UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi everyone !
I've just moved into a house in Bristol. The house is fine but I just have a few peeves. if you can please answer the following, any answers will be highly appreciated.

- My room is on the ground floor and I find quite alot of insects in it daily namely woodlice, and a very tiny slug (things that like damp). Is there anything I can make my landlord do about this ?

-There are 4 of us and we pay the landlord £60 a month in bills each, yet he is in control of the heating which is turned on for half an hour (if that) in the morning and then again for 20 mins around about 6pm. Needless to say that there is no way we can dry our clothes. Is this legal ? is there anything i can take him up on ?

-Assuming the aforementioned issues are not resolved, Is there any way on this earth that I can get out of the 12 month contract that I have just signed without losing my deposit of £440 ?

Thank you for reading 

I would say that the damp problem is one which your landlord should be looking into.  It could be down to a problem with the building itself, or a leak somewhere from one of the fixtures and fittings etc.  Notify him/her, and keep a note of when you did so and the response.  If it works out to be something like a condensation problem then ask if he could supply something like a dehumidifier to deal with it in the short term.

Re the heating issue.  What he is doing may be legal (not certain), but is in his interests rather than yours.  If there are several of you in the house and each paying £60 a month towards bills then he/she should have a fair bit of leeway there (not to mention some profit too).  What does your tenancy agreement say about this?  As a landlady myself I do find such arrangements unusual, although I do remember them from my own student days (far too long ago now  ).  I prefer my tenants to be paying their own bills, as it is much less hassle.  You will have to approach him about it and negotiate.  Ask if you can take on your own utility bill accounts, if it is not too late.

Have a look at your tenancy agreement with regard to when you can exit from the agreement if things don't work out.  It may be that you are on a 12 month contract with something like a 6 month break clause.  This would normally mean that you could leave after 6 months is up if you give two clear months of notice.  It should not have any effect on the deposit providing you always remain up-to-date with your rent, there is no damage to the property and it is left clean and habitable.

Hello elizabethpapoose,

Good advice from Topseyt.  Just want to offer a slightly more strident opinion.  I'm assuming your landlord is charging, by way of rent, a fee which specifically covers the costs of heaing the property.  As you are collectively paying £240 per month for heating, you are contractually entitled to enjoy approx £240 worth of heating.  You are clearly enjoying nothing like this.

So, in short, it's not legal.

Write him a letter, saying you are not getting the heating you pay for.  He has a time limt (a week is plenty) to adjust the running time of the heating.  If he does not do this, then you will reduce your rent payment to him so that it includes, say, only £10 for the heating.

But please do it by writing.  This will be your "audit trail" to ensure if he does not see sense that you will be able to get your deposit back.

Hope this helps.  Please let us know how you get on.