Student rental problems

VanyaHargreeves

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

When you spoke to Environmental Health what was their response? Mice will visit and take up residence as long as food is freely available to them. Consequently you must put all foodstuffs in sealed containers, keep the bin empty and clear up spills and crumbs everywhere.

Environmental health told us that there is no rising damp evident in the property, and if there is no rising damp then they will not get involved. They did agree that the mould is too bad to be entirely our fault though - they said that we aggravated it with our everyday living but the steps we've taken (see above) are sufficient to ensure minimal mould growth, so it's between us and the letting agency.

They said that they would not do anything about the mice because it's not their department, and that if we wanted it sorted out we could contact pest control and pay them a fee.

BitterAndTwisted

"I can't say I fully understand the student housing/family housing thing, it's just purely what I've been told by the people who come to inspect the house. They said it's something to do with the amount of condensation caused by everyday living and if the property is suited to that."

In my opinion there are two things going on:

1) That the property is not registered as an HMO, and this could get the LL into rather deep water should you choose to involve the Local Authority, so talking about it as a "family house" could be their strategy of a grasping for a get-out clause. In my opinin this won't wash if they've either negotiated individual tenancy agreements with all of you. it's possible that if you've signed a joint-and-several agreement they might decide to claim that you've decided to over-crowd the place.

2) The number of people in a particular property can cause additional condensation depe3nding on life-style but the landlord sending workmen round to investigate the condensation and consequent damp could end up with them pointing the finger very definitely in your direction. To avoid this accusation I would WRITE to the landlord and their agent immediately enumerating the many steps you have taken to reduce the possibility of condensation. The ones you've mentioned in your previous post.

Unfortunately you are not entitled to claim anything from the landlord for the damage to your property.

In the meantime I would follow up your contacts with Environment Health and the Local Authority. They can choose to issue enforcement notices and get the landlord to address these issues, or pursue the LL for contravening the HMO regulations.

pmlindyloo

From what you have told us then it seems that you have contacted many of the people suggested here and nothing seems to have done.

Please look at the Shelter website for information about how to withold rent if the landlord is not carrying out repairs and then follow it.

To be honest, if it were me I would be witholding the rent anyway (putting it in a separate account so you don't spend it). Sometimes this is the only way that landlords will take action. I do not often suggest this action as I am a believer in following the correct procedure but it seems that they are seriously taking the p***

This is totally unacceptable.

Pay the £50 for the pest control officer to come and deal with the vermin and send the bill to the LA - probably won't pay but worth a try.

The other thing I would consider is getting your local newspaper to come and take photographs and write an article. Name and shame.

Bad landlords should not be allowed to get away with such behaviour.

BigAunty

VanyaHargreeves wrote: »

....

We have been told that the mould IS our fault and responsibility, ..

However, I literally just got an email from the agency informing us that they've booked a damp surveyor to come and look at the problems of the mould and damp.

Furthermore I informed them about my dress going mouldy and asking if they're going to reimburse me the money to get it dry cleaned, or to replace the dress (£200!) and the response I got was:


"Please may I remind you as per your welcome pack information that we recommend all students to get personal contents insurance to cover any belongings you bring into the property."

I don't know if I'm just making this up - but am I right in thinking that they have to reimburse me for this? I mean, who puts a dress in a wardrobe and expects it to go mouldy?

....

Then I assume that if their damp expert attributes the mould to lifestyle issues/behaviour of the tenants, then you will lose your deposits to pay for treatment and redecoration.

I would take pictures of the actual maintenance issues if you have already not done so, such as the blocked vent, damaged roof, leak under the sink and so forth so that you can fight any future claims on your deposit.

I don't know whether you would be successful in claiming damages for your clothing/tenants belongings in the small claims court - perhaps you could enquire the feasibility of this on the Landlordzone website. This is what Shelter says on the issue.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/disrepair_in_rented_accommodation/compensation_for_disrepair

I don't know if it is worth your while, if the damp surveyor finds in the landlord's favour, paying for an independent damp survey yourself (there is some kind of neutral/independent organisation that surveyors belong to, perhaps forum members know what it is called?) in the hope that it will contradict the findings of the original surveyor who may perhaps have a bias to their client, the landlord.

You could consider contacting your MP to ask them to compel the EHO to perform a proper health and safety inspection of the property because of the health issues associated with mould, rather than their pick and choose criteria of only proceeding if there is only evidence of rising damp. Or is this what they have already in fact undertaken already, just that you don't accept their findings? It's not clear to me.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/home_safety/hhsrs

Is the property actually a HMO and is your landlord complying with the full rules? You've been asked a few times about this but haven't responded. Looks like additional rules were bought in late last year in certain areas of the city.

http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1147964

BigAunty

pmlindyloo wrote: »

From what you have told us then it seems that you have contacted many of the people suggested here and nothing seems to have done.

Please look at the Shelter website for information about how to withold rent if the landlord is not carrying out repairs and then follow it.

To be honest, if it were me I would be witholding the rent anyway (putting it in a separate account so you don't spend it). Sometimes this is the only way that landlords will take action. I do not often suggest this action as I am a believer in following the correct procedure but it seems that they are seriously taking the p***

This is totally unacceptable.

Pay the £50 for the pest control officer to come and deal with the vermin and send the bill to the LA - probably won't pay but worth a try.

...

I disagree as it means that the tenants breach their obligations in a serious way.

As I indicated before, there is a process that the tenants can follow to do the repairs themselves and withhold the costs from the rent. This is how the OP can sort out the mould, broken sofa, broken drawers, pest control and so forth.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/disrepair_in_rented_accommodation/repairs_in_private_lets/tenants_doing_repairs

Info on court action for non-repairs

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/disrepair_in_rented_accommodation/repairs_in_private_lets/court_action_to_get_repairs_done

mumps

Speak to the welfare dept at your university, from experience they tend to know the agents and can get things done quickly, well they did at my DD's university. Phoned them about some issues like yours DD and her housemates had been trying to get something done. I phoned the university welfare officer for advice and he inspected the house and told the agent they had till the end of the day to start dealing with it or he would be moving the students into emergency accommodation and speaking to the council, I think it was environmental health but can't be sure. The house was never a palace but within two hours things started to happen. Good luck.

BigAunty

mumps wrote: »

Speak to the welfare dept at your university, from experience they tend to know the agents and can get things done quickly, well they did at my DD's university. ...

I worked as a temp for a Uni accommodation office, albeit many moons ago, and we never got involved in tenancy disputes on behalf of students in the private sector. We used to tell them to contact Shelter but we did keep a file on rogue landlords.

We used to keep a folder of forms submitted by students detailing the issues they had. The same rogue landlord names kept coming up and inevitably it was the routine failure to return deposits or undertake repairs, often across their entire property portfolio, year in and year out.

The death of a student in a fire caused by negligence on the part of the landlord meant the introduction of the HMO schemes to improve standards.

mumps

BigAunty wrote: »

I worked as a temp for a Uni accommodation office, albeit many moons ago, and we never got involved in tenancy disputes on behalf of students in the private sector. We used to tell them to contact Shelter but we did keep a file on rogue landlords.

We used to keep a folder of forms submitted by students detailing the issues they had. The same rogue landlord names kept coming up and inevitably it was the routine failure to return deposits or undertake repairs, often across their entire property portfolio, year in and year out.

The death of a student in a fire caused by negligence on the part of the landlord meant the introduction of the HMO schemes to improve standards.

The accommodation dept were no help, that was why I suggested the student welfare dept. I don't know about all universities but at my DD's they were great.

VanyaHargreeves

BigAunty wrote: »

You could consider contacting your MP to ask them to compel the EHO to perform a proper health and safety inspection of the property because of the health issues associated with mould, rather than their pick and choose criteria of only proceeding if there is only evidence of rising damp. Or is this what they have already in fact undertaken already, just that you don't accept their findings? It's not clear to me.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/home_safety/hhsrs

Is the property actually a HMO and is your landlord complying with the full rules? You've been asked a few times about this but haven't responded. Looks like additional rules were bought in late last year in certain areas of the city.

http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1147964

When I spoke to Environmental Health, they told me that they would come to look at the property if I believed that there was an issue with rising damp or penetrating damp (forgot to mention that). They came and looked at the mould and ruled that it was caused neither by rising damp or penetrating damp, but by condensation. They then said that they would take no further action because of this.


Looking at the rules on HMO licencing that you linked to me - yes, the house is a HMO; there are 5 unrelated students living here and we share the bathroom and kitchen. I believe that there's no licence, which is why we've had so many people come and inspect the house. We also fall into one of the areas that requires "additional licencing for smaller houses" as in the page you linked.

RAS

26. What happens if I don't comply with the conditions of the HMO licence?

You run the risk of prosecution and a possible fine of up to £5,000.

So have you rung the HMO licencing people and explained your situation?

LL might be in for a shock.