Who you going to call if your tenancy has gone wrong?

Why is it that renters feel so alone and exposed when something goes wrong with their rented home?

After all, if your fridge breaks down after you buy it, there’s plenty you can do to get your money back including turning to the UK's various consumer protection laws or the manufacturer’s warranty.

But when you move into a privately rented home and pay the first month’s rent plus deposit upfront then, despite having shelled out a considerable sum to get the keys, it’s much harder to get redress or compensation if the tenancy goes wrong.

But it's not impossible.

Here's what you should do if your rented home turns out to be poorly maintained, your letting agent proves unhelpful, the rent is increased unfairly or your landlord is reluctant to adhere to the minimum standards expected of them.

‘My landlord won’t repair the boiler’

Before you do anything, talk to your landlord and tell them you’re going to escalate your complaint if they don’t fix the boiler. If they still won’t do anything then your choices are:


A landlord is obliged by law to keep your property in a good state of repair and fix any issues within a ‘reasonable time’.

Note: The government has said it will soon set up a national ‘housing court’ where disputes between landlords and tenants will be resolved ‘simply and quickly’. But it’s not live yet. Watch this space.

‘There’s damp everywhere but the landlord won’t do anything’

Report your landlord to your local Environmental Health department who, if necessary, will then pay a visit to your home to inspect the damp, and if appropriate issue an improvement notice to your landlord. If you landlord still does nothing, then the council may prosecute and fine them.

Don’t be afraid to make a complaint. The law now protects tenants who complain about their homes from ‘revenge’ evictions by landlords. Once a complaint has been logged by your local housing or environmental health officers, you’re protected.

‘My landlord keeps letting themselves in without being invited’

If they do this, or harass you in any other way, then you have a few options.

Firstly, tell them that the law requires them to give you reasonable warning of their arrival and they need your agreement to come into the house.

If they continue to ignore your warning, then you can either:

  • Call the police;

  • Contact your local council’s housing department;

  • Take out an injunction against them.

‘I’ve been given an eviction notice’

There are a several reasons why a landlord will serve an eviction notice on you. These include if you’ve stopped paying the rent or got into serious arrears, have been anti-social with neighbours (or have broken the terms of your tenancy in another way) or if the landlord wants to move back into the property, needs to refurbish it or sell the property.

This is a technical area of law and therefore even the most experienced tenant will need legal advice. There are several organisations tenants can turn to if they want free advice.

Shelter

Shelter is the UK’s main housing charity and offers tenants advice via a helpline that’s available between 8am and 8pm on weekdays and 8am until 5pm on weekends.

Citizens’ Advice

The organisation is a national network of local advice centres so it’s likely that there will be one near you that you can either call or drop into for free advice. Here’s where to find yours.

Local Authorities

Many local authorities operate housing advice telephone lines where you’ll be able to access advice and be put in touch with local support groups and services.

‘The rent is being put up by much more than inflation’

Landlords are not allowed to increase your rent willy-nilly. Your rental contract will set out how frequently they can raise yours and it may say by how much. This could be, for example, inflation plus 1% a year.

But if your contract doesn’t set out any of this information and the landlord is putting the rent up by what you think is an unreasonable amount, then you can take them to a rent tribunal to have the matter thrashed out in court.

Before you do that, ensure you’ve tried to negotiate with your landlord but if it doesn’t work then approach Citizens Advice or Shelter, both of which will be able to help you take your landlord to court.

‘I’ve moved out, but my deposit hasn’t been returned’

A landlord or letting agent must return your deposit within 10 days of moving out of your rented property unless you have damaged it, not paid the rent or the utility bills, or broken the terms of your rental agreement.

If they don’t, or they make deductions from your deposit that you don’t agree with, then you can ask for the dispute to be resolved by a third party.

Every rental deposit in the UK must be lodged with one of the UK’s deposit protection schemes at the beginning of the tenancy so contact the one yours is protected by and start the dispute resolution process.

Read more about the three tenancy deposit protection services.

‘My letting agent is charging me to renew the contract’

It is now unlawful for a letting agent to charge a tenant any tenant fees during a contract other than default fees if you pay the rent late, need a replacement key for the front door or end a tenancy early.

They can also charge you if you want to amend the contract while it’s running but they are only allowed to charge a maximum of £50 to do this. If they charge you more than this, or ask for other fees to be paid, then contact the local Trading Standards team at your local council and report them.

Read more advice about being evicted.

CreditLadder can help you improve your credit score

If you want to improve your credit position by reporting your rent payments, CreditLadder is the only way to improve your credit score and position across all four of the main Credit Reference Agencies in the UK, namely Experian, Equifax, TransUnion and Crediva. Building up a high credit score has a lot of benefits, including helping you access finance at better rates - this can also help save you money.

CreditLadder also runs a free mortgage application service in partnership with Tembo which will tell you how much you could borrow.

Remember the information provided in this article is for information purposes only and should not be considered as advice.

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