Renters post pictures of damp, mould filled flats as campaigners call for fairer terms for tenants
Is your rental property as bad as these? Tenants have taken to social media to vent about problems such as mouldy bedrooms and broken windows
RENTERS have taken to social media to vent about problems, such as mouldy bedrooms and broken windows, as campaigners call for fairer terms for tenants.
Horror stories range from black mould and rent hikes to revenge evictions in response to requests for repairs, aggressive behaviour from landlords and the failure to fix dangerous gas leaks.
Sharing the pictures on Twitter using the #VentYourRent hashtag, the renters also included a growing number of families forced to disrupt their children’s lives by moving regularly, as well as by older renters facing insecurity.
We've rounded-up some of the worst pictures shared by tenants below.
HOW QUICKLY SHOULD REPAIRS BE FIXED?
Understandably the time a fault should be fixed depends on the severity of the issue.
Landlord associations generally advise that if there is a "significant risk of danger to the health, safety or security of a tenant" then the issue must be resolved within 24 hours.
Landlords have three working days to resolve problems that "materially affect the comfort or convenience" of residents and up to 28 days for less urgent repairs.
Around 1.85 million tenant households have had disrepair in the past four years that their landlord was responsible for and that wasn't fixed within the agreed timescales, according to the Citizens Advice research.
In a bid to better protect tenants, campaigners have been calling for the abolition of Section 21 - a law that enables private landlords in England and Wales to evict tenants without needing a reason after a fixed term tenancy ends if there’s a written contract, or during a tenancy with no fixed end date.
Campaigners from ACORN, Generation Rent, London Renters Union, and New Economics Foundation plan to deliver a petition on this to James Brokenshire MP, secretary of state for housing, later this week.
Nearly 50,000 people have signed the .
It will be handed in days before a government consultation on proposals to make private tenancies in England three years or longer draws to a close.
When Section 21 can't be used
Under a Section 21 notice, landlords must always give tenants at least two months' notice to leave their property. Here's when a Section 21 notice cannot be given:
- If it’s less than six months since the tenancy started
- If the fixed term has not ended, unless there’s a clause in the contract that allows early termination
- If the property is categorised as a house in multiple occupation (.
As well as signing the petition, Generation Rent is encouraging renters to ahead of its deadline of August 26.
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The government is also currently in the process of passing the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Bill, which will amend the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
The idea behind this is to ensure that residential rented accommodation is maintained "in a state of fitness for human habitation".
Find out why you might be due compensation if your landlord doesn't fix a repair in time.
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