Hi there,
I have been reading these forums for quite a while and have found them to be very constructive.
I am asking this question on behalf of my sister.
My Sister took up tenancy of a 2 bedroom house on a 6 month AST. She paid a deposit equal to 1.5 x rent and paid the 6 months rent in advance. The deposit was deposited with the DPS within the 30 days. The regulatory PI has not been given.
My sister is a working single mother who recently split with her partner.
The AST commenced July 15th 2012 and expires Jan 14th 2013. In October of last year during a cold snap she wanted to turn on the GCH and found that although there was hot water the radiators were not working. She reported this to the LL by telephone that night and LL's response was "It will have to wait, it's not winter yet."
Foolishly my sister did not pursue this and went out and bought some electric heaters 1 for the living room and 1 for the Master bedroom and had the children sleeping in the room with her.
I did not find out about this until early November and I told her to get back in touch with the LL and explain that she has young children and that he should get the Heating sorted ASAP. She did this and once again his response was not helpful, at this point I took the phone and told him that if he was not willing to sort out the problem that I would report him. He became abusive but eventually after some heated discussion on both sides he agreed to send a heating contractor. The LL gave a date and my sister took time off work for the visit. The contractor never arrived.
The heating was eventually sorted out after lots of telephone calls near the end of November.
At the beginning of December my Sister received an S21 notice that she was to quit at the end of the AST.
I started seeking information about this as I thought it wasn't correct and came across this site. After reading many of the threads I found that the S21 could not be served as the PI had never been given. I advised my sister to tell the LL about this.
He has just responded by demanding the rent for next month. According to the AST the rent should be paid on the 2nd of each month in advance.
My sister is understandably distraught about this as she moved to this area to get away from an abusive partner and it took time to find a place close to schools work and amenities etc she does not really want to disrupt the kids again by moving to another area and new school. She has been a good tenant except for complaining about the heating.
I understand that the LL can't serve a S21 until the PI is received but if he is still demanding rent whilst trying to evict her is this correct?
My Sister is unsure of the next steps to take, if she pays the rent she will have to give a months notice before she can leave. She doesn't have enough income to be able to pay months of rent plus deposit and LA fees etc in advance. What would be her best course of action?
If she stays here and pays the rent can what steps must he "legally" take to evict my Sister and if he starts proceedings at what point does she stop paying rent? i.e if he serves a S21 successfully and she pays another months rent which the LL accepts does this make the S21 void.
I guess what I am asking is if my Sister continues paying rent and the LL keeps accepting it can he evict her or alternatively if she stops paying rent because a S21 has been successfully served is she liable for any arrears to the point where the LL gains possession?
I ask this because I believe it may be in my Sisters best interest to stop paying rent so that she can save the money for another deposit, advance rent etc.
I have been reading these forums for quite a while and have found them to be very constructive.
I am asking this question on behalf of my sister.
My Sister took up tenancy of a 2 bedroom house on a 6 month AST. She paid a deposit equal to 1.5 x rent and paid the 6 months rent in advance. The deposit was deposited with the DPS within the 30 days. The regulatory PI has not been given.
My sister is a working single mother who recently split with her partner.
The AST commenced July 15th 2012 and expires Jan 14th 2013. In October of last year during a cold snap she wanted to turn on the GCH and found that although there was hot water the radiators were not working. She reported this to the LL by telephone that night and LL's response was "It will have to wait, it's not winter yet."
Foolishly my sister did not pursue this and went out and bought some electric heaters 1 for the living room and 1 for the Master bedroom and had the children sleeping in the room with her.
I did not find out about this until early November and I told her to get back in touch with the LL and explain that she has young children and that he should get the Heating sorted ASAP. She did this and once again his response was not helpful, at this point I took the phone and told him that if he was not willing to sort out the problem that I would report him. He became abusive but eventually after some heated discussion on both sides he agreed to send a heating contractor. The LL gave a date and my sister took time off work for the visit. The contractor never arrived.
The heating was eventually sorted out after lots of telephone calls near the end of November.
At the beginning of December my Sister received an S21 notice that she was to quit at the end of the AST.
I started seeking information about this as I thought it wasn't correct and came across this site. After reading many of the threads I found that the S21 could not be served as the PI had never been given. I advised my sister to tell the LL about this.
He has just responded by demanding the rent for next month. According to the AST the rent should be paid on the 2nd of each month in advance.
My sister is understandably distraught about this as she moved to this area to get away from an abusive partner and it took time to find a place close to schools work and amenities etc she does not really want to disrupt the kids again by moving to another area and new school. She has been a good tenant except for complaining about the heating.
I understand that the LL can't serve a S21 until the PI is received but if he is still demanding rent whilst trying to evict her is this correct?
My Sister is unsure of the next steps to take, if she pays the rent she will have to give a months notice before she can leave. She doesn't have enough income to be able to pay months of rent plus deposit and LA fees etc in advance. What would be her best course of action?
If she stays here and pays the rent can what steps must he "legally" take to evict my Sister and if he starts proceedings at what point does she stop paying rent? i.e if he serves a S21 successfully and she pays another months rent which the LL accepts does this make the S21 void.
I guess what I am asking is if my Sister continues paying rent and the LL keeps accepting it can he evict her or alternatively if she stops paying rent because a S21 has been successfully served is she liable for any arrears to the point where the LL gains possession?
I ask this because I believe it may be in my Sisters best interest to stop paying rent so that she can save the money for another deposit, advance rent etc.