Help - we're renting a death trap!

Lubielu

Any advice please? We are renting a house privately and today came downstairs to find we had no electricity in the downstairs and upstairs rear extension. This means both our kitchen and our son's bedroom have no electricity. The electrician who inspected today has left us a report that says the wiring in the house is "at risk". The main problems are that the wiring is not earthed and there is no ring circuit.

The electrician explained that the lack of earthing could mean that we could be electrocuted. We have a toddler and have another baby in the house daily as well, so as you can imagine this is a pretty scary thing to be told. The house is generally in quite bad condition and the landlord seems to have done all upgrades themselves - the electrician said the wiring is one of the worst bodge jobs he has ever seen.

Our lease says that the landlord has to take reasonable steps that are necessary to comply with the electrical regulations. They have clearly breached this and we would ideally like to move out and get the landlady to pay for alternative accommodation - the electrician says the kitchen wiring will have to be entirely replaced and in the meantime we don't have any cooking, laundry facilities and our son's room has no heating.

Any advice as to what our options are, would be really appreciated. For example:

-Can we terminate the lease and move out?
-OR Can we move out and get the landlady to pay for alternative accommodation while the work is done?
-Any other remedies we should be aware of?

Thank you everyone!

PasturesNew

Get onto the Landlord, in writing - they have a legal duty to ensure the electricity is safe.

It happened to this lady: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5779475/Young-mother-electrocuted-by-bath-taps.html

princeofpounds

-Can we terminate the lease and move out?

No.

-OR Can we move out and get the landlady to pay for alternative accommodation while the work is done?

Only if the house is genuinely uninhabitable.

-Any other remedies we should be aware of?

Yes. You should in this situation contact your council's environmental health team. They will perform an HHSRS inspection and issue repairing orders. These carry legal force and the council will prosecute the landlord if necessary.

They can also confirm if the house is so dangerous it is uninhabitable or not.

G_M

Agree with the above. However I would give the LL the opportunity to (immediately) remedy the situation before going to EH.

Write to the landlord, enclosing a copy of the report, asking that the wiring be made safe by a qualified electrician within the next few days. Ask the LL to respond to you, with his plans for this, by, say, 2 days from receipt of the letter. Tell him if you have not heard by then, you will refer the matter to Environmental Health Dept and/or the Health & Safety Executive.

If you want to terminate your contract, you could request this at the same time, but you'll need the LL's agreement. How soon do you want this? If he responds with "Yes I agree to mutual early surrender of the tenancy as of tomorrow" - do you have somewhere to go?

If you do NOT want to end the tenancy, bear in mind that, if you have passed the fixed term and are now in a periodic tenancy, the LL might give you 2 months Notice. You are causing him expense and threatening him. Whilst I don't blame you for this, it won't make for friendly relations!

samroo

The info you have been given about the electrics is obviously very worrying. But heating is surely not relevant. It's June. Unless you're in scotland!

Lubielu

The info you have been given about the electrics is obviously very worrying. But heating is surely not relevant. It's June. Unless you're in scotland!

Oh sorry I meant to type no electricity in our son's room. Thanks for all replies so far. We have now sent a PDF of the report to the landlady with a request for her to contact us today to confirm how she will get the problems resolved. Let's see what she says. If she is unwilling then a referral to EH&S it is.

Thanks everyone.