Plumlife / Great Places Housing

AndyFurnival

I rented an apartment in CHIPS Manchester between November 2009 and May 2010. The agent was Plumlife / Great Places hosing who stated several times during obtaining the tenancy that they were "whiter than white" like it was some kind of Daz advert.

Unfortunately through out the entire time there, I experience so many problems from faults, to unexpected visits to repair damage I didn't report, and the amount of crime was scary.

I emailed them recently because after a year they keep refusing to return my deposit although they said that the apartment was inspected and no faults found.

So all the times I contact them via email, via their online web portal or via phone. The latter 2 I have no evidence therefore I am subjected to purely email communication thereafter as my only proof.

1. Contact about a kitchen fault. The kitchen work surface wasn't sealed correctly, as a result water would enter the joins in the work service and cause the area to expand. Manufacturer fault reported, no response given from Plum Life

2. I have the BT connected, nothing works. Contact Plumlife, no help what so ever. Find out that none of the telephone sockets are wired in to the master socket. I get them wired myself.

3. I have SKY installed. works for a few months, and they nothing. SKY come, they said its a communal dish problem. Contact Plumlife, no help offered. I cancel SKY, no point paying for something I can't use.

5. On 2 occasions Plumlife sent engineers around because a leak was apparently coming from my apartment and it was dripping into the unused commercial space below me. Plumlife did contact me once to arrange access the first time, which I arranged the for next day even though it inconvenienced my own schedules. The work men pulled various parts of the bathroom apart, put it back together and left. They returned the next day, unannounced mind you and equally shocked that you hadn't contacted me to arrange access for the second day, to discover that the overflow in the bath tub wasn't connected. The workmen left and never came back after that. They also hadn't sealed a compartment under the sink which then continually blew a draft of air into the bathroom making the place cold. I'll just remind you here, that I lived in that apartment in the middle of winter. So when I called up to report it, you said someone would come and fix it with apologies. It was never fixed.

6. Number of crimes increase in and around the building.
i. One of those big black doors gets kicked in and the apartment was ransacked items stolen. If that can happen, what is stopping my home suffering the same fate.
ii. Cars parked around the building getting broken into regularly. My car was also parked outside, I was continually concerned at night which was exhausting.
iii. I witnesses, and called the Police to a Corsa being broken into. As I had disturbed them and they ran off own the canal towards eastlands.

After continually getting no response from Plumlife, I determined that they were in breach of contract since they broke their own rules and those as stated in the Direct.gov website so packed up, posted the keys to Plumlife and left. That was 1 month before the end of the agreement.

Now we are in arbitration of the deposit through DPS and I hope with this evidence, I will will be the victor and my deposit will be returned.

However, Plumlife not only want all £600 for the last month rent, they want a further £46.66 to cover rent charges. :rotfl:

Well I advise anyone who is looking to rent with Plumlife / Great Places housing. Avoid them, since you may experience difficulties in the long run. I know a lot of their business is the HomeBuy schemes and they can't really rip people off with that, as for renting then be careful. Just because they have to be extremely honest when working the first time buyers on behalf of the government, they will most likely try to take you for everything you have got when just renting from them.

I will keep this post updated so anyone else have similar issues may get some benefit.

G_M

so packed up, posted the keys to Plumlife and left. That was 1 month before the end of the agreement.

There are ways to enforce repairs. This is not one of them. You owe a months rent.

1. Contact about a kitchen fault. The kitchen work surface wasn't sealed correctly, as a result water would enter the joins in the work service and cause the area to expand. Manufacturer fault reported, no response given from Plum Life No real obligation on the LL to fix. Stop pouring water over the work surface?

2. I have the BT connected, nothing works. Contact Plumlife, no help what so ever. Find out that none of the telephone sockets are wired in to the master socket. I get them wired myself. Your contract with BT is a contract between you and BT, not the landlord. Did the inventory state the sockets were conected in? I don't really see a claim here.

3. I have SKY installed. works for a few months, and they nothing. SKY come, they said its a communal dish problem. Contact Plumlife, no help offered. I cancel SKY, no point paying for something I can't use.Again - what does the inventory or tenancy agreement say about Sky? If it says the communal dish should work, you have a claim. If there is no mention, then it is a matter between you and Sky

5. On 2 occasions Plumlife sent engineers around because a leak was apparently coming from my apartment and it was dripping into the unused commercial space below me. Plumlife did contact me once to arrange access the first time, goodwhich I arranged the for next day even though it inconvenienced my own schedules. The work men pulled various parts of the bathroom apart, put it back together and left. They returned the next day,good unannounced mind you had they not explained they needed to return?and equally shocked that you hadn't contacted me to arrange access for the second day, to discover that the overflow in the bath tub wasn't connected. The workmen left and never came back after that. They also hadn't sealed a compartment under the sink which then continually blew a draft of air into the bathroom making the place cold. I'll just remind you here, that I lived in that apartment in the middle of winter. So when I called up to report it, you said someone would come and fix it with apologies. It was never fixed. Did you report the problem properly, in writing?

6. Number of crimes increase in and around the building. and that's the landlord's fault because....
i. One of those big black doors gets kicked in and the apartment was ransacked items stolen. If that can happen, what is stopping my home suffering the same fate. Speak to the local police. They prevent crime, not the landlord.
ii. Cars parked around the building getting broken into regularly. My car was also parked outside, I was continually concerned at night which was exhausting. Speak ot the local police. They prevent crime, not the landlord.
iii. I witnesses, and called the Police to a Corsa being broken into. As I had disturbed them and they ran off own the canal towards eastlands. and your point is? What do you expect your landlord to do.....?

Sorry - I feel you have a very weak case.

edit - out of interest, what was point 4?

DVardysShadow

G_M wrote: »

T
edit - out of interest, what was point 4?

Point 4 was Agent using a special ray machine to disrupt OP's memory.