Renting disaster

weasel24

I began renting a Brand new private property in July. The house has just been built by a private owner for him to lease out. When looking around the property in June there was a few bits left to be done which we were assured would be. (painting doors, skirtboards, floor tiles, cleaned etc). When we moved in we found none of the jobs had been done and a garage full of tools and equipment (some of which I still have left but asked to be removed). When I contacted the letting agent they didnt really help so the Wife and I did the painting and cleaning up ourselves (baring in mind its a new build)
After a couple of days we had no hot water. (Brand new boiler?) The letting agent got a engeneer out to us and had it fixed. Its broken down 3 times since) There is no certificate on it and I have asked for the gas safety certificate numerous times but have not recieved.
Then on Friday I get a call from the letting agent telling me a building inspector from the council will be round to check the house. Strange I thought bearing in mind Ive lived here now for 4 months.
The inspector came and had a list the size of my arm on jobs that needed doing.
1) Halway floor uneven and potentially dangerous trip hazzard.
2) Extractor fans from upstairs bathrooms have no pipework and goes straight to the loft
3) No loft insualtion
4) No banister on stairs
5) Ceiling joints in living room not right size
6) No gas cert
7) Drainage problems from downstairs bathroom
8) There was quite a lot of structual issues with the house. (dont really no detail)

I had the builder here and the owners brother who were both appearing to fob off the inspector who didnt seem impressed. My main concern is the gas cert. I have two small children and am now worrying about them being in the house. I want to know were I stand legally with these issues and the landlord getting them done. Should the house have been up for rent with these outstanding jobs remaining being a new build? What are my rights, I would of thought loft insulation these days was a must because of the EPC. Any advice or help would be appreciated?
Thanks
Ben

poppysarah

Ring gas safe for advice.

G_M

1) No gas cert is required in the 1st year on a newly installed boiler - assuming the boiler was installed by a qualified (Gasafe) engineer and there is new Commissioning documentation signed off by the Installer. Ask (in writing) to see it.
2) Re the other issues - some are the owners problem, not yours. It is between him and the builder to resolve things like the extractor fans (not your problem where the damp air goes).
Some DO affect you (ie dangerous lack of bannisters etc)

Put your complaints in writing to the agent and/or landlord, but remember as long as you can live safely in the house, building defects are the orners problem in the longterm, not yours.

Debt_Free_Chick

weasel24 wrote: »

I began renting a Brand new private property in July. The house has just been built by a private owner for him to lease out. When looking around the property in June there was a few bits left to be done which we were assured would be. (painting doors, skirtboards, floor tiles, cleaned etc). When we moved in we found none of the jobs had been done and a garage full of tools and equipment (some of which I still have left but asked to be removed). When I contacted the letting agent they didnt really help so the Wife and I did the painting and cleaning up ourselves (baring in mind its a new build)
After a couple of days we had no hot water. (Brand new boiler?) The letting agent got a engeneer out to us and had it fixed. Its broken down 3 times since) There is no certificate on it and I have asked for the gas safety certificate numerous times but have not recieved.
Then on Friday I get a call from the letting agent telling me a building inspector from the council will be round to check the house. Strange I thought bearing in mind Ive lived here now for 4 months.
The inspector came and had a list the size of my arm on jobs that needed doing.
1) Halway floor uneven and potentially dangerous trip hazzard.
2) Extractor fans from upstairs bathrooms have no pipework and goes straight to the loft
3) No loft insualtion
4) No banister on stairs
5) Ceiling joints in living room not right size
6) No gas cert
7) Drainage problems from downstairs bathroom
8) There was quite a lot of structual issues with the house. (dont really no detail)

I had the builder here and the owners brother who were both appearing to fob off the inspector who didnt seem impressed. My main concern is the gas cert. I have two small children and am now worrying about them being in the house. I want to know were I stand legally with these issues and the landlord getting them done. Should the house have been up for rent with these outstanding jobs remaining being a new build? What are my rights, I would of thought loft insulation these days was a must because of the EPC. Any advice or help would be appreciated?
Thanks
Ben

I'm not sure what your question is. When you ask "what are your rights", your rights are as a tenant so basically, to have the property as described in the tenancy agreement and inventory. Taking loft insulation as an example .... were you specifically promised a property with insulation? If not, then you have "no rights" to demand it.

Potentially, none of the issues you've listed would be a problem for a tenant, unless they were specifically covered in the agreement/inventory - apart from the lack of Gas Cert, which another posted has commented on.

What do you hope to achieve? If you let us know, we might be able to focus our responses better.

HTH

weasel24

I want to know if the agent and owner should of put it on the market in the first place and moved us in bearing in mind that a council building inspector hadnt seen it and to be honest, find out if the house was safe for living in (boiler etc). I just feel a bit hard done by. I thought a brand new house would have no or minimal problems, Loft insulation. (My bills will be higher than expected now). Had I of known all of this I would of stayed where I was.

olly300

weasel24 wrote: »

I want to know if the agent and owner should of put it on the market in the first place and moved us in bearing in mind that a council building inspector hadnt seen it and to be honest, find out if the house was safe for living in (boiler etc). I just feel a bit hard done by. I thought a brand new house would have no or minimal problems, Loft insulation. (My bills will be higher than expected now). Had I of known all of this I would of stayed where I was.

If you did some research on new builds before renting the property you would find they have loads of problems.

In your case the real issue is to ensure that your use of the property allows you to get your deposit back.

PasturesNew

Not having the right ceiling joists in the living room might be an issue if you and the missus are a tad on the heavy side and doing nightly gymnastics in bed above there...

tbs624

Did you not notice the lack of bannisters or the uneven hall floor when you looked round?

As G-M says you need to know that the boiler has been installed by a HE who is GasSafe registered, and that all subsequent work will also be done by a GasSafe registered HE.

An EPC is a useless piece of bureaucratic nonsense. A property owner/LL is under no obligation to improve anything. The software comes up with where the arrow should point and a number , based on what's in place at the time. Always ask about/inspect for insulation before signing on the dotted line.

Damp air being sucked into a loft space has the potential to create mould/condensation problems for you whilst you live there. It would also mean that the loftspace is unsuitable for storage of your possessions.

New-builds always have a snagging list but this sounds worse than the usual. Contact your local Council's private sector rentals officer - they can advise you on the best way forward and your rights to alternative accommodation if major works are needed.

JanCee

Get yourself a carbon monoxide detector from a DIY store, they are not very expensive and it will give you some peace of mind about the safety of the boiler.

princeofpounds

1) Halway floor uneven and potentially dangerous trip hazzard.

Is it really bad? If so, complain by recorded delivery. If you do injure yourself on it, you LL will have failed in their duty of care and could be sued as they are liable. Point them to the defective premises act 1972, in particular sections 1 and 4, and suggest that they probably don't want a personal injury claim any time soon...

http://www.johnantell.co.uk/DPA1972.htm

2) Extractor fans from upstairs bathrooms have no pipework and goes straight to the loft

Not ideal, but probably not of immediate concern.

3) No loft insualtion

Nothing they have to improve for a tenant, they might have to under building regulations as it is so new.

4) No banister on stairs

Same as for point 1. This is the most worrying for me.

5) Ceiling joints in living room not right size

Hard to know what this means from this description.

6) No gas cert

Point out to LL they can be prosecuted for this (unless it's a new boiler with certificate included) - you need....

7) Drainage problems from downstairs bathroom

Hard to know again what this actually constitutes.

8) There was quite a lot of structual issues with the house. (dont really no detail)

Again, probably not your issue for now.

---

If you are really worried, what you can do is contact the council environmental health & private sector rental team. They can do a similar inspection, but are trained to spot hazards relevant to tenants, and have powers to force landlords to correct hazards or face prosecution. You can show them the problems that the building inspector highlighted.

It's probably also worth getting in touch with the inspector to find out if he has put legal orders on to force a fix or now. They might even discuss the likely severity of the problems.

weasel24

Thanks alot for everyones responses. I think Ill just call the council and see what they say. Ill keep everyone posted on what happens. Thanks again
Ben