Being sued by tenant that hadn’t even moved in?

I would suggest that you get out of that arrangement ASAP and change letting agents.

For the future, when a letting agent tells you they have been trying to get hold of you, translate that into, blah,blah.

Do you seriously want a tenant that doesn't want to live there?

Do you want to be a "Rogue Landlord"?

Let the tenant go, get the repairs done, sack your letting agent and get a new one that doesn't do hand overs after the watershed on TV.

See if you can get a written agreement that you can have your property back with no further litigation brought against you, if you agree to a notional £150 towards your tenants out of pocket expenses.

I agree with Gary's advice (above) and also agree that based on what has been said the letting agent hasn't covered themselves in glory.

However, just to give a balance, I'm an agent and occasionally we have landlords instructing us to let their property, making all sorts of promises about carrying out essential works, then completely disappearing off the radar leaving us to deal with a very angry tenant.

I'm certainly not saying that this is what happened to Shuey but a small minority of landlords do conveniently forget that ultimately THEY are responsible for their property.

Reply to the comment left by "Gary Dully" at "06/01/2016 - 11:06":

I'm inclined to agree with Gary: Get out while you can. Things only turn nasty later on when the solicitors get involve.

I find it extraordinary that you need to ask. Give the poor bloke back his money and compensation for stuffing him around so much. The tenant hasn't capriciously changed his mind - you didn't provide him with safe, clean and decent accommodation.

You aren't disputing that the flat was dirty, had someone else's stuff in it, didn't have electricity or gas (!?), was not safe (ie no smoke alarm, fire door or gas certificate provided - all of which are necessary to protect the tenant from the small but actual risk of, you know, dying) and hadn't been repaired. Also a blocked sink and no cooking facilities. Seriously, do you expect the tenant to move into it the place like that? Would you?

You say that the complaint was made to EH because you would not release the tenant from the agreement - but the reason the tenant wanted to be released from the agreement was because of all the problems! Which the inspector found to be true! You have not provided any evidence even on your own account that the tenant wanted to terminate for any reason other than that you provided substandard and unsafe accommodation.

Your defence appears to be that you got the works done and you just weren't told about them. Two obvious points on that - if your letting agent is crap then that is annoying for you - but absolutely no defence to any complaint that the tenant might have. It is your responsibility to provide clean and safe accommodation from the first second of the tenancy. If the letting agent didn't do what they should have - take it up with them. Secondly - you were aware (according to you) of the problems before the tenant reported you to EH but clearly didn't run around to fix the problems or they wouldn't have had to report you (so it was not actually correct for you to tell the EH it was the first time you were hearing about the issues from them - because according to your own account you were already aware of them....)Frankly I think that they were correct to do so. Clearing electricity metres, cleaning (!?), basic safety requirements are not something that can be done while the tenant is "in occupation" - they are a requirement from day one.

Have you thought about what it was like for this poor tenant? He arrived at his new home with his belongings to find it dirty and not safe to move into so he had to find somewhere else to go and then has had some negligent landlord wanting him to keep paying and not giving him back his money.

If you still can't understand why you are so utterly in the wrong think about it like this - if you booked a hotel in another country and you turned up and it was dirty, someone else's stuff was still in the room, there was a boiler that you weren't sure was safe and the bathroom sink was blocked would you check in and expect to pay? Of course you wouldn't. You would be outraged. If the owner told you that it wasn't their fault because the hotel manager should have done those things would you say oh okay, fair enough, not your fault I'll pay then? Of course not. You would be even more outraged. And if the hotel owner then said and by the way you've booked in for the next 6 months and you have to keep paying for the whole 6 months - and the room will be cleaned, the bathroom unblocked, the room made safe etc in due course while you're "in occupation" I can't imagine that you'd say oh well fair enough then, I trust you entirely to provide me with quality accommodation for the next 6 months so I'll live in mess with no safety standards until you get around to it and of course I'll pay you. Of course you wouldn't...

I'm having a bit of a rant about this because I spend a lot of time explaining to people why buy-to-let is not some evil and unethical practice and providing someone with safe housing is a valuable service and then landlords like this pop up and it makes it a very difficult argument to run. I don't agree with the changes being made discouraging the ownership of buy-to-let, but I do think that there needs to be much stronger regulation and avenues of recourse for tenants to protect about these exact same scenarios. Sure tenants try it on sometimes too - but I am often shocked by how bad some landlords can be. All landlords of course would bear the greater costs of greater regulation but frankly I'd be happy to pay more to stop this kind of nonsense going on.

No Brainer, the tenant has given you the way out, take it, digging your heals in will inevitably cost you!!!!

thanks for comments so far. I just want to get the works resolved and present the flat to the same level as my other ones. I genuinely did not know about these issues. I would not have let him move in if I had known I should point out that none of my other properties have had this or any such problem and I have excellent long term tenants (3 years plus) in all of them where I self- manage.

Also just to advise , the RGI company and the council have said the flat is currently suitable for occupation , despite the improvements required.

Additionally my contractor who went to pick up the keys said the guarantor said the real reason was that the tenant had basically had an argument with his parents and move out of the family house, decided to look for somewhere to live to prove to them he could do it, got a basic starter studio flat, tried to move in and then changed his mind as it was much nicer at home.

I am a registered RLA landlord so am well aware of my obligations and to provide good accomodation to tenants (helps with getting good quality tenants). Apparently legally there is a risk he could decide to move back in and claim illegal eviction, unless I serve proper notices via the RGI company.

Reply to the comment left by " " at "06/01/2016 - 13:28":

Don't get bogged down with litigation. Avoid litigation at all cost. Things get very nasty later on despite the fact that all wrong doings were through no fault of yours. I have tried to sue a tenant before and I was £30k out of pocket with rent arrears over a period of 18 months and legal expenses. Eventually had to reach an out of court settlement since the tenant were already pennyless and I needed to get my property back at all cost. I have already replied to several forums before suggesting that we ought not make our own lives difficult with difficult tenants.

Reply to the comment left by " " at "06/01/2016 - 13:28":

Mate - you still don't seem to be taking responsibility here. By your own account the EH found that "there was no working gas or electricity, as well as other faults of no smoke alarm, cracked door frame, blocked kitchen sink, water leak to shower screen, no cooking facilities.’ The fact that there was no working gas or electricity frankly is grounds enough to not move into a flat - let alone it not being cleared out or cleaned.

Your other properties might be in great order - you might be well aware of your obligations - but it seems pretty clear unless I'm missing something that you didn't fulfil these obligations in this case. The fact that you didn't know about the problems means zip in terms of the tenants right to terminate for failure to provide adequate standards. The fact that your letting agent was not good is entirely your problem not your tenants.

The flat might be suitable NOW to live - but it clearly wasn't when the tenant went to move in. And that's the relevant time. The tenant might have other reasons why he now doesn't want to move in - but again its no surprise he thought it was nicer at home if the flat was filthy with no electricity and other people's junk....I think that all of the things that you have described about the flat's condition are entirely valid "real reasons". If the flat had actually been as it should perhaps the tenant would have been entirely happy to have moved out of his parents - the point is that you'll never know. The tenant made an entirely reasonable decision to not move into substandard accommodation which you can't seriously think was not a factor in the decision.

You are trying to make it sound like it was some feckless and irresponsible young person who's trying you rip you off. I think it's much more like you have treated some young person pretty poorly by failing to ensure that the accommodation you said that you would provide was clean and safe and in good repair. Frankly I think it's very irresponsible to not make sure that your letting agents had the property cleaned, with a smoke detector etc and in good order.

Reply to the comment left by "Sunny Rsa" at "06/01/2016 - 14:16":

How on earth is this "no fault" of the landlords?? The flat was not cleaned, had someone else's stuff in it, no gas or electricity, no smoke alarm, blocked sink, no cooking facilities and no repairs to the bathroom.

the gas and electricity issue was a top up issue as there was a negative credit balance. However I need to move forward on this and accept that ultimately I need to get these issues resolved and I am at fault and responsible for my agent and for not keeping a closer eye on things and letting my agent manage this.

Anyway Ive taken on board peoples comments and learnt from this experience. Thanks for all input

🙂