Multiple problems with letting agents

tbs624

OP - have you checked whether this LA/LL is listed with York Uni/YSJ/College of Law? If they are they *have* to sign up to a Code of Conduct.

It's vital that Ts establish a paper trail whenever repairs & maint issues begin to rear their head (edit: If you..) can't get any response from the LA then speak to Housing Standards at York City Council for further guidance.

The Council or HSE ( Health & Safety Exec) can prosecute LLs who fail to meet their obligations on gas safety checks & certification.

On your deposit - LL has to be able to adequately show the state of the property from the start of the tenancy and you have to return the property in the same condition as when let, save for fair wear and tear. The LL/LA cannot simply make a unilateral decision to unfairly withhold your deposit monies. Familiarise yourself now with the way the tenancy deposit scheme applicable to your tenancy works.

dizziblonde

Gas Certificate - I'd be asking for help from the student union or accommodation office. I know when we had a carbon monoxide scare in our student house as undergrads, I happened to mention it in passing to someone at the SU (think it might have just been a neighbour who worked in the shop there) and they were on the phone to us within the hour checking what had gone on and threatening to give the landlord hell if it wasn't sorted!

Granted this was in the aftermath of a carbon monxide death the previous year from the university - and it was actually a case of the boiler failing and starting to emit CO - but I'm sure most unis take a similar hardline on that aspect of things.

Uk_Lover

Do people on these forums actually read the posts ?

She has said she has contacted them, telling them they are away, telling them about the problems and they haven't fixed them. How is this not being a responsible ? If pipes freeze it is not their fault.
Can't see what the difference between sending an email and writing a letter especially if they have replied.

Helen_J_3

olly300 wrote: »

The issue with the OP is that they didn't attempt to sort out the issue before going away for Christmas.

If they or their housemates have anything in the property if the pipes burst their own stuff will be damaged as well as the landlord's. They will also not have anywhere adequate to live plus face the possibility of being sued by the landlord.

The OP should have sent letters by recorded delivery to both the letting agent and the landlord at the beginning of the month informing them that they were going to leave the heating off as they don't have a working thermostat over the Christmas holidays. They should have also made sure all their housemates removed their personal belongings from the property if it isn't fixed. (I'm sure they have mates in the area where they can dump stuff for a few weeks.)

I always point out to the younger people in my family that while they are concentrating on their studies they still have to deal with household problems in the properties they rent. The excuse they don't have time doesn't wash as they won't have more time when they start working.

The reason I have to keep repeating my problem is that it seems people haven't read it properly. The whole point is that we did attempt to sort these problems out before we went away for Christmas!

We have dealt with all the problems in the house promptly from day one. We haven't once tried to palm responsibilities off because we're too busy studying, so leave the assumptions out please!

We have all lived away from home before - we're aged 21-24 not 18 year old freshers out getting drunk every night which seems to be the standard assumption people can't help but make!

Helen_J_3

Uk_Lover wrote: »

Do people on these forums actually read the posts ?

She has said she has contacted them, telling them they are away, telling them about the problems and they haven't fixed them. How is this not being a responsible ? If pipes freeze it is not their fault.
Can't see what the difference between sending an email and writing a letter especially if they have replied.

Thank you! I have repeatedly said that these problems were raised ages ago. We've had problems with the house since September and we have not delayed in bringing them up once.

Helen_J_3

dizziblonde wrote: »

Gas Certificate - I'd be asking for help from the student union or accommodation office. I know when we had a carbon monoxide scare in our student house as undergrads, I happened to mention it in passing to someone at the SU (think it might have just been a neighbour who worked in the shop there) and they were on the phone to us within the hour checking what had gone on and threatening to give the landlord hell if it wasn't sorted!

Granted this was in the aftermath of a carbon monxide death the previous year from the university - and it was actually a case of the boiler failing and starting to emit CO - but I'm sure most unis take a similar hardline on that aspect of things.

We're not at a University we're studying at a small(ish) college and so there isn't a Union or help service as such, but I will be notifying the college that these letting agents are a bunch of jokers just so they can warn students in future.

Helen_J_3

tbs624 wrote: »

OP - have you checked whether this LA/LL is listed with York Uni/YSJ/College of Law? If they are they *have* to sign up to a Code of Conduct.

It's vital that Ts establish a paper trail whenever repairs & maint issues begin to rear their head can't get any response from the LA then speak to Housing Standards at York City Council for further guidance.

The Council or HSE ( Health & Safety Exec) can prosecute LLs who fail to meet their obligations on gas safety checks & certification.

On your deposit - LL has to be able to adequately show the state of the property from the start of the tenancy and you have to return the property in the same condition as when let, save for fair wear and tear. The LL/LA cannot simply make a unilateral decision to unfairly withhold your deposit monies. Familiarise yourself now with the way the tenancy deposit scheme applicable to your tenancy works.

Thanks, we're at the college of law so I can see whether they're listed. A few of the students at the college use this letting agency so hopefully there will be some sort of code of conduct!

Helen_J_3

clutton wrote: »

OP - its no good repeating your self over and over again.. we have got the picture... you have come here for advice, and people are giving it you, but because you dont like it, you repeat your original problem over and over again.

Ww have heard stories like this hundreds of times, and we generally know what to do WRITE letters.. this is the proper way to acquire a case for a court case in the future if it gets that far. Emails can be "invented" - and i am not saying you wold do that, but your agent might !

Regardless of what your landlord does about repairs, you have to act in a "tenant like manner" - and if i was in that position, i would have bought a small thermostatically controlled heater and left it in the house over christmas to keep it all from freeziong... and why should you ? why indeed... to prevent the LL from putting in a claim for thousands against your parent (who are probably your guarantors) if the pipes freeze and flood the property.

its called taking responsibility for your own actions - and its all part of learning how to live apart from your family.

Do what i have suggested and what G_M have suggested, we have both been landlords for a long time and understand your situation.

Moaning wont solve anything... action will.

We have acted in a 'tenant like manner' the problem is the agents/landlord aren't acting as they should be. We have notified them in plenty of time to sort it out.

You have been a landlord for a long time so are bound to look at it from a landlord's point of view, which is fine, but if you think it's reasonable to expect someone to stay alone away from friends and family over christmas just so they can put the heating on for an hour or so every day when this problem has been known and could have been remedied ages ago then you obviously don't understand the situation!

I am perfectly willing to do duties as a 'tenant'. The house is kept clean, secure and well maintained. We're not just a bunch of lazy students who can't look after things. We're young professionals who have experienced living away from home before and can cope quite well. So please leave out the patronising talk about 'learning to live away from family!'

Yorkie1

Did you access the details of the LL through the CoL's accommodation list (if there is still one they keep; there was one many years ago in my time)?

If so, not a priority but do make sure you let the CoL know so they can take them off it.

tbs624

clutton wrote: »

Moaning wont solve anything... action will.

. How rude. So Ts who come on here to raise genuine concerns are "moaning"?

clutton wrote: »

.....action will.

Yep.... and that action clearly needs to come from Helen's LL/LA as the Ts have already reported the issues to them.

OP - the LL/LA *has* to supply the Ts with a copy of the current gas safety cert and they have to retain copies for two years. They can be prosecuted for failing to do so.( see the Evict a Rogue LL thread on here for cases brought before the courts) Write again to the LL care of the LA, listing out the previous attempts to obtain a copy and what the LA's response (if any) was. In the meantime, you may want to consider getting yourselves an audible carbon monoxide detector - cost under 20 quid and worth it for peace of mind.

In addition to the legal obligations of the LL, do check out that Code of Conduct. If the LA/LL advertises via any of the accomms offices they *have* to sign up to the Code and you can make a formal complaint if your LA/LL fails to comply with the requirements.

Some quotes for you from the Code ( drawn up between the 2 Unis, the C of Law, Askham B College, York Residental LL Assoc, and the Council).

Timescales for Landlord repairs
Code of practice requirements

There should be prompt action by the landlord when repairs are necessary, with appropriate times for repairs discussed and agreed between the tenant and the landlord............
• Landlords should respond promptly to any complaint, and where appropriate provide a written response to any correspondence.

Landlords must give a minimum of 24 hours notice before entering a property except in the case of an emergency.
• Emergency repairs, where there is an imminent risk to health, must be dealt with immediately – preferably within three hours and certainly within 24 hours. Examples of
such problems include an internal burst pipe, blocked drains, no water, no electrical system and broken external door locks.
• Urgent repairs must be dealt with within three days. An example of this would be an external burst pipe.
• Non-urgent repairs must be dealt with within 28 days.
• Maintenance and servicing tasks should be planned and timed so as to minimise disruption to tenants

Gas safety

Legal and Code of Practice requirements
• All gas appliances, flues etc must be maintained in a safe condition in accordance with the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations.
• An annual Landlords’ Gas Safety certificate, issued by a ‘Gas Safe’ registered engineer, must be provided to the relevant college or university for the purpose of the scheme. A copy of the certificate must also be given to the tenants to show the date of inspection, any defects and the action taken.
• All repairs must be carried out by a ‘Gas Safe’ registered engineer.
• Landlords must show new tenants how to turn off the gas supply in case of an emergency.
• Whenever the landlord is informed about a fault, it must be dealt with immediately.

Recommendations

Landlords should be aware that the annual gas safety check does not include servicing of gas appliances, and vice versa. It is therefore recommended that all gas appliances are serviced annually in addition to the mandatory requirement of a Gas Safety Inspection.

Code of practice requirements

• There must be a well-insulated hot water tank or instant hot water from a combination boiler or gas multipoint water heater.
• There must be an appropriate space heating system which has been safely and properly installed and maintained and controllable by the occupants.
• Controls must allow separate use and programming of heating and hot water, including a programmer/timer and room thermostat.

Are you okay with the LA/LL entering the property in your absence to sort any of the issues out prior to the start of the new term mid Jan btw? If not, are any of you close enough to go back for a pre arranged mutually convenient time?

More on ways of ensuring you retain your deposit at tenancy end : check out here, here and here ( note that the mydeposits guidelines are used by all 3 schemes) Did you sign an inventory and note on it the cleanliness or otherwise of furnishings etc? Have you kept a copy?