Rented House problems

wirm

Thanks to everyone that has replied.

I talked to the estate agents yesterday (Wednesday) and explained to them that there are a lot of things that need fixed but the toilet and washing machine were the two major ones. They said that they would get it sorted asap

Phoned again today (Thursday) to remind them and they said that they have not forgot and will get it fixed asap.

The estate agents has to ask the landlords permission before any work is carried out on the house and as the house has only recently been sold it could be a slow process.

melancholly

hope it gets sorted soon - i'm amazed they don't rush out to fix the toilet - might be worth kicking up a huge stink now so that you don't get stuck in the same situation over the weekend - good luck!

cmallaby

Well to be honest you're renting the place, you're paying valuable money and you're not happy.

Make this clear! People are there to help at the end of the day !

aimeelister

We had a similar problem with our rented house. We were without a washing machine for weeks at end and the landlord was loathe to do anything so we thought. We actually found out later that the Letting Agency had not contacted the landlord about the problem for 2 weeks after we had initally told them. We eventually managed to get the number of our landlord on the promise that we would only contact them if there was a real problem. It worked wonders and we managed to bypass the letting agency on several problem and things got fixed more quickly. We even negotiated money off our rent as things were not to the contract we agreed to for several weeks (initially) it just meant dressing up in a suit and going into the letting agency shop during their busiest period (they would do anything to shut us up!)

muddled_midget

From previous experience of dealing with letting agencies, I have found the best way is to threaten to advertise their failings on the uni noticeboard and lodge a complaint with the uni accommodation office, which may get their accreditation taken away (and they don't like to lose out on the money!) when it comes to deposits and finance stuff, I've always found it useful to mention one of my housemates dads is a solicitor specialising in property law (this is true, and as he pays the guys rent, he's always been ready for a fight!) but i guess you could just threaten them with this in the hope it speeds the process up!

Bogof_Babe

Have they tried fixing the loo themselves? Sometimes all you need to do is take the cover off the cistern and push the ballcock down until the water level rises.

As a temporary measure they can of course pour buckets of water down after the loo has been used. Not ideal but at least it would get them through until it can be properly fixed.

Savvy_Sue

Bogof_Babe wrote:

As a temporary measure they can of course pour buckets of water down after the loo has been used. Not ideal but at least it would get them through until it can be properly fixed.

Actually, more effective than this if the flush mechanism is working is to pour the water into the cistern and then flush as usual - and this might be effective if the water isn't getting into the cistern because there's a break between the handle and the mechanism inside. If there's a broken arm then you can pull something inside the cistern - you can tell I'm a girl because I don't know the technical terms ... but asking on the 'In my home' board would probably get better results.

Of course if the toilet is blocked then ... not a lot to be done until the plumber arrives!