Who pays for smashed window after buglary, landlord or tenant?

bella4uk

I am a tenant in a privately rented house, on Friday theives smashed window and stole from my property.
I asked the landlord on saturday morning to get someone out asap to repair window. His response was it's Saturday, nobody works then and besides it's not his responibility. I lost my cool with him and started saying if you had repaired the security light that I have been asking for the past 3 months, this may not have happened, he never fulfills his obligation and I am eternally waiting for repairs. Anyway, I think I scared him as I was like a woman possessed!!!! and a couple of hours later his odd job man came and boarded up the window and he will replace this tomorrow.
But surely as the landlord is responsible for the building insurance it is up to him to pay.....any help appreciated, thanks in advance.

Innys

You're right, it's his responsibility, not yours. As you say, that is what his buildings insurance is for.

However, the contents insurance is your responsibility.

bella4uk

So...if that is the case and it was to happen again, and he says his 70year old odd job man cannot come today, am I within my rights to get someone else round and hand him over the bill?

lynzpower

yep itys his responsiblity.

If the property was void, what would he leave the windows smashed in? Course not.

Its people like this that make my blood boil.

Bull 5hit that glaziers dont work weekends. A quick flick through the yellow pages will tell you tha theres scores of glaziers that are on 24 hour call.

lynzpower

bella4uk wrote:

So...if that is the case and he says his 70year old odd job man cannot come today, am I within my rights to get someone else round and hand him over the bill?

I wouldnt say so no. I would suggest that he has made the property secure with the board up. Id say if you did this it would be risky, you might not get the money back - and I doubt court would back you up.

others might know tho

Robert_Sterling

lynzpower wrote:

yep itys his responsiblity.

I agree

If the property was void, what would he leave the windows smashed in? Course not.

This is beside the point. He owns the property and there is no tenant.

Its people like this that make my blood boil.

Stay calm

Bull 5hit that glaziers dont work weekends. A quick flick through the yellow pages will tell you tha theres scores of glaziers that are on 24 hour call.

The use of the character 5 in association with the word "hit" is contrary to the boards policy.

Happy christmas.

jodenice

You sound like your landlord and mine are the same! (Even down to the 70 year old odd job man.)

bella4uk

Thanks all....I'm going to have words with him about this and his lack of other repairs.....
I have been telling him about a smell of gas for months, finally got someone this week.....yes the pipe running to the fire had a hole in, the fire in the dining room was not sealed properly but....and I'm so glad I rarely use it...the lounge fire was badly fitted and could potentially blow back harmful fumes back into the room!!! So now all fires condemned and no doubt will have to wait a year to get them back on. It was 2 years ago when they last performed it's annual check!

silvercar

It was 2 years ago when they last performed it's annual check!

Should be an annual check by law!

courtjester

WHOA, WHOA.... before you start laying down the law with the landlord, you need to make sure you have your laws right.

It's not necessarily the case at all that repairing a broken window in a tenanted property is the landlord's responsibility - in fact the chances are that your tenancy agreement /lease states that replacement of GLASS is the TENANT'S responsibility !!

If you have contents insurance covering the property stolen from your flat, you will find that your own policy will cover the cost of replacing the glass where it is the tenant's liability (check a section for tenant's liability for landlords fixtures, fittings, decorations and glass cover). If so, you can probably call up your own insurers and they will send someone out to replace the glass for you.

As to emergency glazing, bear in mind that whilst there are indeed 24hr glaziers in most areas, they will charge exhorbitant rates to come out as an emergency /out of hours job, so if at all possible try and avoid it being done as an emergency if you are paying...

Who pays for glass repairs is down to the terms of your occupancy agreement, not who owns the building /glass.

bella4uk

It is just a very short, quickly typed out tenancy agreement as we we were on friendly terms before I moved in. I t states
All damages to fixtures fittings and furniture are the responsibility of the tenant who will pay for any repairs/replaecments as agreed.
and.
The landlord will carry out any repairs/replacement necessitated by fair wear and tear at his own expense.
But he doesn't carry out fair wear and tear as I end up doing it myself as I get fed up with waiting. He says it's not his fault if workmen (70yr old odd job man) doesn't turn up but I argued that as he has many houses and flats he shouldn't rely soley on one man.
As regards to the annual check he says he pays gas/plumber to deal with it but if he doesn't turn up then it's not his fault....crazy....he didn't know that the 3 fires have been condemed so said he will sort it out...let's see....but my rent is based on having these fires...is there a certain amount of time that landlords have to ensure repairs are done?