What would you do in my situation?

fluffy123

Hi all, hope you are well.

I moved into my new rented apartment with my partner last week and having problems already

We moved in Thursday to sort out an inventory etc and the fridge was missing it's bottom shelf and two of the freezer doors were broke, we asked for these to be replaced and this was marked down. Additionally, there was water damage to the box shelf behind the toilet which again, was marked down.

Now over the weekend, we have found that:

The shower does not work, instead just spraying out cold water even when the temperature dial is turned to hot water....this is whilst all hot water taps in the sink, kitchen etc work fine.

Our washing machine works for 1-2 minutes and then automatically trips the electricity and everything goes off. We tried this 3-4 times last night and gave up.

Initially, our underfloor heating wasn't working when we tried to get it on. Now it is working and we're losing out hot water. We programmed the water to come on this morning and during this time, the flat become really hot. We then tried to run baths and found no cold water was available despite it all being on.


What would you do in our situation? We've reported these to the letting agent at 9am this morning and told they'll speak to the landlord and call back by noon. No callback, we called to be told the person dealing with it was on lunch and would call back in the hour...no callback. We've just called back again to be told they'll chase it up with the landlord (shouldn't this have been done this morning?!)

We've handed over £1500 to this letting agent so as you can tell, we're not particularly amused at this all at the minute.

How would you play it?

RAS

Write to the LL and the EA immediately. Ringing them has no legal force.

Two letters, sent from different post offices with certificates of posting.

fluffy123

I don't have the landlords details on my paperwork - am I entitled to them?

LordMirg

They should be on the Tenancy Agreement.

HB58

If you do not have a LL address 'for the serving of notices' then, as I understand it*, you don't have to pay rent!

*I'm new to this, this is the situation as I inderstand it for people living in England.

RAS

HB58 wrote: »

If you do not have a LL address 'for the serving of notices' then, as I understand it*, you don't have to pay rent!

*I'm new to this, this is the situation as I inderstand it for people living in England.

This is correct.

You do need to put the rent aside for when they do provide it though.

fluffy123

There is only the letting agents details on the tenancy agreement under the landlords details....

fluffy123

I've now found that the induction cooker doesn't work either. Had to buy induction pans before I could use....went to use last night, switch the hobs on, they light up and go off after 1-2 minutes. ANother problem.

I'm thinking of giving them until the end of today to contact me back as they promised otherwise I'll be writing a letter straight to the managing director of the local office demanding a swift resolution. £1500 up to now I've paid for a fully-functioning flat which isn't fully-functioning, I can't cook, shower or wash clothes.

fluffy123

Back to this again....apparently they're leaving messages with the landlord to no response.

They're claiming they cannot supply us with landlord's address and details as they have signed a specific contract for this. I thought I had the right to these details?

Mrs_Imp

When we had similar problems with our shower, the LL suggested that we take the shower head off and shake out all the limescale, then soak it overnight in vinegar. It worked a treat. It might be worth seeing if your shower head is removable and check for limescale.
Although when we had the same problem with the new shower, in our own house. It was because the hot water pipe had been connected to the cold water inlet and vice versa. We turned the thermostatic valve round and it worked fine.
I know that doesn't solve the rest of your issues, but hopefully it'll get you a hot shower at least.

BitterAndTwisted

Stop phoning anyone and start WRITING! From what I understand from your posts your landlord may have signed a full repairing contract with the agent, so does not want to have to deal direct with their tenants. I suspect that is the reason for the landlord's details being care of the agent on your contract. This is not particularly unusual. But what it does mean is that all potential expenses have to be agreed to and sanctioned by the landlord, as that is who ultimately will be paying for them. You must give the agent enough time to contact the landlord and received their response to your requests for repairs. 24 hours is not adequate and you are being a little impatient, although I do sympathise completely with your situation. Not having hot-water, cooking or laundry facilities is most unsatisfactory but your landlord can't wave a magic wand even if they had one.

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