Renting a Student House - Problem?

amber24_2

My daughter is renting a house with 3 other girls and are all starting their 3rd year at uni. They paid a deposit in January, started paying rent from 1 July and were only able to move in from 1 September.

They moved most of their belongings in on 1 September, but there were quite a few things not finished or right with the property eg. no hot water boiler working; new cooker had no supply connected yet ie. no socket; my daughters bed is broken (and potentially dangerous); each individual room has a lock on but the keys they were given did not unlock the doors; back door is rotten and has a big gap at the top (potential security issue as well as draughty!); filthy condition and clearly not cleaned ready for new tenant's arrival; workmen had left some tools in a room.

The girls did not stay longer than they had to and all went home for another week or so after reporting to the letting agency and one of their agents came round to look and made notes on 1 Sept. During the week that the girls were away, the landlady's contractor had access to finish off some work and my daughter's tv/dvd has been stolen from her bedroom, along with a dvd player and digibox belonging to other housemates.

We have informed the agency and reported it to the police, and I have written a letter of complaint to the agency requesting a refund of rent and payment for the tv/dvd along with numerous telephone calls/emails. I am now thinking of withholding rent for October in the hope that this will get them to sort things out.

Does anyone know if this would land us in trouble, or are we within our rights to do this, as the agency have not kept to their contract. Also, are they obliged to let us have details of the landlady?
Thanks.

Jowo_2

No, a breach by a landlord doesn't entitle a tenant to breach their contract back by witholding rent. The Shelter website has good info on how to get repairs done, and this does include a specific process of giving a deadline to a landlord to fix repairs, the tenant getting quotes done, and then witholding rent to pay for the repairs that the tenant arranges but this has to be followed to the letter.

Do the tenants have contents insurance?

yes, a letting agent is obliged to give the landlords address within 21 days of a written request (in England).

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/landlord's_address.htm

has a gas safety certificate been issued for the boiler and any other gas appliances, such as cooker or fire?

amber24_2

Hi Jowo,
Thanks for the info, I will have a look at the Shelter website.

Although, I had presumed that it would be the letting agency's responsibility to make sure these issues were resolved and quickly, now that it is 22nd September and rent has been paid in full and on time up till now.

I don't know about the other housemates, but our daughter's tv would be covered on our insurance. However, the excess is more than the cost of the replacement one. There are two reasons why her tv has been stolen - one is that someone had access to the house whilst the housemates were away. The second was that the lock on her room door isn't working properly - therefore more easy access.

The boiler has apparently been repaired (30 mins work) and the guy has left a sheet saying it is in working order but has ticked the 'not safe' box.

tbs624

Go straight to the local Council's Tenancy Relations Officer (private sector housing) They are always busy so your daughter will have to persist.

It's a criminal offence if the boiler and any gas appliances are not checked annually and a gas safety certificate issued.

Your daughter and housemates should have been shown the current GSC before signing for the tenancy: they should also have been shown a copy of the EPC (energy performance cert) Trading standards can fine the LL 200 quid if no EPC - I personally dont think EPCs are much use but it's all stuff to fling at the LA/LL

Have the Ts all paid a tenancy deposit and if yes, has the LL scheme registered it yet ? ( if property in Eng/Wales)

Check on the local Council website whether this property is an HMO and whether it should be licensed. There is mandatory licensing and then in some areas, additional and/or selective licensing.

Did the girls take photos btw?

Presumably your daughter hasn't gone via the Uni Accomms office for this property,as usually LLs whoa re listed there have to reach certain minimum standards. It will still be worth letting them know - this LL/LA may already be known to them.

Tempting thought it is do not withhold the rent. The girls only have to return the property in the same condition as when let to them,save for fair wear and tear, so they need to record the state with date stamped photos and with a written inventory, deciding whether to push for the LL to get it cleaned or tackle it themselves ( to their own standards) The LA/LL can be given a firm ultimatum on sorting out insecure doors, unsafe boilers, non-working cookers etc .

Yours is not the first studnet tale on here - it's that time of year when some LLs think that they can treat young people appallingly because they are new to the letting game.

NUS have guidelines on renting and there is also a useful "sticky " up at the top of this board.

Do keep us updated with what happens.

Jowo_2

amber24 wrote: »

The boiler has apparently been repaired (30 mins work) and the guy has left a sheet saying it is in working order but has ticked the 'not safe' box.

This is the law for landlord's as it relates to gas safety. Contact the environmental health department of the local council, asap. The tenants should not use the boiler in the meantime.

I'm surprised that the plumber did not disable the boiler or switch off the mains gas supply.

"About 30 people die every year in the UK through poorly installed or badly maintained gas appliances and flues resulting in deadly carbon monoxide poisoning. "

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/gas_safety.htm

dizziblonde

Jowo wrote: »

This is the law for landlord's as it relates to gas safety. Contact the environmental health department of the local council, asap. The tenants should not use the boiler in the meantime.

"About 30 people die every year in the UK through poorly installed or badly maintained gas appliances and flues resulting in deadly carbon monoxide poisoning. "

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/gas_safety.htm

Get the uni accomodation office in on this one - they'll jump to it the second carbon monoxide might be on the horizon - it's something they take incredibly seriously. We had a very close brush with it in our student house years ago - to the extent where we'd developed flu-symptoms and the guy who found the problems in the gas inspection went visibly white while doing it (probably fear of getting sued no doubt) and used the phrase "you'd have only had a couple more days"... uni bods moved incredibly fast and hard to back us up all the way without even being formally notified - I'd mentioned it in passing going for a job interview at the SU bar, bar manager had been straight on to welfare who were on the phone to me within 10 minutes of me getting back home that afternoon.

I'm now utterly obsessive over gas safety certificates when I rent - I'll let a heck of a lot slide by and get done over time - but I won't ever ever ever risk it with gas.

Jowo_2

dizziblonde wrote: »

Get the uni accomodation office in on this one - they'll jump to it the second carbon monoxide might be on the horizon - it's something they take incredibly seriously.

but is this something that all uni accommodation offices have the capacity and resources to do? perhaps they can offer temporary accommodation if they've got spare rooms in halls.

when I worked as a temp in a uni accommodation office (albeit 20 plus years ago so perhaps its changed) students in private accommodation were expected to resolve their own tenancy related issues and the office tended to give them info to direct them to CAB and Shelter.

princeofpounds

It is the landlord's responsibility to effect repairs, not the agent's, who acts only as a liaison and facilitator of the landlord's instructions.

If a tenant makes a written request to the agent for the landlord's name and address they have to reply within 21 days or they commit a criminal offence. The address can just be an address for service however. You might also be able to locate the landlord by paying 4 quid to view the land registry entry.

Make all complaints in writing, preferably recorded delivery, ASAP. Notifying the agent is the same as notifying the landlord, but it's hard to prove the clock started ticking without written evidence.

You have two routes to effect repairs. The first is to involve your council's tenancy relations officer and environmental health dept. They can inspect and issue binding repairing orders for health and safety-related matters (hot water, heating etc). The hot water and heating point is particularly interesting because it's one of the few areas where the landlord commits a criminal offence if no alternative source is provided in a reasonable amount of time.

The second is probably more applicable to much of your current situation. You use the procedure established in Lee-Parker vs Izzet 1971, which is essentially where a tenant takes matters into their own hands and deducts the value from future rent (NOT withholding current rent).

Shelter has a guide to the process, you must follow it as you may eventually have to defend yourself in front of a tenancy deposit arbitrator or judge, but if they see the evidence they will very much support you against a negligent landlord.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets

Usually just making the landlord aware you know your rights gets the process moving!

Shelter itself is a free source of advice, as is the student's union, as is CAB. Also here and landlordzone forums. And she might want to read Tessa Shepperton's online material on LL/T law too.

Get your daughter to educate herself through all this, should take max a day or two, and she will be equipped to rent for the next however many years. Unfortunately schools and unis aren't great at educating kids with real life skills like knowledge about accomodation, and most parents are either hopelessly ignorant or out of date.

Encourage your daughter to handle it herself. She is the tenant, this is part of the growing up process, but do act as a reference and a comfort if she needs it. No harm in getting her on here.

princeofpounds

when I worked as a temp in a uni accommodation office (albeit 20 plus years ago so perhaps its changed) students in private accommodation were expected to resolve their own tenancy related issues and the office tended to give them info to direct them to CAB and Shelter.

They probably won't do much except give a bit of generic advice and maybe communicate with the agent (a uni acc office blacklist is not good for an agent) but they are likely to be more involved if gas issues are there as it's not good press to see 'students die after reaching out to university for last-ditch help'!

Jowo_2

I think when I temped in a uni office, it was the early days around data protection and the HMO licencing had just been bought in following the death of a student in a fire.

We didn't have a blacklist as such (certainly not one that was shown to any students) but we did have a written file of reports completed by students who experienced issues relating to return of deposits, eviction and so on.

It was fairly depressing to see how a handful of the same landlords names regularly cropped up for many years across numerous of their properties across their portfolios and that they mainly belonged to the same small ethnic group (i know that this should be irrelevant but I assume that the reason why the majority of complaints related to them is that perhaps the majority of landlords in the local community were from this group because the only other (and more unpalatable conclusions) are that they had a disproportionate failure to attend to their obligations compared to other landlords or that students would kick up more of a fuss with a landlord of another race).

Hopefully the Scottish Landlord Registration scheme has meant a greater compliance with their obligations these days.

princeofpounds

I thought it would get a lot better on leaving university, but even with a bit of money in your pocket (and I probably got a graduate job in the top 5-10%, though in expensive London) you seem to be stuck in the bracket of landlords who just don't give a damn about the conditions their tenants are living in. It took a hefty pay rise beyond graduate level to bring me into accomodation that I would deem nice, though we all have different standards.

There's a bit of a black hole where landlords aren't forced to have minimum standards outside of a single bar radiator and a kettle for heating and hot water, and if anyone complains they can have them out in 6 months and get in a foreigner who doesn't know any better or an LHA claimant for the same money (if not more in the case of LHA, given that they pay the median rent for given size of property!). As a tenant you can't do anything because the 6 month window for retaliatory evictions acts as an almost total bar on asserting yourself to get better conditions, and you can't guarantee any payback in terms of time to benefit if you choose to invest in a property yourself.