Landlord gone AWOL

abc1989

Hi,
Im posting this on behalf of someone I know (don't have the internet)

The Tenant (One adult and Two children) boiler broke 3 weeks ago and have had no heating and no hot water since. They have tried ringing the landlord but it is going straight to voicemail.

Tenant decided to replace the boiler by a Gas Safe registered engineer, She has kept all the boiler parts including pipe works and the old boiler its self also kept all receipts .

A few days ago, the LL's son came round and explained that his dad has gone to dubai for 8 weeks on important business and that is why Tenant couldnt get in touch.

Now Tenant has to wait 2 weeks for a "okay, we will give you your money back" LL's son said hes 97% cert. that his dad will give Tenants money back.

Shes going the CAB on Wednesday to find out whats what.

BitterAndTwisted

Your friends will discover that there are very specific procedures which they should have followed. I sincerely hope that the landlord will do the right thing by your friends and reimburse them.

See the Shelter site for guidance on the correct route to getting repairs done.

G_M

What the tenant SHOULD have done is here.

A decent LL in this situation (AWOL for 8 weeks, boiler breakdown in winter) should re-imburse however.

Tenant COULD argue that an overseas LL has to provide an address in England/Wales, but presumably there IS an address and the absence was temporary, so relying on this legislation is dubious. A moral argument though that LL should have provided an altrnative contact ie the son.

princeofpounds

The shelter link you have been given is the correct procedure.

However, I suspect that if the money was not returned you would still be able to successfully sue the landlord for it.

Three weeks in winter is certainly a long enough period to be 'reasonable' in terms of speed of repair to my mind. Although under the procedure you are meant to write to the LL, this is really for the purpose of evidence that you tried to contact him and offer a spread of quotes - you should be able to establish from phone records that you did the former, and the latter really only matters if you overpaid.

Judges are reasonable people and they will not let the landlord off his repairing obligation, so he would need to prove that the work was done with unreasonable speed (it was not) or unreasonable cost (which is probably not the case either).

At most he could demonstrate that you spent too much, in which case you would likely only be awarded the amount it should have cost.

abc1989

princeofpounds wrote: »

The shelter link you have been given is the correct procedure.

However, I suspect that if the money was not returned you would still be able to successfully sue the landlord for it.

Three weeks in winter is certainly a long enough period to be 'reasonable' in terms of speed of repair to my mind. Although under the procedure you are meant to write to the LL, this is really for the purpose of evidence that you tried to contact him and offer a spread of quotes - you should be able to establish from phone records that you did the former, and the latter really only matters if you overpaid.

Judges are reasonable people and they will not let the landlord off his repairing obligation, so he would need to prove that the work was done with unreasonable speed (it was not) or unreasonable cost (which is probably not the case either).

At most he could demonstrate that you spent too much, in which case you would likely only be awarded the amount it should have cost.

She had wrote two letters sent to the address that is shown on the tenacy agreement - She has provided all call records from her telephone number to his own.

and luckly her ex partner is the Gas Safe registered engineer and he hasnt charged for fitting...a whole new boiler for just under £400. so the LL cant argue with that. She has kept all costs down to a min.

Thanks for the advice...I shall pass it on :j

G_M

The ex-partner should charge a going rate for his time. Whether she actually pays this, now, is up to her and the ex, but the LL should be charged it and the ex-partner receive it in due course.

No reason why he should be out of pocket.

paul1964_2

abc1989 wrote: »

and luckly her ex partner is the Gas Safe registered engineer and he hasnt charged for fitting...a whole new boiler for just under £400. so the LL cant argue with that. She has kept all costs down to a min.

If the LL refuses to pay up, your friend could tell him that she will loan him the new boiler until the Spring, when she will have the old boiler reinstated and request that the LL sorts it out.

BitterAndTwisted

No, RENT it to him at £200 a month!