Witholding rent due to bad repairs

MissMoneypenny

Landlords are meant to do certain checks on their property before a new tenant moves in and checking the boiler was working should have been one of the things they checked.

A couple of years ago I rented a property as a first time renter and the boiler wasn't working when we moved in. I never thought to check it when I was viewing the property as I didn't realise people would behave like that. It took the landlord two weeks to get the boiler working and get hot water into the house. Shelter advised me that this was too long to wait for a boiler to be repaired, so I negotiated a two week rent rebate with the landlord. If the landlord hadn't had agreed to this I would have taken him to court although it is always a lottery in court.

TBH, he doesn't sound like he is going to very good at doing his repairs if he waited that long for the boiler to be repaired. A decent landlord would have bought a boiler agreement. It might be worth spending a few extra pounds with your contents insurance by electing to take the optional extra *Legal Cover, but read the smallprint first to check that they don't exclude taking legal action against your landlord (if you have a problem landlord).

I found that the Lloyds TSB contents insurance Legal Cover exclusions, stated that they did not cover you for solicitors fees against your landlord. Saga stated they would give up to £50,000.00 legal cover if you needed to take your landlord to court.

Don't forget to use one of the cashbach sites to get cashback on your policy ie
www.topcashback.co.uk

*Legal Cover - An insurance you can add on to your house contents insurance policy (for a just a few pounds every year) that might cover you for solicitors fees if you need to take legal action against someone or to defend legal action against you. You need to get authorisation from your insuance company before appointing a solicitor.
Legal Cover limits vary from company to company.

Jowo_2

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

Landlords are meant to do certain checks on their property before a new tenant moves in and checking the boiler was working should have been one of the things they checked.

.

Landlords are obliged to provide a gas safety certificate and get this done on an annual basis.

However, its a safety check on the wiring and to ensure there are no leaks, etc, not a service that verifies that it is in working order.

There is no legal obligation for a landlord to get the boiler serviced on a regular basis but fairly daft if they don't as it can minimise future maintenance and safety problems. A good landlord should also check the heating/hot water at the outset of the tenancy.

Problem is, some previously working boilers aren't discovered to be faulty after being switched off over the summer until the winter weather kicks in.