Advice for student house.

lindos90 wrote: »

Hi, my son has just moved to Uni to a private rented accommodation which is managed by a lettings agency.

The property was advertised as fully furnished, including a washer and a tumble dryer, and all inclusive of energy bills. They have noticed a few problems, and have contacted the lettings agent for advice, but the agent has failed to reply.

When they moved in the dryer is no longer there. The property is quite damp already so concerned about just putting their washing on the radiators and making the damp worse. Is it expected that they should buy one themselves, or should one be provided as it was advertised/rented on the basis of having one? on the one hand if the property was advertised as having a dryer then one should be available, on the other hand does the tenancy agreement expressly state that the LL is responsible for repairs to all white goods? If it does not, then there is no legal requirement for the LL to repair any that have failed, replacement then depends on arguing over what was or was not included on the advert and inventory

They have received a bill saying that there is an unpaid gas bill still overdue and occurring additional admin fees. I have told them to forward the letter to the lettings agent, and that they are not responsible for paying this bill themselves, as all their utilities are included in the rent, and that gas wasnt even used by them. However if the bills remain unpaid, is the gas likely to get cut off? the utility company will take a very long time to reach the point where they disconnect. meantime you are correct in advising that the bill is not the liability of your son if the tenancy agreement clearly states that the LL pays the utility bills. Have you checked the tenancy agreement to see if there is a "fair usage" clause just in case your son goes mad and the bill whilst he is in occupation goes "mental" and the LL chases for "overage"

There are also quite a few other issues which they are not sure what to do about (which must have been known about when an exit viewing was done after the previous the previous tenants left). The security gate will not lock. Some windows are locked, others can not be closed at all. The post box has been forced open and will not shut, let alone lock. these are repairing issues that should have been noted on the inventory your son signed when he moved in so that the condition at the start of his tenancy is recorded. Your son can then of course continue to badger the agency with a list of defects but don't expect a quick responseAll the bins and recycling boxes are full of old unsorted rubbish, which the council state will incur a fine as the rubbish has not been put in the right boxes. yes he is a student but surely you have taught your son that there comes a point where taking personal responsibility for "sorting it out" is the better option rather than trying to blame others and claim "not my fault guv, your problem, i want you to sort it"

Are these 'simple' repairs that the students are expected to do themselves, or should they be reported to the lettings agent for repairs to be carried out? If they did try and repair themselves, could they then get into trouble for interfering with property they do not own?

I realise that in the grand scheme of things that the issues are not massive, nor are they things I should 'do for them' as it is their time to grow up and do these things themselves. apart form the recycling bins none of those are things which the student should try to repair themselves. I doubt they would be able to do it "properly", and thus risk escalating the problem by the LL then claiming they "damaged" the item during attempted repair But I also know that there are landlords and letting agents that take advantage of inexperienced students/tenants. Just a few pointers I could pass onto them, to help them sort it out themselves would be really helpful. Thank you x