We have a property that we are renting, and which is very damp. The landlord used to live in the property and knows of its condition better than anyone.

The house has no cavity insulation, no loft insulation and is single glazed.

We brought it to the landlord's attention, after moving in and several times during the tenancy so far, that the house is unusually hard to heat and constantly cold and damp. We were advised to open windows to reduce the condensation and to runt the kitchen extractor fan (true!).

Eventually the council were called in to do a Housing Health and Safety inspection; they immediately declared it to be a category one health hazard. In these cases, options are a) effect repairs immediately, b) demolition and so on. Pretty serious stuff.

Legalistic Question: Did the landlord, with their detailed foreknowledge of the state of the building, fail in any duty to inform us of the likelihood of higher than normal heating costs (nearly £1000 for the last quarter in a 4brm bungalow)?

Or is it Caveat Emptor?

Hi,

Our family of 4 are living in a 4 brm bungalow. We had a very long, damp, cold and (heating-wise) expensive winter (heating = £500+ per quarter) - the walls and windows ran wet, the oil heating ran almost continuously and still the house was cold and damp. So we put it to our landlord that there was a problem.

The response was, somewhat unbelievably, that we ought to open some windows (yes, in the middle of winter), run a dehumidifier and even - wait for it - use the kitchen extractor fan!

Well, being unwilling to further the debate without more evidence, I contacted the local council to ask if there was an independent authority that could assess our cold/mould/damp issues. They sent their expert around and he assured us that we couldn't realistically change our behaviour to prevent the internal damp because the issue was caused by a lack of wall insulation and huge air leaks through old 1950s single glazed windows on all but the patio doors.

After a couple of weeks we received a copy of a letter addressed to our landlord, from the council, stating that the property had been declared a category one health hazard and that they *must* install cavity wall insultion and double glazing. Which is all great for the *next* tenants - but our tenency is due to expire in July, the middle of Summer. So we are not going to benefit from the improvements.

So we are looking around now for a new place, and to cut to the chase, I would like to know if given our circumstances we have got any rights to terminate our 1-year shorthold tenancy early due to the hazard. This would allow us to take on a new tenancy in a better property, without being IMHO unfairly inconvenienced by the ructions currently underway.

So if anyone can advise, it'd be much appreciated!