A 77-year-old friend of mine, Mrs M, moved into a sheltered housing scheme three years ago with a permanent warden service. The warden provided regular checks on residents and helped them with filling in benefit claim forms, picking up prescriptions and collecting pensions. But in June the full-time warden was replaced with a floating warden service covering several schemes. Mrs M and the other residents no longer receive help with their benefit claims forms or with collecting pensions and so on and the new warden will only check on residents once a day. Mrs M was also asked in April this year to sign a deed of variation to her tenancy agreement, which she did. She feels the landlord may have acted in breach of its covenants under the tenancy agreement but is not entirely sure, as she speaks only Urdu and is unable to read English. What can she do?
There is an immediate need for this tenant to get guidance from an independent source supported by translation services. The aim would be to review how the consultation process and subsequent changes to the tenancy agreement were implemented.
Under the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000, local authorities must comply with general and specific duties, including consultation on proposed policy changes. Failure to comply with the new duty will leave a local authority open to a legal challenge.
Richard Kemp, Executive member for housing in the Liverpool cabinet
… And more advice on safety checks
Do we, as a registered social landlord, have a legal duty to carry out gas and/or electric checks at a property when someone is carrying out a mutual exchange? Although housing officers carry out a property inspection before a mutual exchange, for the electrics this is only a visual check, normally to look for over-enthusiastic DIY work. As the exchange is by way of assignment, the view is that the incoming person accepts the property in the condition found and assumes the responsibilities of the outgoing person. If we were to do these checks as good practice, there are then the practical issues such as at what stage the checks are made and who is responsible for repairs or upgrades?
A mutual exchange does not in itself create a specific legal obligation to inspect. Nor does an exchange necessarily lessen a landlord's repairing obligations – as many people assume.
While the incoming tenant does, to some extent, take the property "as it is", neither they, nor the original tenant, can waive the landlord's repairing obligations – implied under section 11 of the 1985 Landlord and Tenant Act. I would expect a landlord to put right any defects arising from a previous tenant's culpable actions once an assignee was in occupation.
The issue of notice is important to repairing obligations and landlords are not normally obliged to go looking for possible repairs.
However, the duty of care imposed by section 4 of the 1972 Defective Premises Act extends a landlord's liability to defects of which it ought to have been aware.
A landlord might be in breach of its duty of care towards a new tenant if it is aware that a previous tenant may have compromised the safety of gas or electrical systems but does not take the opportunity to check for this.
Landlords do not carry out checks on void properties because of a legal obligation relating specifically to the condition of unfurnished premises at the point of letting.
They do so because they have a duty to protect new tenants from damage or defects, including those caused by previous occupiers.
Dr Mike Biles, The housing ombudsman
Source
Housing Today
Postscript
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