Legal advice

Hello!!

I have a question for anyone whos studying law at the moment and could help. Ive just had to move out of my flat in an emergency due to my neighbours being very violent. There were multiple domestic violence incidents, we called the police on 3 occasions and another neighbour did on another occasion too. We kept the agency updated about the situation since we did not feel safe (the man is very violent and punched out the bathroom window in his flat). The landlords of the flat who is causing the trouble is the same as our landlord and nothing was done about the situation until they were sent a letter regarding them breaking their lease (by having pets). They went a bit bonkers and were threatening to come to our door so we packed our stuff and left. Now when we first called the agency they mentioned nothing about how we woule be breaking the lease by moving out early and supported our decision, however, later we got an email stating we broke the lease and will be liable to pay rent until the fixed term ends. I completely understand that we broke the lease and honestly am happy for them to keep the deposit but i feel like we communicate the troubles so much and nothing was done about it for months so is there anything we can do legally?

Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

Orange Blossom

22

Original post by Gabbiey

Hello!!
I have a question for anyone whos studying law at the moment and could help. Ive just had to move out of my flat in an emergency due to my neighbours being very violent. There were multiple domestic violence incidents, we called the police on 3 occasions and another neighbour did on another occasion too. We kept the agency updated about the situation since we did not feel safe (the man is very violent and punched out the bathroom window in his flat). The landlords of the flat who is causing the trouble is the same as our landlord and nothing was done about the situation until they were sent a letter regarding them breaking their lease (by having pets). They went a bit bonkers and were threatening to come to our door so we packed our stuff and left. Now when we first called the agency they mentioned nothing about how we woule be breaking the lease by moving out early and supported our decision, however, later we got an email stating we broke the lease and will be liable to pay rent until the fixed term ends. I completely understand that we broke the lease and honestly am happy for them to keep the deposit but i feel like we communicate the troubles so much and nothing was done about it for months so is there anything we can do legally?
Thanks :smile:

I am not a trained lawyer so don't take what I say as gospel, but I am pretty interested in law and it's something I might want to do in the future, soo:

1.

Notification of breaches: While it's true that you breached the lease by leaving early, your landlord (and the agency) had a responsibility to ensure your safety and well-being as a tenant. You did report the issues to them multiple times, and they failed to take adequate action. This could be seen as a breach of their duty of care towards you.

2.

Reasonable grounds for terminaation: Under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, a tenant can terminate their contract without notice if they have "reasonable grounds" to believe that it would be unreasonable for them to continue occupying the property. In your case, the violent behavior of your neighbor and the lack of action from your landlord (and agency) could be considered "reasonable grounds" for termination.

3.

You may be able to serve a Section 8 notice on your landlord (and agency), citing the breaches of the tenancy agreement and their failure to maintain a safe environment. This could lead to a court hearing, where you may be able to argue that your landlord was in breach of their obligations under the tenancy agreement.

4.

Deposit retention: While it's true that you breached the lease, your landlord is still responsible for ensuring that your deposit is protected in a government-approved scheme (e.g., Mydeposits or Tenancy Deposit Scheme). You can check if this is the case and follow up with the relevant scheme administrator if necessary.

Remember you must document everything! I would personally ring up the Citizens Advice Bureau, which gives professional legal advice for free. Also I am assuming you are in the UK. Don't forget laws can be different in Scotland or Ireland for example.

(edited 9 months ago)

Reply 2

Gabbiey

OP

8

Original post by Hannahblossom