UK Landlord Forum / Life

The tenant has given the agent a list of repairs that need doing and has said that he will not be paying rent until they are done.  I have been doing repairs as they have come up and the house was perfect when he moved in 12 months ago.  I am happy to do most of the repairs he has asked but one I think is not necessary( replacing garden gate )and another is repairing doors that he has damaged.  The letting agents are not helpful at all.  I wanted to know what is the legal position about repairs.

The Tenant is not allowed to withhold rent, that much is certain. A Landlord must be allowed reasonable time to perform repairs. Reasonable is not defined. I would evict if that is an option.

Although eviction could be an obstacle, in light of recent new laws regarding eviction following complaints about maintenance.

Still, a Tenant does not have the right to withhold rent... and this is tail wagging dog, so needs nipping in the bud. Do all repairs, so property is absolutely lovely, then evict. No better time to evict a Tenant than close to Christmas.

Thanks for reading and replying to my post,  still not quite sure about evicting as not easy to re let in this area, maybe will just get everything done and see what happens.

Please be careful about advice received from a blog (including my own)
Do your own research...

To answer your question about the legal position whilst there are many repairing obligations on the Landlord based on things like the
S11 Landlord and Tenant Act
Defective Premises Act
Plugs and Sockets regulations etc etc etc etc etc etc etc

The Doors and Gates Act hasn't been conceived yet.

As Hippo says the tenant most certainly cannot withhold rent (but does he know that?)
there is no obligation to carry out the repairs on the gates and door.
The statement about new regulations made in another post on retaliatory evictions doesn't apply as your tenancy started before the Deregulation Act came into force on Oct 1, 2015 so no fear on eviction if you go down that route.

Before you go to eviction etc only you will be able to decide whether or not this relationship between you and the tenant is at that point.

I have had many tenant say they won't pay the rent but when they realised they couldn't legally withhold rent they all (so far) have backed down and we have come to an amicable solution (which doesn't always involve me repairing something, or sometimes does but at a point in time more convenient to me and my cashflow)

More often than not the line ...look I'll spend some money on x y and z but a b and c I can't afford right now but I will do so when [insert reason or time]..has worked.

I'd be wary of evicting near Christmas due to the difficulty of finding a tenant -- most good tenants aren't looking then.

But obviously have an enforceable section 21 notice in place (at all times)

Best of luck

I use an agency as i live abroad and even though they vet all the tennants i seem to have nothing but trouble. I have a new tennant who has lived in my property for a week and she has already reported a broken front livingroom window,which she claims she knows nothing about. My property is not in an area where random people smash windows...she has however just come out of a relationship with her childs father ( not that that automatically means anything). However the agency are now asking me to cover costs. I have asked for this to be reported to the local police authorities. do i do this or does my agency or tennant do this. I feel rarher in dispear and would really appreciate some feed back and advice.

Leeseylou - you should start a new post but here are some thoughts

Did anyone by chance take any photos of the damage?
If the glass is on the outside of the house the damage was done inside to out and tenant liable
If not then you cant prove the tentant is at fault.

Not sure what you expect to achieve by notifying the police?  Especially as the damage will have been cleared up.
But if you want to then it will be likely up to you to report it (the agent won't care ot bother) but it will need the tenant to corroborate.  Maybe by forcing a police report it might make a lying tenant less enthused about not paying/lying to the police.

Tell the agency to ensure the damage is recorded and to tell the tenant that it will be coming out of the deposit (see how the tenant reacts).
Im afraid though you will be paying (or claiming it from insurance).

No point in being in dispair - fix it and move on.

Best of luck.