Duty Of Care?

mitel

Hi, hopefully someone can help me

the house my wife and i rent has a conservatory on the back with some damage to the outside (not caused by us).

i am aware that conservatories are cold in the winter and generally cannot b used and this is fine, but there is quite a strong draft in ours and i think the damage is the reason for this.

the doors that connect the conservarory to the house are also not the usual airtight doors and the draft leads into the kitchen and then into the living room.

last winter the whoel downstairs was freezing to the point our 1 year olds lips were going blue even with the heating on full and the oven on! there is an electric heater in the conservatory that was broken at the time but now works and im not prepeared to run all day when we al;ready paid a fortune in gas.

our agent (countrywide :mad::mad::mad:) are aware of the whole situation and are emailed regularly to sort this out but nothing has been done at all and they never ring us back wen we chase, im pretty sure they havent even been to the landlord with this.

the house is otherwise perfect and is near the best school on town so even with the problem of cold in the winter we are keen to renew.

my question is is there any type of legislation where the landlord or estate agent has a duty of care to the tennants to keep the house within a reasonable living tempearature? or is there anyone who i can ring who can help? do the CAB offer info like this?

sorry for the overload of details. thanks

poppysarah

Is the property secure?

Put it in writing to the LL.

If it doesn't get a response then write again saying you give them 2 weeks and then you will be organising the repair using your rent money.

(CAB will advise on correct letter format I'm sure)

BitterAndTwisted

How do you know that the agents haven't contacted the landlord about this? It's far more likely that the landlord is aware of this and is reluctant to spend the money on it. WRITE to the landlord with a copy to the agent and ask when it might be convenient to send someone round to inspect the damage. Also mention that you are concerned that it may result in further consequential damage to the property.

mitel

Bitter - i do not know so maybe should not have voiced my suspitions, its just from the service we have had from countrywide i wouldnt put it past them (they are 100% useless)

poppy - the agents have told us in the past that we can not deal with the landlord directly and with it coming up to renewal and us wanting to stay we dont really want to p** anyone off too much, we have a meeting with the agent in 30 mins so want some sort of legal jargon to slap at them. if we get nowhere today then a polite letter to the landlord may be in order

countrywide also feel theyv earned themselves £125 to renew the contract which, believe me, they will not be getting.

pararct

You are in a bit of a dilemma!! The agents may well have informed the LL who may think it is a trivial issue and is not willing to effect the repair.
As to your original question. There is no duty of care in this respect, in context the old Factories act used to have a minimum temperature applied for places of work, and this was incorporated into the later Euro updated legislation, perversely there is no upper limit where they would have to provide cooling. There is nothing in legislation in this regard other than for the LL to provide you with a secure place to live with a working heating system and hot water in return for a fair rent.

Taking that on yes you do have the right to inform the LL you want this work done and if he does not do it within a certain timeframe do it yourself and deduct the cost from your rent. On the same token the LL does not have to offer to renew your tenancy agreement and can ask you to leave at it's conclusion without having to give a reason.

Its your call!! If it was me and I liked the property/area I would probably be looking to fit draught excluder's at my cost.

mitel

Thanks for your replies

our meeting went well, a contractor will be coming out to look at fitting glass slide doors in place of the wooden ones, we got the 125 halved and payable in 2 monthly installments and will b signing for 2 more years if issues are dealt with.

Happy

evoke

You let your 1-year old's lips turn blue whilst umming and ahhing about who should warm your home up?

Jeez.

dodger1

If the draft is caused by the doors only there are plenty of different diy draft excluders available at very reasonable prices. Obviously if they fit new doors that's better.