Lazy Landlord

lucifersangel87

Hi all,

Just wanted a quick bit of advice on a lazy landlord.

I have moved into this house-share with my girlfriend, last month.
when we viewed the landlord said the place had a dishwasher. We moved in to find that it was not working.

Apparently it was reported by other tenants in the last 2 months, but he hasn't done anything about it. He responded to my text saying he would get someone to fix it, but nobody has shown up.

I generally get on with the landlord because he's a nice guy but I do think it is just his laziness which has prevented him from getting the work done.

According to other tenants, he bought the house in the boom, expecting to make mega bucks out of it, but now he can't afford to sell it because he would lose too much.

Any advice on how to deal with the situation and not get on his bad side would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Martin

BitterAndTwisted

Why are you sending text-messages to your landlord about repair issues? If you want to be taken seriously you should put things like this IN WRITING.

lucifersangel87

Thanks for that.

What is the problem with text messages? not to sound stupid, but shouldn't the landlord listen and react to all forms of communications from his tenants?

Is this one of those things which is an unwritten rule or something? I mean, how am I supposed to know if nobody tells me? He didn't have in the tenancy agreement that I should contact him in writing.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Most grown-ups know that texting is not a professional way to communicate.

How is the dishwasher described on the inventory? Think of the money you've saved on your electricity and water bills from not using it for two months....

cran81

lucifersangel87 wrote: »

Thanks for that.

What is the problem with text messages? not to sound stupid, but shouldn't the landlord listen and react to all forms of communications from his tenants?

Is this one of those things which is an unwritten rule or something? I mean, how am I supposed to know if nobody tells me? He didn't have in the tenancy agreement that I should contact him in writing.

Lucifersangel87 - you're not stupid, just normal. I was like you and had a good rlationship with the landlord, just texting and calling - no paper trail. I thought the landlord was a good guy too just trying to make some money being a landlord on the side. But, from my experience, I can tell you now that it is better to always remember that he is the landlord and you're the tenant. You pay the rent and he has his obligations.

It is better to put things in writing so that if the worst should ever happen - notice, eviction, deposit problems, you've got your back covered.

There are some really knowledgeable people on here, like bitterandtwisted - you'll figure out which ones they are. However, they can be straight to the point and sound really blunt with it. Don't take it personally - by replying to you they're trying to help you not having a dig at your naivitee (don't know how you spell that!). The wisdom you pick up will be better for you in the long run. If he's a #good guy' he wont mind you putting it into writing - say your mum, dad, grandma,.. told you to! Best of luck.

picklepick

If you contact him in writing and keep a copy, you have a paper trail of your conversation with him should you need it with the dates that you contacted him on.

If you have a dispute when you leave and he tries to claim that you broke it, here's your evidence!

Werdnal

lucifersangel87 wrote: »

Thanks for that.

What is the problem with text messages? not to sound stupid, but shouldn't the landlord listen and react to all forms of communications from his tenants?

Is this one of those things which is an unwritten rule or something? I mean, how am I supposed to know if nobody tells me? He didn't have in the tenancy agreement that I should contact him in writing.

All communications about anything in a tenancy - reporting repairs, giving notice etc, should be done by good old fashioned letter - not text, FB messages, emails, phone calls - write, post, keep free proof of sending from the post office. If there is ever a dispute, LL will claim not to have received the text, lost the email, no longer using FB, deny you spoke to him about it. A proof of posting and a copy of the letter it applies to is hard to argue against!

What does your tenancy say about the LL repairing/replacing electrical appliances? He did not actually tell any lies did he - there is a dishwasher ... it just doesn't work!:rotfl:

lucifersangel87

Thanks for the responses.

The Tenancy agreement is from a "Tenancy Agreement Pack" and seems to be pre-written. It states something along the lines of "The landlord is responsible for the upkeep of assets shared in communal areas."

I honestly did not know that texting him as a means of communication was such a big deal.

Well, I will go and write him an official letter now and get a proof of postage/Proof of delivery for it.

I guess I just didn't want to ruin the relationship between landlord and tenant at an early stage, but maybe i'm being paranoid here. My train of thought is - If I start to bug him about stuff now, he's likely to get on my back sooner if there is a problem on my half (I bank with Natwest, so who knows...)

Martin

Werdnal

You only need the free proof of posting fromt he post office, not proof of delivery. Please don't sent it recorded as if Postie cannot deliver it, it will be sent back to you.

Reporting repairs is your duty as a reliable tenant, as you need to maintain the property and its contents in good order, and no LL worth his salt would object to a polite letter following up your previous text message reporting an issue with the dishwasher.

When you say "communal areas" are you sharing, or is it a single tenancy?

lucifersangel87

We are sharing. It's a 3-story house with 5 rooms - 8 people in total.

We have the loft room, which has en-suite, but we share the kitchen.