The main problems that come up for a house are repairs, the return of the deposit, the increase in rent, the illegal nature of the contract (or its non-existence) or the fact that your house is particularly strange.
So what can you do to avoid these problems or to solve them directly ?
In case of incidents caused by the owner :
An English law of 1977 clearly states that it is considered that there is harassment on the part of the owner when it "acts in such a way that it can disturb the tranquility and / or the comfort of the tenant or any what a person living with him.
In truth this kind of case is very difficult to prove at the judicial level, but anyway there is a list of things that your landlord can not do:
- He is not allowed to enter the property, whether or not you are there, if he has not notified you at least one day in advance
- He does not have the right to bring in other tenants without having informed you beforehand.
- Discrimination is forbidden on his part, and it is even more serious for racial, sexual or religious reasons.
- He does not have the authority to ask you to waive your rights as a tenant. This can be denounced or worse.
- He cannot refuse entry to someone else under the title of "guest". He's your guest, he has nothing to say about that.
- Of course, he cannot consult your mail. It's your private property and it could cost him a big fine.
If you want to claim something in court, consider collecting evidence beforehand so that it is not too complicated to prove it.
When leaving the house
We could say that this is where the problems begin.
You have to realize that there are some very bad people in the world, and if you have had problems during the contract period with your landlord, it's probably not going to make it easy.
What could the owner do to bother you? Well it could increase the rent so that you cannot afford to pay, refuse to renew the contract or even the worst in my opinion, you get tired with housing references.
As you have already experienced, England is a country where you are asked for references for absolutely everything, and even more for rent. This could cause you problems to find a nice new home, and faced with this request from the owner it is clear that the perception of the rent is not guaranteed for him, because it is your word against his.
Anyway, if you see that you are really going to have problems like this, get closer to a real estate agency or town hall to ask for advice on short-term contracts. They will certainly give you good advice.
We do not want to give you a bad impression of the owners, most people have no problem throughout their rentals and we just tell you just in case. It never hurt to be informed.
