Landlord issues - wont let me install meter and more! - my rights?

jskn

Hi there,

I hope everyone is well! I was wondering if you guys could help me with a few issues I am having with my landlady.

I am privately renting a house and on moving into the property there have been several issues - eg the aerial doesn't work and she wont get it fixed as there is cable installed so I have had to get an indoor aerial!

I was wondering if you could provide me with some advice on my rights as a tenant on several of the issues I am having.

1. The aerial does not work although the house does have cable connections (Virgin) - is she required to supply me with an aerial?
2. The oven unit to the house is working however none of the dials have any labels. There are 3 dials and I know that one is temperature and one is function and no idea what the other is - she has labelled the temp dial with dots and the rest is guess work - is she liable to ensure there are labels there so I can use the oven properly? At the moment I cant tell what degrees etc the oven is running at or work out which dial is the grill!
3. The house currently has no water meter installed thus using a rateable value - under the RV charge I will pay £426 but as a single occupancy house a meter will reduce this to £256 - the landlady won't let me install one. Is she required to let me? It seems like I am having to pay extra for my utilities because she is wanting to keep the RV method!
4. The back door has broken in terms of the panels have fallen out - I asked to get these repaired 2 weeks ago and she only has gotten back to me - is there a reasonable repair time in which essential repairs have to be carried out?
5. Because of all these issues can the land lady refuse to extend my contract even when I pay my rent on time and the only issue is getting her to fork some money out!

Thanks in advance, I really appreciate it!

BitterAndTwisted

jskn wrote: »

1. The aerial does not work although the house does have cable connections (Virgin) - is she required to supply me with an aerial?

No, she isn't unless the tenancy agreement says she must.

2. The oven unit to the house is working however none of the dials have any labels. There are 3 dials and I know that one is temperature and one is function and no idea what the other is - she has labelled the temp dial with dots and the rest is guess work - is she liable to ensure there are labels there so I can use the oven properly? At the moment I cant tell what degrees etc the oven is running at or work out which dial is the grill!

Ask her for an instruction manual or some guidance as to how to use it

3. The house currently has no water meter installed thus using a rateable value - under the RV charge I will pay £426 but as a single occupancy house a meter will reduce this to £256 - the landlady won't let me install one. Is she required to let me? It seems like I am having to pay extra for my utilities because she is wanting to keep the RV method!

You have no absolute right to have a WM installed if the landlady doesn't want you to.

4. The back door has broken in terms of the panels have fallen out - I asked to get these repaired 2 weeks ago and she only has gotten back to me - is there a reasonable repair time in which essential repairs have to be carried out?

Necessary repairs have to be carried out within a "reasonable| time although I don't think there's any guidance about what sort of time-scal that would be. In my opinion this is urgent as it's about the security of your home. WRITE to the LL asking for this repair to be done as a matter of urgency.

5. Because of all these issues can the land lady refuse to extend my contract even when I pay my rent on time and the only issue is getting her to fork some money out!

Yes, she can. For any reason or no reason at all. In order to end your tenancy she will have to issue you with a Section 21 Notice and go to court to enforce it.

For the moment I think you should concentrate on getting that back door repaired asap.

flappy_mcwarbucks

"The aerial does not work although the house does have cable connections (Virgin) - is she required to supply me with an aerial?" << O/P

You can ask her to have it fixed, but as it was not working when you moved in, then my guess is that she does not have to.

" The back door has broken in terms of the panels have fallen out - I asked to get these repaired 2 weeks ago and she only has gotten back to me - is there a reasonable repair time in which essential repairs have to be carried out? " << O/P

If the property is not secure, then she has to get it fixed pretty sharpish. if the property is secure, then she can do it at her leisure - i don't think there is a fixed time limit.

"Because of all these issues can the land lady refuse to extend my contract even when I pay my rent on time and the only issue is getting her to fork some money out!" << O/P

Yes she can refuse. At the end of the term, she can issue you with a possession notice. (a section 21 meaning she wants you out) you can of course refuse, and let her drag you through the courts. But that really is a pain in the !!!!.

jskn

Thanks for the very quick replies to the both of you. I very much appreciate your help. From the answers you have both given me it seems that as a tenant I am pretty much in a powerless position (especially with the water meter!!!). The back door she is now saying will get fixed this week, although am extremely unhappy. I wish there was compensation or something as it has been an extremely long time.

I have requested instructions for the oven for over 1 month now and to no avail...by any sort of law is she required to provide me with these?

Again thanks for all your help. The quick replies are amazing!

Thanking you both.

sooz

Regarding the water meter, if you've got an AST of longer than 6 months, you don't need your landlord's permission to have one installed. However, you may need her permission to alter her property...if they put it outside in the pavement, it wouldn't be

Look at OFWAT for more information
http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/mediacentre/leaflet/prs_lft_101117meters.pdf

Benji

If you type the oven model name into google, I bet you cold have a set of instructions downloaded within the hour.

See this with regard to back door - http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets/tenants_doing_repairs

Landlord can refuse to renew your contract because
a) You will have no contract
b) It is her property

the law proides for this with section 5 of the 1988 Housing Act - you can not be evicted even after your contract without a valid court order.

moromir

sooz wrote: »

Regarding the water meter, if you've got an AST of longer than 6 months, you don't need your landlord's permission to have one installed. However, you may need her permission to alter her property...if they put it outside in the pavement, it wouldn't be

Look at OFWAT for more information
http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/mediacentre/leaflet/prs_lft_101117meters.pdf

And expect a S21 to swiftly follow if the landlady has specifically advised the tenant she doesn't want this alteration... so really it depends how long the OP wants to let this particular property?

Johnhowell

A collegue at work could not get a meter fitted in his flat so the water company provided an equivalent rate - which was less than RV. May be ask the water company if they would do the same for you - if you do not ignore the LL and get one fitted.

I always thought that the LL pays the RV but T pays metered services... I can not see the difference to the LL if the T is registered for water, same as Council Tax, Electricity, Gas, then the T is registered for metered water instead...

Sounds odd to me - possible ask for a reason from the LL. Could your Tenancy agreement have words like "not unreasonable refused" against similar requests?

Good luck,
John

westv

jskn wrote: »

3. The house currently has no water meter installed thus using a rateable value - under the RV charge I will pay £426 but as a single occupancy house a meter will reduce this to £256 - the landlady won't let me install one. Is she required to let me? It seems like I am having to pay extra for my utilities because she is wanting to keep the RV method!

Not sure if it's really valid in this case but, if you are unable to have a meter the water company is obliged to put you on an assessed charge (+single person discount in your case). That'll be about £250 or so.

jskn

WOW! This is the first time using the forum and it is by far the best thing I have ever used - so thanks to EVERYONE for their replies. It has given me a lot to go on.

I will address the replies as I remember them!

Firstly the installation of the WM when my tenancy is longer than 6 months is interesting...however I am in a pickle with that. I have initially requested a 6 month tenancy with the view to ask for another 6...in total I will be living in this property for around 1 year but my individual contracts will be 6 months long...where does that put me?

and regarding the s5 of the housing act - does the LL evicting me for no reason at all mean that the court may look in my favour? - would I have reasonable grounds for wanting to extend my contract if i do nothing wrong?

'Not to have or allow a key meter to be installed or any other meter which is operated by the insertion of coins, or a pre-paid card, or key without the prior consent of the LL or his agent which will not be unreasonably withheld. - would this be in relation to installing a water meter?

THANK YOU EVERYONE! :T

chris_m

jskn wrote: »

and regarding the s5 of the housing act - does the LL evicting me for no reason at all mean that the court may look in my favour? - would I have reasonable grounds for wanting to extend my contract if i do nothing wrong?

Don't think of it as eviction in the sense of you having done something wrong - unless you do, of course, only kidding. It's simply the legal term that applies if a landlord wishes to regain use of their property.

The landlord doesn't have to give a reason unless it's for something the tenant has done wrong, i.e. failing to pay the rent so the landlord wishes to end the tenancy early.
If it's eviction at the end of a tenancy (or beyond if the tenant didn't vacate) it simply means that the landlord wishes to have their property back - it could be that they want to live in it themselves, sell it or anything else which will probably have no bearing on the tenant's behaviour at all.