New claim of tenants 'revenge evictions'

Inventory clerks claim that increasing numbers of landlords are ignoring tenants' requests for repairs and are effectively using the threat of eviction to deter tenants contacting agents to report problems.

The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks - echoing similar comments earlier this year by the housing charity Shelter - says research shows only one in three tenant requests are dealt with in the same day while a quarter take over a week.

One in three private tenants has faced a home emergency in the past 12 months, the AIIC claims, with boiler faults and other heating problems the most common. Some 250,000 private tenants a year are taking matters into their own hands and withholding rent from their landlords because of delays resolving emergencies repairs, the association says.

Shelter's findings earlier this year claimed that over 200,000 tenants across England suffered a so-called revenge eviction' in the previous 12 months after asking for a problem with their home to be put right.

AIIC chair Pat Barber says landlords must act. They have a duty of care with their tenants and should be responding to emergencies in hours, not days she says.

Barber claims to have a case study of a tenant who was so afraid of his landlord that he lived in a freezing property for three months without reporting that there was a problem with the main fuse box. His family had no light and no heating.

Unsurprisingly, at the end of the tenancy the place was dripping with mould which had to be cleaned and for which he was duly charged. When asked why he didn't report it, he said that the landlord was aggressive explains Barber.

The AIIC says agents and landlords have a duty of care to advise tenants on the correct course of action in the event of a problem.

Gas or electrical issues, and water leaks, should be attended to within 24 hours;

problems with cookers within 48 hours; while issues with other broken appliances should be attended to within 72 hours.