Rented accomodation for students - Their rights?

MissMoneypenny

Mr_Warren wrote: »

Thank you all but this last one sounds very much emotional reply and not objective.....Would you happen to be a landlord yourself?

I have been in touch with Environmental Health who confirmed the following:

Rubbish have to be cleared IMMEDIATELY by landlord or his/her agent and am asking why should the kids do it themselves?

As parents paying the costs of the rental, you damn right i am going to get involved. The kids got in touch with the agent and only received promises in exchange.

The bare plaster in a communal area is against the EH rules concerning food preparation areas and/or surfaces. It might be ok in your own house with your own family but as soon as lodgers are concerned, they have to be able to clean the surfaces and walls. Therefore walls have to be tiled IMMEDIATELY.

All beddings and furnitures have to carry the "fire retardant" label, so the landlord will have to go shopping fast.

You can also ask the local council's private lettings section, to come and inspect the property to see what else is illegal with the property. They can then take action against the landlord for you. If a landlord is lazy about getting the property fit for the students to move into, he will probably be lazy with his repair obligations too.

Did the students get shown a copy of the Gas Safety Certificate? This has to be shown to prospective tenants before the tenancy starts.

Bad landlords will also say that the student should be sorting it themselves, as it is easier for them to bully the students.

princeofpounds

Landlords are paid for a service, if they can't be professional enough to provide it to an acceptable standard then they have no comeback on any repurcussions - a house should pass a council inspection at ANY point (barring genuine breakdowns of course!).

It is a business relationship, there is no need for a tenant to be amicable and nice towards a landlord, although they should be professionally polite (at least on the first instance - LLs can be kept in the dark by agents or there could be other mitigating circumstances).

I don't blame parents who are ultimately paying for a service getting involved, but I would encourage them to let their adult child take the lead with all the info and guidance they provide. They are ultimately legally responsible for the tenancy and dealing with this stuff is a life lesson.

Mr_Warren_2

Thank you ALL for your kind (and some not so kind) views. The problem with our 19 year old grown up kids..... .......is their ignorance of what should be expected in this kind of situationj and as parents we have a moral obligation to point them in the right direction.

for 7 days one of the tenants made numerous contacts with the rental agent asking for the rubbish to be cleared away, the kitchen to be finished and the house to be cleaned (they was hair all over the carpets, dust from the workmen absolutely everywhere all the packaging all units/cooker etc thrown about) and pee all over the toilets when they received their keys). The agent’s attitude was pretty much “maniana” until my wife got involved (I normally do this kind of complaining work but that was too much for her and god did she give them hell). The rubbish was cleared in less than 24h and why? Because my wife threatened to involve Environmental Health, a point the kids did not know about.

When you are that age, you actually think you know everything when in fact you have everything to learn. The kids were amazed at the quick reaction and hopefully learned from that.

I am asking this question to some of you who would rather let their kids get on with it……If you were paying the bills, would you accept that a fat slob LL (I don’t even know what the person looks like) take your cash and did the strict minimum to the property? That is £1600 per month for god sake!

Students are no saints I agree and if their house is damaged at the end of the rental period, I will quite happily leave them to sort their own mess out but in the meantime, I will help and support my children to the best of my possibilities :silenced:

Mr_Warren_2

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

Did the students get shown a copy of the Gas Safety Certificate? This has to be shown to prospective tenants before the tenancy starts.

I don't believe they did. They was no inventory done either as there were no "welcome pack" when they moved in.

I will be reporting how things go later on.

kennyboy66_2

Mr_Warren wrote: »

I don't believe they did. They was no inventory done either as there were no "welcome pack" when they moved in.

I will be reporting how things go later on.

What's a welcome pack ?

Is that like some tea-bags, biscuits and milk, like when you rent a holiday cottage ?

It's fine letting your kids know what should be expected and how to resolve them, however you seem in danger of trying to sort out their problems yourself.

There is generally no-end of advice available from Uni's, student unions, city council about student property.

I'd sort of expect that between seven 19/20 year olds (who I am assuming have been in Liverpool for a year already) at least one would have the nouse to sort most of these issues out themselves.

IAmNotAPianist

Shoddy student landlords are 2 a penny. Please ensure that your child's deposit is held in a Deposit Protection Scheme (new user so can't post links, but search 'tenancy deposit' on direct dot gov dot uk) I am having a nightmare getting my deposit back from my final year landlord, as it was not protected and I have only just found out that they should have put it in a scheme. I am now considering court action.

Take photos of the state of the property upon moving in and then again when you leave at the end of the year. Make sure you get a receipt for the deposit you have paid and keep a copy of the contract.

princeofpounds

What's a welcome pack ?

Is that like some tea-bags, biscuits and milk, like when you rent a holiday cottage ?

Don't be flippant. It's obvious the poster means documentation that is LEGALLY required such as a gas safety certificate, appliance manuals and all the stuff that isn't legal but important such as general instructions. Simple professional stuff.

Here is a post I wrote recently on this very subject that I think sums up parental involvement at the university stage well.

PoP wrote:

All these comments about students, parents and housing are kind of missing an important point- no-one actually teaches you how to rent. Landlords won't. Agents certainly won't, and often misdirect. Schools don't. The government doesn't.

So who has to? Parents, of course, which is how it should be. And when do they do it? When their children move out. So almost by definition parents are involved in children's first independent housing, which is normally- surprise - at university.

Now that's not to say that they should run the process, but there is nothing wrong with them being available for consultation. Or even accompanying them. If you have never seen an AST in your life before, you have no basis to judge things on without assistance.

Parenting is not an age-specific activity, it is about imparting life experience at the right time. Just imagine if parents weren't allowed to contribute to raising of grandchildren 'because their kids are adults and should know how it is done'!

Of course I wouldn't advocate parents 'taking point' as practice is needed to learn, but working together to solve issues is totally logical

Mr_Warren_2

kennyboy66 wrote: »

What's a welcome pack ?.

Funny !

kennyboy66 wrote: »

It's fine letting your kids know what should be expected and how to resolve them, however you seem in danger of trying to sort out their problems yourself..

It is by practising that kids learn (and so do we)

kennyboy66 wrote: »

There is generally no-end of advice available from Uni's, student unions, city council about student property..

Generally may be but in this case none and nobody wanted this saga to drag-on for ever.

kennyboy66 wrote: »

I'd sort of expect that between seven 19/20 year olds (who I am assuming have been in Liverpool for a year already) at least one would have the nouse to sort most of these issues out themselves.

They don't teach this in Halls of Residence and to be fair to them the kids tried for a week but if you don't know about the existence of Environmental Health Authority you won't be able to quote them in your correspondance.

And before you ask, they both went separately twice on holiday abroad this year without any interference from Mummy or Daddy

kennyboy66_2

princeofpounds wrote: »

Don't be flippant. It's obvious the poster means documentation that is LEGALLY required such as a gas safety certificate, appliance manuals and all the stuff that isn't legal but important such as general instructions. Simple professional stuff.

The point is that there is no end of advice and checklists for students.

Here http://www.lsh.liv.ac.uk/

There is then student union advice centres at almost every Uni.

I couldn't help myself being flippant - I was under the mistaken impression that part of the attraction of studying away from home was the independence and self-reliance that goes along with it.

kennyboy66_2

Mr_Warren wrote: »

And before you ask, they both went separately twice on holiday abroad this year without any interference from Mummy or Daddy

I hope you made sure they had clean socks and sun-tan lotion.;)