Should the landord pay?

i_want_to_believe

Hi,
I'm after some guidance...
Daughter at Uni in York, renting a house with 2 other girls paying £750 per month ( 2 up 2 down):o
Landord not exactly proactive in getting things done.
Two weeks ago the BT line went down, BT called out and it seems the previous tenants had installed extensions in each of the rooms and one had blown all the others. £170.00 to repair. The girls asked the landlord to cover the costs and she is refusing. The girls don't think they should pay as hey would be "improving" her property.. The house was advertised with internet access and the girls need this for studying (med students).
What do you think?

Old_Git

who pays the phone bill.

angelavdavis

Yes I agree the landlord should pay definitely if they specifically advertised the accommodation with internet. Can the student union offer any assistance?

If the Landlord is adamant about not doing anything, get your daughter a wifi usb key (check the signal first). There are deals available at the moment from different providers.

Drea

If their contract states that they will have internet access then the landlord will have to pay or they are in breach of their contract. If not, then to be honest they probably don't have to pay.

silvercar

A wireless router would give everyone internet access, cost would be £30-50.

Did the landlord specify internet access to the property or to each of the rooms? If the landlord promised access in each of the rooms then she should pay for the router, if not then the tenants need to buy the router. Either way its not worth paying BT £170 to repair.

zzzLazyDaisy

The house was rented with internet access. It had a system of extensions installed which blew the telephony and prevents the internet being delivered.

It seems to me that the landlord is failing to deliver part of the agreed services of the tenancy.

The fact that it was previous tenants who messed up the telephone system should not affect the current tenants' rights, as they rented the house from the landlord, and it was up to the landlord to carry out the necessary checks to ensure that the installed system was capable of delivering the agreed service. The landlord could of course seek compensation from the previous tenants for carrying out an unauthorised installation, and retain that money from the deposit. The problem is my university student nephew tells me that many landlords no longer take a deposit since the deposit scheme came in, but have simply put the rents up instead. If thats the case, he won't be holding a deposit.

The practical difficulty is that they need internet access now.

Out of interest though - I'm surprised telephone extensions can do that sort of damage (but I'm not a techie)

EDIT: I read the post as saying that the extensions had caused the BT landline to go down so now they have no BT line. If that is not the case, then I agree with the above poster - a wireless router is the way to go. Cheap, simple and quick to set up, and can be accessed from any room in the house.

i_want_to_believe

That's right no dial tone on the land line

silvercar

BT is responsible for the network upto and including the line box. The internal network is the responsibility of the bill payer/ landlord. If the main linebox has blown then BT would fix that for free. If the internal wiring has gone then BT is entitled to charge for that.

On what basis was BT called out? Did the landlord agree to the call out?

It may have been cheaper to dump BT and go with a cable provider.

Many ways of providing internet access now and not all require a telephone line. Many student areas are covered by a wireless network provided by a contractor with links to the university. These often offer landlords deals that work out cheaper than using a BT service as well as connectivity to the university intranet and services like freewire.

Drea

i_want_to_believe wrote: »

That's right no dial tone on the land line

Usually it's the tenants responsibility to get a working line. But if it was said in the contract then it is the LL's responsibility. Get your daughter to have a look

olly300

There are not really enough details to actually give very good advice.

What exactly was fixed and what was just left?

If some or all the telephone extensions where fixed than the landlord doesn't have to pay for it. As it's up to the person who pays the phone bill to sort out wiring inside the house.

If only the main telephone access point was fixed as the landlord advertises internet access then they should pay for this.

If (which is more likely) a mixture was fixed i.e. some telephone extension points and the main telephone point then the landlord should pay half the bill and the tenants the other half.

silvercar

If only the main telephone access point was fixed as the landlord advertises internet access then they should pay for this.

Disagree. If the main linebox develops a fault then BT should pay for it.

The problem here is whether the students or the landlord called out BT.