Holding rent

My partner and I are trying to move to a new apartment, since we moved into our current place the landlord has left his belongings in the apartment and done nothing about the growing mould in our bedroom. Which he promised would be sorted when we first moved in, so he sent a painter who said he was the wrong person for the job. Since then, which was four months ago, he still hasn't done anything. The mould is continuing to grow and has made us ill on few occasions. So we've told our landlord we want to move and he is refusing to give us our two months deposit (1200 euros) which is understandable as we're breaking contract. However, I haven't paid the rent this month as I thought this is what would happen and I'm not happy with the lack of his effort to keep his property up to code, but now he is demanding we pay it and is coming to inspect the place on the 31st.

Does anyone know if I have any rights over holding the months rent? And what will happen if I don't pay it? Oh to make this more difficult, our landlord is a lawyer himself.

Hello Stairlift,

You could resolve the contract if the mould was causing that the dwelling was not in good living conditions and even affecting your health (providing you could prove this ). That means that the deposit should be returned accordingly but you would have to pay the rent until the day you left the apartment.

You must not stop paying the rent under no circumstances to compensate for the undone repair; firstly we recommend you to send a formal warning to your landlord and go step by step. The first thing to do is to send them a registered letter informing him that there are defects, damages and mould parts that need to be addressed, requesting the landlord to make the necessary repairs. In that same letter you should warn him that you will proceed to hire the services of an expert to fix the damages and that the bill will be deducted from the monthly rent.

However, if the apartment ´s living conditions are totally reduced, you could cancel the tenancy agreement as mentioned below, sending this time a registered letter indicating that due to those unrepaired damages, you would cancel the agreement if not fixed in a set period of time. Those reduced living conditions have to be evidenced, via the accepted legal means. If the landlord does not fix it in the set time, you would then be in a position to resolve the contract and recover the deposit.

Hiring the services if a solicitor is highly recommended to redact the registered letter and take over the case if your landlord finally took legal action; something quite possible as you mention he is a lawyer himself.

Regards,

Thank you for your reply.

What could he do if I just left say tomorrow without saying a word and the deposit covers all the costs.