Should pay the reduced rent this month?

benjii

Hi,

I’m renting a studio flat in London for £780 a month.

7 days ago we had a power cut, but the electricity is likely to be restored only today after 7 days of no electricity at all:mad:.

During this time the landlord liaised with the EDF who own the mains outside the property and it turned out the property had been incorrectly connected to the mains by my landlord’s contractors 2 years ago.

My rent for the coming month is due next week. My wife suggest that I should call the landlord and ask him if we can pay the reduced rent this month of £500 (instead of £780), whereas some of my colleagues at work suggest that I should charge the landlord £100 a day :eek: and ask him to agree to us not paying the rent at all.

Do you think it is a fair offer? We lost some food, had to buy a wind up lantern, candles etc (probably around £50 in total). We had no heating, no hot water. We were only able to use the gas hob to prepare the food.

I have a good relationship with the landlord :A and I don’t want to change that, but at the same time the property did not satisfy the standard requirements for 7 days now and I think some sort of compensation should be applied.

What do you think I should do? Is there perhaps any regulation specifying what to do?

N79

If the LL agrees with the rent reduction then fine, and there is no harm in asking. However, if they do not then you should pay all your rent. The LL has arranged for the problems to be fixed in a reasonable time (I doubt anyone could get EDF to move faster than 7 days) and you have no evidence that your LL has been negligent so you have no cause for any claim against your LL.

You should claim for the lost food etc from your contents insurer.

[Deleted User]

Consider whether its worth causing problems with the landlord.

U are talking about reducing the rent by 1/3.., when u still had a place to live in for the week u were without electricity, and it was only one week out of the month. I'd say that was a bit high. You'd probably have a better chance if u asked him for the additional costs u accrued as a result of the lack of electricity (£50).

neas

ws it landlords fault? :O

benjii

Neas: Yes, it was landlord's fault. The EDF said that rather than applying for a new service 2 years ago, the landlords' contractors connected the cables leading to the residential part of the building to the existring cables leading to the commercial part of the property.
The commercial part is also owned by our landlord but, according to the EDF, the new connection had to be registered with EDF and it was not.

Fire_Fox

You should have requested a reduction in rent at the time: you probably could have argued a flat without electricity is uninhabitable and got rehoused for the week. Any reduction in rent should be agreed in writing as otherwise on paper you will be in arrears, which could cause a problem if things go sour at the end of the tenancy.

PasturesNew

I'd say the landlord did his best. He probably didn't know what the contractors had done. He seems to have been proactive in getting to the bottom of it and rectifying the situation. £50 would be fair.

Cannon_Fodder

£50 for your extra expenditure and £50 for the hassle element, would seem fair.

£280 is more than a third, seems excessive.

Discuss it with him. Let him lead with a figure.

benjii

Guys,

Just to update you on the progress. The electricity has not been restored and we had another day in extremely cold temperatures.

The landlord does not answer the phone since yesterday evening and he does not reply to my text messages or voice mails.

The rent is due on Monday. I'm not paying him until the electricity is back. My patience seems to have run out. Also, when he eventually answers I will tell him that I suggest that we do not pay the rent at all for the coming month.

snapping_crocodile

benjii wrote: »

Guys,

Just to update you on the progress. The electricity has not been restored and we had another day in extremely cold temperatures.

The landlord does not answer the phone since yesterday evening and he does not reply to my text messages or voice mails.

The rent is due on Monday. I'm not paying him until the electricity is back. My patience seems to have run out. Also, when he eventually answers I will tell him that I suggest that we do not pay the rent at all for the coming month.

You should pay the rent as usual, becasue by not paying ret you are in breach of your tenancy contract. A landlord has to make reasonable efforts to rectify the problem and he seems to be doing so. It's not something he can sort out on his own. The house was still habitable in the time you haven't had any electricity for. As someone else has said the landlord may not have known what the contractors had done, and he is trying to sort it. By all means ask if he will reimburse you for the costs of the stuff you have had to buy, but dont with hold the rent as you will only create more problems as you will be in the wrong....and if you fail to pay the rent for two consequetive months, on a habitable property, the landlord will have grounds to evict you.

Fire_Fox

benjii wrote: »

Guys,

Just to update you on the progress. The electricity has not been restored and we had another day in extremely cold temperatures.

The landlord does not answer the phone since yesterday evening and he does not reply to my text messages or voice mails.

The rent is due on Monday. I'm not paying him until the electricity is back. My patience seems to have run out. Also, when he eventually answers I will tell him that I suggest that we do not pay the rent at all for the coming month.

Where do you live that it is "extremely cold" in the middle of March??

If you do not pay the rent you will be in breach of contract. Do not deal with the landlord by text or phone, send him a recorded delivery letter as you need a record of your attempts to report the problems to your landlord and a record of him either agreeing to sort the problems out of reduce your rent. You asked in the OP what the regulations specify you should do and the Shelter website is quite clear that tenants should communicate in writing.