Scovic

Hi,
I am looking for any advice regarding the following rental issue.

We have been living in Spain around 4 years and have been more than happy in our small rented house, however as our lease was coming up for renewal we decided to look about and see if we could get anything bigger. We found a much bigger country house (through a reputable renting agent) that although very dated and dirty, looked as if it would be great. The property was very cheap for the size and we realized that we would need to thoroughly clean the property before moving in, the agent also said that it was cheap because it was dated and needed cleaning. We signed the contract, paid two months deposit and took delivery of the keys.
That same day we visited the house to plan the clean up, upon a more detailed inspection we found that the house had no hot water (both boilers were broken and no water at all in the kitchen), the water supply to the house was not much more than an initial blast then a dribble (we are a family of 4 that need showers every day before work and school) and most of the electrics were in a dangerous state with open sockets and broken switches.
The problem now is that our current lease runs out on Monday and we need to let our current landlord know if we want to renew the lease or not. After seeing the state of the new house we would just prefer to cancel the contract, get our deposit back and renew the lease on our current property.

How do we stand legally? Surely the agent and landlord should have ensured that the house was safe and habitable (adequate water supply and hot water) before the property was advertised, after all it isn't the responsibility of the tenant to note these thing after a deposit is paid.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I read somewhere that a tenant can cancel a contract if the property is not kept in a habitable state but how does that apply if you haven't even moved in yet?

Scovic

Anyone?

angiescarr

Just so as you've had a reply and don't disappear before anyone's seen your post. My opinion. I don't know if the "fit for purpose" laws apply here. I know with commercial properties you can rent something that needs a lot of work. But Safe should be the bottom line shouldn't it.... Anywhere. Unfortunately it's not. Even in England.

fionamw

Just to follow on from that, maybe search some threads & work out anyone with rental knowledge so's to pm them? People are usually helpful, there are definitely some landlords hereabouts (within BE Spain I mean!) and your need is somewhat urgent

NadiaN

What does your rental contract say? Does it have a clause specifying who pays for major repairs to the property? In our rental agreement it says that the landlord is responsible for repairs of major problems. We had the opportunity to test that clause as soon as we signed the contract, as it turned out that the water heater was not working in the apartment. We contacted the landlord and he got a repairman to come and fix it, and he paid for the repair.

If you have a similar clause in your rental contract you can probably force the landlord to make the repairs. But as for canceling the contract, I am not sure how you'd be able to do that unless the landlord refuses to take care of the repairs.