end of tenancy agreement

[tufty7]

Hi , A friend of mine wants to give up her rented house which she signed a 5 year contract on about 3 years ago, the reason she wants to give it up is due to her landlord not repairing the central heating boiler resulting in her not having heating for the last 8 weeks , even after several requests for this to be done ,
now she has told him she is leaving due to this and he has asked for the remainding 2 years to be settled up as per contract ,

now the question is due to him not doing his bit , can she just walk away ??reference him not keeping is part of the bargain ??

[buildersmate]

She should write to the landlord and state that she considers him to be in breach of contract by not maintaining the house in a suitable state. She should allow a suitably small time for him to resolve this breach - say 2 more weeks.
Then I reckon she can walk away.

[Suade7]

Is the property let only or fully managed by a letting agent?
If the latter, they need to be involved at this point. If it is a let only and the landlord is holding the security deposit, you may have a probelm getting this back from him. Working in the lettings industry, I advise your friend to look at his/her contract and there should be a claus relating to situations that make the proprerty unhabitable and are not acceptable etc - along those lines anyway. I would then as the previous post suggests write to L, which may lead to him doing the job. Perhaps then speak to Citizens Advice or obtain some legal advice.x

[Mumof2]

This may be useful for the landlords duty of repair

http://www.thesite.org/homelawandmoney/home/re nting/repairsandmaintainence

[Twenty20]

No, she can't walk away from the contract because of this. If the LL doesn't make a timely repair after being asked in writing she should get 3 competitive quotes for the work herself and informing the LL, again in writing, that she will get the work done herself and deduct the cost from the rent. The LL then has the option of getting the work done themselves or leaving it to the tenant. This is the correct way to approach the situation.