Problem with shared rental

mintel_2

I am having a few problems in the rental house that I am living in at the minute. As I have said before the whole house is dirty. When I first viewed the house a fews things I was told about the house have turned out to be a lie.


One of the other people I live with I can hear him moaning about me to other people on the phone which upsets me alot. He also knocks on my door and sends me messages saying i owe him money which I do not. This person also plays very loud music alot I was told it was a very quiet house.
The house does not have any smoke alarms/detectors, I do not have access to the heating control switch so I cannot turn it on or off. It is locked in someone elses bedroom and is on a timer but there are times when it is not on they are not in and I am very cold.

The oven does not seem to get very hot, the microwave only works some times. It is also impossible to open the back gate as it seems to be jammed.

I am on a 6 month contract is there any way I can get out of it?

Fire_Fox

Are you using a different login or have you been PPR'd? This is your first post and you say "as I have said before ..." :huh:

Are you on a six month AST? Are you renting a room in a shared house (have your own tenancy agreement) or are you on a joint tenancy with the other occupants (all signed one tenancy agreement)? If doors are locked it sounds like a house of multiple occupancy - how many live in the house, are all the bedroom doors lockable and is the house registered as an HMO? Have you reported any of the problems with maintenance to the landlord? Have you reported any noise or safety issue to Environmental Health?

mintel_2

Sorry I put this into another forum and copied and pasted into here. It is the first time I have posted on this website. I am planning on going into the council to speak to someone there on thursday i believe it is open a bit later then as I work during the day.

i have my own tenancy agreement, there is 3 other people living here but they have this week had people to stay so during the past week 6 people have been living here.

I have a lock on my door but I'm not sure if it is a HMO. I have also not reported any problems to the landlord yet.

Fire_Fox

You can usually e-mail the council through their website about any issue you might have, this is preferable for both parties rather than traipsing up there only to find no staff are free to see you. This also means you form the start of a paper trail of your concerns.

Having people to stay for a few days is not the same as living in the house - presumably all the guests have their own homes to go to? If there are four permanent residents who are not part of the same household then IIRC the house is an HMO and your landlord needs a license. Not sure who deals with that in the council, contact the private lettings officer and find out what the regulations are. Suspect fire alarms, fire doors and fire escape will be in there somewhere.

You certainly do not have the right to extract yourself from this tenancy without taking steps to address the issues at hand. Would suggest your contact Environmental Health and the private lettings officer/ whoever licenses HMOs in your council and then get back to us here with the results. We can then talk you through reporting the problems to your landlord - possibly you can get out of the contract if it is indeed an unlicensed HMO but we need to know for sure.

ETA: HMOs appear to be under the Housing Standards team at my council.

mintel_2

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You can usually e-mail the council through their website about any issue you might have, this is preferable for both parties rather than traipsing up there only to find no staff are free to see you. This also means you form the start of a paper trail of your concerns.

Having people to stay for a few days is not the same as living in the house - presumably all the guests have their own homes to go to? If there are four permanent residents who are not part of the same household then IIRC the house is an HMO and your landlord needs a license. Not sure who deals with that in the council, contact the private lettings officer and find out what the regulations are. Suspect fire alarms, fire doors and fire escape will be in there somewhere.

You certainly do not have the right to extract yourself from this tenancy without taking steps to address the issues at hand. Would suggest your contact Environmental Health and the private lettings officer/ whoever licenses HMOs in your council and then get back to us here with the results. We can then talk you through reporting the problems to your landlord - possibly you can get out of the contract if it is indeed an unlicensed HMO but we need to know for sure.

ETA: HMOs appear to be under the Housing Standards team at my council.

Thank you for that information it is very kind of you and very helpful. I shall email the council tomorrow and will let you know how I get on.

mintel_2

Well I emailed the council twice and have not had a reply.

The person is still demanding money from me knocking on my door at night and I get messages to me phone whilst I am at work. Is there anything I can do about this eg. can I go to the police?