Renting a Lemon

Johncore

Hi,

My girlfriend and I have just moved into a flat which is turning out to be a nightmare. We moved in on Tuesday without me seeing it (I know, caveat emptor) and when my partner viewed it she missed some fairly important stuff.

No central heating
No boiler
Damp above the header tank
Mouldy bathrooms
Prepayment electric meter
Shoddy wiring all over

Etc etc, the crib sheet is 2 pages long. No inventory was carried out when we moved in. The management company acting as landlords have been pretty good about it, we had a boiler fitted yesterday and today we're getting 8 hours of handyman attention, but I still have some doubts.

Can storage heaters ever be economical and/or efficient? At the moment it's costing about £1/room/night, and the place is still freezing. Can central heating be installed in an electric-only building?

The prepayment meter, I called EON (the current suppliers) and they told me we'd have to wait 12 months to get a credit meter, so I switched to Southern Electric who said that they'd do it immediately after a credit check/charge/DD setup - have I been had? It seems like the previous tenants had outrageous debt, there are bailiffs letters and court summons going back to 2008, so I suppose my credit rating is shot now?

Not only that, the PPM is taking £6/wk standing charge for previous debt - eon say this will clear after we top up 3 times? Do we really have to pay someone else's debt for that time? Just this morning I put £5 on it and was rewarded with 65p of electricity..

The bathrooms are vile, our ensuite ceiling is about 50% covered in this brown-ish mould, as are the towel rail and the sealant on everything.

Now if nothing else, this is a lesson and a cautionary tale - never sign anything for a place you haven't seen. But the more pressing issue is that we have to spend a year here. How much of this is our landlord legally obliged to fix? Will it ever be habitable?

poppysarah

Did she get an EPC before signing for the property? Why didn't you view it too? Learn from that.

There's probably not much you can do - but report all the issues in writing to the landlord.

Ring the electricity company - get rid of ppm and don't be paying their debt! Did you take a reading when you moved in and rung them?

HappyMJ

Johncore wrote: »

Can storage heaters ever be economical and/or efficient? At the moment it's costing about £1/room/night, and the place is still freezing. Can central heating be installed in an electric-only building?

How much of this is our landlord legally obliged to fix? Will it ever be habitable?

Electric storage heating takes a lot to get used to. You will also need supplementary peak heating as they don't usually have enough charge for the evening.

I'd say you are doing quite well to get a handyman for 8 hours. Keep at it.

Habitable, yes. I think you mean the mouldy bathroom. You need to keep on top of that. Keep it dry, warm and ventilated. If all that fails then get a dehumidifier to help.

Next time give the girlfriend a checklist when viewing a flat.:)

Johncore

I couldn't view it due to work commitments, but it's a lesson well learnt.

What's an EPC? I rang eon and gave them a meter read, they told me "after I top up 3 times from the same shop" the meter will drop the debt charge. Until that happens it seems I have to pay their debt, it's either that or no electricity. Eon won't remove the PPM so I have to wait until SE take over in 4-6 weeks.

We're reporting everything in writing as we come across it.

HappyMJ

EPC=Energy Performance Certificate. A=Excellent G=Bad. Most houses are C, D or E.

poppysarah

Johncore wrote: »

I couldn't view it due to work commitments, but it's a lesson well learnt.

What's an EPC? I rang eon and gave them a meter read, they told me "after I top up 3 times from the same shop" the meter will drop the debt charge. Until that happens it seems I have to pay their debt, it's either that or no electricity. Eon won't remove the PPM so I have to wait until SE take over in 4-6 weeks.

We're reporting everything in writing as we come across it.

Change provider!

I'm pretty certain someone else will remove the meter.

Sounds like twaddle from them.

Johncore

Ahh, thanks. Could we get one carried out now at the landlord's expense, or should it be on file somewhere?

The PPM is my biggest concern, personally. I don't mind paying big amounts through DD that I can plan for, but we've been here 2 days and put £15 on the meter - there isn't even anything plugged in, we haven't unpacked, just the immersion heater and the storage heaters. Are they allowed to charge me someone else's debt like this, even if just for 3 top-ups? It's an absolute scandal.

Edit- thanks Sarah. We are changing, but the new provider said it would take 4-6 weeks until they have our account. Not looking forward to paying £8-9 per day in the meantime.

princeofpounds

No inventory was carried out when we moved in. The management company acting as landlords have been pretty good about it, we had a boiler fitted yesterday and today we're getting 8 hours of handyman attention, but I still have some doubts.

Complain in writing to the LL about everything. Take photos. You should do everything you can to record accurately the condition of the place. Although without an inventory they will find it hard to ever deduct anything from your deposit you should still make sure that you have an accurate record as you never know when it will be useful.

Can storage heaters ever be economical and/or efficient? At the moment it's costing about £1/room/night, and the place is still freezing. Can central heating be installed in an electric-only building?

No, storage heaters are generally horrible inefficient things. You can have central heating from an electric-fired immersion boiler, but I wouldn't think that would be economic either (though a lot more controllable)

The prepayment meter, I called EON (the current suppliers) and they told me we'd have to wait 12 months to get a credit meter, so I switched to Southern Electric who said that they'd do it immediately after a credit check/charge/DD setup - have I been had? It seems like the previous tenants had outrageous debt, there are bailiffs letters and court summons going back to 2008, so I suppose my credit rating is shot now?

No, a credit rating is linked to a person and an address, not an address, so unless you had any joint financial products with the delinquents you are very unlikely to have any general issues. The utilities companies however do of course know where they have installed prepayment meters and tend to stall on going back to credit systems as there is little benefit to them in doing so.

Not only that, the PPM is taking £6/wk standing charge for previous debt - eon say this will clear after we top up 3 times? Do we really have to pay someone else's debt for that time? Just this morning I put £5 on it and was rewarded with 65p of electricity..

I suspect you are not liable for this debt, but I also suspect that eon are not necessarily obliged to be your supplier. Visit the utilities board for more advice. There are probably procedures to deal with this but eon aren't going to tell you how as they are getting their money back.

The bathrooms are vile, our ensuite ceiling is about 50% covered in this brown-ish mould, as are the towel rail and the sealant on everything.

If this is a damp problem, consider calling environmental health from the local council in. This is what they are there for. They can inspect and issue legally-binding repairing orders. If it is just surface mould, request the LL to send a cleaner to deal with it, or clean it yourself.

Now if nothing else, this is a lesson and a cautionary tale - never sign anything for a place you haven't seen. But the more pressing issue is that we have to spend a year here. How much of this is our landlord legally obliged to fix? Will it ever be habitable?

No central heating
No boiler
Damp above the header tank
Mouldy bathrooms
Prepayment electric meter
Shoddy wiring all over

Your landlord is obligated to keep the property in a good state of repair under section 11 of the landlord and tenant act. He must do so within a reasonable amount of time (reasonable being defined by a judge ultimately, but use your common sense as to how quickly an owner-occupier would deal with a situation). He must also provide a source of hot water and heating, and failure to provide that can even escalate to the level of criminal offence. He has no liability to provide cleanliness (subject to health and safety) or cosmetic standards.

You have three main avenues to deal with the situation

1) Get the LL to repair everything. This is your first avenue. Complain in writing!
2) Enforce the tenant's right to repair under the procedure outlined in Lee Parker vs Izzet 1971 (google it for some history). Shelter provide a useful summary of the procedure:

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

3) Use the environmental health team. They assess a property under the housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS) and as I mentioned can issue repairing orders. That can cover anything from cold, to damp, to exposed wiring - normally if they spot one major problem they will be tough on the landlord to fix other more minor issues. This is one service you pay your council tax for! They can't make it a nice place to live but they can make it safer and healthier. Normally I would wanr landlord you are considering this but given the conditions are so bad you could just get on with doing it right away.

Finally, you can always try to negotiate release from the tenancy. At the moment you don't have too many obvious levers of power (failure to provide gas safety checks, failing HMO legislation, failure of landlord to declare property for tax purposes or failure to protect deposits are amongst the most useful) but perhaps the threat to get EH in would help concentrate minds. If you think of any avenues let us know.

poppysarah

Johncore wrote: »

Edit- thanks Sarah. We are changing, but the new provider said it would take 4-6 weeks until they have our account. Not looking forward to paying £8-9 per day in the meantime.

Do you have receipts for all you're spending?
Keep meter readings.
very annoying to have a ppm with debt and imo wrong of them to not sort it out. AFAIK companies have ways of dealing with this so you don't pay the debt but it's a long time since I've had to sort one out.


EPC is what the landlord should have for the property. Worth a look at one so you can see what it says and know what to look for next time.
A is excellent (and rarely seen) and further down the list it's worse... although obvious stuff like not having central heating should be down to you to spot or have it pointed out!

Johncore

Incredible post princeofpounds, thank you. The handyman is looking at the mould today, and if it's not just surface mould I'll consider the environmental health route. I clearly have some reading to do, all my previous tenancies have been smooth sailing so this is all uncharted waters for me.

Sarah - I rang eon this morning complaining and they've given me a code for credit to the value of what the meter is eating, it's placated me for now. They're telling me it should clear itself in the next day or two, time will tell.

Hammyman

Your credit rating will not be affected by the previous tenants. You can always file a notice of disassociation with the various credit agencies but the best thing you can do is get the electoral registrar phoned up, your names put on and the previous names removed.