Useless letting agent

Fire_Fox

rev_henry wrote: »

Well they have now replied citing data protection nonsense refusing to even give his name, so I'll reply with that Act shall I? I do have his name at home somewhere, just not address.

Oh dear they either don't have a clue what they are doing or they think you don't. WRONG. Yes send a letter this time, recorded delivery plus a back up e-mail copy OR two copies from different Post Offices with free proof of posting. Check the recorded delivery gets signed for if you go that route, you can do it online. Quote the legislation not Landlordzone and make sure you get the right bit, there are two Landlord-Tenant Acts! If you are not sure what to say at any point feel free to post the letter with any personal identifiers removed and someone will check it over. You will be an expert in the legislation before this is over.

rev_henry

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Oh dear they either don't have a clue what they are doing or they think you don't. WRONG. Yes send a letter this time, recorded delivery plus a back up e-mail copy OR two copies from different Post Offices with free proof of posting. Check the recorded delivery gets signed for if you go that route, you can do it online. Quote the legislation not Landlordzone and make sure you get the right bit, there are two Landlord-Tenant Acts! If you are not sure what to say at any point feel free to post the letter with any personal identifiers removed and someone will check it over. You will be an expert in the legislation before this is over.

Indeed, thank you. I don't generally struggle to read legalese if I do say so myself...
Aha, I was struggling to find the relevant bit of the 87 act but then realised it was the very first bit of the 85 Act!

Fire_Fox

I'd love to be a fly on the wall when they receive your letter telling them legally to stuff your data protection nonsense and gimme what I want! :rotfl:

rev_henry

They've just sent an email round to all of us saying they are waiting on their contractors to come round and 'look at fitting a dishwasher' and fixing the burglar alarm (oh, yeah, burglar alarm isn't useable either). Not really good enough IMO, what do you think? They've known about these issues for about 3 weeks now.

rev_henry

Actually 16 days since I first emailed, but they've had all summer to sort stuff.

Fire_Fox

Stick with asking your landlord's name and address, the agents may take their time responding and it's a useful bit of information to have. Plus it shows them you know your rights. Personally I would still write to the landlord as well, I doubt the agents will get every issue resolved in the next month and you are paying good money in rent. To me that e-mail suggests they know very well they have to give you the landlord's name and address, trying to fob you off now. :mad:

rev_henry

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Stick with asking your landlord's name and address, the agents may take their time responding and it's a useful bit of information to have. Plus it shows them you know your rights. Personally I would still write to the landlord as well, I doubt the agents will get every issue resolved in the next month and you are paying good money in rent. To me that e-mail suggests they know very well they have to give you the landlord's name and address, trying to fob you off now. :mad:

Ok thanks. I had wondered if it was worth contacting the old letting agents, they seemed really good and might be quite horrified at what this new company has done...not that they could do anything I imagine...

rev_henry

Well, 10 mins after I sent the second email I had an answerphone message from them to say a BT engineer will be round to connect the phone/internet...on the 11th October!! OK maybe that's the first available slot with BT but the fact remains they haven't bothered to order it until probably yesterday when they've had all summer, so its not our problem. We need internet for our uni courses. Anything we can do?

dancingfairy

So have you written to the current letting agents yet (in writing not email)? Have you received a reply yet (again in writing)? If you must use email at least follow it up in writing.
You do need to do what people are telling you to do. You may well need your landlords name and address so if you back off now you will look weak. Plus the agents could still be messing around (you never know) and you need to have a proper paper trail with the actual landlord (as well as the letting agent) as if at any time you need to get more militant you will need all this, so the sooner you get organised with this the better.
In answer to your question I don't believe you will get any compensation or anything like that for not having a working internet. Dependong on whether it is written into your contract (I suspect it isn't) you could possibly go after the landlord for compensation/breach of contract etc etcbut I suspect it could be a long haul and a) might not get you much money b) will cost you a lot of stress and hassle and c) won't actually resolve the issue of no internet.
I know it's a complete pain and hassle to follow all these steps about sending things recorded delivery and all this writing of letters etc etc when all you want is a speedy resolution but sadly you do need to resort to this to ensure things are actually done or you could be subject to more messing around, sad but true

df

dancingfairy

Also I'm not sure a) you'll get internet much quicker organised and b) I doubt the previous letting agents will be able to help. I'm not quite sure why you think they'll help? They are not being paid by the landlord for a service so anymore (unless you signed up with them and they were the ones who were supposed to be organising internet access? Although again, given that they are no longer in charge I can't see them being overly interested/helpful to be honest
I suspect you are also stuck with internet at a mates house/a dongle thingy or using your uni's facilities for the next few weeks
Sorry
df