Problems with rental house

Georgecarol

Well, I went to see the house yesterday, it's a definite no-go. The downstairs is great, but the upstairs is so small it's ridiculous. This is the 3rd house we've seen like this. The largest bedroom had 2 single beds and a chair. There was probably a couple of inches between the beds, and you had to climb over them to get to the chair. There was absolutely no room for a wardrobe or drawers at all. So here's my rant.......Who designs these houses that you can have all this room downstairs and absolutely nothing upstairs???? These are 3 bedroom homes, so it's expected that there is going to be more than 1 person per room!!!! The last one we saw had 3 single bedroom upstairs, no room for a double bed at all, yet the downstairs was a good size with a conservatory on the back and a beautiful garden. Grrrrrrrrrr:mad:
Ok, rant over:o So, we're here for a bit longer. I have a builder coming tomorrow to measure up for the new kitchen....again. I'll question him and see how long he thinks it will take him. Mind you, it's still got to be approved by the landlords yet, so still won't have anything definite. Paid my rent on Friday and had a go at the agent. Seemed to be blaming the previous agent, things missing from the files etc. Just trying to place the blame on someone else to diguise their incompetence. Told them it's not working. If I don't hear from someone this week about a time to finish fixing my heating, I have told them I will be writing a letter and involving environmental health.
I've just been feeling so depressed this weekend after seeing the house, I feel like nothing is going our way. It makes it worse as I'm not working right now because I'm waiting for an operation on my foot and have just received bad news on my back as I have 4 protruding discs around my neck with 2 of them pressing against nerves, so will be seeing a neuro-surgeon in a few weeks. I feel like I should be concentrating on this instead of the house, it all feels like it's too much. I see the same walls every day so all the problems have become magnified to me now, they may not seem as bad to other people.
I'll just keep looking and keep phoning and see how it goes

Georgecarol

Well the building contractor came over today to measure up and give the landlords a quote on how much for my renovation. He didn't even measure anything, he was furious. Said it's a totally illegal kitchen, (which I have mentioned several times, once in writing), went on to say none of his electrical contractors would even touch the wiring. I have 1 double plug in the corner of the kitchen behind the stove. From that I have an extension that hangs behind the stove and comes up onto the counter for the kettle and the toaster oven, (oven in stove doesn't work), and another extension which hangs down the other side of the stove against the wall for the microwave which is on a stand. (the 2 rings on that side of the stove don't work), and that's it. The electrical stove is too close to the sink and there is no ventilation. We knew all this, and have mentioned it to the agents and the landlady. He said that the work she wants him to do isn't feasible and he's emailing her tomorrow to tell her this, also mentioning about the illegallities in the house.
This will either be good news for us, or bad news I get the feeling the sh*t's going to hit the fan. What will happen now is anyone's guess. Maybe if she hears it from someone else about the issues, she might actually sit up and listen, or, she may flip, go the other way and want us out. She seriously thinks that she can spend £2000 on a kitchen renovation which includes new wiring, new stove, new cupboards, new flooring, heating in the back room and a wall knocking down. I would love to be a fly on the wall when she gets that message. I'm expecting a phone call tomorrow, I'll let you know what happens.:whistle:

Kaminari_2

Let us know how it goes!

Good luck!

zebulon

Did you send the letter about the safety gas check ???

I think you should just do it NOW
don't wait for the guy coming for the heating, the kitchen guy contacting your LL etc.. etc... It is just wasting you time.

or maybe you did send the letter and I missed something somewhere ...

##########

(Your address)

(Landlord's name / Agency)
(Landlord's address / Agency)

(date)

Dear (Landlord's name / Agency)

RE: (Address of Property being let)

As you are aware, the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 place duties on landlords. One of those duties is making sure that gas appliances and flues they own in the property which they let, are maintained in good order and checked for safety at least every twelve months. Landlords must also keep a record of the safety checks and issue these to their tenants.

Unfortunately to date, I have not been shown a copy of the safety check record carried out at the above property, which I now rent. Therefore I would be grateful if you could show me a copy of the safety check record for the above property within the next 10 days.

Yours sincerely

(Your name)

Georgecarol

Hey, it's been a few weeks, have some updates. My heating is now fixed, but heard nothing from anyone since the contractor came over and said he was firing off a strongly worded email to the landlady.
That is....til yesterday. The contractor showed up at my door and asked to measure the dining room. I told him I hadn't heard from anyone and didn't know what was going on. He said, as it stands, the dining room is going to be turned into the kitchen and the kitchen is going to be the utility room, (as that's all it's good for sizewise). He measured a couple of walls, I asked about the chimney breast,(which has the condemned fire attached to it) and he said she doesn't want it touched. How can you turn the dining room into a kitchen without removing the chimney breast? That would only leave one wall for units and a stove, which is the inner adjoining wall to the living room. The other walls consist of the chimney breast, the window and 2 doors leading to the kitchen and hallway. I then asked where the vent would go and he said he'd take it around the room and out the back wall where the window is, which would consist of it going past the chimney breast somehow I'm not a builder, but I just can't picture how that would work
Anyhoo, I've had enough at this point and am looking at a property round the corner tomorrow and the agency has another house that's come up, but we don't at this stage know when we can look at it as the tenants did a moonlight flit and they can't get in the house right now. Something to do with a certain time period where they have so long to pay the back rent and it's with the owner and the solicitors right now. I'm hoping it won't take too long, but then there's the matter of if they did any damage and how long that would take to fix up. As long as I can get in and see if the size is suitable, I don't mind waiting, at least I know that we're moving.
Fingers crossed:rolleyes:
One electrical question if anyone has an answer for it. The contractor asked about the fuse box and what kind of ampage. Told him I didn't know, but it was the old wrap around wire type. Our lights went in the middle of the night and it was a nightmare finding someone who sold the wire:mad: He was shocked and said all the wiring would have to be replaced, landlady won't like the cost on that, can't even imagine how much it would be. My question is, someone told me, and it's not a reliable source, that the old fuse wire is illegal in rental house, is this correct or am I just looking for things to make my case stronger if they try and hold on to my deposit????

Georgecarol

Hi, bumped this up to see if anyone can answer my fuse box question. Does anyone know if it's illegal to still have the old fuse wire in rental property?
Looked at the property around the corner today, it's a little more expensive than what we're paying, but it's very suitable, unfortunately, it's in a much higher council tax band as it's on a main road :mad: Which now makes it a lot more unaffordable. We still have the other house with the same agent to look at yet, not sure when we can, so fingers crossed.
My landlady called yesterday from out of the blue:eek: Just wanted to let me know that she's still working on my kitchen renovation and she's waiting for a final quote, but the builder is willing to go ahead. I've been hearing that for 12 months, so I just went with it, can't be bothered arguing at this point. She did mention that she was going to request that they didn't change the fuse box though as she claims there's nothing wrong with it and it passed the safety. Not sure when that was though because we've been here a year now and our bulbs and fuses are always blowing, not sure what the reason for that is. She's going to have to fight that out with the builder though as he claims his electrical contractor would automatically change it, so good luck with that;)

barnaby-bear

Georgecarol wrote: »

Hi, bumped this up to see if anyone can answer my fuse box question. Does anyone know if it's illegal to still have the old fuse wire in rental property?

Probably not, fuse wire or modern fuse, b&gger all diffference, willl protect the house from burning down but if somethings live neither will protect you...
Check under the bath I bet there's no earth bonding which is now a legal requirement in a new bathroom but not an old one...

specs_3

No, old rewireable fuses are not illegal.
As long as it is safe, the electrics are okay whether they are 30 years old or brand new. People have mentioned needing cerificates, but it is desireable, not a necessity.

stphnstevey

Has now become a necessity to get a electrical safety certificate from 1st March 2007

Georgecarol

stphnstevey wrote: »

Has now become a necessity to get a electrical safety certificate from 1st March 2007

As she mentioned on the phone that is passed the safety, it had to have been over a year ago, does the March 1 thing mean that it's necessary to have it checked again??? Is this a yearly check like the gas safety certificate?