So many areas of dispute between landlords and tenants arise because of simple misunderstandings. Although much of this has been covered in bits elsewhere, this is a chance to take the concept of being a tenant down in one big gulp. Tenants are often genuinely unsure about their areas of responsibility. This section is designed to help you understand your status as a tenant better, by explaining in simple terms what you can expect from your landlord/agent, and what he/she can expect from you.

Living as a tenant is quite different from, say, living at home. It is also very different from living in any property as an owner-occupier. You have a formal contract, which governs your behaviour and the manner in which you live, and you really do have to abide by it if you want your tenancy to be trouble-free – let alone be extended. Here, there’s no one else to clean up after you, and you will be charged if you leave a mess behind when you leave. In this arrangement, no one will good-humouredly accept a broken chair-leg, or a burn mark from the iron on the dining-room table. Whatever damage is caused by you, however small, you will be billed the full commercial rate for its repair. The cost of these repairs can be very surprising, especially to those of you with ‘handy’ parents.

Responsibility for damages

From the beginning

Let us start with simple things first. If you break anything, you will need to pay for its replacement. You may alternatively be asked to replace it yourself. Do make sure that you are replacing like with like. Do not replace a beautiful mirror with a cheap alternative, or a couple of mirror tiles. It will not be accepted on final inspection. Conversely, dispute demands for a beautiful mirror, if the one you broke was a mottled old thing. It is also best not to throw away the broken bits of anything away, until you are sure that your landlord or agent is satisfied with the replacement you are suggesting, because you will have a terrible problem proving the likely value of anything you tossed in the bin.

When things get trickier

The fundamental requirement of your lease is that you return the property to the landlord in the same condition as when you moved in. With a broken item, it is relatively easy to sort out. Things can get a bit more complicated when responsibility is a little blurred. If for example the main drain blocks, and sewage is seeping odiously around the back door, the landlord or agent needs to be informed so that they can initiate repairs. If it is a problem with the condition of the drains, that is the landlord’s responsibility. If however you have blocked the pipe by stuffing disposable nappies down it all week, the cost of unblocking and clean-up will be yours, even if the landlord or agent insists on making all the necessary arrangements.

Insurance

Never assume that your landlord’s insurance will cover your own negligence. Many insurers will pay out to the landlord, and then seek to recover their costs from the responsible party. It is no good therefore setting the chip pan alight, and expecting someone else to pay for your own carelessness. Landlords will only insure their building and their own contents. Tenants must insure their own personal belongings. This can sometimes be harder than it should be. If you really can’t find an insurer willing to cover your things, try adding them as additional cover to your parents’ or any responsible adult’s policy on a declared ‘away from home’ status – that sometimes works. Students can always get cover via their student union.

Liability for conduct

As the tenant, you are also liable for the conduct of anyone else you invite into your landlord’s property. Damage during parties is a classic example. If there is damage caused, the costs will be down to you. Additionally, you are expected to behave ‘in a tenant-like manner’, and you must take sensible precautions against damage. Some landlords may ask you to sign an additional list of terms, or may have a very comprehensive lease drawn up with specific requirements and responsibilities for their tenants. These might include things like ‘to play music, TV, etc with due consideration for other residents’, or ‘to leave heating on during any winter periods when the tenant is absent from the building for more than 24 hours’.

If you can’t satisfy the terms, don’t sign it. Never sign and then assume that ignoring terms will work. It won’t. And legal grounds exist for landlords to ask for very rapid eviction if you:

• persistently invite troublemakers to your home
• allow it to be used to deal drugs or for any illegal activity.

The old school of absent landlord who didn’t give a damn has thankfully been replaced by a huge number of very interested investors who have paid vast sums of money for rental property. And believe me – they do give a damn! Heaven be praised for progress.

On the other hand

There are some circumstances in which the condition of the building adversely affects tenants. Lots of cheaper housing has a condensation problem, and condensation is a major cause of mould. This can grow on one’s clothes, which are ruined, and destroy your personal possessions. This problem is one which is usually the responsibility of the landlord. In these circumstances tenants can act against the landlord, if they are willing to do so. Damp and mould are associated with ill health, and some tenants have successfully, with the help of legal advisors, sued landlords.

If only possessions are affected, write to your landlord with a list of damaged goods, and if all else fails, sue for their replacement through the Small Claims Court, even after your tenancy has ended, if they did not respond to your letters while you lived there. However, if the building was perfectly dry when you moved in, and you have never opened a window for ventilation as the washer boiled away – or worse, blocked fitted ventilation grilles, expect comeback from the landlord if you have introduced a major problem.

Even in prestigious properties things can go awry. Here, lavish features or fittings included in the rent must work, and continue to work if they are included in the rent. If repairs are slow, hustle. Believe me, if your rent is slow you will be hustled!

Can the landlord visit the property while I am a tenant?

Landlords do have a statutory right (under the 1988 Act) to enter the property at reasonable times of the day to carry out repairs, or to inspect the condition of their property. However, unless an emergency as urgent as the last anecdote exists, they should always give you 24 hours’ notice in writing.

These landlords’ rights of entry don’t allow them to come and go as they please. Landlords need to notify you formally that they are exercising their rights of entry and have good reason for doing so. They may need to carry out works. Alternatively, they may wish to carry out, say, a quarterly inspection of the condition of their property. This must not deteriorate into a series of unnecessary calls. As a tenant you are buying with your rent the ‘right to quiet enjoyment’. The property you are renting is your home, and good landlords and agents will automatically respect this. Of course, repeated unnecessary calls are a subtle form of harassment – read the Lesson and take some advice about endless ‘social’ calls.

When property is rented while up for sale

Some tenants find that they are living in property that is simultaneously up for sale. In these instances tenants are entitled to the same notice of intention to enter as in any other circumstances. Estate agents are still bound to offer tenants in buildings they are trying to sell a right of ‘quiet enjoyment’ and need to write to tenants, giving at least 24 hours’ notice that they will be arriving with a potential purchaser for a property viewing.

Using your charms

Some of the most useful advice that this author can give about problem-solving during tenancies is to develop the best working relationship you can with your landlord or agent. This industry is bedevilled by the conflicting histories of Rachman versus the Tenant from Hell, and if you’re too young to know who Rachman was, he’s now in the Oxford Dictionary, look him up. Interesting guy.

All too often, either landlord or tenant have had previous serious problems which prejudice their views of one another. The landlord who seems to have rule after rule may have had a previous very bad experience. There are awful tenants as well as awful landlords. Landlords do see their fair share of irresponsible conduct, and can get very frustrated dealing with the irresponsibility of this tiny minority.

So wherever possible aim to be on decent, working terms with whoever is managing your property. Tenants renting property through agents can, in many ways, have a quite different set of problems to tenants dealing directly with their own landlord. Agencies act as ‘brokers’ between landlords and tenants, drawing money for their role as go-between. Although this sometimes works well, too often tenants find it is used as an excuse for failure to manage the property well. ‘We still haven’t heard back from the landlord’ is not much consolation if you’re waiting for an essential repair. It can however work equally badly for the unsuspecting landlord sometimes.

Subletting

Most assured shorthold leases specifically exclude subletting without consent. This is considered as quite a serious breach of terms by most landlords. If you want a partner to move in, most landlords or agents will not object, so long as the partner’s name is put on the lease and normal checks stack up. However, expect this situation to become much tighter as new safety legislation (April 2007) requires many landlords with more than two tenants to be licensed; a costly and bureaucratic process that many landlords with smaller units will quite reasonably seek to avoid.

Rental payments

You must pay your rent on time, and in the manner agreed with your landlord. Landlords and agents are running businesses and the sole reason that you live in their properties is for the money that you generate. Excuses, late payments and insufficient payments are simply unacceptable.

There may in some instances be a genuine reason (as opposed to a lame excuse) why your rent will not be available. If this happens, get on the phone and discuss it immediately with whoever manages your property. It is silly and irresponsible to not say anything, to go out when the collection is due, or just to not have sufficient funds to cover that direct debit. Rubber cheques are particularly unpopular with owners/agents.

Nor do you have the right (except in some very rare cases for which you would need serious legal advice) to withhold payments because, in your opinion, the landlord or agent haven’t fulfilled some obligation. The matters are separate, and need to be dealt with separately. If you have a case (fair or otherwise) against your landlord, you cannot deduct your own opinion of its value from rent. Indeed, rent comes before all other considerations. Before Friday night’s blowout. Or the phone bill. Rent keeps the roof over your head. After all, 20 Benson & Hedges will only keep your fingers warm, and not even that much if it’s raining.

The consequences of regularly late rent

A legal ground for your landlord to use for possession is that you have been persistently late paying your rent. Proof of current arrears is not always required. The payment record itself can be considered if you really irritate your landlord enough that he heads for court.

If they don’t know where to get one, buy one yourself from any large stationers.

If you pay by cash, ask for and save all receipts as proof of payment. Always ask when your tenancy is starting and, if the rent is to be collected, by whom. Tenants renting low cost weekly rent ‘in cash please’ are most vulnerable to shenanigans. Be certain that you don’t pay one person, not get a receipt, and then find that another, quite different person calls later, still expecting to be paid.