Advice needed - problems with flat, baby on way.

penguine

schueys_girl wrote: »

BUT if you signed a 12 months tenancy, and you knew the problems with access and the state of the property - WHY did you decide to have a baby? Its not your landlord or ladies fault that you have made the decision to bring a baby into a flat with useless access for pushchair and is falling to bits.
So not a lot anyone can do about that I am afraid.

No method of birth control is absolutely 100% effective. Heaven forbid an accident should ever happen to you -- if so, I hope everyone you know is more sympathetic than you are.

Sirbendy

schueys_girl wrote: »

Please do not take this the wrong way _ I am in no way saying that you should live in damp conditions - this is disgusting and you are entitled to sort this out-

BUT if you signed a 12 months tenancy, and you knew the problems with access and the state of the property - WHY did you decide to have a baby? Its not your landlord or ladies fault that you have made the decision to bring a baby into a flat with useless access for pushchair and is falling to bits.
So not a lot anyone can do about that I am afraid.

HOWEVER - the damp etc you can do soemthing about this is not on! You need to get in touch with the council and environmental health to sort this- this is something you dont need to put up with and may be your saviour in getting you out of this tenancy if they don't sort it for you

Good luck with it all

The access wasn't SUCH an issue at first - I have lower limb problems, but they've got worse due to work - I've now regressed to the level of mobility issues I had at age 12, which isn't good.

If I get up fast, I just..well..fall over now. I have a lump that's appeared on my achilles tendon too, which is one of the ones I had repeated surgery on. The disability affects my balance and coordination too - first time I took empty baby carrier up the stairs, I'm GLAD it was empty..it was bounced off the wall a bit..

The property was a tad shabby when we moved in...obviously well used..screws holding the lino to the floor(!), carpets staplegunned to the floorboards, etc...typical "do it cheap and badly" job. But it was liveable.

Damp wasn't evident then at all...BUT when we moved in the place was stiflingly hot, and the boiler was on full blast with the windows open..had been open for a good week or 2 "pre-move" as well (we came to see a few times). That should have sounded alarms in my head.

Since then, the one room gained black mould (which led me to a facemask and weak bleach solution with a scrubber to fix), which even spread to the chair in there. That wall looks to have been repainted over and over again. I wish I'd taken pics.

The OTHER side of the wall is our bedroom...windows open all day, even then it smells musty and damp, clothes go mouldy, the gloss painted woodchip (yes, THAT should have been a warning too) is coming off the wall and actually disintegrating, and shows a long damp patch running..about halfway down it now. The ceiling corners look fairly similar (also painted gloss on woodchip, on a ceiling..gulp).

I have an old wooden sideboard in there that is now harbouring an ecosystem of mould...from being in there for only 7 months. The bedding smells of it, my clothes smell of it. We cough and sneeze from the moment we come in to the moment we go out...I wheeze all night long (asthmatic) and on some nights have felt like an 80+ year old smoker, my breathing has been that laboured. It makes the missus cough and sniff continually...that's 6 months of that and it stops outside the flat.

You would not wish to see how much loo roll we go through for noses.. As to why baby...it's a long story, but...we moved from our last property (3 bed semi, rental) to here because it was cheaper in all ways, and we wanted to save money..plus we'd had (and subsequently lost at 8 weeks) surprise twins there, and a good month of severe ill health due to that on the part of the missus, and the stress of it on me.

So, we moved...then after we moved, morning sickness came back..and we found out that we were expecting again. Total Surprise, given that not 2 months prior, we'd just lost 2 and undergone a DNC etc to "sort things out". Unfortunatly, the move and the unknowing lifting and shifting caused a bleed which meant that we had a "chainsaw massacre" moment a few weeks into our tenancy, which led at 5am A&E, and 2 weekly appointments with the midwife, along with months of stress and worry.

With 7 weeks to go, luckily everything seems good now apart from the ever present morning sickness (continual throughout!). However, after all the stress of this, plus what this child has endured already, I CAN'T bring myself to allow this child to breathe the air that's harming OUR health, with no built up resistance... If we'd have known she was pregnant (again), we really would NOT have moved... Now trying to call the landlord again..they were supposed to call US at 9pm..no chance..

BitterAndTwisted

Have you contacted your local authority's Environmental Health dept yet? Mould is a severe health hazard and if you get them down there action will be taken, just bloody-well get on with it!. Stop calling the landlord and put all of your communications in writing. Have you checked on the Shelter website for info about how the landlord can be compelled to sort out repairs?

clutton_2

what a truly dreadful time you have had - o think the one ally you need to get on board which no one seesm to have mentioned up to now is your doctor - could you get a home visit - when he could see for himself that your living conditions could be dangerous for the baby - and maybe this might help you get out of there ?

i dont know how council property points are allocated, but, you have to start somewhere with getting them .....

Could you borrow money for a deposit for another place ? if not - then some councils runs Bond Schemes whereby they lend the money or authorise a bond

i very very rarely recommend tenants leave ahead of their tenancy agreement fixed period, but, if you could find somewhere else i think for the health of yhour and your new child and wife, you need to be living somewhere else - and fast.

if you do go down this route, take copious photographs of the flat at its worstk so that if the LL sues you , at least you have clear evidence as to why you left.

but as i said, you need professionals on your side - could you go to teh surgery and talk to the Health Visitor and ask her to visit and see if she has any suggestions ?

i am so sorry you have such an appalling landlord - he should be ashamed.

if you do consider leaving early, post on www.landlordzone.co.uk where there are excellent legal advisers who will tell you your legal position - but do shorten your post if you do - they like it short and sweet over there....


Sirbendy - as others say - you must act NOW - you need a better place for a new babe - you would never forgive yourself if the worst happened

BitterAndTwisted

Excellent advice about the GP Clutton, I'm amazed that I didn't think of it myself. If only the OP would get the EH people round I expect they'd have the foul hell-hole condemned in five minutes. Then they'd be out of their contract in a trice.

Sirbendy

We are looking at another property now - got the paperwork on the table, we were contemplating putting it in with the admin fee tomorrow...and then seeing if we can use the condition of the flat etc as leverage to break out of contract - I'll even sacrifice my deposit (£420) if it means we can go, in the next month.

If the landlord says no, we lose the admin fee of £200ish...if we don't put the money down, we lose the chance of the other property, 5 minutes away from here and just as convenirnt for work/amenities/doctors as this place is. Having just had a bonus at work, I could happily use part of that for the admin fee, as we hadn't budgeted on it anyway...and try to give us some breathing space while I try to get hold of the landlord and negotiate a getout.

It's really getting OH down...she's had tears tonight and said "I want to give up - if they say no, lets just go back to your mothers..at least it's healthy there. I can't cope anymore."

I can't sit by and watch that...nor can I in good conscience risk the health of my (nearly) child...I can't and won't compromise on the health of my soon to be family. It's bad enough the poor child will have me as a dad! heh. I hope I don't pass on any of my health weak points, that's all I can say..I'd be lying if I said it didn't keep me awake at nights,that thought.

BitterAndTwisted

I have a feeling that your landlord might not be quite as accommodating as you hope. Don't forget, they've had dozens of tenants in there, all experiencing the same problems over and over and have chosen to do nothing except using gloss paint to hide the damp, so another naive tenant signs yet another agreement. The place is falling to bits, it's health-hazard and they don't give a stuff or they would have done something about it before.

It's time to play hard-ball and the Environmental Health Dept are key. If you post back on here again and you haven't got them round I'm going to be very annoyed with you.

property.advert

If it could be condemned as unfit for habitation then you could be in for your deposit back. Your lease should cover things like this.

Face facts. You are going to have to break the lease and leave. What you can do afterwards will be just that, afterwards. Spend your energies finding a new place, using the local authority as suggested. However, do not expect them to be of much help.

If you are not working and on benefits then you would qualify for a 2 bedroomed place with your LHA. You can find this amount out here by postcode https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Default.aspx

Some councils apparently have help where they pay your deposit for you and you repay them each month.

What about your bank - any financial help anywhere.

Seriously, as the Hotel Inspector said, "you are polishing a turd". Get out ASAP and worry about the rest later. Your unborn child is more important that this.

Sirbendy

We have a solution! I was about to set off to work at 7.50am...phone went. I fielded it. Landlady on the other end.

"We've had a chat (her and hubby) - we know circumstances change. We are happy for you to go - in fact we're thinking about selling the flat and buying another instead, as it's quite worn out and the render is falling off and so on..it's not getting any younger, after all. Let us know when you're going, and good luck to you - you've been good tenants.".

That, I will admit, had me laughing like a fool all the way to work...Lunchtime came and I picked up Jem and put the admin fees and paperwork in on the place we're looking at..been given a prospective date for the keys of....2 weeks!!!

Harwoods (agent) chatted to me about the flat - it was with them a few times, and they advised landlords about the poor structure etc, to no avail. They then refused to market it unless work was done. It's been like it for at least 3 years apparently. So they got different agents in (who then of course didn't mention it to us).

The same agent then told me the new place is, in their words "lovely, solid, dry, and the landlords next door are REALLY nice people, very caring, very hot on looking after the tenants if needed. I think you'll like it there - it's stood for 300 years, and it's been a B&B and a holiday let too...it's in good condition. Plus it's detached, so noise is far less and a baby won't wake anyone!"

So...this flat has been an experience...not a good one maybe, but experience nonetheless. We learn from mistakes after all. Light is at the end of the tunnel now, and we both feel a massive weight of worry has been removed.

(So much so that I'm not even annoyed that I crumped my car today in an altercation with a motorist that forced me to cut a corner so tight I encountered a bollard that damaged the rear wheelarch. It's a car, it'll fix up. It's not high on my priority list..heh..)

clutton_2

i am sooo glad things are working out well. but do get it in writing that your current LL will let you

"surrender the tenancy early with no financial penalty other than payment of rent until departure day"