Flat rental nightmares....Desperate for advice.

I have posted several unrelated threads in the past and i want to heap thanks  both to the moderator and the members for your extremely helpfull responses.

Hubby and i rented a flat just a little over a months ago and it has been a hellish existance since day one . The electricity is hot wired from a business downstairs, the main entrance door is so crooked that you cannot lock it, as well as the windows inside our flat and the corridor . Basically we almost no protection from intruders.

I now know that it was a great mistake to move  into the neighbourhood that we did..Dalston in Hackney is not the greatest neighbourhood, its very rough and there are two bars that are open till 4 am every night.....not even ear plugs can save us at night.

To cut a long story short...we want to move out asap..but i am certain that the scamming letting agent and the landlord will conspire to hold on to our deposit. We are planning not to pay for the last months rent and just let the deposit take care of the last months rent. I know this is not legal and we do have a 6 months lease agreement but this landlord has broken a few of his promises as well.

My real question is, if we stop paying the rent for next months, what can he realistically do to us ?
The estate agent has made copies of our U.S. bank deposit papers as well as our passports...one reason we took this place without blinking was the fact that he did not require us to be employed..so we rented the place on the premise that we both did not work and that we will be looking for work asap .

This man has been promising us that he will install an electricity meter in our flat for the last 30 days but has the odacity to say " hey you guys should be greatfull that we dont pay any electricity" when the truth of the matter is that we need a utility bill to open a cash card account ( and trust me, we have tried every bank in london..this is the new standard it seems)

If anyone out there can shed any light on this...we will be eternally gratefull.

thanks heaps
Karina
PS my direct email is: Yoohipster@earthlink.net

The first place to start is your local citizens advise center.  Phone them tomorrow. 
http://www.hackney.gov.uk/index/life/comis-org-2/comis-org.htm?OrgID=2323

This might also be helpful

Hackney Housing advise

http://www.hackney.gov.uk/comis-org.htm?OrgID=3162

Karina I don't have any advice - I just wanted to say that I'm sorry you've had such a bloody nightmare of a time, and my thoughts are with you both. It' not how you want to start things off, is it? ((hug))

I agree with Mindy--it's time for you to make some official complaints and enquiries.  You can't really complain about the noise, but you can complain about the lack of electricity (in your name...is it even wired legally?), and the unsafe conditions (doors and windows that won't lock).

Just out of curiosity, which letting agency did you go through?  I'm assuming it's an independent one (not a high-street chain)...because I can't imagine a reputable one letting out what sounds like a hovel! 

I think you should make official complaints...try to make it a policy to always go by the book, even if those around you are not. It's been my experience that not doing so always comes back to bite you on the butt sooner or later! Good luck to you and get out of there ASAP!

thanks for the heads up everyone. Yes we just came back from the free legal advice center..the lawyer there advised us that we can stop rent payment for next month if we can document the noise pollution and the fact that we have been sleep deprived . So we have started documenting the daily noise pollution that goes on until 4 am almost every night.

If anyone has gone through a similar experience with having to break the lease agreement on a flat , please drop me a line .

The attorney also stated that the landlord could take us to court but the hot-wiring of the electricity in our flat and the noise pollution could weigh in our favour.

Our immediate concern was if the landlord will change the locks on us or barr us from entering our flat , should we not pay the next months rent, but lawyer advised us that he will need a court order to do that.

many thanks
Karina

I'm glad you got some help Karina - it sounds like it's heading in the right direction. A pain in the butt... but still going the right way.

I wonder if you were to somehow get someone from an electricity company to come out that they could point you to a legal reason as to why you don't have to pay and that might be your free ticket out of there?  After all, the landlord might even be subject to heavy fines or imprisonment if their wiring is in serious danger of burning the apartment block down - there must be some kind of negligence claim there.

Good luck.
Matt

I think Matt has a point - certainly the electricity people would be quite interested to hear what's going on!? Or perhaps the fire department?

The other bit of advice that I'd have is keep EVERYTHING in writing. We moved in to our house a year ago and we've had a major leak in the back wall the entire time. And periodically I write a letter to the management company bullet-pointing everything - where it's leaking, when it's leaking, what sort of damage it's causing, and where I've had to scrub excessive mould off the walls because of it. And it definitely has kept them on their toes more since I started doing it!

thanks again folks...yes we have started keeping logs...we will be making the phone call to the landlord on the 16th ....to give him the thirty day notice and politley ask him to use our deposit towards the last month of our stay.

fingers crossed that it will work out.
thanks heaps
Karina