Student house problems :( tenancy rights?

Mankysteve

If you've got damp contact environmental health, How big is the house?

Does it have fully fitted fire alarm fire doors, lights ect?

Is your deposit protected?

If it has gas heating do you have a safety certificates, do you have a electric safety certificates?

Had friend in a rented house that was horrible if not very nice ll she just moved out and stoped paying rent lost her deposit though, note this is not a legal way to go about it but if you got plenty of Stuff against the LL it may be option

AnxiousMum

The damp can cause you lots of problems - with the damp comes black mould - and black mould is responsible for many health issues, including the onset of asthma. If you go to your student union, you may find that they have a housing and/or legal team that might be of some assistance to you. You need to make sure that your health is properly looked after, and subjecting yourself to damp/mould is not a good thing!

jbreckmckye

life_nit wrote: »

Hi all,

This is not related to saving, but i just need to get advice from someone in the know ASAP.

Firstly i left finding accomodation late, and had to move into a room i got offered and did not manage to have a look around, but i was told by a housemate i was in contact with that the house was 'nice' (how wrong she was).

Moved in 2 days ago and my bedroom has damp on the ceilings, the window is single glazed and rotted around the frame, the carpet is dirty and the hoover supplied does not work. I'm cold at night, and the people im living with, who i don't know well said they don't want the heating on unless i pay for it all, because they dont think its cold enough. Also the contract i signed said it was furnished and it does not have a desk or chair supplied, so im having to do all my work in a library. I'm thinking of buying a portable heater and hoover myself, but i dont feel i should have to buy a desk and chair at all.

Anyway i have spoken to the landlord multiple times, and i don't think he has any intention about sorting this immediately and just won't do anything.

I'm having a miserable experience at the moment, and i just need to be comfortable at night the most really.

Can someone tell me if i can contact an organisation about tenancy rights or something please, i have never been in this situation before and i don't want to tell my mum, because she will just worry about me.

Thanks all.

My suggestion is simple.

Move out. Hand in your tenancy notice and move right out when it closes. You'll never get anything back for the lack of furniture, nor is your Landlord able to step into your impasse with your neighbours. Find something else and make sure you *thoroughly* check it out this time. Don't tell your housemates about it until the last minute, or else there might be drama.

And don't take 'no' for an answer when it comes to recovering your deposit.

mumps

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I'm not talking about in the evening when someone is in their room studying but at night when they're in bed. Many people with decent incomes don't run their heating at night, however cold the weather, much less in late September/early October.

I don't know if she meant all night but the people my daughter were sharing with wouldn't have the heating on at all in October or November. The house was damp and the cellar door wouldn't close and as the cellar was flooded you can probably imagine how cold it was. After lots of arguments they agreed to have the heating on for one hour a day. My daughter moved out and then found out that most, if not all, the others had electric heaters in their rooms so she was freezing but ended up paying lots of electric. It would have been cheaper to have the central heating on. She moved into a nice flat with a non student. It cost us but was worth it. Fingers crossed this year seems to be going OK with reasonable agreement on heating. I understand worries about bills but it is no good everyone being ill.

melancholly

mumps wrote: »

I don't know if she meant all night but the people my daughter were sharing with wouldn't have the heating on at all in October or November. The house was damp and the cellar door wouldn't close and as the cellar was flooded you can probably imagine how cold it was. After lots of arguments they agreed to have the heating on for one hour a day. My daughter moved out and then found out that most, if not all, the others had electric heaters in their rooms so she was freezing but ended up paying lots of electric. It would have been cheaper to have the central heating on. She moved into a nice flat with a non student. It cost us but was worth it. Fingers crossed this year seems to be going OK with reasonable agreement on heating. I understand worries about bills but it is no good everyone being ill.

i've been on the other side of it, where i didn't have much money and someone wanted to be able to walk around in a t shirt all day so put the heating on constantly.... then we all had to split the bill! or someone who put the heating on to dry clothes, then went out and left the house hot all day because using the timer was too complicated!

if only one person is cold all the time, then it's difficult, but part of being a student is learning about these types of things. how to share in a house and compromise (and how to convince other people of things too!) is important.

i'm glad your daughter isn't in a place where she will be sick, but for most people saying it's too cold, the option of a blanket in bed, or a dressing gown over clothes can work. there are plenty of people who aren't students who simply can't afford to have the heating on already..... and they don't have parents who can help out....

tbs624

life_nit wrote: »

Hi all,

This is not related to saving, but i just need to get advice from someone in the know ASAP.

Firstly i left finding accomodation late, and had to move into a room i got offered and did not manage to have a look around, but i was told by a housemate i was in contact with that the house was 'nice' (how wrong she was).

Moved in 2 days ago and my bedroom has damp on the ceilings, the window is single glazed and rotted around the frame, the carpet is dirty and the hoover supplied does not work. I'm cold at night, and the people im living with, who i don't know well said they don't want the heating on unless i pay for it all, because they dont think its cold enough. Also the contract i signed said it was furnished and it does not have a desk or chair supplied, so im having to do all my work in a library. I'm thinking of buying a portable heater and hoover myself, but i dont feel i should have to buy a desk and chair at all.

Anyway i have spoken to the landlord multiple times, and i don't think he has any intention about sorting this immediately and just won't do anything.

I'm having a miserable experience at the moment, and i just need to be comfortable at night the most really.

Can someone tell me if i can contact an organisation about tenancy rights or something please, i have never been in this situation before and i don't want to tell my mum, because she will just worry about me.

Thanks all.

Your local Council should have a private sector housing officer - may be called a Landlord Liaison Officer/Tenancy Relations Officer. They can help you with this. Your Uni Accoms Officer may be able to give you some guidance even if the property was not sourced via them.

*All* repairs issues should be put in writing to the LL, with a copy kept. The TRO and/or the Council's Env Health Officer can arrange for the property to be assessed under the HHSRS (housing health and safety rating system) LLs have very specific repairing obligations under the LL&T Act 1985, s11.

Check also whether this property should be, and is, registered as an HMO.

You mention later on about "taping up" gaps in the windows in your room - what do you need to understand is that lack of adequate heating and no ventilation, combined with the moisture that we all produce just by normal living, is a recipe for a worsening of the damp/mould issues.

Did you note the dirty carpet etc on any inventory supplied to you?
You are only obliged to return the property in the same condition as when let to you, save for an allowance for "fair wear and tear". Hire a carpet cleaner and make the carpet more acceptable to you/put a cheap rug over it.

If the hoover is not working then this too should have been noted. The LL is obliged to check that all electrical items are in safe working order.

Invest in thermal underwear and check out charity shops/jumble sales for some thicker curtains (keep the LLs curtains to replace again when you move out). You can also look at using old blankets as extra lining for the existing curtains - use a spring-loaded adjustable pole (around 10 quid) to fit in window recess at night. Elec blankets don't cost much to run. Hot water bottles?

The word "furnished" has no set definition and most LLs letting to students *would* supply a desk and chair - however, if you don't check what's included before signing up you can't really complain on that score. Check out freecycle/freegle or put a "wanted" ad up locally.

Things always seem worse in the first couple of days but get to know your housemates and, as someone else has said, be glad that you are not sharing with spendthrifts who are so used to the bank of mum and dad that they rack up massive bills for everyone.

mumps

melancholly wrote: »

i've been on the other side of it, where i didn't have much money and someone wanted to be able to walk around in a t shirt all day so put the heating on constantly.... then we all had to split the bill! or someone who put the heating on to dry clothes, then went out and left the house hot all day because using the timer was too complicated!

if only one person is cold all the time, then it's difficult, but part of being a student is learning about these types of things. how to share in a house and compromise (and how to convince other people of things too!) is important.

i'm glad your daughter isn't in a place where she will be sick, but for most people saying it's too cold, the option of a blanket in bed, or a dressing gown over clothes can work. there are plenty of people who aren't students who simply can't afford to have the heating on already..... and they don't have parents who can help out....

I understand being short of money, believe me as a mom at 17 and mom of 2 with a mortgage before i was 21 I am an expert at managing.

In my daughters house it wasn't a case of one person being cold, it was my daughter saying its cold lets put the central heating on to take the chill off and four possibly five people saying no and then going off to their rooms where they were using electric heaters. She then had to contribute to a massive electric bill when it would have cheaper to use the central heating and they could all have had a reasonable environment. Believe me I have never been in such a cold damp house. I don't think it would have possible to have it warm enough to walk round in a tee shirt in December.

zyxd58

The landlord must sort out any damp(patches on the walls/roof), mould and any rot around the window! The furnishings he does not.

I had a friend in a similar situation, private landlord, gap around the window, she went to the council and the landlord was ordered to repair and compensate.

If worst comes to the worst she could live there until the turnover of the next lease month, have somewhere to move into the day after and not pay that months rent - effectively voiding the deposit :rotfl: