Found a House - But there's a problem

Bunnie1982

We have found a house we can rent, that is a few minutes away from where we currently are and is in an ideal location, however there is a problem....

We went to view the house on Saturday and there has been a leak on the outside (was still leaking) that had soaked through to the inside and mould was growing on the walls over a large section. The neighbour advised the property has been empty since December.

Obviously (like anyone) we would like this job sorted before we even consider handing our deposit over.

I was wondering if anyone who had any knowledge of building structure could advise how long something like this would take to rectify?

Doozergirl

If the landlord can't be bothered to deal with an issue like that quite quickly, I'd run a mile!

Think how many other issues will go ignored or take an age to fix.

Bunnie1982

Doozergirl wrote:

If the landlord can't be bothered to deal with an issue like that quite quickly, I'd run a mile!

Think how many other issues will go ignored or take an age to fix.

Well this is what I was thinking as the bathroom is only half finished and the kitchen drawers are all hanging off.

What we were going to try and do is get the landlord to fix the leak and sort the mould and then negotiate the rent by saying we will do the other jobs

MJMum

RUN, DON'T WALK, AWAY!

Sorry to shout, but as someone living in a damp, leaky rented property it's something I feel strongly about. 3 months "bodging" and counting...:rolleyes:

Doozergirl

But what if the boiler stopped working or something else expensive?

A decent landlord knows they need to look after their asset and if they can't be bothered to look after that, then what kind of treatment will you get?! (It would take longer than a couple of months of leaking for black mould to start appearing inside so I suspect the last tenants will have suffered it)

Wait a couple of weeks and there will be something better to rent. I wouldn't take the chance, personally.

Bunnie1982

Unfortunately I wish we had got a couple of weeks, our landlord is evicting us because he wants to sell the property, we have 6 weeks to find another property within our budget, raise the deposit and move.

At the moment my stress levels have peaked and I am constantly crying over it. I felt fine and relaxed earlier until the current landlord called us to say he is bringing estate agents to look over the property this week and asking if we object to people viewing the property when we are not in.

newbie71_2

awh don't cry. I know this might sound daft and I'm sure you've checked your contract already - but does your landlord only have to give you six weeks to move? Could you negotiate a little longer? Surely if he's wanting to sell the place on after you've gone, he'll want you out first to do a proper look around the property to check you've not trashed the place/ ruined anything major/all the plumbing/heating etc is still working? Not that I'm imagining you've broken anything or will do before you move out of course.

It would work in his favour to make sure as well there are no nasties lurking in the place before he tries to sell it on. If he can't be persuaded to do this then at least make sure you tell him how stressful you are finding it all and ask if he could just give you a few week's breathing space to sort through everything before you have potential buyers knocking on the door!

Please don't get upset and do think carefully about what other posters have said - because if you think your stress levels are high now wait until you move into a place that's falling apart with a landlord that couldn't care less (and I speak from bitter experience!) and you will feel constantly upset. I know it's easy for me to say this not being in the situation but something will turn up I'm sure.

Good luck!

Bunnie1982

According to our contract the landlord has given us the correct notice.

Apparently he wants to sell before the start of the new financial year. I get the impression he has rubbed the letting agents up the wrong way too.

Doozergirl

If he's asking you to do the viewings, he obviously doesn't need you out in order to sell. I'd ask for a bit more time to find somewhere suitable as it benefits your landlord to still be collecting rent and if you can keep the place nice and do the viewings in exchange, he'll probably be happy with that. Have a chat, what's the worst he can say?

The best case scenario if someone made an offer tomorrow would be them moving in 6 weeks time so you really don't NEED to be out quite so soon.

I found a place in 2 weeks! Newly refurbed or new build properties do come up and they are available immediately as they're not already tenanted. Or if something comes up that won't be vacant for two months say, I'm sure he won't mind.

Come on, chin up. I was there 4 months ago when I sold my house and the chain above had hit stalemate. I can remember the tears dropping on to the property paper but it was okay and I found somewhere lovely that came up about 10 days into quite a desperate search.

EDIT: It would have to be keenly priced to get to completion before the new tax year! And just because you want something, doesn't mean it will happen.

Bunnie1982

The financial position doesn't really help as we have no money saved up for deposit on another place. We did intend on moving out this year but not for another 6 months until we had time to save up properly

Nenen

Bunnie1982 wrote:

Unfortunately I wish we had got a couple of weeks, our landlord is evicting us because he wants to sell the property, we have 6 weeks to find another property within our budget, raise the deposit and move.

At the moment my stress levels have peaked and I am constantly crying over it. I felt fine and relaxed earlier until the current landlord called us to say he is bringing estate agents to look over the property this week and asking if we object to people viewing the property when we are not in.

aww you sound so frazzled (((HUGS))). I think you need to get proper advice (maybe from CAB or Shelter) as I don't think your LL is acting fairly or possibly within the law. You could also try looking at this website:
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk

You certainly do NOT have to have hoards of people viewing (this goes against the tenants right to 'quiet enjoyment' of the property) and, in your shoes, I would NOT allow viewings when I wasn't there to keep my beady eye on my things! We tried to make an appointment to view a recently advertised rental property but the agents told us that the current tenants are only allowing viewing between 2-3 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays (obviously they are choosing the most inconvenient times for people who work)!

I bet the LL is spinning you a line re selling before the end of the financial year as it would be very unlikely for the sale to go through within this time (only about 6-7 weeks) unless he was very very lucky! Do take proper advice and I wish you lots of luck.