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I have received a Claim for possession from the County Court because I have not paid my rent. What can I do?
If you do not pay your rent, the landlord has a legal right to ask a court to evict you. If you have received a claim for possession and want to try and stay in your home then you must act quickly. If you cannot afford to pay your rent because you have a low income, you may be able to get some help with the payments by claiming housing benefit. If you can afford to pay your rent and pay a little extra towards any arrears you should talk to your landlord. The landlord may be willing to make an agreement with you and stop the court action. It is important that you make the agreed payments regularly.
If the landlord will not agree to accept your payments, then you should reply to the claim and attend the court hearing. If you can make a reasonable offer of payment, the court may accept it and allow you to stay in your home. If the court does not agree to your offer, you will be given a date when you will have to leave your home. The costs of the court hearing will also be added to the rent that you owe the landlord.
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I paid a deposit when I moved into my rented house. I have now moved out but the landlord will not return the deposit. What can I do?
A deposit is usually paid to a landlord or letting agency at the start of the tenancy. When the tenancy ends the landlord or agent should inspect the property and can make deductions from the deposit for any reasonable losses, such as rent arrears, damage to the property or furniture, or missing items. Deductions should not be made for fair wear and tear.
If the landlord does not return the deposit or you disagree with the amount that has been deducted, you should try to negotiate. If that does not succeed then consider taking action against the landlord in the county court.
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The house I rent is very damp. I told the landlord but she has not done anything about it. What else can I do?
As a tenant, you have the right to have the structure of your home kept in good repair by the landlord. This includes some of the installations in the home such as heating and hot water systems. You will often be responsible yourself for repairs to internal decoration and for minor repairs such as a blocked sink. Details about repairs are usually set out in a written tenancy agreement that describes the landlord's and tenant's responsibilities. If you do not have a tenancy agreement the law may still give you some basic rights. However, you should always check your housing status before you complain about housing conditions, as some landlords try to evict tenants who wish to enforce their legal rights to repair.
When you have decided that your repair should be done by the landlord, you must tell them about the repair that is needed. You should write out a description of the problem and collect evidence such as photographs, a report from environmental health officers, and medical reports if the disrepair is affecting your health or the health of someone in your household.
If the landlord still fails to carry out the work you could consider contacting the Environmental Health department at your local authority, or you could take the landlord to court. If your landlord is a registered social landlord such as a housing association or is a private landlord, then the local authority may be able to force them to take action. If you are a tenant of the local authority itself, then you should make a complaint using the authority’s complaints procedure.
You should carry on paying your rent while you try to get the repair work done, as your landlord may try to evict you if you have rent arrears.
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I rent my flat privately and the landlord wants to increase the rent. Can he do this?
It all depends on the type of tenancy agreement that you have. If your tenancy is for a fixed term (for example, six months) the rent cannot be increased during the fixed term unless the agreement states that it can, or you agree to the increase. When the fixed term ends, the landlord may ask you to sign a new tenancy agreement which charges a higher rent.
If your tenancy is not for a fixed term, the landlord can charge a higher rent if you agree, or if the agreement allows for this, or by giving you the correct written notice. If the agreement allows for an increase, it should say when and how this should happen, for example, annually.
In some cases you can appeal against an increase if you think the amount of the increase is too much or if you think the notice of the increase was not issued correctly. If you start to pay the increased amount this means you have agreed to it and you cannot appeal against it.
Some tenants have very little protection against eviction and could risk losing their homes if they disagree with the landlord about the amount of rent to be paid. If you cannot afford to pay your rent, remember you may be able to claim housing benefit.
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