Tenants Rights

lilacgirl_2

Hi,

I have had problems with my letting agent from day 1.

They had decorators come round to do a little painting and left a huge mess (this wouldnt normally have bothered me but i was 9 months pregnant). Then we had to show a surveyor round on behalf of the landlord then the agent request we allow potential buyers to view!!

I did put my foot down at this as having a little baby in the house and strangers coming in and out is not good!

I had my 4 month visit from the agent 2 months ago and she left with a list full of repairs, 2 months on and not one job has been done, i asked whether i could shorten my agreement but the landlord said a firm NO, so i promptly asked for the repairs seeing as im paying good money.

what i want to ask is what do i do next? it seems landlords asways win and im left stuck in a house for a further 6 months when its like living in faulty towers!!

repairs like:

no cold water from the bath, toilet doesnt flush properly, no light socket at all on the stairs landing, front door doesnt shut properly, laminate flooring not finished as it shows a large piece of broken concrete.

ooohh the list goes on, any advice please from anyone who has been successful getting out of a property?

Oh yeh my landlord works for the agent but in the sales part!!

Thanks Lilac

wifeforlife

Hey there Lilac

I'm a tenant myself although I have a great relationship with my landlord (no agent involved) but I went throught the CAB so follow the link, I hope it helps in some small way,


http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/family_parent/housing/disrepair_in_rented_accommodation.htm

Cath

Voyager2002

Firstly, talk to environmental health (part of your local council). They should write to the landlord telling them to do the repairs.

You could also write to the landlord explaining that because of the state of your property you are getting the "quiet enjoyment" of it to which you are entitled in return for your rent, and therefore are paying a reduced rent until such time as they do the repairs. Don't do this until they have heard from environmental health, and be prepared to justify the amount of the reduction (eg by calculating extra heating costs because of the poorly-fitting door).

Mrs_pbradley936

I would be screaming about this to the Council and if he finds a buyer refuse to move out until you have to.

tripled

If the landlord refuses to do urgent repair work you can have it done yourself and withold it from the rent, however none urgent work is trickier. I found refusing to pay the rent until the work is done has always worked well for me, but bear in mind if you do that the landlord could try to get you evicted if they are too tight to pay for repairs.

Gorgeous_George

lilacgirl wrote:

Hi,
repairs like:

no cold water from the bath, toilet doesnt flush properly, no light socket at all on the stairs landing, front door doesnt shut properly, laminate flooring not finished as it shows a large piece of broken concrete.
/QUOTE]

Bath tap is a small job. Non-urgent but LL should deal with this. He could do it himself in less than 30 minutes.

Toilet not flushing properly. Change your diet. Only joking. You could check that there isn't a 'hippo' gadget in the cistern and that he cistern fills correctly.

Light socket. I assume that there is no need for one. Must have been like this for years.

Front door. Depends on the problem. Is it made of wood and swollen with the damp weather? Or, does it not shut and therefore a security risk?

Laminate flooring. Just the LF would have stopped me renting the house. Its the artex of the new millenium. However, if it was like this when you moved in you should have agreed a date for it to be fixed before signing the tenancy agreement. If not, have you damaged it?

If I was your LL, I would send a plumber round to fix the bathroom problems (if I didn't have time to fix these faults myself).



GG