Can T end AST early?

[e-coleman]

Ok so...

My girlfriend has been renting off a letting agents called bannits and they are screwing her over as much as possible.

She signed a contract for a new house with them before moving out of the last one, so when she moves out they robbed a big chunk of her deposit and when she moved into her new house it was a state!

Carpet burn, chunks out the wall in her room, paint chips, broken cooker, faulty fridge, the house hadn't been cleaned and the bathroom was getting more and more moldy by the day. We have photo evidence of all this and environmental health have been round.

They only started fixing up the house once we complained while they we showing tenants for next year round and told them to never rent of this letting agents ever unless you want a world of problems.

Now she has become completely fed up of living there even though some of the problems have been fixed. No one wants to take over her contract everyone who has viewed the house has said they can get a better deal for the money and its true.

So she is thinking of just letting them keep her deposit and saving the money by renting a cheaper house.

but...

If she calls the letting agent and says she is fed up of living there due to all the problems through out the year and that they can keep her deposit do you think they will bother taking her to court?

have you any stories of letting agents trying to take you to court?

Is there anyway a small claims court would deem this an unfair standard by the letting agent? Or would this all end in her being sued by the letting agent?

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help!!

[jeffrey]

T's contractual relationship is not with the Letting Agents at all but, instead, with the landlord who instructs them.

[Goldie]

how long does she have left on her contract?

[e-coleman]

how long does she have left on her contract?
till end of august we are showing some people round in the next few days see if we have any lucky maybe offering to pay a month or twos rent for them to take over the contract if not who knows my main question is do you think they would take her to court? and do you think they would have a case due to all the problems she has had over the year is there some sort of way she could say the reason i moved was due to the unfair standard of living

[estateagent]

Things to consider are, as other postings have mentioned, the length left on the agreement & your partners liability for this.???

My first reaction is though to your post is did your partner not view the property before taking it. Bannits operate in my area & deal with very, how shall I put it, more traditional student type properties???? Just an external viewing is enough from what I have seen first hand.!!

[e-coleman]

she did veiw the property before while the old tenants where living there and it looked fine but when she moved in it hadn't been cleaned at all and was filthy!!

[Let down]

While I fully sympathise with your girlfriend being a tenant myself it is not a good idea to end contract early take it from me in my experience there will be early check out fee, re-let/admin fees plus VAT on top all of which can also be charged - and that's if a replacement tenant can be found and theres landlords agreement for early release - it is hard to get out of something that has been signed

Any probs there may have been whilst in occupancy will not be taken into consideration (I know it seems wrong but thats how it goes unfortunately) my advise would be to call in the tenancy relations officer from the nearest council to get the other existing problems on the way to being fixed to hopefully improve living conditions at the property

Your girlfriend may want to re-consider and just sit it out if she is not prepared to lose any of her deposit/be liable for the rent until end of contract if no tenant is found

FYI long gone is the practice where a landlord could continue taking rent from ex tenant plus any new tenant at the same time if someone could be found to take over occupancy

[e-coleman]

thank you for your advice!! although i think she has decided living in nice conditions is way better than loosing money i just advise anyone to not let off bannits and will tell everyone i can not to go with them because they are rude and unhelpful and i am going to start inquiring on how to make a full complaint

[Let down]

Your welcome - thats how I had to think as well in the end I wish her all the best and tell her to keep her chin up :)- I'm sure she will find somewhere much better - try and find private landlord - without an agency (it's much better u get to speak to the organ grinder rather then the monkey)
Lets hope what goes around, comes around for that agency if you get me

[Snorkerz]

thank you for your advice!! although i think she has decided living in nice conditions is way better than loosing money i just advise anyone to not let off bannits and will tell everyone i can not to go with them because they are rude and unhelpful and i am going to start inquiring on how to make a full complaint

Be careful of slagging off the agency. They are simply agents for the landlord and are at his beck-and-call. Make your comments too public and as well as owing the landlord for all the rent you might find yourself in court for slander - or whatever the correct legal term is.

I have read your post and feel that a lot of the problems with the property could be fixed quite cheaply by your girlfriend. She shouldn't have to of course - but it might be better to do it herself and have somewhere nice to live rather than wait for the landlord not to do it and live in misery.

Obviously, some of it would need landlords permission but cleaning is easy, mould is usually caused by condensation (keep plenty of ventilation and a degree of warmth) and can be easily cleaned. Dents in the wall can be polyfillered and a tin of cheap emulsion can cover a multitude of sins. That lot is a weekends work.

Obviously, fridge and cooker aren't so easily fixed but maybe taking a pro-active attitude might encourage the landlord to do his bit too.

Have you spoken to the landlord? If you don't have his details, write to the agents asking for his details - they have to provide them by law.

[mind the gap]

Be careful of slagging off the agency. They are simply agents for the landlord and are at his beck-and-call. Make your comments too public and as well as owing the landlord for all the rent you might find yourself in court for slander - or whatever the correct legal term is.

I have read your post and feel that a lot of the problems with the property could be fixed quite cheaply by your girlfriend. She shouldn't have to of course - but it might be better to do it herself and have somewhere nice to live rather than wait for the landlord not to do it and live in misery.

Obviously, some of it would need landlords permission but cleaning is easy, mould is usually caused by condensation (keep plenty of ventilation and a degree of warmth) and can be easily cleaned. Dents in the wall can be polyfillered and a tin of cheap emulsion can cover a multitude of sins. That lot is a weekends work.

Obviously, fridge and cooker aren't so easily fixed but maybe taking a pro-active attitude might encourage the landlord to do his bit too.

Have you spoken to the landlord? If you don't have his details, write to the agents asking for his details - they have to provide them by law.
I agree with Snorkerz. There is a protocol for getting repairs done and deducting from rent if the disrepair is serious and LL is not acting. Otherwise, bit of elbow grease and a pair of Marigolds should suffice!

[bannits]

Hi e-coleman, I'm Andrew and I run Bannits.

I'm really sorry to hear about the problems your having.

I'd really like to get this sorted out for you, please either email me your details (adr@bannits.co.uk) or call me on 02920 498 066 so we can have a chat.

Thanks

Andrew

[Poppy]

Please share with the members in what way you can help, instead of just advertising - otherwise I'll report your post to the moderator.

[bannits]

Hi Poppy,

Apologies, I'm not trying to advertise.

This post is about one of our tenants in one of our properties, but I don't know which one. The purpose of my post was only to encourage the original poster to contact me so I can try and help with the problem.

Thanks

Andrew

[Poppy]

Sounds like the originating poster’s girlfriend lost faith in the landlord and your company’s ability to resolve the problem several months ago. I hope you and the landlord will finally resolve the problem to everyone's satisfaction.

[dominic]

I would actually like to applaud Bannits in being pro-active to try to resolve the problem through the forum, and agree in this instance it is not advertising.

[osmanafc]

had lots of same issues,as noted in this thread. moved in no check in done room was filthy,did my own inspection noting this.had lots of repairs put off time after time,left with window broken throughout winter,holes in floor ,even had half the tiles in shower fall in one night.spoke to oliver the landlord who stated to me, and flatmate that because a check in, wasnt done no money could be withheld so no worries.i moved out on aug 17th done by a friend, because i had a holiday booked.came back to find out that 150£ was not returned for various reasons one being cleaning,spent from aug to end of dec trying to get a breakdown and to speak to andrew ,who despite being told, i wanted to speak to him has never once bothered to call me.still chasing him to return my emails.messages cant call him because i didnt have his number. will try the one he has kindly left. avoid bannits like the plague zero customer service.if i dont get any joy from him, will be taking it further which will cost me little ( as brother is a lawyer) and cost bannits more than the deposit by a large amount. if andrew would like to call me hes welcome too. its osman fadil and property was 25 hurst street flat 1,he can get my number from any one of the three sarahs, who tried to help me or from julia,his office manager who tried very hard to get him to contact me.

[jeffrey]

Er, that's a bit hard to read. What's your specific question, please?

[osmanafc]

sorry so much problems with bannits hard to get all listed.i had 150 deposit not returned was given a vague breakdown and cant get mr andrew from bannits to call me,what are my options?

[mind the gap]

sorry so much problems with bannits hard to get all listed.i had 150 deposit not returned was given a vague breakdown and cant get mr andrew from bannits to call me,what are my options?

Well, unless 'Mr Andrew from Bannits' is an avid reader of Landlordzone, I'm not sure how much we can do to make him return your call.

I would respectfully suggest however that when you communicate with anyone on a professional or formal basis, that you use Standard English. People take you much more seriously than if you use the language of text messaging or abandon punctuation.

[Snorkerz]

sorry so much problems with bannits hard to get all listed.i had 150 deposit not returned was given a vague breakdown and cant get mr andrew from bannits to call me,what are my options?Presuming you are in England/Wales then open a dispute with whichever company protects your deposit (DPS, TDS or My Deposits)