Need landlord/tenant help

Georgecarol

I moved into a property in April with the understanding that the landlord knew the kitchen had to be renovated, (my porch is larger than my kitchen) and it still has not been done.
We rent through an agency and the landlord has no issues with this, it's the agent herself. There was a list of problems that we had been told about that still have not been resolved. I'm always the one that instigates the phone calls or conversation. I would like to add, that I do not call everyday, I'm not a nag, these are usually conversations when I pay my rent monthly. I have never received a courtesy call to ask if things are being done. She sends the workman over, he "looks" at things and measures up, never to be seen again. When he does come over, I don't have any notice, he just shows up at the door.
My issues are:
The fence panel which adjoins the neighbours is held up by the garbage cans as the cement block is broken. Leads to a busy road and I have young children.
My doors don't fit properly, my children's door catch freezes and locks them inside all the time, it has been "fixed" twice, still the same.
My children's bedroom windows don't have security locks on them, the rest of the house does, still not done.
The glass in the shed door is cracked badly, it has been suggested it be covered with a piece of wood.
The gas fire in the dining room is not hooked up and gets knocked over all the time by my 3 year old. This is the only heat in the back of the house.
There is no fire in my girls' bedroom and the fireplace is open, with the wind howling down the chimney.
The gas fire surround is not attached and keeps falling off when there is vibration from someone walking by.
Then there is my kitchen... This is a one person kitchen. It has 2 plugs, which means I have to run a power bar across the back of the stove for the kettle and toaster. The stove doesn't work properly, which has not been replaced yet as he would like to buy a full size one for the new kitchen!! There always seems to be some excuse as to what's holding it up. The kitchen designer is busy right now, oh, the kitchen designer quit and no one there can understand his plans we'll have to get someone else, yes, someone's figured them out and they're working on them, the pricing guy is on holiday...It never ends.
What my basic question is, for anyone that has got through this post so far, is, what are my rights? I would like to ask for a rent rebate, retro-active from when we moved in. I have been told to put it in a letter. The thing is, the landlord as I mentioned, has no problems doing it, it's the agent in question. As I only moved to the UK last year, I'm not too sure of what my rights are here.
I signed a general 6 month lease, which has the usual behaviour stuff in. I was thinking of calling someone in myself, it states any outside people, I have to pay for, so that's out. I would like to be able to compose a letter, stating my rights and if they're in breach of anything, I'd like to add that as well.
I hope that this thread is understandable:o Thank you.

clutton_2

if you get on with the landlord, why not write a nice letter to her directly, outlining all the above, and explain that the letting agent is a bit slow in organising these works. Presumably The landlord is paying good money to the agent for good management. this does not sound like good management to me - and so you might be doing the landlord a favour by telling her she is not getting good value for money.

What worries me the most is the gas fire issues - do you have a copy of a "landlord / Home owner gas safety record" sheet ? has a gas engineer ever been round and inspected these applicances ?

if not - this is breaking the law. Rented property has to have an annual gas safety inspection, and landlords can be prosecuted for not doing so. Let us know her answer to this, as this will tell us if the landlord and/or agent are trying to comply with the law, or just putting you off in the hope that you do not know your rights.

"She sends the workman over, he "looks" at things and measures up, never to be seen again. When he does come over, I don't have any notice, he just shows up at the door"

this, i am sorry to say, is pretty par for the course ! Most builders do that, and i always have to chase even my best builders for the quotes after they have visited the job.

Georgecarol

Unfortunately, I'm stuck with the agent as my landlord is stationed in Germany and I don't even have any contact info for him.
I don't have any gas safety info either. When I mentioned these things to my agent, she said she would send a gas man to look at them, but as the story goes, no one's been a knockin'.
My rent is due again next week and it's another month that's passed that nothing has been done. I need to decorate, this is on hold because I don't know at this stage what kind of renovations are going to be done as the landlord initially asked for 3 different sets of plans re the kitchen. I was hoping to get my son christened this summer, that's on hold as there is no way I can have family over with the kitchen the way it is, or even cook for that matter as the stove doesn't work properly and I'm using stove top, microwave and toaster oven, which, with the exception of the stove are all located in the dining room as there is no counter space to put them.
I'm dreading Christmas as there is no way I can cook a family dinner, never mind invite family over.
Is there nothing in the lanlord tenant act, (if you have one here) that stipulates about good faith agreements, or timely manner in fixing things.
Unfortunately for us, we paid a little over the odds rent wise as we had no credit references or landlord references as we re-located back into the country and they skipped the credit check because I have 2 other members of the family renting through them and haven't really had any problems. The only reason we took it as it was is because it was promised that the work would be done immediately, and living at my sister's house was driving both families a little crazy!!! This unfortunately is not in writing. Is it illegal to hold rent until the work is completed, or at least part of it? I don't know anything about the law here, if you could even steer me towards a site or place that I could find these things out. If they are in breach of any conditions, it just makes my case look a little stronger.

chatty123

i had a relative who rented a house that had certain safety issues. after months dealing with the same problems as yourself she eventually called her local fire staion and asked to speak to the safety officer. he told her they do safety checks on property with young children living in and are free of charge. to cut a long story short they found many problems i.e cooker not fixed to wall, exterior doors not opening easy enough, interior doors not fireproof etc. they draughted up alist of which was passed to the landlord and she was given a short length of time to deal with it and also told they would be inspecting all of her 92 proprties. they gave her the strict deadline and made a further date to return and check. eventually it worked.. so call them today. after all it will only cost you a phone call before a life..

clutton_2

with regards to the gas, you must write to the agent today, and say that they are in breach of the "Gas Safety (installation and use) Regulations" by not having done a Gas Safety Inspection, and by not having provided you with a current Landlords CORGI Certificate. Insist that a gas engineer comes and inspects and makes legal all gas equiopment in the house and provides a Certificate within 48 hours. Remind then that failure to do this will leave you no choice other than to contact Environmental Health Department at your local council.

Take a copy of the letter to the Environmental Health Officer of your local Council and let them advise you further.

"""The gas fire in the dining room is not hooked up and gets knocked over all the time by my 3 year old.""

This is an appallingly illegal situation for you to have young children in.

Ridoculous as it is, do not stop paying your rent, otherwise, they can get you out a lot faster if they choose to be uncooperative.

Chatty what a brilliant idea !!!

Georgecarol

Thanks for that, I'm going to call first thing in the morning to the fire department. I mainly worry about the bedroom windows that don't have safety locks on them. I have to keep them locked all the time as, unfortunately for me, my 3 year old is an extremely active boy and is a Houdini at getting out of places. When we first moved in, I found him precariously hanging out of the windows a couple of times, since then we've had to keep them locked, which is awful in the summer. The agent actually called me 2 weeks ago, the first time ever, only because I was so angry the last time I went in to pay the rent, that I blasted her about the fact that I never even get a courtesy call to see what's happening or keep me updated. She told me the window locks and windows were obsolete!!! They're UPVC double glazed, how obsolete can they be??? And who in their right mind would replace all of their windows and just leave 2 without the security locks? Even the bathroom has one and you can't get to that without scaling the sink!!
I just get so angry about it, I can't even open the fridge door fully as it hits the kitchen sink on the opposite wall!!! I feel that I have to do something now as we're stuck here. If we move, we have to come up with the moving costs. We've been in the UK less than a year, we don't have any credit rating, one agent did honestly tell us that even if we paid the 150 for the credit check, because of that we'd be immediately rejected. Stuck between a rock and a hard place as they say.
Will try the safety officer and get back to you guys, thanks a bunch

Sparky67

Re window locks - I'm not ue whether you can insist on these as there is a balancing act between securing small children in the house, and letting people out in the case of a fire.

Re landlord's details - you should have been served with a notice of your landlords name, sorry can't recall the name of the Act off the top of my head. It can be a separate notice, but if theyve used a standard draft tenancy agreement its usually hidden in the small print somewhere. If they don't serve the notice then technically they can't claim rent arrears from you.

You can issue court proceedings for disrepair (and could in certain circumstances withold rent as an offset).

My advice would be to seek proper legal advice. Try Shelter (very good website), or see if your area has a local welfare rights type service that deals with housing, or find a solicitor - check the Legal Services Commission website to find one with a franchise to deal with housing matters and you could qulify for public funding (legal aid). There are many solicitors that deal with disrepair type claims.

HTH

Mrs_pbradley936

"Unfortunately for us, we paid a little over the odds rent wise as we had no credit references " I think you have been taken advantage of. You are paying a higher than average rent for a shoddy, possibly dangerous place. We most certainly do have laws about this sort of thing and I think you should go along to the Council and make them aware of what you are telling us. Do not spend money on a solicitor when the Council can advise you.

Georgecarol

I have the landlord's name on my lease, but as I said, he's stationed in Germany with the army, I will have to look again, but I don't believe his address was on there. Esthetically, the house looks great. When I came to view it, I was informed of the door, the fence and the kitchen beforehand. I decided to take it because I was promised that the work would be done immediately. I look at other properties for rent, and not only do I see fully fitted kitchens, but conservatories and garages also, for the same rent, sometimes less than what we are paying, this is how I've judged the rent. I have also seen pictures of the insides and seen measurements. I realise that what looks good and what is functional are 2 different things. I'm taking on board everything that you guys are advising me, and my first step is to phone the fire department in the morning and get the safety officer out. I believe with the type of security windows we have, it shouldn't be an issue as they are the kind with the little catch on the side that you push to open the window wider in case of an emergency. We'll see how that goes and get back to you. I really appreciate the help. I was reading eagerlearner's thread earlier about her rent deposit and was really impressed with all the help going her way. Kudos everyone:T

megabroke99

hi,
Interesting post this , i,m very interested in the issue of gas safety as i work for goverment department that investigates incidents arising from gas issues.
Your landlord has to get the lanlord gas safety check carried without delay.
the penalties can be massive for them and god forbid if something wasnt right.
FEEL FREE TO PM ME IF YOU NEED HELP ON THIS SUBJECT. I will be more than happy to advise.

Megabroke99

Georgecarol

Hi everyone,
Well, thanks to you guys, I'm on the case. I called the fire department this morning and someone is coming out to check everything on Monday morning. Unfortunately, I can't ask my agent any gas questions as she's off sick today, but my rent is due on the 8th and I hope to have all this info together and in a letter by then.
I spoke with my sister about this, she rents with the same agent, and she is trying to talk me out of getting the inspection done. She seems to think that if I just state all my facts in a letter, it would have to then be forwarded to the landlord, and the issues should then be resolved as I don't believe he really knows what's going on. She feels that by getting this inspection done, it's going to open up Pandora's box and it won't ever be able to be closed. I understand where she's coming from, as she would also be worried about how this is going to affect the other members of my family who are with the same agent. My husband is also hemming and haahing because he's worried we're not going to have anywhere to live after this and we'll end up living back at my sister's again:o Maybe that's my sister's concern as well:p
I am going to go ahead with the inspection though and see what he has to say. These issues have to be resolved one way or another. I'll keep you updated. Thanks guys:cool: