Reference no: EM133408175

Case Study: On 1st June 2022, Boris - the legal owner of 8 Yellow Lane- agreed to rent his house to Gaz, Helen and Irene for a period of 3 years. Gaz, Helen and Irene are all students at a local university. They all sign the same agreement on the same day and move in immediately. The agreement states that Gaz, Helen and Irene will pay £700 each for their rooms on the first day of every month. The agreement also states that Boris will keep the house in good repair. In October 2022, Helen's room develops a serious leak in the ceiling that leaves her carpet soaking wet. She has repeatedly called Boris and sent him emails, but he has so far refused to come to do the repairs of the leaking roof and ceiling. The house has also developed mould on all the walls of the house, which has worsened Irene's asthma. Boris is also upset that the three students have not been mowing the lawn and looking after the garden, which he says has led to a rat infestation. Gaz, Helene and Irene claim that they do not have a lawn mower or other tools to look after a garden. They also say they are too busy to do gardening as they are all on very demanding university courses, and that it should be Boris who cares for the garden. Boris also claims that the mould in the house is due to Gaz, Helen and Irene not properly ventilating the house as they should. Because of all the disagreements, the three students decided to stop paying the rent with immediate effect from 1st November 2022, until the time when Boris agrees to carry out the repairs in Helen's room, get rid of the mould, and take better care of the garden.

Questions:

• Advise Boris as to his prospects of recovering the rent owed from Gaz, Helen and Irene and as to any procedures he must follow to do so.
• Outline any remedies that Gaz, Helen and Irene may have against Boris for the various issues they have faced whilst living in the house.