• Home
  • About
  • Clinic
  • Training
  • Eco Landlords
  • Landlord Law

The Landlord Law Blog

From landlord and tenant lawyer Tessa Shepperson

  • Home
  • Posts
  • News & comment
  • Cases
  • Tenants
    • Penalties for breaching tenancy rules
    • 15 Places for tenant help
  • Clinic
  • Podcasts
    • Interview
    • Surgery
  • Series
    • Analysis
    • should law and justice be free
    • HMO Basics
    • Tenancy Agreements 33 days
    • Airbnb
    • Grounds for Eviction
    • The Deregulation Act Explained
    • Tips

Tenant being evicted after complaining about the damp

January 22, 2013 by Tessa J Shepperson

housesHere is a question to the blog clinic from Andrew (not his real name)

We have been renting a property since February this year. When we moved in, we noticed a damp problem – there are wet patches on the ceiling and wall after rain.

For months the landlord was insisting the problem was due to condensation, and that he would get an extractor fan fitted in the bathroom.

I kept persisting to get the problem checked out properly, because we were sure that the problem was not due to condensation.

To cut a long story short, we have now been informed by a structural engineer that there is a problem with the roof, as well as the house not being ventilated properly, due to the blocked off chimneys with no vents.

The landlord has finally decided to do the repairs, but when we asked the agents to ask him about compensation, he responded by giving us notice, despite the fact that only two weeks ago, we received a letter from the agents stating that he would be happy to renew our tenancy.

I am aware that the landlord is in breach of section 10 and 11 of the LTA 1985. However, he has now finally decided to do the repairs, after 11 months of persistence, but instead of offering us compensation for all of the inconvenience and discomfort from the damp and mould, he has decided to end our tenancy. We do not have a copy of the report.

Please could you advice how we may go about justifying the situation.

I am afraid this is something that happens.  Landlords are perfectly entitled to end the tenancy under s21 if they want.  And often they want to do this when tenants complain.

Although it is of course always possible that the landlord requires vacant possession in order to get the repair work done properly.

This will not affect your entitlement to compensation.

However the landlord will be probably be unwilling to pay it – from his point of view he has the expense of the repairs (although it may be covered by insurance) plus a period of time when he will be getting no rent while the works are being done.  So I suspect he will try to avoid paying if he can.

The only way you will be able to force the issue is by going to court.  If you threaten this and are clearly serious, your landlord may decide to make you an offer.

I would strongly advise getting some legal advice from a solicitor on the strength of your claim and the sort of compensation you are entitled to.

In the meantime you need to gather as much evidence as you can before you leave – so take photographs of everything relevant and keep detailed records of your conversations and telephone calls with the agents and landlord.  Make sure you write down a detailed note of your conversation with the structural engineer before you forget the detail.

Finally, this sort of problem is not new – it is called retaliatory eviction and the CAB did a report on it back in 2007.

If anything is to be done about it, those campaigning need evidence, so you may want to contact one of the main campaigning bodies, Shelter, and tell them your story.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Filed Under: Readers problems Tagged With: Damp Problem

Scroll down for the comments

Landlord Law for Landlords

Are you a landlord, unsure how to manage your properties in these uncertain times?  My Landlord Law service can help you in this crisis by providing online help and guidance and giving you one to one advice in the members' forum area.

>> Find out more about Landlord Law.


IMPORTANT: Please check the date of the post above - remember, if it is an old post, the law may have changed since it was written.

You should always get independent legal advice before taking any action.

Notes on comments:

For personal landlord and tenant related problems, please use our >> Blog Clinic.
Note that we do not publish all comments, please >> click here to read our terms of use and comments policy. Comments close after three months.

Keep up with the news on Landlord Law blog!

To get posts sent direct to your email in box click here

About Tessa J Shepperson

Tessa is a specialist landlord & tenant lawyer and the creator of this site! She is a director of Landlord Law Services which runs Landlord Law and Easy Law Training.

« Ending a periodic tenancy dispute and tenancy agreement clause
TV licence issues for tenants and lodgers »

Comments

  1. Brian says

    January 22, 2013 at 11:10 AM

    The CAB report to which you refer estimated that there were some 6,000 cases of retaliatory eviction in 2008, and the bureau expected that there were more they did not know about.

    Conscientious landlords who are aware of our tenants’ rights disagree with this practice, but the section 8 process is inarguably obtuse and convoluted when seeking to evict a genuine problem tenant and for many, s21 offers the only recourse.

    The RLA and such bodies will always decry further bureaucracy and legislation in the sector, but distinctions need to be made between occasions when an s21 is justified, and when it is simply a bad landlord being petty and vindictive.

    The Office of Fair Trading already distinguishes between fair and unfair terms in tenancy agreements; perhaps their role could extend to recognising examples of retaliatory eviction and stepping in where it is deemed necessary?

    I wish the complainant the best of luck in any instance.

  2. HB welcome says

    January 22, 2013 at 12:21 PM

    If the tenant claims compensation for their ‘inconvenience and discomfort’, couldn’t the landlord counterclaim for the actual cost of a proportion of the internal repairs caused by the tenants’ (in)actions?

    Even according to the tenants version of events, part of the problem was due to their not ventilating the property-

    ‘as well as the house not being ventilated properly, due to the blocked off chimneys with no vents’

    Presumably the property has windows.

    Most damp problems are caused by internal condensation due to the occupants behaviour.

    • Rebekah says

      February 4, 2013 at 3:46 PM

      The property was continually ventilated by opening windows. However, the main part of the problem was structural, i.e., due to a leaking roof, and rising damp. This was confirmed by an engineer, and a number of damp specialists. The problem was present upon moving in, and we notified the landlord immediately. There was no ‘action’ or ‘inaction’ of our own, that had any effect on the property which was already in disrepair upon moving into the property. We were, you could say, ‘the perfect tenants’, a professional couple who paid rent on time each month, and notified the landlord of a serious problem, that most reasonable landlords would want to fix, in order to maintain their property.

  3. Ben Reeve Lewis says

    January 22, 2013 at 3:43 PM

    There is a very thought provoking article here about possible legal defences to retailiatory eviction http://laghousinglaw.com/2012/08/13/retaliatory-eviction/

    The authors are Andrew Arden QC and Justin Bates, some pretty heavyweight housing bods and not to be dismissed lightly. They suggest “that a notice served to punish someone for doing a lawful act should be considered an invalid notice.” and then set about offering possible legal points to support their assertion

  4. Tom says

    January 26, 2013 at 2:29 PM

    Unless it is a problem with the structure or exterior that has transpired since the start of the tenancy this is unlikely to be a section 11 breach? Ventilation is a tenant issue in which case we may have a case of the landlord wanting to get rid of difficult tenants?

    • Rebekah says

      February 4, 2013 at 3:53 PM

      It was precisely a structural problem with the property – leaking roof and rising damp. There was also a ventilation problem due to blocked off chimneys that had no vents. All properties must comply with a certain standard level of ventilation. Opening the windows on a daily basis, did not stop the roof leaking, or the overall damp problem, due to the structural defects of the property. Unfortunately, the landlord kept avoiding fixing the problem, and ignoring the facts.

  5. Tessa Shepperson says

    February 4, 2013 at 4:05 PM

    @Rebekah If it is a structural problem then the landlord may not be liable under s11 – which is aimed at ‘disrepair’. If a problem is structural it is not caused by the landlord failing to do repairs, but is due to the way the property has been built. S11 does not cover this sort of thing or improvements.

    This is a big problem with the landlords repairing obligations and it is particuarly problematic with damp issues – which are often caused by structural rather than by disrepair issues.

    • Rebekah says

      March 1, 2013 at 3:49 PM

      Thanks for your reply Tessa. I should clarify that whilst there were structural problems, an engineer confirmed that the roof was leaking, along with other parts of the property. I assume that the landlord was liable to fix the roof, and that he shouldn’t have leased it in this state in the first place. Repairs were attempted by roofers during the final week of our tenancy, however it did not fix the problem… Rain water still penetrated the walls and ceiling. They have made an offer to settle, but they continue to deny that there was a problem with the roof, despite the fact that they sent roofers to replace the ridges and all of the other relevant evidence!

“Interesting posts on residential landlord & tenant law and practice - in England & Wales UK”

Subscribe to the Landlord Law Blog by email

Never miss another post!

Choose whether you want to get
>> daily updates or just the
>> weekly roundups

You will also get a FREE Ebook!

If you are new to the blog >> click here

Get Your Free Ebook:

Click to get your Free Ebook

>> Click Here for Your Free Copy

Featured Post

Coronavirus

Landlords and the Coronavirus Emergency – keeping records

Tessa’s Podcast

The Landlord and Lawyer Podcast

Worried about Insurance?

Landlord Law Insurance Mini-Course

Some of our Other Services:

Disclaimer

The purpose of this blog is to provide information, comment and discussion.

Although Tessa, or guest bloggers, may from time to time, give helpful comments to readers' questions, these can only be based on the information given by the reader in his or her comment, which may not contain all material facts.

Any comments or suggestions provided by Tessa or any guest bloggers should not, therefore be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice from a qualified lawyer regarding any actual legal issue or dispute.

Nothing on this website should be construed as legal advice or perceived as creating a lawyer-client relationship (apart from the Fast Track block clinic service - so far as the questioners only are concerned).

Please also note that any opinion expressed by a guest blogger is his or hers alone, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tessa Shepperson, or the other writers on this blog.

Cookies

You can find out more about our use of 'cookies' on this website here.

Associated sites

Landlord Law Services
Tenant Law
Eco Landlords
Your Law Store

Legal

Landlord Law Blog is © 2006 – 2020 Tessa Shepperson.

Note that Tessa is an introducer for Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers and will get a commission from sales made via links on this website.

© 2006–2021 Tessa Shepperson | Rainmaker Platform | Contact Page | Log in

This website or its third-party tools use cookies which are necessary to its functioning and required to improve your experience. By clicking the consent button, you agree to allow the site to use, collect and/or store cookies.
I accept