Damp Problem - Who`s liability ??

DGJsaver

Hi All

This is our dillema..
We rent our place off a friend , who is the leaseholder , the landlord of the entire building (6 flats) lives in spain , and the managment company are a letting agent ,in the town.
It is an old victorian house split into 2 flats and one masionette , we have the latter , wth the bedrooms downstairs , in the basement.
We have basically got water dripping down the walls and paint bubbling after all this rain we have had they have had the damp people out before and he recommends polythning the walls and building up cavity walls to solve the problem , as we have used the special damp paint and even that is soaked on top now.

Obviously the solution is going to be costly , so now we have the situation where the landlord (via the agent) and OUR landlord are arguing the toss over whos fault it is and to whom the burden falls on ! wethere its the outside wall thats top blame or what ?!

And we are stuck in the middle , chaising each end up trying to get it sorted !

My missus says its bad for your health , even though its just like slimy water on the walls not actual discoloured walls , and my littlun stays with us 4 days out of 14 so we are worried about our rights and how to get this sorted once and for all , or should we make arrangments to just leave !!

Any advice more than welcome !

Cheers

sooz

Obviously, it's not your fault!

Without seeing it & depending on the wording of the lease, it's very hard to say, but in general if it is water & damp coming from outside the building, it would be up to the freeholder to deal with. They are probably not only argueing this between themselves, but also their respective insurance companies.

Firstly, contact enviromental health. Give them the details of both the leaseholder & freeholder. EH will probably only deal with your LL, but copy their letter to the freeholder too.

I would write to both the leaseholder (your LL) & the freeholder. Ask them to resolve their squabbles and deal with the problem in hand asap. (you might want to word that a little better ) If it does go through insurance, it may also cover alternative accomodation for you.

However, depending on how long this has already been going on without resolution, I'd think the easiest thing would be to give notice & find somewhere drier to live.

tbs624

Your friend, as your LL, has specific obligations to you, as his tenant: you have a contract between the two of you, which is separate from his lease on the building. Resolution of the damp issue is for him to sort out with the Agents who are responsible for the entire building.

You may not want to involve Environmental Health Officer as you are renting from a friend, but that would be the usual recourse for this type of thing. A property that has "slimy water on the walls" is not acceptable.

Your LL would have to find you alternative accommodation if major work needed to be done to resolve the issue or, if the property was big enough for you to not use part of it until the matter was resolved,with an agreed reduction in rent, then you could maybe consider staying until it was sorted out.

Personally I' d think I'd be looking elsewhere asap. Are you still with a Fixed Term btw?

Edit: obviously in agreement with much of Sooz's post - her reply wasn't up when I hit reply

DGJsaver

Sooz
Thank you so much for your reply , the damp is not just the bottom of the walls , it`s head height and waist height so i would have thought the walls , as they are likely to be 9inch thich brick striaght through to the plaster that the paints on , are sodden...
But should i give it a certain amount of time for my LL to sort it out , he rang us yesterday to say he would sort it out whosever fault it is , so so far he is making all the right noises , should i leave it a while before i go to EH as i dont want to get him into any bother ?
Cheers
Dan

DGJsaver

tbs624 wrote: »

Your friend, as your LL, has specific obligations to you, as his tenant: you have a contract between the two of you, which is separate from his lease on the building. Resolution of the damp issue is for him to sort out with the Agents who are responsible for the entire building.

You may not want to involve Environmental Health Officer as you are renting from a friend, but that would be the usual recourse for this type of thing. A property that has "slimy water on the walls" is not acceptable.

Your LL would have to find you alternative accommodation if major work needed to be done to resolve the issue or, if the property was big enough for you to not use part of it until the matter was resolved,with an agreed reduction in rent, then you could maybe consider staying until it was sorted out.

Personally I' d think I'd be looking elsewhere asap. Are you still with a Fixed Term btw?

Edit: obviously in agreement with much of Sooz's post - her reply wasn't up when I hit reply

Again , thanks for your reply

We have no fixed term , we are month to month , i have know the LL for years as a friend so i would liekl to give him the chance to sort it out as moving would be a massive task at the minute

He has made promises to sort it asap so i`ll give him a certain amount of time and take it from there !

Dan

tbs624

It should be a rule guys - never rent to or from a friend, it makes it so much easier when things go wrong if you only have a "professional" relationship

You could maybe suggest to your friend that he tells the management company that you as the tenant and he as your LL, *will* , contact the EHO if prompt resolve is not reached?

He could also maybe take a look at www. lease-advice.org

DGJsaver

tbs624 wrote: »

It should be a rule guys - never rent to or from a friend, it makes it so much easier when things go wrong if you only have a "professional" relationship

You could maybe suggest to your friend that he tells the management company that you as the tenant and he as your LL, *will* , contact the EHO if prompt resolve is not reached?

He could also maybe take a look at www. lease-advice.org

On the other hand BECAUSE we are good friends he will go the extra to make sure its sorted ? either way we will soon find out , he did say the managment company arent worth the name and he will go direct to the landlord themselves...

Dan

brightonman123

local housing charity www.bht.org.uk (or similar ones) may also be able to help-

they certainly know their stuff on leases..