Landlord upping rent, no gas safety checks or maintenance etc

[8yf13L0]

Good evening all and thank you for reading.

I am a concerned son-in-law speaking for my parent-in-laws (Tenants) seeking advise regarding thier Landlords behaviour, or lack of anything.

When the landlords agent says they want to up rent by £100 per month, refuse to do any improvement works to the property (still single glase wooden doors & windows and 1980s gas boiler) and tell my parents that the buildings insurance and the annual gas boiler is down to them - surely this cannot be right?

The landlord has rushed a draft tenancy agreement (looks like an amateur copy from the internet) and posted it for my parents to sign but they have not signed it yet because of the concerns as said above.
There is no mention in the agreement of tenants responsibility to get the boiler checked and have builders insurance - because surely that is the landlord legal responsibility right?

Now to top it all off, when I asked my parents they stated that in the entire 5 years of tenancy, the gas boiler has never been safety inspected!!

Is thier landlord breaking any laws with what I have described above?

If any of yourselves can offer advise on how they best deal with this situation because as I already said, they have not signed the new tenancy agreement up to this point but clearly there is almost no consideration on the buildings condition or safety from the landlord.


Let us know your views

Thanks in advance

Jamie

[gazfocus]

It is a legal obligation for your landlord to get the boiler (and any other gas appliances) safety checked every 12 months. The landlord cannot pass this responsibility onto the tenants. However, there is no legal obligation for the landlord to have building insurance but unless the tenancy agreement stipulates it, he cannot force your parents to provide building insurance either (I'm not even sure such a clause in the tenancy agreement would be enforceable anyway).

While you're at it, I would be checking that any deposit your parents paid is protected in a government approved scheme. If not, the landlord could a) be open to a claim against him and b) find it very difficult to ever evict your parents.

[8yf13L0]

The rented property was sourced privately through a classified ad they tell me, they also say that to the best of their knowledge their security deposit is not held in a government scheme.

Is there anything they can do to iron out these issues before considering signing the new tenancy agreement?
They would rather not move out because the house is in a ideal area for their business and because of the area js in SL6, is very hard to find an equivalent home in the area.

Kind regards

Jamie

[gazfocus]

The rented property was sourced privately through a classified ad they tell me, they also say that to the best of their knowledge their security deposit is not held in a government scheme.

Is there anything they can do to iron out these issues before considering signing the new tenancy agreement?
They would rather not move out because the house is in a ideal area for their business and because of the area js in SL6, is very hard to find an equivalent home in the area.

Kind regards

Jamie

Regardless of whether the house was rented privately, the deposit still needs to be protected. This website will guide you through checking if the deposit is protected or not. Your parents should have received information about the deposit protection scheme within 14 days of moving in.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housi...t_is_protected

My advice would be to first establish whether the deposit has been protected. If it hasn't, the link above offers advice on getting it protected. Then, I would approach the landlord and advise that he is failing in HIS legal obligations and you require him to make right his wrongs before agreeing to a rent increase.

If you're struggling, Shelter are an excellent charity that can offer all sorts of advice about getting your landlord to do a gas safety check, etc.

[8yf13L0]

Thanks for this, I have attempted to call Shelter's helpline but I get cut off being told the helpline is very busy.

I thought about drafting a letter to the landlord requesting to protect the deposit and request that gas safety checks be carried out, but noticed that the landlords address is not stated on the new tenancy, only a name and address of their 'agent' - Is this acceptable to use for formal communication?
Secondly, my parent-in-laws have said that prior to the tenancy re-draft, the 'agent' took away the only copy of the old tenancy agreement and the only evidence of paying the deposit amount was on it!

Am I still going down the right route with sending a request letter, and does any of the additional information above cause them significant problems?

Many thanks

Jamie