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Renting and living independently can be equally fun and difficult. Managing your finances, with the rising cost of living while studying can be extremely challenging. Renting privately can become even harder if you have a bad landlord. Landlords must ensure that the home is fit for human habitation and must repair things in a reasonable time when you report them. Landlords must also arrange annual gas safety check by a registered engineer and fir working smoke alarms on each floor.
What The Landlord is responsible for
The following repair responsibility cannot be overridden by anything within your tenancy agreement states. These cost of the repair of these responsibilities cannot be passed on toy.
- The structure and exterior of your home
- Basin, sinks, baths, toilets and their pipework
- Water and gas pipes, electrical wiring, water tanks, boilers, radiators, gas fire, fitted electric fires or fitted heaters
A home might be declared unfit for human habitation if:
- it has a serious problem with damp or mould
- it gets much too hot or cold
- there are too many people living in it
- it’s infested with pests like rats or cockroaches
- it doesn’t have a safe water supply
- damp harmful to the tenancy health or is a nuisance,
Unfortunately, some landlords fail to perform your duties and 1 in 3 students wait up to a month for maintenance issues to resolved once they’ve reported them. Research suggests that the 2 most common issues that students face with student homes is having no water or heating (30%) and having damp (26%)
Type of Bad Landlords
The Unresponsive Landlord - This type of landlord is hard to reach and slow to address any maintenance issues or concerns. You may report a broken appliance or leaky roof, but weeks go by with no action taken.
The Overbearing Landlord - This landlord shows up at the property unannounced or tries to control your daily life. They might impose unreasonable rules or invade your privacy, violating tenant rights.
The Penny-Pincher - This landlord is reluctant to spend money on necessary repairs or improvements. They might refuse to fix things unless absolutely necessary, and often take shortcuts to save costs.
The Deposit Withholder - This type of landlord will find any excuse to keep your security deposit, often exaggerating minor issues or blaming you for damages you didn’t cause.
The Ghost Landlord - This landlord disappears once the contract is signed. They don’t communicate, maintain the property, or respond to requests, leaving tenants in a lurch.
The Illegal Landlord – This landlord operates without following proper legal procedures, such as failing to provide a written contract, renting properties that don’t meet safety standards, or trying to evict tenants without going through the proper legal process.
The Rent Hiker – This landlord might add hidden charges or pressure you into paying more without proper justification. Thankfully most students are on Short Assured Tenancy, which means you only pay whatever was initially agreed with the landlord
Additional information
Due to the competitiveness of the London housing market, there has been an increase in the number of rental scams. Students are often targeted by fraudulent and or fake landlords who advertise a problem that does not exist or has already been rented out. These “landlords” will ask for a fee and then disappear with your money.
Rember letting agents cannot charge you to protect your deposit or do credit or reference checks. If you are charged a banned fee, please check out the Shelter page – [ https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/letting_agent_fees_for_tenants]