Landlord says window repair is my responsibility

bella4uk

A window is classed as fixtures and fittings which is (usually) the landlords responsibility unless broken directly by the tenant. I had the same problem when i was broken into and the landlord refused to pay, until we had a showdown but he knows I'm a good tenant and I intend to be here for a long time. He was just trying it on and, rightly so backed down.
What would have cost me about £100 to repair probablly cost him pittance as he has an odd job man whom I expect he pays very little.

Alan_M_2

In other words, lay down and take it or find somewhere else to live.....

Whatever happened to standing up for principals?

What kind of namby pamby way is this to deal with people?

Naive my ar5e, it was just highlighting what rubbish considering a 50/50 split actually is.

franklee

Frankly I wouldn't give this mean landlord an inch. As a good tenant (as you have been for over 2 years) I know my worth. If I stay the landlord gets paid on time every month, no voids, his property well looked after, and no troubles caused to the neighbours. A new tenant is an unknown quantity and may not be found to move in immediately. Now if a landlord doesn't see my worth and demonstrate it by looking after me then I'll just find someone who does.

Call is bluff. The repair cost is £250. That's just over nine days rent for me. If you leave it'll cost him far more than that in void time and fees. If he doesn't play fair ball then will you still be happy there anyway knowing you will probably have to argue over or pay for all repairs from now on?

wisbech_lad

Last time I rented I made the landlord agree to pay my company a deposit for repairs/ repainting etc. About two months rent. When needed stuff fixed, deducted it from this amount (with invoices). Reason was that I didn't want to !!!! around with contacting them over getting small things done.

In return, I did pay two years upfront though...

Guy_Montag

My best landlord gave me a list of approved tradesmen to call whenever anything needed done. He wasn't interested in whose fault it was, he just didn't want bothered with the hassle of dealing with this sort of thing himself & knew he could trust these guys to do a decent job for a decent price.

supermumno1

Personally I think the landlord should be liable for the costs. If he will not pay, question if you want him as a landlord in the future anyway. I would be careful to consider though that you have presumably paid him a damages deposit at the outset and even if you get it fixed and withold rent to cover that cost he may then get silly over returning that deposit in full/or at all to you if you do move out. If your deposit is more than the cost of the window he may find other reasons not to return it all, just to be difficult. These reasons may be totally unreasonable too. I'd talk to him again and see what you can resolve without getting too heated in the discussion, even though we all know you are probably in the right. Consider the outcome of each course of action and know what you want from this in the end.
Good luck

(edited for spelling)

skollieal

I have been overwhelmed by the response!! Thank you guys. It is a sticky situation, but in the end a friend who rents properties rang them and read the riot act re the tenants and landlords act, and very shortly they rang to say they would sort it out. Saying that, 3 days later very little has been done, but I am giving them some leeway due to the snow seeing as this seemed to bring London to a standstill!!

I may get evicted when my tenancy expires in October, but at least i can hold my head up high and say that I stuck it out for my principles!! Will possibly be posting for flats to rent in October but at least I havent allowed myself to be walked all over. If i had left the window open I would have held my hands up high and said " I ****ed up" but I didnt so i feel proud that i have at least tried to fight the battle. thanks for all the support.

SteveCat

In all my time has being a Landlord and qualified builder since 1984 this comment from the original poster would to me send the Alarm bells ringing: My tightly shut window was blown open and completely off its hinges during the gale force winds

I have never in my time of the above experienced a 'tightly shut window' blowing open in gale force winds. If you have said that to the Landlord its probably the reason he has took the stance he has. To me it sounds like a excuse for something else you have done. Sorry if that sounds harsh but that comment just seems full of holes to me.

thesaint

SteveCat wrote:

In all my time has being a Landlord and qualified builder since 1984 this comment from the original poster would to me send the Alarm bells ringing: My tightly shut window was blown open and completely off its hinges during the gale force winds

I have never in my time of the above experienced a 'tightly shut window' blowing open in gale force winds. If you have said that to the Landlord its probably the reason he has took the stance he has. To me it sounds like a excuse for something else you have done. Sorry if that sounds harsh but that comment just seems full of holes to me.

I also thought this when I read it, but I then thought that even if the OP left the window open, it would still be the landlords responsibility to fix it.
In theory I suppose it could happen if another window was left open and forced the window.

My mum's roof lifted because a window was left open and the wind had nowhere to escape.

SteveCat

thesaint wrote:

I also thought this when I read it, but I then thought that even if the OP left the window open, it would still be the landlords responsibility to fix it.
In theory I suppose it could happen if another window was left open and forced the window.

My mum's roof lifted because a window was left open and the wind had nowhere to escape.

If a Tenant came to me and said they had left a window open during high winds/storm etc and it had caused damage I would see it as their responsibilty under neglect of my property in such conditions. This i'm sure is quite common with Tenants saying otherwise to aid their story to get out of a 'knowing' situation. I would guess this is the situation with this Tenant/Landlord and to be honest I cannot blame him the Landlord for his reply tbh.