A bit of law-related help re: estate agent obligations and living standards?

VanyaHargreeves

Hi,
I'm currently in my first year at Uni, and because my uni has a shocking lack of halls we had to rent a house. As none of us knew the area, we ended up renting from an absolutely shocking estate agent (it has a very bad reputation and is well known for being awful in the area) as we were charmed by the very charismatic salesman (I suppose that's his job though, isn't it!).

Because we were all clearing students, we had about 2 weeks to find a house and as such were panicking! We were shown a few houses and picked one on the day. When we were shown the house we picked, we noticed a few broken things and a bit of a mould issue, which we were assured repeatedly would be fixed by the time we moved in.

Surprise surprise, on move in day, nothing was fixed. We had a plethora of problems, ranging from dirty water coming out of the kitchen tap to a big pile of glass in the garden. From what I remember:
- my bed was broken so I had to sleep on the floor for the first night.
- the sofa was (and still is) broken
- the first time we tried to open the living room window it fell out completely. As in, my housemate was left holding the handle to a completely detached window. We're lucky it didn't smash.
- There's a hole in the living room wall that they've tried to disguise by gluing - yes GLUING, not even drilling in, a vent in front of it.
- The water coming out of the kitchen tap was dirty.
- The big pile of glass in the garden was still there.
- The shower curtain was filthy and covered in mould, and the shower dripped constantly.
- The entire house was utterly filthy.
- The bathroom taps were loose and spun all the way around.
- The vent in the bathroom was blocked because someone had painted over it in their haste to cover all the mould.
- Mould on the bathroom ceiling was coming through already.
- 3 of my drawers in my bedroom were broken - the front panel was loose and when I tried to open the drawer the entire front just came off.
- Mould began coming through in all the bedrooms after a week or so. The mould in my bedroom was so bad (I have pictures, will post if required) that I just gave up waiting for them to deal with it and scrubbed it all myself, but it's coming back again after 3 weeks. I left a glass of water on the side for three days and it had started growing mould, and earlier this evening I took out one of my £200 black tie dresses and it's covered in grey spots of mould :mad:. In my housemate's room, the entire ceiling was covered in brown mould, to the extent that she was unable to sleep in there because the mould dripped occasionally :eek:. Anything she left in there became white and furry very quickly.
- We found out that there was a hole in the roof leaking water in and they sent builders to come around (saturdays and sundays at 8.30am) but we're not certain they've fixed it.
- No insulation whatsoever, resulting in a very chilly winter.
- Sink in the kitchen leaked so nothing could be kept in the cupboard under the kitchen unless we wanted it green and furry in two days.
- We have mice that we were told would be dealt with before we moved in (found rat poison under a cupboard when we moved in so it was clearly a pre-existing problem), but they weren't. The mice started coming in our kitchen cupboards about three months ago, we informed them, they told us it was our problem, then told us they would deal with it because it's their problem, then after a month we asked them what was happening, they said it was our problem again, and last week someone from the council came and inspected it and informed MTM (the agency) that it's their problem. And they're putting off doing anything about it again.
- Our garden wall fell down. My housemate was sitting by in when it was sunny, and it just crumbled and fell. He could've gotten seriously injured.

Even better, we were informed a couple of weeks ago that our house will be inspected a few times, as the agency had classified our house as a "family-rented house" rather than a student house. We were told that for the size of the house, there should be a maximum of 3-4 people living there, and there are currently 5. Apparently this is probably a major factor in the amount of mould we have; there isn't meant to be this many people, and the condensation from everyone's general living activities is what's feeding the mould growth.

We've been emailing and calling at least twice a week for the last 7 months but they won't do anything substantial. When we shout at them for it, the response we get is "with all due respect, we're doing the best we can..." or "with all due respect, you're wrong.". Nothing we say seems to encourage them to work harder, even when we informed them that our housemate's mum is gathering evidence and is fully intending to take them to court over the frankly disgusting living standards that they've left us in.

Does anyone have any advice about what we can do? We've spoken to environmental health, we've spoken to the uni housing team, but nothing seems to phase them.

Lokolo

Emailing and calling aren't law abiding methods of contacting. You can write directly to your landlord stating the problems and they should sort them out (preferably 2 letters each at different post offices with proof of posting - not recorded delivery).

However mould and such isn't a landlord problem to fix unless it is the property causing it. The builders were sent round to fix the problem. You should get some Mould and Mildew spray, works wonders, and keep the heating up to a good standard and open windows in bathrooms to get fresh air. Cold and damp = great for mould.

I assume your deposit was protected and the issues in the house furniture etc. were in the signed inventory? If not, get the EA round and get them to agree that items were damaged beforehand, which may be difficult.

You may be better posting on http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16

VanyaHargreeves

Thank you

stebiz

Why not find something else?

VanyaHargreeves

stebiz wrote: »

Why not find something else?

Unfortunately we've signed a contract, which I believe means that we have to pay rent even if we move out (I may be wrong here) and none of us can afford to do that

Voyager2002

Your issues are very serious, and the landlord (not the agent) is probably breaking the law. Find the website for your local council and contact the Environmental Health department.

The point about the numbers of people in the house (and the talk about 'family occupancy') suggests that although the landlord is legally required to classify the house as an HMO (Household in Multiple Occupancy), that has not happened. The law about required standards of the property is different if it is an HMO. Considering all the above, I suggest you seek advice from the Uni welfare officer (probably in the Students' Union) and see if you can get a free appointment with a solicitor. Once you let your landlord know that you know that s/he has broken several laws, you are likely to find s/he suddenly becomes very helpful about returning your deposits and releasing you from the contract to move somewhere habitable.

stebiz

VanyaHargreeves wrote: »

Unfortunately we've signed a contract, which I believe means that we have to pay rent even if we move out (I may be wrong here) and none of us can afford to do that

So did he and if this went before a Court then it is extremely unlikely the Judge would rule in favour of the Landlord.

Fire_Fox

This is not a student issue it is a 'House Buying Renting & Selling' topic, if you run an advanced search there there have been many similar cases.

You are not renting from an estate agent, you are contracted to your landlord and the landlord is contracted to their agent. The landlord has certain obligations as to health, safety and repairing. You have the responsibility of 'acting in a tenant like manner' - this includes formally reporting all problems with the property to your landlord promptly, also keeping the place well ventilated so there is no condensation damp and associated mould.

Do not underestimate how many litres of water are released each day just by breathing, showering, cooking. Never ever air dry laundry indoors. Not saying this is the sole cause of the damp since there are leaks, but the tenants want to be 'whiter than white' when it comes to who is responsible. If you cannot ventilate enough because you are not home to have the windows open on a daily basis you will need to supply an electric dehumidifier or two and use that.

Stop using casual communication and send a recorded delivery letter to your landlord, using the address at which to serve notices which is on your tenancy agreement. Copy to the agent. If you get no or an inadequate response bring in Environmental Health at the local council who can enforce repairing obligations on the landlord, even get you rehoused if the property is uninhabitable. Also check the property is properly registered as a House in Multiple Occupancy with the council.

Please DO NOT abuse the agents however rubbish they seem, they do not have any way of forcing the landlord to pay for repairs. It sounds like they are reporting your complaints to the landlord, because you are getting (admittedly inadequate) visits from professionals. You cannot take the agent to court, you will lose that case because the landlord is the liable party.

Lastly I recommend you don't bring anyone's mother into the equation, it is you adult tenants who are in the legally binding contract. It tends to make young people look immature and are taken less seriously when they get their parents to fight their battles.

bouncydog1

Good advice Firefox. However sometimes the intervention by a parent in the form of a well written letter, particularly if the parent is a guarantor can reinforce the letters from the student tenant.

I agree that a ranting mother on the phone to the agent is of no help - however in my daughter's case an email requesting a repair be dealt with urgently after several letters from the tenants was extremely effective - particularly as it mentioned that the item in question breached health and safety regs (her dads field of expertise) and we would sue in the event of any injury occurring! Repair done within 24 hours.

Fire_Fox

bouncydog1 wrote: »

Good advice Firefox. However sometimes the intervention by a parent in the form of a well written letter, particularly if the parent is a guarantor can reinforce the letters from the student tenant.

I agree that a ranting mother on the phone to the agent is of no help - however in my daughter's case an email requesting a repair be dealt with urgently after several letters from the tenants was extremely effective - particularly as it mentioned that the item in question breached health and safety regs (her dads field of expertise) and we would sue in the event of any injury occurring! Repair done within 24 hours.

Thanks.

Emboldened is likely the part that was effective, clearly demonstrating the tenants are aware of the legislation and their rights. Nothing stopping parents supporting their offspring in preparing such a letter - my father still checks formal communication for me and I am 40! - just not fighting their battles like they are kids or signing the letter themselves.

IME if well written letters are being ignored better to bring in EH at the local council, that is what we pay council tax for.