O/T Problem with Rented House

I'm looking for some advice about a problem with a house my son is renting with two friends

They moved in about 3 months ago, and at first al lwas OK. The house is not brilliant but seemed livable
if a bit scruffy.

However about three weeks ago when visiting I noticed a damp patch in the kitchen together with mould and a bit of fungus growing. My son and I checked the upstairs toilet immediately above but the carpet was dry as were the boards underneath, howevver we couldn't check the cistern or the pipework as they are boarded pretty securely

When one of the others in the house phoned the managing agents on the Monday, they were told "The previous tenants didn't say anything, it's probably only condensation"

Since then the problem has got steadily worse. I saw rhe house today for the first time in three weeks There is now a spreading damp patch on the wall of the upstairs toilet, the carpets are sodden and the next door bedroom also has a spreading damp patch on the wall and a damp carpet. In addition, when one of the tenants moved the bed in this room about a week later, they found a hole in the floor!! No idea what has caused although we suspect a previous damp problem may have been the reason as the sides of the hole are quite crumbly.

My son's bedroom on the other side of the toilet has no damp but an offensive odour is now there.

The downstairs spare bedroom now has a large damp patch and the paint is peeling.

The managing agents have now been contacted verbally 5 times. They said they would send someone around last thursday
(16th) but surprise surprise no one turned up.

One of the tenants has had enough and wants to go. They are in the upstairs bedroom affecte by the damp and hole in the floor. They want to move out immediately and plan to go to the managing agents tomorrow and tell them the house is uninhabitable and they are witholding their rent.

My questions therefore is does anyone know whether the above problems are likely to mean that the house can legally be regarded as uninhabitable and will they be able to get out of the contract as a result of these problems or will they have to let the managing agents/landlord make the necessary repairs.

Thanls

I have dealt with similar problems when I worked at the Citizen's Advice. At the present time no breach of contract has been proven so technically your son can't withhold his rent (however see final 2 paragraphs).

The official procedure is to contact the Environmental Health Department at the City Council and ask for inspectors to come and view the property and if the problem you describe exists they are supposed to contact the landlord and force him to carry out the repairs.

Unfortunately it is my experience that the EHD are pretty dam useless unless you keep on their backs 24/7. Your son can adopt this strategy if he intends to continue living in the property and the repairs will get carried out eventually. There is also a small possibility that the damp and fungus are an immediate risk to health (if spoors can be seen flying around) and this means your son must vacate the premises immediately and might be able to agree a mutual termination of contract.

Off the record your son could simply just leave the house and leave no forwarding address. He would obviously lose his bond and advance rent, but the property management company would have to go to court to reclaim the balance of the contract period (I assume that is 3 months as usually private tenants are on 6 month short term contracts).

The expense and hassle of doing so is simply not worth their while especially if they have no idea where he has moved to so the chances are he will never hear from them again.

I have dealt with similar problems when I worked at the Citizen's Advice. At the present time no breach of contract has been proven so technically your son can't withhold his rent (however see final 2 paragraphs).

The official procedure is to contact the Environmental Health Department at the City Council and ask for inspectors to come and view the property and if the problem you describe exists they are supposed to contact the landlord and force him to carry out the repairs.

Unfortunately it is my experience that the EHD are pretty dam useless unless you keep on their backs 24/7. Your son can adopt this strategy if he intends to continue living in the property and the repairs will get carried out eventually. There is also a small possibility that the damp and fungus are an immediate risk to health (if spoors can be seen flying around) and this means your son must vacate the premises immediately and might be able to agree a mutual termination of contract.

Off the record your son could simply just leave the house and leave no forwarding address. He would obviously lose his bond and advance rent, but the property management company would have to go to court to reclaim the balance of the contract period (I assume that is 3 months as usually private tenants are on 6 month short term contracts).

The expense and hassle of doing so is simply not worth their while especially if they have no idea where he has moved to so the chances are he will never hear from them again.

Thanks Tony.

Apoligies for the very brIef response. Not much time for the PC at the moment (granddaughter on school inset day!!!)