefully not butting in on a private conversation (albeit is public forum).

Jill - contracts can be verbal as well as written and it sounds like you have not been required to sign anything new since your first landlord died. If this is the case you could probably argue in court that a verbal contract was reached where the landlord included the gardening within the rent structure that you agreed to pay. The fact that it went on for many years, and I'm sure that the burden of proof would be low enough in a civil case like this for you to claim that it was indeed part of the rent you were paying.

If the house is in as poor a condition as you state I would also contact your local district council and invite them to come and visit the property for a Housing Health and Safety Rating System (known as HHSRS) inspection as they can force your landlord to make statutory improvements to the property to bring it up to decent living standards including central heating etc. Once you have written to the council you are protected from retaliatory eviction for a year after their completion which would improve your living conditions and prevent him evicting you in the short term - which I hope may be of some interest to you.

With regards to your comments about the outdated housing act and the provision of secure homes etc unfortunately i would disagree with you. Renting in the private sector is an entirely business transaction and philanthropic landlords are a relative rarity. Most landlords are not wealthy investors who squeeze money from tenants - many are using wit and accumen to invest in housing and make a modest return that is better than they can get from banks, less risky than the stock markets and one where they have an element of control of their destiny. To that end tenancy agreements are business transactions and they can legitimately bring them to a close at their natural conclusion point. This does bring an element of uncertainty for renting but most landlords will work hard to keep a tenant long term if they are good tenants. Legislation is far from being weighted in favour of landlords and the administrative burdens placed on landlords to comply with increasing legislative changes is inevitably going to be passed on down the chain and unfortunately the tenant is the bottom of that chain. Very few private landlords are able to operate at near cost or at a loss as that is not why they are there. A significant part of your rent is to pay for ongoing maintenance and that is why when something breaks down you can justifiably expect a landlord to sort - your case does not sound so diligent! If you want long term security you will need to get a social housing contract but these are not always a panacea and housing associations evict more tenants by quite a margin compared to private landlords and the PRS is I believe the largest housing sector after home ownership and there are many issues in the social sector that the PRS usually keeps a lid on.
The reality of if you cant afford the rent you need to find a cheaper house is not really different to home ownership where if you cant afford the mortgage you need to borrow less and for home owners the cost of moving is prohibitive to by many multiples for moving in the rented sector. If you think agents charge unreasonable fees you should see what banks and solicitors charge! i think will soon be a time where we hear of home owners complaining that they are chained to the home they bought to get on the housing ladder as they cannot afford to move &/or pay a revised mortgage offer. Tenants are protected to a degree on multiple rent rises etc but a mortgaged individual has no say and often limited knowledge of a mortgage rise
Regards
Tim

Reply to the comment left by "Tim Wragby" at "29/11/2016 - 23:20":

Dear Tim,
Thank you so much for such an in depth and helpful posting, I really appreciate your time and the amount of thought you have put into the reply. I agree with you by the way on private renting being a business transaction, which is fine, but I was just hoping that after being with the same family for so long there might be some give and take, especially in the light of the son informing me he had no intentions of changing anything. As he's now changed the arrangement regarding the garden that has been in situ for 14 years, I now no longer feel the same way about staying with him as a landlord. I have always been someone to watch people for actions matching words, and when they don't, I lose trust in them. If he can change this after convincing me not to worry, he wanted to continue in the same way, but then doesn't, what else might he change his mind on. The fact is I have NO interest in the garden at all, and the garden being taken care of was the main reason I chose this property over another. So he will lose me, so he will also lose someone who has never failed to pay their rent on time, someone who has always taken care of maintenance and paid for it on the property, three major leaks this year. The only think I have not paid for, was when the water tank in the loft burst and the ceiling caved in -apart from that, the family have not redecorated any rooms in 14 years, I've taken care of it. Plus of course he has never had to market the property in all that time.

I think I will do what you suggest about contact the local district council as although I now feel differently about staying, I want to be able to choose my time - I want a long term home, and not all landlords want to rent for longer than 12 months at a time and I'm afraid by the time you settle into a 12 month rental it's time to ask if you can stay another year. I also want a landlord that will let completely unfurnished as I'm perfectly happy to carpet and furnish it, providing I can stay long term. It will be interesting what the health and safety rating will be..yes, very!

With regards to mortgages fluctuating, at least you can fix the interest rate for a certain period, where you can't with renting, but of course there is advantages and disadvantages in everything in life. I personally don't feel or think private landlords are ruthless people - it's hard world, and we all have to do what we can, some better than others, but that is life. I guess really I'm disappointed after being such a good tenant they couldn't have at least let the garden go by until I have had this awful damp resolved. Then at least it would be easier and more acceptable, but not to be given an invoice to pay immediately when you have a tenant still waiting to have proper heating installed and damp cleared in their bedroom.

I am truly thankful to you for such a helpful and nice reply, I wish you every success for the future.

Regards
Jill

Reply to the comment left by "Tim Wragby" at "29/11/2016 - 23:20":

Hi Tim

What an excellent post. May I contact you offline (by email) to discuss you becoming a guest author on Property118.

The way you have just summarised the pros and cons of homeownership vs renting has set me up for the day.

I rent my home and own houses I rent for some of the reasons you've stated.
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Reply to the comment left by "Jill Harding" at "29/11/2016 - 23:57":

Who says you can't fix rent like you can a mortgage?

An owner occupier might be presented with three mortgage options, one at a variable rate costing £750, another fixed for three years costing say £800 and another fixed for five years costing £850.

There is nothing to stop a tenant asking a landlord for 6 mongh tenancy and a 3 or 5 year Deed of Assurance with fixed rents, or indeed offering landlords a few choices, as above.
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Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "30/11/2016 - 06:54":

Mark - Thank you for your comments . I will be very happy for you to contact me if you have off line access to my email? Ido not want to put it up on this forum

Reply to the comment left by "Tim Wragby" at "30/11/2016 - 07:26":

I have access, thank you.
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Jill,

You appear to place quite a lot of importance on being a 'good tenant'. Whilst I'm sure, when compared to a sizeable number of nightmare tenants within the PRS, you would come out on top, a lot of tenants often forget that they're *supposed* to be good tenants. There's no credit for doing exactly what you should be doing...just as I get nothing for paying my mortgage on time, every time. It comes across as though your landlord should be grateful that you're not causing a problem.

Have you had any rent rises in the time you have lived there? As you've been out of the open rental market for some time, I suspect you won't much like what your alternatives are -rents will likely be higher, passing credit checks, right to rent hassle, possibly the requirement for a guarantor and the sort of property you've described may be few and far between now. There have been great changes to the industry in the past fourteen years.