Landlord problems

Took_Me_Away

Hello i was hoping someone could help me with my situation before it gets to serious. Here is a brief story of what has happened so far.

We rent a fully furnished 2 bed flat

My girlfriend and I moved into this property a little over a year ago always paid the rent on time at worse a couple of days late. If any problems the landlord would sort them out very quickly. Everything was fine until the end of October when our Washer/Dryer stopped working. Originally the dryer just stopped working. So i contacted my landlord to ask him to send someone to look at it. Nothing happens for around a month. Then the washing machine itself starts to go end of November keeps sticking on cycles etc. I contact him again about washer/dryer and asked when he would be sending someone round as the washer was now failing. His response was "o i thought it was just the dryer." So he was never planning to look at it anyway.:mad: When i told him washer was about to totally die. He said he would get his man to come round and look at it. Well Christmas came and went with no contact. So after Christmas was over and we were back at our flat. I phoned the landlord several times still fobbing us off. With "o my man is on holiday" etc etc.

So come time to pay the rent for February i decided to stop my direct debit in the hope this might speed him up. It did initially anyway. He finally sends a man round the last Sunday in January. His chap was here about 30 minutes and basically said what i already knew. Too expensive to repair you need a new one. So the chap said he would tell the landlord and he should be contact.

Well about ten days later my girlfriend has a voice mail from the landlord moaning that the rent has not gone and it is accruing interest. So i then try to ring the landlord no answer. So i left a voice mail along the lines of. The reason the rent was stopped was due to the fact you had not sent anyone to look at our washing machine and this issue has been outstanding for nearly 4 months. I will have no hesitation in paying the rent when you have kept your side of the contract for our fully furnished flat and fix/replace our broken washing machine.

That was our last contact with him until this morning when he phoned my girlfriend about a week after i left that message. He spoke to my girlfriend demanding that we pay in the rent or he will partake in legal action against us. My girlfriend asked if he got my voice mail and he said no. Considering there had never been a problem receiving my messages before After my girlfriend had finished on the phone she told me what he had said.
I was of course totally unhappy with his response so i tried to ring him my self only to get a very rude reply of "i only want to deal with your Girlfriend" and then hung up on me. How rude or what! Basically he does not want to deal with me because i wont let him bully us. My girlfriend is to nice.

Thank you for reading this far.

So basically what i would like to know is if I'm right to continue to withhold rent until it is fixed and does he actually have a leg to stand on if he does take legal action. As far as i see it he is supposed to offer a fully furnished flat which he is not as our washing machine is broken.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Stuart

abaxas

You need to get quotes on fixing it!

Then give him the quotes ans a letter saying that if it is not resolved in 21days you'll take the cheapest and offset the amount of next months rent.

Dont withhold rent, mearly 'offset' it.

Rick62

No you are not right to withhold the rent, this is completly wrong, pay in full immediately. No wounder he doesn't want to deal with you, you're not paying any rent over an issue of a £300 machine and you've not even tried writing to him?

Write to him, tell him the machine needs replacing (citing his engineer and previous coversations etc), tell him the model and the cost of replacing with a similar one. Ask if he is going to replace it or if he would like you to get it and then deduct from the rent.

If he doesn't respond sensibly then write again and ask him to replace within 14 days or if he doesn't that you will replace it (at said cost, including delivery and fitting) and deduct the amount from the rent.

silvercar

If you become 2 months behind with your rent, your landlord can make moves to evict you.

prudryden

I think you really should check your contract immediately. What does it say about a washer/dryer? It may be that if you want a washer/dryer, it is your responsibility. A furnished flat doesn't necessarily mean that it has to have a washer/dryer or that one which has broken down has to be replaced.

It might have been better to have asked the LL whether he wants to replace it or if you should replace it with your own washer/dryer.

Unfortunately, by withholding the rent, you have breached the contract for sure. I think I would try and mend the bridges and, if necessary, get your own washer/dryer. But definitely, send a letter explaining the circumstances and ask him want he wants done with the broken one.

EagerLearner

If he only wants to deal with your girlfriend - so be it for now, it may save you alot of trouble.

Get her to call him and in her most naive voice, ask what can be done as you are good tennants and want to to whatever he tells you to to remedy the situation for both sides.

Tell him you will send last months rent payment immediately (he may have been waiting for that payment to buy you a new one, even if he has taken a long time?), and say that you are working on getting quotes for a new washer/dryer.

If your contracts states it should be supplied by him, send him the quotes and let him decide which one you should go for, then both agree that you will offset the cost against the next rent payment - if he says you have to buy it. he may say he will buy it in which case you need to pay the normal amount of rent.

If your contract does not say he has to supply/repair washer/dryer, you will need to find one and buy it yourself, but I imagine he still has to arrange disposal of his non-working one.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Took_Me_Away

Thank you for all the replys. Issue has now been solved a new washing machine will be deliverd here on Monday so right or wrong stopping the rent has done the trick. In reply to the people telling me i should do his work for him why is that? As i see it he offers a furnished flat which in the contract states washing machine, oven, fridge/freezer etc are all supplied.

Thank you all for your speedy replys

prudryden

Took_Me_Away wrote:

Thank you for all the replys. Issue has now been solved a new washing machine will be deliverd here on Monday so right or wrong stopping the rent has done the trick. In reply to the people telling me i should do his work for him why is that? As i see it he offers a furnished flat which in the contract states washing machine, oven, fridge/freezer etc are all supplied.

Thank you all for your speedy replys

That's why I said check your contract to see if the washer/dryer was mentioned.

Rick62

Took_Me_Away wrote:

Thank you for all the replys. Issue has now been solved a new washing machine will be deliverd here on Monday so right or wrong stopping the rent has done the trick. In reply to the people telling me i should do his work for him why is that? As i see it he offers a furnished flat which in the contract states washing machine, oven, fridge/freezer etc are all supplied.

Thank you all for your speedy replys

2 reasons, first he doesn't care if it takes 3 weeks or even 3 months to get sorted out - I bet HIS washing machine works!

Second, you get more say on what new washing machine you get, when its delivered etc.

You seem very antoganistic towards your landlord, with any contract you can either sit there quoting the contract terms and saying 'well i'm right' (which you are) or you can have some give and take and getting everything sorted out to everyones benefit and have a harmonious relationship. The latter always works out best for everyone.

Took_Me_Away

Rick62 wrote:

2 reasons, first he doesn't care if it takes 3 weeks or even 3 months to get sorted out - I bet HIS washing machine works!

Second, you get more say on what new washing machine you get, when its delivered etc.

You seem very antoganistic towards your landlord, with any contract you can either sit there quoting the contract terms and saying 'well i'm right' (which you are) or you can have some give and take and getting everything sorted out to everyones benefit and have a harmonious relationship. The latter always works out best for everyone.

Quite but unfortunately being friendly didn't get the job done. I refuse to be bullied. Don't you think best part of 4 months of being nice is long enough then?

But he has apologised to me for hanging up on me. He now realises what good tenants we are. Just a shame i had to get angry to get it sorted. Such is life tho.

amyandoli

Can you estimate what your laundry bills were because you didnt have a washing machine/dryer, and get him to refund these? Our washer/dryer broke too, we kept receipts from the laundrette, and forwarded them to our landlord who lived in Spain. He got the machine fixed the same day he received them... odd.