Here is a question to the blog clinic from Mary (not her real name), who is a tenant in England.
My friends and I agreed to rent a property described as a ‘furnished three bedroom flat’ in a joint tenancy. When we viewed the property, there was no bed in the third bedroom, but the letting agent assured us it would arrive before our tenancy start date. This was documented in our offer letter and in multiple documents produced by the letting agent, including the Notification of Letting, where it clearly stipulates that the landlord was to add a third bed and mattress prior to the tenancy commencement date.
It was not noted in the tenancy agreement itself, but all parties agree it was to be provided.
It is now a week into our tenancy and there is still no third bed. The letting agent has said that there was a mixup with the furniture company and he doesn’t know when the bed will be delivered. I know we are not legally entitled to withhold rent, but if we were to sue the landlord for breach of contract, do you know what damages we would be entitled to? I am able to stay friends until next week, so have not actually incurred any loss thus far except massive inconvenience, but it does not seem right that we have to pay rent for a property we cannot live in as a three tenant household as a result of this breach.
Additionally, if there is still no bed in the property by next week, will I be entitled to stay in a hotel and claim these costs back from the landlord?
Answer
This is a breach of contract, and so you would probably be able to claim compensation but only in court proceedings – which I suspect you will not want to do in view of the chaotic state of the courts nowadays. Most claims are being seriously delayed, and it could take many months for your claim to be dealt with.
The compensation would probably be based on the fact that one of the rooms cannot be used for a period of time. So if there are four rooms in the property and you can’t use one of them for a month and the rent is £400 your compensation would be in the region of £100. The level of compensation is normally based on the rent – so tenants of cheaper properties tend to get lower awards.
I do not think that you are entitled to go and stay in a hotel, but you CAN use a little-known procedure to ‘unwind’ your tenancy. If you do this within 30 days of the start of the tenancy, you are entitled to recover all money you have paid. There is some guidance on the Shelter website here.
The problem is I suspect that you do not want to end the tenancy; you want the bed!
The other thing you can do is complain to your letting agents’ Property Redress Scheme although it is possible that they may not make any award as the fault is really the landlords, not the letting agent.
You could maybe suggest you buy a bed and offset the cost against the rent – this will probably be cheaper than staying in a hotel.
Keep pushing the agency, though and threaten to report them to their Property Redress Scheme, and maybe also threaten to issue proceedings for compensation against the landlord (you don’t actually have to start a claim!), as the more fuss you make about this, the more pressure the agents will put on the landlord to resolve the issue.