no heating and landlord ignoring messages

RedBern

Hi,
I'm posting on behalf of my daughter who is flat sharing. They have had no heating now for 4 weeks, and have contacted the letting agent countless times. He promised a British Gas engineer would come out last Monday, she took a day off but no-one came, and BG won't speak to her as she's not the policy holder for the boiler insurance. The flat is very damp and she's worried about her clothes being damaged, as well as being freezing cold all the time.

She's only got the letting agent's first name, and a mobile number and contacted the local council last week who said they needed a full name. So she did a land charges search and gave them the name of the owner, but she's not convinced the council are too interested.

Any advice on where to start with this would be appreciated. Thanks.

firstaspect

If she doesn't have a full name and address for the landlord then the first thing she should do is stop paying rent as that is a legal requirement. If she then tries to call him and mentions this and that she won't be paying rent until the boiler is fixed and she has a full name/address of the landlord then it may make something happen quicker!

Generali

I'd stop paying immediately, then get a plumber out and pay myself and tell the landlord to take the money out of the deposit.

She'll get thrown out of the house when the tenancy is up as a result but she'll most likely get thrown out for asking for the LL's details so she won't have lost anything.

PS Sorry to hear you're a Man Utd fan. It must be a terrible drive up from Surrey with all the snow ;-)

shaven-monkey

The contract should contain at least the letting agent's address and probably the landlord's address.

Norman_Castle

Could you ask British Gas to contact the policy holder directly?. I would advise the letting agent that you will be seeking compensation, through the courts if necessary, for the ongoing lack of heating and that you will be repairing the heating yourself and recovering payment through your rent.

missile

I find it hard to believe she was not issued with a contract. It should have the required information. Perhaps whomever rented the flat she is sharing has misslaid it?

Accountant_Kerry

contact shelter, they will tell you the procedure for this type of thing, although i believe it involves getting a couple of quotes, getting it fixed and deducting the payment from the rent. good luck.

G_M

Here's the link to Shelter for repairs.

However the 1st point is: has the fault been reported IN WRITING?

If not, is this because your daughter did not know it should be (in which case now is a good time to write!) or because there is no address. As said above, the landlord's address (which may be c/o an agent) should be on the contract. If not, rent is not due. See here.

Given the weather, this is an emergency. If the landlord/agnt is not responding, call an engineer in, get it fixed, pay, and deduc from rent. However do everything possible (write, phone, text email - all of these) to advise the LL/agent of this intention before, during and after acting. See again the Shelter link.

RedBern

OK thanks for all your prompt responses. She's now located a copy of the tenancy agreement which shows a company as an owner with an address that is not specific to that company - not quite a PO box but similar. The letting agent she only has a christian name for, and a mobile number - no landline at all. She also has an e-mail address for him I believe.

She has now drafted a letter which she can send recorded delivery to the offices of the landlord, which is a start. She's itemised the various complaints they have made about the damp, and the dates they were notified about them. The damp has caused problems with internall doors not closing or sticking, and the floor lifting so she's included that in the letter. Ideally she and her friend would just like to cut their losses and leave the tenancy early (it's a 6 month which commenced in September) - and just find somewhere else to stay - winter has hardly started yet and they are cold and damp.

I've sent her the link to this so she can see all your responses and hopefully start to get a plan together - thanks again.

G_M

Good start. Good to include ALL problems and ALL previous reporting. I would also ask for the landlords intended timeframe for repairs.

However regarding the boiler, if phone/email does not get a satisfactory response immediately I would progress getting it fixed.

Might be worth googling the LL name and/or address etc and see if a phone number comes up.

LL can give any address, provided post reaches him, so PO box is acceptable.

Early termination of contract is not related to repairs so cannot be done without the LL's agreement.

Norman_Castle

If the landlord has boiler insurance why is the heating not being repaired?