Rent Reduction???

bluenoseneil

Hello all,

I need some advice, and hopefully there is a legal arm I can use to help this situation.

My 3 friends and I have been living in a rented house now since September 2009. This is through a letting agency, although we have also met the Landlord as he used to live at the house, and was there when we viewed it.

From the moment we have moved in there have been problems: overgrown garden, rat infestation, rotten door, broken beds, broken toilet, broken sink tap, and most of all a leaking roof....to name but a few issues.

The issues have all been (very SLOWLY) dealt with by the agency, the worst being the leaking roof which has just finally been repaired after 10 weeks...we have lost heat through the hole in the kitchen ceiling as a result and we feel it's a joke that we are having to foot the bill in heating our house to cover up for the problem.

We have lodged all of these grievances and requests for repairs in writing to the agency, and they have subsequently asked the Landlord and things have been sorted.

HOWEVER, I spoke to the Landlord at the beginning of this month and he was unaware of some of the problems - namely the severity of the leaking roof - and also about our repeated requests to reduce the rent for the property, as a result of all the problems/disruptions we have had.

Someone is lying here...either the Landlord is not being told everything or he is ignoring our request to reduce the rent. We have been on at the agency for months and they say they have had no response.

We are paying £1240 p/m in total for this house, not including what it costs to light and heat, so we feel a modest reduction in rent is only fair.

Is there ANYTHING we can do apart from repeatedly badgering the agency? At the moment we are getting nowhere.

clutton_2

you cannot insist on a rent reduction. if there are future issues i would write direct to the LL as it his legal responsibility - and if he is telling the truth that the agent is not passing on your repairs issues, then he will want to know...

Fire_Fox

Why on earth have we got so many new rent reduction threads? Welcome to MSE, bluenoseneil: if you run a search this query comes up on a daily basis.

BitterAndTwisted

Most agents do not undertake any repairs without the express permission from the landlord. This is because they rarely hold any of the landlord's monies in order to undertake them. Ergo, I believe your landlord is most probably being disingenuous about not being informed of the problems with the property by the agents.

Your best route is to continue write to the agents about any ongoing issues and send a copy to the landlord at the same time, ensuring you send all correspondence by Recorded Delivery.

I don't understand why you are complaining about an overgrown garden unless there is mention in your tenancy agreement that the landlord will maintain it themselves as I suspect it was already overgrown when you signed the agreement. Some of the other things you complain of, like the rotten door should have been apparent when you viewed the property, no?

As has been mentioned already, you cannot make any deductions from your rent for any of the deficiencies with the property as there are strict procedures to adhere to before you are able to do this.

You can ask the landlord for a rent-reduction until the repairs are properly carried out but that's all it is: a request. In return to your request you could find in return your landlord may issue you with a Notice to Quit at the end of your tenancy agreement. It all depends on whether you all want to take that risk.....

clutton_2

""roof which has just finally been repaired after 10 weeks...""

with the current awful wintry conditions many roofers simply will not go aloft for health and safety reasons.. and who could blame them....

jamesb1239

clutton wrote: »

""roof which has just finally been repaired after 10 weeks...""

with the current awful wintry conditions many roofers simply will not go aloft for health and safety reasons.. and who could blame them....

And I dont blame them! but we did have some brave roofers here in the snow the week before christmas, 4" snow on the roof and blizzards and they came and fixed!

As for the rent reduction all you can do is ask, but the landlord is not obliged to comply, and 10 weeks isnt much to wait for a leaky roof and i doubt that you would have lost much heat through it

BitterAndTwisted

Rat infestation: there have been a large number of threads started recently about burst pipes in rented accommodation because of the extraordinarily bitter, wintry weather of late and I figured it was only a matter of time before we started seeing a fair few threads about rat and mouse infestations. Rodents are pretty intelligent and will inevitably seek warm and dry quarters inside once the outside becomes less and less congenial.

The OP's rat-infestation problem may not be entirely the fault of the landlord. It's the devil of a job to prevent ingress as there are rodents everywhere outside, especially if there are building-works going on locally or the neighbours aren't dealing with the issue adequately.

bluenoseneil

Thanks for all your replies so far.

A few things to clear up:

(1) The roof leaking was a result of bad repairs, and there was actually a hole that leaked through into the kitchen and made the ceiling bulge. We were advised by the agents to poke a hole in the ceiling to let the water flow. That then left a substantial hole (6-8") directly through the celing to the outside. So YES we were losing heat through the hole, and it took 10 weeks from when the leak occurred to them repairing it. Also, it wasn't that rainy/cold during October where we are, so even if you allow a few weeks for the area to dry out, it is still a long time to wait.

(2) The garden. We were told by the Landlord directly it would be cleared before we moved in. It wasn't, and that's partly to blame for the rat infestation. We had Environmental Health in and it's now cleared, so it's less of an issue.

(3) Regarding communicating with the Landlord directly, despite the fact that it HAS happened - as he lived there before us, gave me his mobile number AND added me and my housemates on Facebook!! - the agency actually told us off for speaking to him as they are being paid to manage the property, and we shouldn't be verbally agreeing anything or complaining to him because he is paying THEM to do everything. Why then is he unaware of the issues? If you were a Landlord and had a leaky roof that could further damage the property - and your chances of renting next year, cos we sure as hell won't be living there!! - wouldn't you get it fixed immediately to avoid further costs? He said as much to me, which suggests the agency are not on the ball with informing him.

Admittedly the Landlord is somewhat of a drip and I think he is more worried about his income from the rent than anything else - no surprise there...I rent a flat out myself and as long as the money's coming in and the flat isn't falling down, I couldn't care about the rest!! The DIFFERENCE is, my house isn't a dump and doesn't have structural issues (the roof, and the rotten doors, which were CAUSED by the roof leak, incidentally).

There must be more I can do, because politely asking is getting us nowhere. There must be some kind of legal recourse, as we think £310 pcm EACH for 4 people for a house that's falling apart around us is unacceptable, and so is being woken up every morning by roofing contractors at 7.30am to do repairs that SHOULD have been sorted fully during Summer 2009, as agreed by the Landlord and the agency.

Fire_Fox

bluenoseneil wrote: »

There must be more I can do, because politely asking is getting us nowhere. There must be some kind of legal recourse, as we think £310 pcm EACH for 4 people for a house that's falling apart around us is unacceptable, and so is being woken up every morning by roofing contractors at 7.30am to do repairs that SHOULD have been sorted fully during Summer 2009, as agreed by the Landlord and the agency.

There is something you can do but it's not rent reduction. I am going to give you the same advice that is in every other thread on this topic. All problems should be reported directly to the landlord in writing by recorded delivery; if you then believe the house is not safe or healthy or the landlord is failing in his repairing obligations you can ask Environmental Health to intervene.

bluenoseneil

Firefox,

I don't have an address for the landlord but I can e-mail him ALL of the e-mails I have sent to the agency with Read Receipts on them, so he is fully aware of the trail.

I am not sure what this will achieve, though.

The Landlord is under obligation to keep the property in a habitable state of repair....which technically it is. We in turn are the tidiest house you could wish for (considering I live with 3 lads who are students!!)

It's hard to see what else can be done, although ideally we want to recoup some of the cost of heating the house over November/December as a result of the roof having a hole in it (NOT our fault) and a modest gesture in the reduction of the rent to show that the Landlord is accepting of the fact we have had issues, none of which were of our own doing.

I think this is fair!!

BitterAndTwisted

The alleged issues about lack of communication between landlord and letting agent are not yours to resolve. This is why I suggested you write to both the LL and the LA by recorded delivery at the same time.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the delay in addressing the repair issues might be a consequence of your landlord not being able to afford to undertake repairs. I would be worried about your landlord either not having Consent To Let from his lender or not having adequate insurance in place.