Need landlord/tenant help

clutton_2

george i have sent you a PM

Georgecarol

Well, we have an update, not much though and I don't know what that means for us.
The builder actually phoned when he was supposed to, and came around when he said he would, that was actually a first for us!!! I explained what had gone on so far, told him he was under no pressure, but how long is it going to take him to draw up the plans:p It didn't actually take him too long to visualise what needed doing and to start drawing what he proposed right there.
His suggestion is to leave the dining room alone, an extension is out of the question really as the neighbours glass conservatory has screwed that up, he measured up and said they're only 1/2" from being illegal, so it would'nt be feasible to do that, either the neighbours would be looking at a brick wall, or we'd be looking at each other through the glass. Bit rotten of them to do that, but what do you do???
His suggestion is, and this is the part that worries me, is to knock down the kitchen wall that adjoins the hallway, and bring that wall forward. Now the bottom of the stairs is in the way of that, so he suggests turning the stairs around so they go up from front to back instead!!!! Only to do that, it would be running into the toilet, so he suggests that the toilet be removed and one put into the bathroom,(separate rooms)!!!! In doing so, the bath would have to be moved, no issues there, he can get me a wider bath at the same time as ours is so narrow, you have to shower sideways and turn around halfway through:rolleyes:
Now all this, would definitely raise the price of the house and give us more room, and a bath I can squeeze my butt into, and the best part of it is, if the landlord accepts this and it's a go, he can start next month and have it finished before Xmas. Definite downside is, I can't even imagine the price of it all, as he's knocking down supporting wallls, he needs the metal beams, they cost a bit. Then there's the stairs, how long is it going to take to do the stairs, I have 3 kids and tha'ts unfortunately where the beds and the bathroom is!!!!
I have been scouring the ads and agencies, and nothing is coming up at all, if it is, as I've mentioned before, no kids, no DSS, no pets, no smokers, no one who actually has a life can apply:mad: , or it's just too expensive. We're paying 650 for this, and it seems the rents are getting higher. We don't claim benefits, just wages and tax credits, the usual. 650 may not seem high to a lot of you, as I've seen some of the rents in the cities, but we are not in a large city and it's quite hard to get a job that pays more than minimum wage as we are in a tourist area.
I had a rent assessor round from the council, and she said it's a fair rent for the area. We had someone around from housing and we scored really low points, which doesn't put us anywhere near the top of the list. Basically, it's clean, the roof doesn't leak, we have somewhere to cook, nothing's falling apart, and it looks good. So the kitchen is small, and there are some issues with the fires and the chimney not being capped, that's a landlord issue and I would have to deal with him!!!
So does anyone know how long it would take to take the stairs out and turn them around to face the other way???? I can live with the other things, that I can't live with, obviously. This may all be a moot point, my landlord may not go for it because of the cost, I can't even imagine how much it would be, but he said it wouldn't even come close to the cost of an extension which would be about 14000.
I haven't had any response from my rent reduction letter yet either, and I received the new 6 month lease last week. I don't know if I can say I'm not signing it until I get a rent reduction or not. Do I have to sign it? I think I would like to wait and see if there's a response from the landlord first. My rent's due again next week, so I'll have to wait and see if I find out by then, I'll let you know.

Georgecarol

Well, the agent has the info, but she was busy and couldn't get back to me today, so I don't know how much the quote is yet. Fingers crossed, I should be speaking with her tomorrow.

Georgecarol

Well, I spoke with the agent today. My landlord has received my rent reduction letter and is "pondering" it, and the manager was the one that received the quote and is calling the builder to clarify something, so don't know anything else. Hopefully I will by tomorrow.

clutton_2

this is very strange indeed - the original list of jobs which needed doing were a fairly long list of "bits and pieces" - now we seem to be in the realms of major refurbishment which will cost thousands and thousands and which will mean it is totally impractical for tenants to live there whilst it is being done. The landlord must be absolutely crazy to be employing an agent/builder who is suggesting this major major rebuild of a house, when it is simply not necessary.

Georgecarol

I know!!!!!
I just wanted a few things fixed and a bigger kitchen. It was promised and I didn't think it would be too much to ask. The agent isn't in today and my rent is due on Monday so I should find out more then. I'm hoping the landlord has finished "pondering" by then and I'll have an answer.
My biggest concern is that he's going to look at the quote and blow a gasket at the price. He's not a property investor, he's just a regular guy in the army renting out the house he bought, probably considering retiring into when he gets out. So, I'm expecting a big no, we'll see.

Georgecarol

Sorry I haven't been on to update, but I've had some dental problems the last couple of weeks and have found it easier to go to bed earlier and try to sleep through the pain, unfortunately, the dentist I recently found is also auditioning for the Laurence Olivier part in the new version of the Marathon Man;)
Anyhoo, spoke with my agent again re the renovations. She got the quote and the builder has listed these things that need the work.....

The stairs to be turned around, going from front to back instead of back to front.
Toilet wall to come down and toilet will be moved into the bathroom, to accomodate the stairs. New bathroom suite then fitted.
Main kitchen wall to come down and to be moved forward into the hallway, is a supporting wall and will need RSJ.
Kitchen/dining room wall will come down, also supporting, another RSJ, in its place there will be a half wall partition where the washer and dryer will go, breakfast bar on top.
Radiator to be looped and fitted into the dining room.
New carpetting on the stairs, new flooring for the kitchen, also new stove and cupboards, and new lighting.

The agent said she almost fell through the floor when she saw the quote, it came in at 5,260!!!! I was totally shocked, I though that was an excellent quote, she seemed to think it was a lot. I told her that when she wrote the covering letter to the landlord, she should explain why the extension isn't feasible, that the builder isn't really touching the dining room so there won't be a cost for removing the chimney breast as was suggested, and that it will bring up the value of the house way more than a measly 5 grand, am I wrong???
Of course, this still has to be ok'd by the landlord of course, and as he's still "pondering" my rent reduction letter, my hopes aren't too high. Then there's the fact that the builder stated he could have it all done by Xmas, but the fact we have all this to deal with for a few weeks and I have an overactive 3 year old, which when it comes to the stairs being done, I'm worried he's going to kill himself!!! Still no other properties on the horizon, I check the agencies every day. Latest one, really nice affordable 3 bedroom house, close to the schools, nice garden, cheaper council tax, oh yeah, ad stated no more than 2 children allowed Is that just crazy????? I just don't understand all the persnickety landlords that have all these rules and regulations like these. I understand that at the end of the day, it's their property, but you have to make allowances for people having to live a normal family life. Not all families with kids put holes in walls, have garbage-strewn gardens, wallpaper peeling and generally messy houses. We treat any house as if it were our own, we are quite house proud and decorate yearly. If small things need fixing, we usually do it ourselves, always have, and usually just save the big stuff for the landlords. We've always found it's much more appreciated, and easier to get things fixed that need a landlord's attention, as that makes us reliable, dependable tenants, and makes for a good landlord/tenant relationship. Yet, having 3 children, that's not to say I don't have to run around and clean up when I know someone's coming over, as there's always toys to trip over, and laundry shoved under someone's bed:o That is easily rectifiable at least we don't have to rearrange pictures to hide holes in the wall!!!!
Anyway, rant over, aybody know if this seems like a good quote? Doesn't seem like a lot of money to me anyway. The agent said she's get back to me as soon as she knows something. I didn't sign the lease, and totally forgot to mention it when I paid the rent as I've been on so much medication and still having pain, I've been a bit loopy:o Imagine my embarrassment when I paid the rent and had miscalculated and was a hundred short and made her count it again just to make sure:o I tell ya, I'm losing my mind, and it's not happening slowly:rotfl:

kittiwoz

clutton wrote:

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 ????

The house I'm in now has a hardwird smoke alarm. In my last house the landladly superglued the batteried into the smoke alarm in case anyone should be tempted to remove them and she replaced the all the alarms once a year. I thought that was a pretty good idea of hers. She was a lovely landlady. A rare thing it seems.

Georgecarol

Just here to update...........

No response from my landlord yet from my rent reduction/these are the issues with the house letter, which is now approximately 6 weeks that he's been "pondering" this. The quote was sent to him 2 weeks ago for the renovations, still no news on that either. Last time I called was Friday. The agent has said if she hasn't heard from him by Wednesday, she will call him and find out what's happening. I'm thinking it's not looking good for us.
Now we have a new problem, our heat isn't working properly. We had a guy out to bleed the rads, but he said they need flushing which is one of those I-only-came-out-to-check-the-problem-and-now-I-have-to-go-back-and-get-permission-to-do-it- jobs.:o There is also an issue with the water heater as the pilot keeps going out. You start filling the sink for the dishes and there's no hot water, so you have to run upstairs and turn the pilot on again, quite annoying. But, unfortunately, it's one of those waiting jobs, along with the heat in the back room and the new stove I need:mad: If the landlord ok's the renovations, the water heater will be gone from the bathroom and is going to be put into the kitchen instead, so I understand that they don't want to put out extra money for something that's going to be pulled out, but in the case of everything I have had a problem with, it's the same excuse. I really do understand, if it was my house, then I would say, that this work is getting done on this day, so I will put up with it til it was done, as I would not want to be spending extra money on it either. But this is now going on 7 months now and I don't have a date or a definite yes on anything and still no other house on the horizon. I would even bite the bullet and move into an apartment temporarily, but unfortunately around here, most of the apartments specify no children and the ones that don't, I would not even walk down the street with my children as they are major drug dealing areas, most of the dealing done so overtly on the street.
I'm really trying to stay calm throughout this whole thing, but it's just so frustrating, and quite depressing. I'm finding myself snapping at the kids for no reason whatsoever, it's not doing any of us any good.
Is there a specific time period that I should expect a response from the landlord about our letter and about the quote? I just don't want to keep harassing the agent all the time. She said I'd be the first to know, but it's almost November now and whether the landlord says yay or nay, I don't have a kitchen that I can cook a Christmas dinner in, nor a stove that I can put a turkey in, so not only has it ruined my summer christening plans (can't invite the family over when I can't cook for them and I certainly can't afford a takeout for everyone), it looks like it's also going to ruin my Christmas and New Year's plans Grrrrrr