Urgent advice needed

unhappy123_2

I have had no heating/hot water for over a week now and British Gas have still not fixed it. I have been left to arrange the engineer visits etc and, to cut a long story short, it has still not been sorted. I claim it is the landlord's job to get things done and my landlord's fella disagrees. "It is down to you". I have asked for a rent reduction due to not having basic essentials like hot water. It is my belief that a week without heating/hot water is unacceptable and goes beyond the 'reasonable time' to get it fixed. They refuse to get a local engineer to fix it as they 'have a guarantee/homecare' with British Gas - which is not really my concern tbh. We have been given two electric heaters but these are not sufficient. I have been told that if I can't withhold rent ( I have offered three weeks rent instead of four) as I have signed a contract. I have also been threatened and spoken very rudely.

Now, having checked the contract, I have noticed that it is NOT signed by the landlord NOR by letting agent. My landlord wasn't present when it was signed due to them 'working'.

Am I right in thinking that the contact is NOT LEGALLY BINDING as the bloke who signed it is neither a letting agent or has his name on the deeds to the house?

not_loaded

You either want to be warm, clean and happy OR pedantic about contracts. I know which I’d prefer!

Get the ‘guarantee/homecare/British Gas’ details if you haven’t already got them, and hammer them pronto for assistance. I wouldn’t argue over who makes the call to get my heating back on in this weather.

Good luck!

unhappy123_2

not_loaded wrote: »

You either want to be warm, clean and happy OR pedantic about contracts. I know which I’d prefer!

Get the ‘guarantee/homecare/British Gas’ details if you haven’t already got them, and hammer them pronto for assistance. I wouldn’t argue over who makes the call to get my heating back on in this weather.

Good luck!

Ignore all that mate, I just want to know about the contract being legally binding? We move out in March anyway as the lease is up.

I have also found out that an inventory needs to have been inventory clerk not the landlord.

Jowo_2

Acceptance of rent by the landlord creates a tenancy even in the absence of a signed contract. You are a tenant and therefore are subject to the usual rights and responsibilities of being a tenant, including paying rent. A landlord can give consent to an intermediary to sign the contract on their behalf, as far as I understand.

The inventory doesn't need to have been undertaken by an inventory clerk to be valid but it is recommended in order to prevent disputes from tenants. It's up to a judge to determine if its of any quality and whose version of events to believe during a tenant/landlord related case.

bitsandpieces

No expert - but I'd suspect that, as you've been paying rent for all this time, a tenancy will be in place even if the tenancy agreement was incorrectly signed.

In terms of heating - more than a week may be reasonable, depending on the circumstances (e.g. parts can take time to order...also, with the best will in the world, engineers will sometimes let you down ). You've been given electric heaters, at least. I suspect you could argue that it's the Landlord's responsibility to organise sorting this out - but, unless there's a strong reason why you can't handle this yourself, I'd imagine that it's in your interests to get it fixed ASAP rather than arguing the toss on this point.

clutton_2

its usually faster for the tenant to liasise with the gas engineer directly so that convenient appointments can be made..

your LL has provided alternative heating

you cannot withold rent - otherwise you can be evicted

you do have a tenancy - as you pay rent to live there, and no the contract is not void

unhappy123_2

Thanks all. Seems I don't have much of a leg to stand on.