Flopsy

Hi there, Lettings agents are used to these problems (I've reported them and friends have as well). Getting them sorted out is another matter though. They always act as if it has never happened before...... Lying sods... I was advised by my local tenants advice (part of Wesminster Council) to keep paying my rent and then ask the LL or letting agency for compensation. I was also told that it was quite reasonable to get the plumber to pick up the key from the agency and/or get someone to go with him. I did try this and it worked. If the hotwater isn't fixed, then I was advised to write to the LL and the agency (registered letters) given them notice that the repair was needed and specifiying what compensation would be charged until it was done i.e. £25 per day. I did this but it took the threat of the small claims court to get my LL's attention and then in the end we compromised. Nothing ventured , nothing gained. It's quite reasonable to ask for repairs to be made, to wait and then do them yourself if the LL doesn't sort it out. However, if we with-hold rent then the LL can try to get us evicted and the process become blurred. Call another plumber (on the phone) and ask if they can find the missing part. If the LL can't get the water repaired then he needs to replace the boiler. Waiting from November is not on. I went through something similar and found my own plumber. Then wrote to LL, agent and got my own repairs done. LL then paid me but what a drama. Good luck!

Hi there, It's not fair is it? We do know that the notice period must be a month and the date needs to be on a rent day (it's either the day before or after but I forget). However, it's still terrrible and in effect can be nearly 2 months notice. Did you have a AST and what did it say? What deductions did the LL claim for and what proof did he use? Sorry to hear this. Kindest regards,

The problem is not what you ask for (as you are in a very good position) but what safeguards you have if it all goes wrong and you don't get any money. I've seen "reasonable" landlords turn nasty and refuse to honour agreements. Your advice has been that you are entitled to stay in the property but did the advice also include what your obligations are? For example under the terms of your AST (if you have one) are you required to give one months notice before the end of the contract and does it need to be done on a particular date? Let's consider the scenario that you pay a deposit on your new place and then your LL doesn't give you any money and all you have is a verbal agreement? Also the scenario that the house sale doesn't go through and your LL panicks and changes his mind. Also your LL may have placed your bond in the new deposit scheme and use that as an excuse not to pay you. Your AST should be with the LL not the agent so make sure all written correspodence goes to both parties as a registered letter or they may deny that any discussions occured. I've had different legal opinions on when an agent makes decisions on behalf of a LL. Make sure what your leases states. Any agreements that you make are worthless unless you are able and willing to sue the LL if s/he reneges. That why cash is needed up front. If you don't get the cash but still want to move out make sure that you have discharged your obligagtions or your LL may sue you.

Steve, that was an interesting reply. Do you have enough points to get into NZ or is there a way of buying a farm and therefore buying your way in? Also, I'd be very interesting in hearing your opinion on water. Australia has had droughts again and NZ has been affected as well but the situation isn't so bad. If things do go really pear-shaped with water in OZ will what will they do (annex NZ?). Kindest regards and happy new year.

That's great news. Would love to hear some more if you have it.

Hi there, Yes, I do agree that they should be outlawed. I remember when letting agencies used to charge prospective tenants upfront just to join the books and look at flats. When this was outlawed they then changed to charging a fee if the tenant took a flat. Some agents advertise and don't say that there is a fee until the end. It's not enough to say that the tenant is warned as we spend time and money on answering these ad's. The charges on tenants keep mounting up. When I started renting there was no inventory fee etc. Keeps getting worse. Kindest regards,

Sorry all, Yes, the following should have read ".. when HE bought a new BTL". <Our LL used this flat as a guarantee when we recently bought a new BTL> Our LL has been very quiet. He mentioned raising the rent a few months ago but has said nothing to us since then. There are 4 pages of flats in this development to rent on Primelocation when I last checked. I had no idea so many were available. It's quiet here and most of the flats are owned by overseas buyers.

I am really, really sorry to read about this. We have had to take ALL our previous LL's to the small claims court. So far it has worked very well although the first one was nerve-wreaking. Because you have so little proof in the end it will come down to which one of you is believed in the small claims court. My experience has been that the bit in the contract about not signing and not returning the inventory = acceptance didn't stand up in court. There is no reason why the court will not take your side as you did not sign the inventory. The LL has no right to take your deposit as most of the "damage" is (as you said) wear and tear. Write to your LL and send the letter as registered. Give him a period of time to pay the deposit back in. I usually say 10 days or 2 weeks. Don't waste your time with long diatribes or arguments on paper. Ask him to explain in writing if he does not intend to pay up. When he doesn't pay, write to him again and say that you intend to take the matter to the small claims court. Explain that he will be liable for the extra charges. Show him that you mean business. Allow for a certain period of time and let him know what that is. Then start the small claims process. It has worked really well for me. Some LL's pay up before that date and most do not even show up on the day. Good luck! Don't let it spoil your Xmas. It's really unfair. Kindest regards,

Hi Van, Very quiet in central and north London. I've had to go through Oxford St on business recently and apart from Saturday (the pedestrians day), it's been much more quiet than normal for the time of the year.

Thank you for posting that Veritas, Reminds me of the new build I saw in Surrey. They offered as the height of luxury (and at a substantial extra cost) plastic faux granite work surfaces in the kitchen.... Hard to resist but I did.

Hi there, I had to give notice on a flat and the lease had expired. I spoke to my local CAB and they explained that when the lease expires we move into what is called a "periodic tenancy". Your LL may insist that the one months notice should be given on the date the rent is normally paid. i.e. if rent is due on the 20th then notice needs to be given on that date (or maybe the day before?). It depends on what was in your original agreement. Paying the last months rent is a hard one. We have always done so and then had to use the small claims court to et it back. Your LL can obviously take you to court for not paying the rent but by the time he has done this you will most likely be gone. If you have left he can still take you to a small claims court to demand compensation, however, most will not bother. There's no guarantee here either way though. Remember to take photos etc before you leave just in case. Good luck.

In early 2005 we saw a flat for sale locally (in London) that had a parking space. That was a great incentive for us as I am disabled and need a home on one level and this had a lift. I must be one of the very few people who actually wants a flat...... It was on the market for £320,000 and we researched sales in the same building and put in an offer at £305,000. The EA put the offer to the owner and he said "asking price or nothing". The owner was a rich foreigner. Like many property owners in London. Over the years I watched the same flat on the agents books. It increased steadily from £320,000 to £340,000 to £360,000. Earlier this year it sold and I looked up the price in LR, it had sold for £360,000 in the end. So the flat sat there, with no tenant and increasing in price every few months - and in a property boom he eventually got the price he wanted. I feel for the poor sucker there now as it sold for far more than other properties in the same block. Some sort of madness in the market worked for this seller.

Hi Sami, There's been a lot of discussion on the Landlord/Tenant forums about the legality of getting a tenant to sign an agreement and get served their notice at the same time. The concensus seems to be that this is not legal. However, I have not tested this on any of my trips to court so far (these have been as a tenant dealing with LL's who don't pay up). It may pay to contact CAB, Shelter or your local councils tenants advice service (if they have one) and see if they know of any cases. Just a thought. Kindest regards,

Southlorne, you may be interested to hear that ME/CFS is a pet interest for Lord Sainsbury the ex-Science Minister and major donor to the Labour party. It's a good example of how very personal and private corruption can become. Lord Sainsbury used his own charity the "Linbury Trust" to finance the work of the Psych. lobby who believe that ME/CFS is "all in the mind". Lord S. is a psychology graduate and has a personal interest in these things. No money was awarded by the Government into research into the physical disease ME/CFS and the work of the Linbury Trust Psych lobby has been used to stop people getting treatment on the NHS and benefits. The New Labour government wants to roll out a psychological therapy to very ill people indeed. This is not to cure or treat the disease but to "help people live with it". It's the last thing the people want as it is expensive and doesn't help. It also smacks of mind control according to those who have had it. They want research into a cure and the sort of treatment that will make them well. Sadly, Lord S, New Labour et al have other ideas. New Labour appointed a Peer to the House of Lords called Lord Turnberg. Lord T. spoke at a ME/CFS enquiry and he was pushing the idea that these psychological "therapies" could correct abnormalities of gene expression in people with the disease. Therefore arguing that people do not need medical help or treatment. People are dying of this disease. BTW, they are also trying to push expensive psych therapies onto other diseases such as heart disease and cancer. UK has low survival rates for cancer and I think most patients would agree that a cure would be a better option for funding. New Labour has some donors with very strange ideas. Disabled and ill people have abandoned Labour.

Most sellers have an emotional investment in the sale that has gone far beyond the sale of their "home". Property owners have got used to boasting at work and parties about how valuable their homes are. The thought of not making an enormous return on the sale is an "insult" to their self esteem. They may be worried that their neighbours and peers know that the property is not selling for the "right" price. Pride may stop them advertising at a reasonable rate and they may be hoping that someone will make an offer and then they can lie about the price and move away. The neighbours won't know the price until the online figures come out months later. I saw a semi in Surrey this year. The asking price was £40,000 more than the price of the last property sold in her street and this was for a renovated version. The seller didn't get offered the asking price but she was offered £5,000 less. This would have made her a hefty profit given the low initial purchase price. She was expecting a bidding war and made it clear when we visited that she was in no hurry to sell and would sit tight for the highest price. That didn't happen even in spring. In the summer she moved the property to another agent and the price was increased by £10,000. It still didn't sell. It's been taken off the agents books now. It's unlikely to sell now for the offer of asking price - less £5,000. A friend who is selling her terraced house (as she has been offered work in Scotland) has had 2 offers fall through as mortgages are not so easy to obtain. There were sellers who tried to sell up because of the bubble and missed their opportunity. Not sure how to dislodge them. It will take high mortgage rates when they try to renew, loss of job or other circumstances. They can say that they are not in a hurry to sell and will keep the property on the agents books wasting everyone's time until something happens. We saw many of these timewasters trying to sell properties in London and Surrey in the past year.

Thanks Heinz, I followed a few new builds (over the last 2 years) and noted the ones that had high incentives. One particular property was one sale for 360,000 and the purchasers were offered stamp duty paid plus other bribes. When the sold price went into the Land Registry it went for the GROSS price. This is how the Developers are artificially keep the price of new build apartments high and any calculations which are done using the Land Registry are going to be wrong. This was a common practise and I followed several different development by entirely different builders.

New Zealand has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Lots of cafe culture and just plain "culture" now. They have the edge on Australia as less poms are going there now and forcing up the house prices.... Also water which Australia has a major shortage of. Good luck. Friends of mine are all heading to Canada now.

Often London houses and flats have short leases left when they come to the market. A mortgage is hard to impossible to get for a normal buyer. A property developer buys these cheaply for cash and then negotiates the lease. Resales at an exorbitant price or rents them out. There is a good market in London for "company lets", which means that people on transfer or assignment in London get their rent paid. My own development is full of Germans and Japanese renting. The owners of these properties live abroad and a "cartel" has been set up by EA's to keep the prices artificially high for rental. Most of the flats were bought as "buy to sit" and they only bother renting them out if silly prices offered. We were "lucky" enough to find a BTL who wanted reliable, regular tenants. House prices in London have gone far beyond rentals. The situation has been very bad for years now. That's good on one hand as rents have not increased at all for us over that time. People with enormous city bonuses have been buying. Lots of rich arabs and russians buying into our block still. Hopefully that will end now.

Hi there, When I've taken old LL's to the small claims court for deductions I have included the last inventory check if it has not been agreed. I've been successful so far with that. If any charges are taken off and I don't agree with them I use the small claims court. There is a charge to use this service and I found the lead up to the first one frightening but the actuals courts have been informal and understanding. The renewal charge was only imposed by my last EA and I refused to pay it as we had no agreement to do so. They then passed the cost onto the LL. My local council (Westminster) has a division that helps withprivate tenant/landlord problems. They have been great and available on the phone. Hope this helps.

Does he file his accounts with companies house? We were asked for 3 years of audited accounts a while back when we applied for a mortgage. It may be that if he gets an accountant to audit them they may be accepted. Good luck!

I survived very well as an IT contractor during the last HPC. Lots of work in companies that stopped hiring permies and took on contractors instead. There was lots of experience to be gained in non-financial (i.e. not Banks) companies.

Hi Orsino, Thanks for posting that. It's great to see an EA being honest about the terrible month of September and the 10% reduction. It's a pity that they didn't say this in October. I can't see things spring back around me. I'm in Marylebone and the EA windows are not showing many sold signs. The VERY expensive houses are supposed to be still selling though but I can't see that from my locals. Will be interesting to see the real figures in a few months time. Kindest regards,

I'm really sorry to hear that. It's awful living in a house which is for sale but I hope that the EA's will not have too many buyers and you won't be hassled all the time. We are waiting for the same thing to happen. Our LL used this flat as a guarantee when we recently bought a new BTL. We have no idea how he is getting on.

I simply don't understand you. Please consider that you may be over-reacting. Your home and mortgage are hopefully cheaper than many others in this country. You have a family and a comfortable home. Is your job at risk? If you were to leave, where would you go and would it be any better? How would your family feel about this. I think you have an attack of the "grass is greener". Many couples in my area (London and the SE) have not been able to have their own home for years. They have not been able to afford to have children. I can't understand why you are so bleak about your future. For the sake of your wife and children you really do need to take a better attitude.

When I considering buying a newly built flat from a developer (I'm disabled and need something on one level) my bank TOOK OFF the developers discount and then worked out the mortgage price on that. This seemed to be common practise when I compared the quote between my 2 banks and a building society. So if the developers offered 30% instead of 15% banks and BS's may disregard this and say that the property was worth purchase price less 30%. I'm glad that I didn't buy in the end. The build quality was so poor and it would have been hard to resell if I needed to. I've seen several flats advertised for resale in developments that I looked at within the last 18 months. The "asking price" is always the full "purchase price" with no mention of the discount that I know was offered at the time PLUS a hefty markup. These properties were not selling - even earlier this year. The Land Registry price in many cases is the original asking price and once again no mention of the discount given (I've checked several). This begs the question on where the buyer got their mortgage from? When I was looking at developments the company always tried to push me at their own "mortgage" advisor and I assume that some dodgy deals have been done to get the higher gross asking price for a mortgage and registered in LR.