Landlord Ignoring Request for Repairs

theclarkofben

Hi,

My oven stopped working over a month ago and despite numerous calls to the rental agency and landlord responsible for my flat no repairs have been carried out to date.

The agency promises to call back but they don't. Last week, one of their employees told me the handyman responsible for my building is unavailable at the moment due to a long lasting personal emergency.

I haven't yet sent a letter but I have sent emails (started about 2 weeks ago) and have been making calls ever since the oven broke (over a month ago).

My Short Assured Tenancy contract does not stipulate that the landlord must fix the oven but I believe it is their responsibility to do so?

If anyone has any advice on what action I can take I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks

G_M

theclarkofben wrote: »

Hi,

My oven stopped working over a month ago and despite numerous calls to the rental agency and landlord responsible for my flat no repairs have been carried out to date.

The agency promises to call back but they don't. Last week, one of their employees told me the handyman responsible for my building is unavailable at the moment due to a long lasting personal emergency.

I haven't yet sent a letter but I have sent emails (started about 2 weeks ago) and have been making calls ever since the oven broke (over a month ago).

My Short Assured Tenancy contract does not stipulate that the landlord must fix the oven but I believe it is their responsibility to do so?

If anyone has any advice on what action I can take I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks

Stop calling and WRITE.

To the landlord named on the tenancy agreement, at the address provided "for the serving of Notices"

Read this Shelter guide and use the letter template.

The handyman excuse is irrelevant. If contractor numberone is unavailable they should use contractor number 2, or 3 or 4!

(what is it with ovens at the moment???)

theartfullodger

theclarkofben wrote: »

... ..

My Short Assured Tenancy contract....

Is this a Scottish SaT or an English AST??

If Scottish he has to repair: If England & if electric he doesn't (but would be stupid not to..)

G_M

theartfullodger wrote: »

Is this a Scottish SaT or an English AST??

If Scottish he has to repair: If England & if electric he doesn't (but would be stupid not to..)

Sorry - I misread

My Short Assured Tenancy contract does not stipulate that the landlord must fix the oven

as Artful says, if England, he does NOT have to repair.

But a SAT implies Scotland.

page23

Hi. I'm theclarkofben's other half. Thanks for the post Ben.

The landlord has verbally agreed to fix the oven, but they're taking an extremely long time to do it. I've given them go ahead to let the maintenance guy into the flat, but since they can never tell me a day that they're coming in, it seems quite silly.

Everything I've read so far says that my landlord can just evict me since I have a Shorthold Tenancy Agreement. Does this mean I wouldn't get my deposit back?

I'm thinking it might just be easier to call an electrician. Might be safer as well.

G_M

page23 wrote: »

Everything I've read so far says that my landlord can just evict me since I have a Shorthold Tenancy Agreement. Does this mean I wouldn't get my deposit back?

I'm thinking it might just be easier to call an electrician. Might be safer as well.

1) what tenancy do you have? Fixed Term (dates please!)? or Periodic (monthly)?

2) ENGLAND OR SCOTLAND (asked before but not answered)

3) Read the Shelter guide referred to above before calling electrician. And anyway, electrician is not who you need - domestic appliance repairman.

Remarkable similarity with this post here........

page23

1) It's an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement for (starting 8 May 2012 - 8 May 2013)

2) England (North London)

3) I read them. Whilst it would be nice to get the landlord to pay for the electrician, I'm not hopeful. I'd rather just have a working oven. I'm annoyed to have to pay to get it done, but I'm an ex-pastry chef. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

side note: I just used ratedjobs.com for a quote and it was excellent. I got 3 quotes already!

FireWyrm

Um...obvious question, but is it your oven or his? If it's his and it came with the rental, he absolutely DOES have an obligation to fix it since it's part of the fittings that came with the house and what you are paying for! You have every right to get shirty with the EA and if he doesnt do something within the week, I would WRITE advising him that you shall and you WILL send him the bill.

ruggedtoast

theclarkofben wrote: »

Hi,

My oven stopped working over a month ago and despite numerous calls to the rental agency and landlord responsible for my flat no repairs have been carried out to date.

The agency promises to call back but they don't. Last week, one of their employees told me the handyman responsible for my building is unavailable at the moment due to a long lasting personal emergency.

I haven't yet sent a letter but I have sent emails (started about 2 weeks ago) and have been making calls ever since the oven broke (over a month ago).

My Short Assured Tenancy contract does not stipulate that the landlord must fix the oven but I believe it is their responsibility to do so?

If anyone has any advice on what action I can take I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks

You're wasting your time sending emails.

Write an actual physical letter to the landlord stating the problem, date it and sign it with your actual signature, written by your actual hand which is holding an actual honest to goodness real life pen, and send it with proof of posting.

If they dont respond to that then you can look at Shelter;s website which will tell you how to do the repairs yourself and claim the money back from them.

page23

Remarkable similarity with ....forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4296203...

good shout. that's really similar - albeit, I'm definitely not holding back rent and I've got a ton of money in that rental deposit so I'm trying my very best to stay on the good side of the landlord.

I've just called them again (they don't respond to my emails) and they said they'd chase up the Maintenance guy. They also said, they've scheduled a lot of repairs for the entire building so were perhaps waiting for them all to come in (a month seems a bit far fetched).

I've requested the office post address as well so I can send them a recorded letter. I forgot to ask for the surname though! doh!

tbs624

What address is provided on your tenancy agreement, under s48 of the LLand T Act 1987, for the service of notices relating to the property?

You may want to consider paying a 3 quid fee to the HMLR to obtain the LLs name and the address they have for him/her.

It is possible that the LL does not know that the LA is giving you the run around.