Anything that may be of interest to tenants
Anyone employed to work on gas appliances in domestic premises must be a Gas Safe registered engineer and competent in that area of gas work. The gas engineer’s competencies are clearly marked on the back of the engineer’s Gas Safe Register ID card. If in any doubt you can ring Gas Safe Register 0800 408 5500 or check their website here to see if the engineer is registered.
Have all your gas appliances been installed by a Gas Safe registered engineer?
Just who is responsible for pests in the property during the tenancy?
If the pest problem is caused by disrepair (e.g. holes in floor permitting mice to enter property) then it is the landlord’s responsibility. If the pest problem is caused by the actions of the tenant after the start of the tenancy it is the tenant’s responsibility unless there is some alternative provision in the tenancy agreement.
Where pests are present at the start of the tenancy the issue is more complex. A landlord does not ordinarily give a warranty to a tenant that the property is pest free and habitable at the outset of the tenancy. Therefore, it is debatable whether a landlord is necessarily liable for the presence of pests in a property at the start of a tenancy. However, where a property is let furnished a warranty is given that the property is pest-free at the outset of the tenancy (although no warranty is given that it will stay that way) and where a tenant discovers that a furnished property, as a whole, is infested they may be able to declare the tenancy repudiated, move out, and sue for damages following the principles laid down in Smith v Marrable. However, in this case the landlord was clearly refusing to deal with the issue and so it must be doubted whether the same actions could be taken if the landlord was unaware of the infestation and then took all reasonable steps to deal with it on it being brought to his attention. It should also be noted that in this case the whole property was infested with rats and so the fact that bed bugs were present in a bed would not necessarily be sufficient to allow the tenant to claim repudiation.
If the property is an HMO then the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation Regulations will apply. These create a prosecutable offence if the property is not clean at start of tenancy and it may be the case that a Court would hold that the definition of clean should include freedom from pests. However, this has not been tested to our knowledge.
Where tenants import fleas of bugs into a property then the Courts have held that this is a breach of the tenant’s implied obligation to use the property in a tenant-like manner.
In short, all landlords should do their utmost to ensure that there are no pests in a property at the outset of a tenancy. Failure to do so might involve serious consequences.
Shelter’s view on the matter here
Law firm Painsmith’s view on the matter here
An almshouse is a private house which is used normally for the purpose of providing accommodation for older people who would pay no rent or a token amount.
There are around 1,800 almshouse charities in the UK including here in Glastonbury which collectively provide accommodation for around 36,000 people. Do almspersons occupy the property as licencees or tenants? How can almshouse arrangements be terminated?
For purposes of law, almspersons are not tenants and are therefore considered licencees. More details can be found here
In order to validly end an arrangement made with an almsperson to reside in an almshouse, it would be necessary to serve a valid Notice to Quit. The provisions of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 should be kept in mind. Section 5 of the Act states that no notice by a licensor or a licensee to determine a periodic licence to occupy premises as a dwelling (whether the licence was granted before or after the passing of this Act) shall be valid unless—(a)it is in writing and contains such information as may be prescribed, and(b)it is given not less than 4 weeks before the date on which it is to take effect.