Landlord owes us money, help?

hrl6342

Hi,

My flatmate and I recently had to vacate our flat due to a leak underneath the bath, which meant that our water had to be shut off for around 2 weeks. During this time we had to stay in a hotel, and we had to pay for this upfront. We were told that we would have to do this by our letting agents.
My flatmate and I paid out around £600 each for the time we were unable to stay in our flat. This was over a month ago and our letting agents are saying they dont know how long it will be before we are reimbursed.
We are on relatively low wages and consequently I am now finding money very tight and am having some real trouble. I desperately need this money back but we dont seem to be having any luck.
On top of everything else, another part of our bathroom is leaking on to flats below and our letting agents/landlord arent doing anything to get this sorted.
I was wondering if anyone had any advice for how we could proceed and hopefully claim our money back, and what the best course of action would be.
Thanks in advance!

GDB2222

I imagine that you are stuck in the middle between an extremely irate landlord and an incompetent estate agent. All I can suggest you do is withhold the £1200 from your rent, but be prepared for a battle.

BTW, somebody will be along in a minute to say that I am completely wrong and you must always pay your rent on time, however daft that seems to be.

Mallotum_X

I'd hold it back too. If they are agreeing you are owed the money, then tell them you will offset it against the next rent.

Mr_Pitiful

Did you get it in writing that the landlord would pay for alternative accommodation, as they are not obliged to provide it? Witholding the rent is never a good idea as you are contractually liable for it. If the landlord doesn't give the money back you can make a small claim against them, though this isn't a quick process.

hrl6342

Yes we have the emails from the letting agents saying that the landlady would reimburse us for it as soon as possible, and staying in a hotel was our only option.
We hadn't stopped paying rent yet as we were worried that we would be in breach of contract.
Would a small claims court be our best option then?
Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it.

Pansy_Potter

Sounds like you had wrong info from your letting agent. Surely any landlord in this position would have opted for an emergency repair? I don't think any landlord would agree to you going into a hotel for 2 weeks, that seems very odd to me. I would not withold rent as this is likely to make your situation worse - you are likely to get a notice to quit, lose your deposit and not be able to get a good reference for future lettings. He may be willing to come to some agreement with you and take things up for you with the letting agent.

RAS

Get holed of the private tenants liaison officer at the Council and consider speaking to the Environmental health officer too.

Shelter can provide phone advice. Do any of the e-mails contain a forwarded message from the LL?

GDB2222

Like I said ........

hrl6342

The leak meant our floor was so bad is was rotten, so even an emergency repair unfortunately took a long time.
This is an extract from an email we were sent:
"The bottom line is the bathroom floor will have be replaced before you can move back in, so you won't have any water supply to the flat until it's done. You can stay in a hotel obviously till then and the landlady will reimburse."
From other things said it seems she did agree to it, and to pay us back. But now its come to it, the letting agents are saying they've forwarded our receipts to her and there's nothing we and they can do apart from wait. They don't seem to understand just how difficult this situation is for me, I'm now into my overdraft and its making me fairly anxious.
Unfortunately we don't have direct contact with the landlady, would we be able to ask for her details to contact her directly? The letting agents seem to be reluctant to push the issue with her.

hrl6342

Unfortunately no forwarded emails from the landlady though!

DannyboyMidlands

The landlady is treating you like mugs.

Withold rent until the £600 is covered and then start paying again. Make it clear in writing (a letter) that this is what you are doing.

The landladys contact details should be written on your contract.