landlord doing nothing

katiepops_2

I asked my hubby today about all this, and he said the same thing - that he'd be concerned about this so-called electrician's qualifications etc. Do you have any way of checking who he is affiliated with, because don't they have to be registered with one of the governing bodies or something?

I know you don't want to spend any money, but do you know anyone who is an electrician? Even a friend of a friend, someone who could come round as a favour and just check that the wiring is okay. Alternatively, and this is probably a better idea, can you not find an electrician (through the Yellow Pages or somewhere) that will do a free quote, and get them round on the pretext of wanting something doing, like adding more sockets or something, and then casually mention the problem and see if they will check it out? You could even legitimately say that your landlady knows there is a problem with the electrics and has asked you to get someone in to check out what the problem is and provide a quote - at the very least he could put your mind at rest that the wiring is safe.

Kate

baldelectrician

In Scotland Landlord Regulation is becoming a reality,

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2005/11/24171426

I think this is coming into play in the rest of the UK.

Check and see

Hope things work all right, and good luck. :j

ajdj

Hiya,

Just reading your post and sympathise with your situation- just a quick point though. You say that the Landlord decided to put the rent up from £85 to £95 per week.

Did she give you any notice of this? Legally she needed to serve you with a Section 13 notice giving you 2 months notice of the increase and allowing you the oppurtunity to report the increase to the Rent Assesment Committee for an independent assesment on whether it is fair.

If she hasn't done this and your tenancy agreement reflects the £85 per week rather than the £95 per week then you could quite legitamitely withhold the extra £10 per week until these problems are fixed and she follows the correct statute in undertaking a rent increase.

I'm also afraid to say that the council will never re-home you whilst you have a roof over your head (however much you report the bad condition of the property). It will probably reach the stage where the Landlord decided you are not going to give up and she will serve you with notice. If this is the case the council will advise you to stay in the property beyond the 2 month notice period and await a court date for the Landlord to obtain accelarated possesion. Once this date is obtained then they will find you somewhere. This is how their system works. This may be your only option of finding somewhere suitable for you and your children to live. A very stressful option, but it may prove to be your only option if things don't improve....

BTW- https://www.niceic.org.uk is the site you need for info on electricans qualifications. Also if you have a look at the Landlords section you will see that the Landlord has a legal responsiblity to make sure the properties fixed wiring is 'safe' even though a fixed wiring 5 year check is not a legal requirement. Hope this helps.

Alleycat

ajd wrote:

I'm also afraid to say that the council will never re-home you whilst you have a roof over your head (however much you report the bad condition of the property). It will probably reach the stage where the Landlord decided you are not going to give up and she will serve you with notice. If this is the case the council will advise you to stay in the property beyond the 2 month notice period and await a court date for the Landlord to obtain accelarated possesion. Once this date is obtained then they will find you somewhere. This is how their system works. This may be your only option of finding somewhere suitable for you and your children to live. A very stressful option, but it may prove to be your only option if things don't improve....

Sorry, just to pick up on a few points here. The council can and in many cases will rehouse if a property is in a bad enough state. Depending on the local authority, for example where I work, we will provide priority status and sometimes even temporary accommodation if the property is deemed uninhabitable by Environmental Health (or equivalent private sector housing department). You do not actually have to lose the roof over your head to be deemed homeless by the local authority. The local authority will try and explore all options to try and keep the family in the property by encouraging the landlord to comply with relevant repairs, but at the end of the day, if they refuse to do the work, the homeless department will assist.

Regarding the note on accelerated possession, this could only be used if there was at least 8 weeks or two calendar months (depending on when rent is due) rent owing on the property.

Also due to a recent court case where a person took their local homeless unit to court as they had been forced to pay court costs, if the department refuses to complete a homelessness assessment until you have received paperwork relating to possession hearings, they can legally be forced to pay these costs for you.