People's health and safety come first - other tenants will have to move in after us and will encounter the same problems if not resolved and Environmental Health have a responsibility to remedy the serious breaches of H&S if the landlord won't! Anyway, they called back and are coming for an inspection so problem solved.

Please could someone advise as to whether the council's Environmental Health Dept can refuse to carry out an inspection or help me because I'm in rent arrears with the landlord? Basically, I've reported problems of varying degrees to the LL since March onwards and he hasn't repaired them so far. The most serious of these which were reported in March are: - Central heating not working properly as a part in the boiler is faulty (and the plumber who never finished the job has left the internal of the boiler open and told me I need to reach into the boiler whilst it is on to fiddle with the faulty switch to get the heating working whenever it stops!). Also, we haven't had ANY gas safety check in the 2 years we've lived here. When an independent plumber came and looked at the boiler, he said it looks like it has a leak as well. And yesterday, my co-tenant swore that she could smell a funny odour coming from the boiler but I haven't smelt this myself yet. - Broken and sinking decking in the garden that has been caused because there was never any foundation laid underneath the wood in the first place and so its started rotting (independent landscaper told me this). Some of the wood broke beneath me whilst I was sitting on a chair outside causing me to fall and hurt myself and the whole structure is very unstable everywhere now. Also, reported at start of May: - Downstairs lighting isn't working in the living room and the dining room light flickers constantly so I'm worried there is an issue with the wiring. There are a whole other heap of repair issues but those are the most important three. The landlord started harassing us in April and turning up late at night to bang on our door without warning. He then served us a s21 notice. So I stopped paying rent after that in anticipation that I would have to pay for the repairs myself (I told the LL this) - I know it wasn't the best thing to do but I felt desperate at that point. So basically I've reported ALL of this to Environmental Health and TWO different people there have told me that they won't get involved if I have any rent arrears. Is this true? Surely they have a responsibility to make sure our health and safety are not in danger because of the problems, esp with the boiler, even if we are in arrears? Please can someone tell me if they are legally allowed to refuse to help, and if not, what I can say to them to make them come and inspect the place if they continue with the "we won't help if you are in arrears" line? Thank you!

Thx for all the replies. I sent a letter off to the LL again and contacted Environmental Health & I'm waiting to hear back from them. Also just got a letter from LL's solicitors claiming, amongst other things, that the LL has always wanted to carry out the repairs in a timely manner (yeah right!!) and that he wasn't even aware of most of the repairs!! Hopefully this has given him the kick up the backside to carry out repairs - I'll keep updating the thread as I doubt it'll be that straight forward AND I still need to think about how to get my deposit back!

Thanks for the posts. The problems that were reported two months ago that haven't been fixed are - Central heating not working properly (and the plumber who never finished the job has left the internal of the boiler open and told me I need to reach into the boiler whilst it is on to fiddle with the faulty switch to get the heating working whenever it stops!). - Broken and sinking decking in the garden that has been caused, I believe, because there was never any foundation laid underneath the wood in the first place. Some of the wood broke beneath me whilst I was sitting outside causing me to fall and hurt myself and the whole structure is quite unstable everywhere. And I reported some other repairs at the beginning of May, the most important being that the two sets of downstairs lights have blown completely and another light downstairs now only works erratically and flickers all the time so I'm concerned the wiring isn't entirely safe in the house. The landlord isn't answering me back and I fear it's because he's stalling in order to press ahead with the Section 8 proceedings. What I still need to know is: what value can you put on the disrepairs? How do you assign how much these specific disrepairs are worth in monetary terms if the issue goes to court?

Thx for the reply. I understand that withholding rent was not the best way to go but I did not know what other action to take - they hadn't carried out vital repairs for months, were harassing us at our door and then tried to evict us without even protecting our deposit. As I said, if they protect my deposit and carry out the repairs, I intend to pay the arrears but I was anticipating having to pay for the repairs myself if they did not complete them. Also, they have not carried out a gas safety check since we moved in (2 years ago). I don't even think they've done one on the current gas oven cooker because the one that was here when we moved in was faulty and they replaced it with another one soon after we started our tenancy. What action can I take over their failiure to obtain regular gas safety records? So what value do I put on the disrepairs if this goes to court? If anyone could please answer my questions in my initial post, I would be most grateful

Please can someone help me with the current situation I'm having as a tenant. To summarise: 1) Our deposit is currently NOT protected. It was originally protected and held by Agent through MyDeposits scheme but the agent went bankrupt and the deposit disappeared and became unprotected. MyDeposits informed LL and us of this via letter AND I asked him via letter (and over phone) to please reprotect and give us information within the same month it happened (about a year and a half ago). He never reprotected (I have checked with all three schemes this month). 2) Reported quite serious repair issues to landlord on phone back in March. LL still hasn't fixed them to this day and didn't seem like he intended to from the start. 3) LL called up one Sunday and demanded to enter property that day to inspect (after accusing us of causing the repair damages!) - told him that it wasn't a good time that day but he showed up same night banging on our door, looking through our letterbox and demanding to come in. Eventually left after we didn't answer the door. LL showed up again announced two nights later banging on door again. I called the police this time due to harassment and he left quickly after that. 4) The next day he served us Section 21 notice through the door (even though deposit isn't protected). 5) After this we stopped paying rent due to unprotected deposit and disrepairs. Have still been trying to get him to do repairs - sent him a letter at the start of this month outlining all repair issues and asking to arrange a time to carry them out otherwise I will contact Environmental Health. He denied receiving the letter according to his new Agent so I sent it again the other day by first class mail with certificate of posting this time to both his address and his managing agent (who acknowledged receiving the letter and said would pass it on to him). 6) He served Section 8 as we are now 2 months in arrears (after I had sent the first letter) and I now have about a week to clear rent arrears before his solicitors said they would start proceedings. What I would like to know is this: 1) How do you put a counterclaim value on disrepairs? If he starts a claim against us, I will counterclaim for both disrepairs and unprotected deposit but how do you assign a value to the former? 2) Should I inform him again of my request for deposit reprotection or is it enough that I have asked him once via mail (and numerous times on the phone) and that he was informed by MyDeposits of unprotection, and should I just put it in my counterclaim with 3x deposit penalty with no further notice? Ideally I would like the deposit return + 3x penalty to offset the rent arrears, but do I have any obligation to request reprotection yet again? 3) If I put 3x deposit unprotection as part of counterclaim and then he protects it before the hearing date, am I still entitled to 3x amount? If he does protect it before hearing date but then I clear two months arrears, can he still proceed with eviction or will it be void? What I want to know basically is what the best way to act now to ensure that either my deposit is protected and the repairs are carried out (and then I will pay arrears) OR that we don't get evicted because the deposit return and penalty (and disrepair award) will offset the current arrears. If anyone can advise the best course of action, I would be very appreciative. Thanks