Updating post from Reddit.
Hi there Reddit community. I want to ask what my rights are regarding a housing situation I’m in. I moved into an apartment less than a month ago, and while I was speaking to the agents, I could not attend an in person viewing since I was abroad. Therefore, they had sent me a video of the place which they stated was for the apartment. However, I have realised that unfortunately it was not representative of the condition of the apartment I moved into. When I landed in the UK and went to the apartment to move in, the place looked decent, there was some patches of new paint and some paint peeling from water damage, however it looked minimal so I went ahead and signed the contract to move in immediately and was given the keys to the apartment in the same visit.
After a few days, mould started appearing through the walls, water damage became worse, and around 100 flies/bugs appeared in the apartment every single day. I tried to clean the mould but it reappeared and worse the following days, and I tried killing the bugs with bug spray and also setting traps but no use. It is now affecting my breathing when I am in the apartment (have been staying with a friend in the meantime) and the bugs situation is getting worse.
I spoke to the estate agent about this multiple times and after days of back and forth, one of the agents saw the damage in person and even she was shocked at the state of the place. I asked the agents about breaking the lease contract, and they said that the landlord can choose not to allow me to move out, or if he does, would require me to pay rent every month until they find a different tenant to move into the apartment. Please can you advise me on my rights, and how I can break the lease without having to continue paying rent for moving elsewhere even though it is a significant health risk and I haven’t even been living there for the past 2 weeks.
For reference I’m located in Buckinghamshire and have been living here from feb7th till today. Thank you in advance
Found this via google. https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/complain_to_environmental_health_about_private_rented_housing Others might have more advice from personal experience, but this is a good start. You need to complain to the landlord to get them to fix the problems. Make sure you document everything and take photos. If you don’t get further then complain to environmental health. Shelter also would be a good contact for advice.
Will look into in thank you very much
Good luck, sorry it’s such a rotten landlord and situation
You can get guidance on resolving tenancy issues here, however it seems you want to exit the tenancy early? That is an agreement you and the landlord have to come to.
If the Councils Housing Team has undertaken a HHSRS inspection regarding the damp and mould, the landlord may be more in-favor of such an arrangement since they have a ticking clock to fix the issues.
Your agent is correct that the landlord can enforce the terms of the lease, however your landlord is obligated to investigate where the issue is coming from. Is it a leak or condensation etc.
Is your property managed by the student accomodation company, agent or landlord?