Need landlord/tenant help

silvercar

unless it is a HMO, i dont think smoke alarms are compulsory. i have them in all my houses anyway, But some tenants take the batteries out !! what can i do ????

landlordzone has an agreement you can get the tenants to sign, that shows an awareness of smoke alarms and to keep the batteries in!

Georgecarol

I'm just wondering how much you want to stay in your place?

It's not really a case of wanting to stay in our place, we have no choice. We have to wait until something else comes on the books. We recently re-located back into the country, therefore, no credit and no rental references. We got a place with this agency without having any of these checks done because I have family members renting through them and they became my references, plus she knew we were both working.
I had thought of the inconvenience of everything, but I guess we were just so eager to move out of my sister's house as she has a small semi and there were 7 of us in there. She was sharing her son's bed and complained of her back all the time, my son was in our bed and he's a rotten sleeper!!! My girl's just had room for matresses squished together in the box room. My middle child doesn't get along with my nephew and my 3 year old is a screamer!!! There was also the fact my nephew is disabled and some days are worse for him than others. We were there for 6 months waiting for something to come up, so you can imagine we were running out the door as my sister was locking it behind us:p
There was another property we saw before this and it was all a go until they realised he'd taken the carpet up because he'd replaced the old one, but left nothing in it's place. After their requests for him to replace it and the threat of going to court, he trashed the place on the way out. She had told me that they couldn't rent the place out until the court proceedings were in place. After the problems with this place, I'd asked about it several times, even offering to decorate as long as they re-carpeted and was told she couldn't do that. When I paid the rent in August, I asked about it again as I'd noticed the 5foot high grass had been cut. I was told someone was moving into it:mad: That was like a slap in the face, as it was also 150 pound a month less rent and had a huge kitchen and living room.
Would I like to move, definitely, has she any properties to offer us, apparently not!!! There is one just around the corner that we may know about in a couple of weeks, but the advantage of this place is that it's a larger semi, we moved in with nothing really and bought the furniture for the house. The house she has coming up, looks a lot smaller, (from the outside anyway) and even though we don't have all kinds of furniture, we have a 3 piece suite that maybe wouldn't go into a smaller room, my computer desk is quite large and may not go into the corner, it's just not as easy as we think. It cost a lot of money for us to get beds and furniture together and I don't want to have to go out and refurnish with other items.
maybe that sounds a little petty, but we really don't have the money for things like that. Plus, then there's the moving costs, which I don't feel we should have to pay. The fact is as well, I'm not working at the moment as I'm waiting for an operation on my foot. When I get it done, I will be off my feet for 60 days, as I have arthritis in my wrists and hands, I can not use crutches, it would have to be a wheelchair. This place is not wheelchair friendly, and I will have to make sure the next place is as I don't really have much help outside the house, I can't just sit on my butt for 60 days and not do anything at all for the kids, my husband works 6 days a week, we would not be able to afford for him to take that time off work, I would have no choice but to still function for my kids.
Aaah, sorry, I'm rambling:o if anyone has any suggestions how I could get around the no credit thing for another agency, I'd love to hear it, I see property around here all the time. I was told by another agent that we could pay our 150 for the credit check, but we'd no doubt be turned down and lose our money, so we haven't even tried. I knew my rant about plastic money is the root of all evil would turn around and bite me in the !!! !!!;)

clutton_2

i attended my professional landlords bi-monthly meeting today and one of the local counci employees stood up for 10 minutes talking about all sorts of initatives that this councili is starting in conjunction with private landlords.

Each council offers different things depending on its own local housing stock and housing need, but, there are quite often things like "bond boards" which will help families who have no deposit and no months rent in advance to pay to a private landlord; there are schemes to re-house distressed and vulnerable families; there are schemes to help landlords upgrade poor property with loans and grants; there are schemes for free central heating for tenants in properties which dont have them - i cannot tell you what schemes are available in your area, but, i bet you anything you like that Shelter in your area will know. Being council, of course, there is lots of beauracracy to go with all this, but, it can be done. One of my tenants has just got all her new white goods from a local charity.

i sense this "moving" feels like a mountain almost impossible to climb for you, but, with some help, moving furniture which may or may not fit, will become but a tiny detail in the overall picture. There IS help out there, its just a matter of finding it, being persistent, and determined.

Please take this in the good spirit in which it is offered
bw

clutton

Georgecarol

Thanks Clutton, We have looked into the housing aspect before. Unfortunately, the way our council works is on the point system and you're banded. We would be in the bronze banding, which could take years to be housed anywhere else. My sister is gold banded and has been for several months as my nephew can't deal with the stairs on some days. She still has not been offered anything. We were told the only way they would find us a place is if we were homeless and in a shelter.
Our neighbours have 5 boys in a 3 bedroom semi, which is a council house, the youngest, who is 10 has to sleep in their room because one of them has ADHD and has to have his own bedroom. They have been on the list for 7 years. We have such a high homeless population unfortunately and a lack of housing. We are in a position to pay our own rent , that isn't the issue, it's being accepted by an agency or private landlord that is the issue. I have never had credit cards as I believe that if you can't afford it, don't buy it. Unfortunately, we live in a credit world where that will work against me. I don't have bad credit, I just don't have any at all. From speaking to other people about this, that is actually worse. If you have credit, even bad, institutions still offer you more credit, if you don't have any, they won't even look at you.
I'm calling my agent again tomorrow and asking her to forward my letter to the landlord. I feel very uncomfortable that she's sitting on it as it doesn't look like anything will come out of it. She asked me to put my requests in writing, so I did, now she's not happy??? My mom actually went in today to pay her rent and apparently asked what was going on. The agent claimed all the workmen are extremely busy right now and the manager still hasn't spoken with the guy who came around here, as he's going to be tearing a strip off him. This still does us no favours, the rest of the family has a good relationship with the agent and has never had any problems. On saying that, they've never had any big issues to worry about. I don't want to make waves for them, but all this is totally unacceptable. So I'll call tomorrow and ask her about the letter.
My sister seems to think that as we've now been paying rent and bills for over 6 months, we now have some credit. I can't see it, but I think I might make a few calls to some agencies tomorrow and ask what my chances are.

clairehi

Definitely make those calls! It doesnt matter whose fault it is, you are being taken for a ride here. And dont take the agents word for what has been going on here either.

If the situation is that grim, I cant see it getting sorted quickly and I think it is highly unlikely you will get a rebate. The agent seems to be playing for time but you have seen no action. Dont waste your breath on her, just cut your losses find a better place to live.

If you are both working, you must have payslips and could get employers references - surely that must help in establishing your financial position with other agencies.

If not, why not look at the small ads and consider renting privately directly from a landlord rather than through an agency. Also if there is any way you could pay a few months rent upfront that would help.

Georgecarol

So here's the latest in my saga.........

I called my agent on Monday to find out exactly where we are at this stage. She said the manager had torn a strip off the builder and the buikder had said that he couldn't do what I was asking of him. I said what, fix the doors, she said no, the plans for the kitchen. I told her he was contracted to bring in 3 plans, the first to use the existing kitchen as a utility room and use the dining room as the kitchen. The second, to knock out the dividing wall and make one big room, and the third for an extension. They were all supposed to have quotes attached. What he did was bring in a computer generated image of my existing kitchen with new cupboards!!!! She said that the builder had said that it wasn't feasible. Turning the dining room into a kitchen was not feasible because of the chimney breast, and the extension wasn't feasible, no reason given. I had then said that I didn't understand how he could say that the extension wasn't feasible as all the houses down the street had them. The houses either side of me have conservatories, not that I'm expecting that, I couldn't even imagine the cost of that.
She had mentioned previously that a man in their office was buying another house and putting his up for rent. She had talked to him about us, he seemed quite happy, but it wasn't set in stone and the closing wouldn't be for 2-3 months. She asked if we would be interested in looking at it as he just got back from his honeymoon. Sure!!!! She put me on hold and then came back on a few moments later and said unfortunately, the seller has pulled out and it's a no go:mad:
So....we're back to square 1 after 6 and a half months. On the upside, she has a new builder that she said is going to be calling me at the latest Friday, well, we've all heard that one before. Lo and behold, first thing this morning, I got the call. He's coming on Friday, taking all the measurements, and we'll take it from there. I'll let you know more then.
Oh, I did call other agents, not very promising. Hemming and hawing and not very certain, so I don't really know if I want to take the chance of applying for places and losing the money. Most places want to charge 75 per person.
There are also other setbacks to renting as well, I don't now if it's just this area or not. I see all kinds of 3 bedroom family homes, but they're being really picky, no smokers, no DSS, no children, no pets!!!! This I don't understand really, they're family homes, yet they don't want to rent to families. We're not on Dss, that's not an issue, yes, we smoke, but we could get away with that as we are back door smokers, not in the house. Can't hide the kids unfortunately, and did I mention 3 kids, who needs pets:p I just don't understand that at all, this is something we've never come across before. In Canada, it's illegal to advertise like that. landlords can advertise adult buildings, but legally can not turn children away. Obviously, the way around it is to accept the application and just not rent to them. I'm just amazed at it all. My agent did say that this is a good time of the year for people moving, so if something else does come up, she'll let us know, and she's forwarding the rent reduction letter to the landlord, so we'll see what comes back on that. Hopefully before the rent is due next.

Georgecarol

Just checking out other houses in our area again, don't give up me!!! I have a question if anyone has the answer to it anyway. I realise things are totally different here, but what we are used to when renting a house, is, the first and last months rent, so at the time we give notice, our last month is used. You can't ask for a security deposit or "key"money if you take the last months rent. here, it seems everyone is different. Some take a month as a deposit, some 2 weeks, this one takes 1 Months Rent in Advance & 1 Months Rent as Bond £130.00 Tenancy Fee & £50.00 Application Fee. What exactly is the tenancy fee, and why is it £130.00 ? If we were to apply for this house and get it, in total, we would have to have 1430 for the rent, 130 for the tenancy fee and 100 for the application fee as it is per person. Coming to a grand total of 1680. That's an awful lot of money when you look at it that way. Anyone have any answers?????

lazy_girl

Georgecarol wrote:

What exactly is the tenancy fee, and why is it £130.00 ? If we were to apply for this house and get it, in total, we would have to have 1430 for the rent, 130 for the tenancy fee and 100 for the application fee as it is per person. Coming to a grand total of 1680. That's an awful lot of money when you look at it that way. Anyone have any answers?????

Tenancy fee is an admin charge, it's a rip-off basically. As is the application fee, to be honest.

You're unlikely to find anywhere through an agency that is cheaper, those costs are pretty standard. If it is at all possible, i would stay with your current agency, they might waive the fees seeing as they already know you.

The first month's rent & the bond are non-negotiable, though.

clutton_2

George - please find out if there is a bond board, or tenants deposit loan scheme adminisgtered by, or known of, by your local council or Shelter, or borrow from mates, or sell something, or borrow money on your life assurance policy, or pawn something, but get out of that place, its doing your head in, and will only cause you more and more distress and stress. This landlord is clearly not going to change your kitchen (moving chimney breasts is HUGELY expensive now with building regs being what they are) - he will lose any profit he makes for months and months and months if he does it - and will he want to do that ? i doubt it. its time to move on .........

Georgecarol

Thanks Clutton. We had discussed the fact of moving being our best option, as even if the renovations go ahead in the next few weeks, we're going to have to deal with all of this in the winter weather. At least the summer, we could forgo a lot of the kitchen and barbecue, not the best time of the year to be doing that now.
The landlord has been the one saying that the kitchen needs renovating, the agent said money is not a problem, so it all depends on how much he wants to keep up the house. He bought almost 4 years ago, did a few upgrades himself, laminate flooring downstairs and new carpeting on the stairs and hallway and decorating. Not sure of how much that would have cost him, but as he's in the army, he's never lived in the property. He doesn't have to pay out to live anywhere else as he lives in barracks. We were told by neighbours that he got a good deal as a disabled woman lived here for years and had to sell quickly when she moved out. None of the handles have been moved either, we had to get them to take the lift out of the bath because I was worried my son would hurt himself on it.
So it's been rented for almost 4 years. We figured he must have brought in at least 30,000 in rent in that time, hardly paying out anything yet. The last family that lived here turned down the renovation, not sure why I'm assuming at this time, he must have some money to put back into the property. If he doesn't, the price is not going to stay at market value, it will depreciate rapidly.
Unfortunately, not too much in the area for houses, we're keeping our eyes peeled though and have been driving down different street when we go out looking for signs. I'm sure something will come up, I just don't fancy spending Christmas here.