letting agency slowness

stickstickstick

We currently rent our house thorugh a letting agency and we want some improvements to the house (new furnature, getting sky fitted). The landlord lives abroad somewhere like Sweden or Netherlands.

They have tried to get in touch with him aparently several times with no answer and I would like some resolution ASAP. It's been over 3 weeks now since I put in my original request. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how i can get this moving along as the letting agents seem a little unbothered by the situation.

D.

hellokitty08

Well you can ask the Letting Agency for you Landlords details, and i believe they are obliged to give it to you. So you can always tryto to contact them yourselves.

I am not sure what you will be able to do though, in addition to the LA.

Premier_2

Why do you expect the LL to improve your home?

It was presumably let as was. The LL is under no obligation to improve it and may not wish to allow you to install sky (indeed there may be a covenant on the property preventing the installation of a satellite receiving dish)

Take any non-answer as a refusal to such request. If you are not happy, consider moving elsewhere. That's definitely the one advantage of renting - it's so easy to move on

hellokitty08

I would assume they are trying to contact them to ask for their permission, as you are not allowed to make any changes to a rental property without the Landlords consent. (very typical example is having Sky / Cable installed)
It is perfectly reasonable to ask these sorts of questions.

stickstickstick

yep, that's the reason we are asking.
the property already has an old cable installation into it, so I imagine he won't have any objections, and as for the improvements, the place is rented fully furnished, so I would expect those furnishings to be of a certain standard (the chairs are falling apart).

Premier_2

You should expect the furnishings to be of the standard they were when you viewed the property.

If the chairs really are falling apart, I'm sure a bit of glue or the odd nail in the right spot will fix them. The LA will normally have a handyman that can sort this out and as it would be minimal cost to the LL, would probably happen without his express permission.

But if you expect a higher standard of furnishing, then you might have to go and buy your own.

socrates

Premier wrote: »

You should expect the furnishings to be of the standard they were when you viewed the property.

If the chairs really are falling apart, I'm sure a bit of glue or the odd nail in the right spot will fix them. The LA will normally have a handyman that can sort this out and as it would be minimal cost to the LL, would probably happen without his express permission.

But if you expect a higher standard of furnishing, then you might have to go and buy your own.

Perhaps you should get off the fence and say what you really think!

lbell_3

Premier wrote: »

If you are not happy, consider moving elsewhere. That's definitely the one advantage of renting - it's so easy to move on

Hang on, it is not "so easy to move on" just because you are renting. Where you live is your home regardless of whether you have bought the property you live in or rent it. Having problems with a landlord/letting agent is sometimes an unfortunate by-product of renting and the OP just wants something sorted out as soon as possible. Their requests are certainly not unreasonable.

"Moving on" involves leaving your home, having to find somewhere else that is suitable for your needs, dealing with (often cr*p) letting agents, forking out a load of money uphand that is not easy to obtain while your deposit is tied up in the place you're currently living, and then actually moving in with all your things.

Anyway, rant over

All I can suggest to you Dion is to keep on at the letting agents and not let them forget about you. Phone/email when you can and remember that it's their job to manage the property (if that's the basis upon which you've taken the tenancy) so they need to deal with any of your reasonable requests as soon as possible.

Premier_2

lbell wrote: »

... Their requests are certainly not unreasonable....

dionjones wrote:

We currently rent our house thorugh a letting agency and we want some improvements to the house (new furnature, getting sky fitted)...

How is that a reasonable request? The property is let as is (subject to meeting certain minimum requirements) There is no obligation for any LL to offer improvements.

lbell_3

Premier wrote: »

How is that a reasonable request? The property is let as is (subject to meeting certain minimum requirements) There is no obligation for any LL to offer improvements.

As she clarified, she is asking for permission to fit sky not for the LL to actually fit it and pay for it. If a property is offered furnished then it is reasonable for the tenants to want furniture that isn't falling apart! If it is a simple case of someone turning up to glue things back together as you said then the LA should be arranging to do that.

What the OP is unhappy about is that 3 weeks have passed and there has been no indication of whether any action will be taken or if so what that action is.

sooz

it depends on how it is phrased. Certainly the way the OP presented it in his first post made it sound a little unreasonable , rather like it was the LL's duty to provide him with sky & new furniture.

If, as it seems, he is asking for permission to install sky, this is not unreasonable. Infact, he's being a good tenant by asking & awaiting a written response, rather than just doing it, which many do. If he already has cable, the LL hopefully should be ok with it, but if it's a flat there may be clauses in the lease against dishes, or the LL may prefer that the dish is sited out of view (the engineers normally put in in the easiest & most visible place, which I object to!)

as for the furniture, if it is broken it either needs fixing or replacing.