Student rental problems

VanyaHargreeves

RAS wrote: »

You need a bit of a house meeting.

You also need to get stuff in writing rather than ringing. If you are fighting to get you deposit back a phone call is useless.

WRITE ( paper and pen not e-mail) to the LL and EA listing the problems and all the dates when each one has been reported and all the failures to deliver (like the one's today and yesterday). Thank them if they have actually done anything. Send two copies from different postoffice and get certificates of posting (free).

You do also need to understand the law. If your deposit is registered, you claim the deposit back from the scheme not the courts. The LL tries to reduce it and puts in a dispute. If you use the dispute procedure, the LL has to prove you caused the damage.

Have you been sent the prescribed information regarding the deposit scheme? Find out and if this was nt done within 30 days of the tenancy starting you can claim upto 3 times the deposit.

Yes, regarding your next post - we've definitely learnt a lot this year! I have to admit that we were all rather sheltered when we moved in, none of us had had to really deal with things like bills and household repair and stuff like that before.

My housemate's mum has been writing to the agency, we've been forwarding her all the emails and she writes the formal letters to them. I hate to admit it but we don't get along too well in our house, only three of us actually try to do anything about it, and one of that three is very hot-headed and so we don't allow him to write anything to the agency. The other one is very sweet and kind and so the agency just tries to bully her.


Mat was emailed information about the deposit scheme only a little while ago - he says three or four weeks ago, but he'll check (he's watching top gear right now!) , but we were definitely not sent the information within 30 days of the tenancy commencing.

BitterAndTwisted

Your housemate's Mum has been writing to the agency?

VanyaHargreeves

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Your housemate's Mum has been writing to the agency?

Yes, she's gotten very involved and writes formal letters and has been doing some research into the legal aspects of it.

BigAunty

Seriously, guys, we know you are novice tenants and I certainly made dumb mistakes with choosing my accommodation at your age - for example, one time I gave notice to my live-in landlord because I found he crept into my room when I slept and he threw all my belongings out the window into the garden then and there and another time I signed a contract without realising the property was unheated.

I also ended up living in social housing surrounded by drug addicts, alcholics and the mentallly ill, including a neighbour who terrorised me playing music at high volume for days, let alone the screaming banshee on the other side and the frequent drunken visits from a lonely neighbour.

Your letting agent sounds incompetent, your student support services lazy, the local council poxy, your landlord a money grubbing Rachmanite.

But what is the point of you moving away from home and undertaking higher education which is supposed to give you research and communication skills if you can't take responsibility for yourselves? 5 of you and you are barely addressing the tangible issues surrounding a tenancy that commenced around 6 months ago.

At least you are having some life experiences rather than being cocooned in books or drinking lager in the student union but it's a shame it involves the delegation of responsibility, a lack of team work and substandard quality accommodation. Jeez.

Pleeeeease don't tell me that one of you is studying law ...

VanyaHargreeves

BigAunty wrote: »

Seriously, guys, we know you are novice tenants and I certainly made dumb mistakes with choosing my accommodation at your age - for example, one time I gave notice to my live-in landlord because I found he crept into my room when I slept and he threw all my belongings out the window into the garden then and there and another time I signed a contract without realising the property was unheated.

I also ended up living in social housing surrounded by drug addicts, alcholics and the mentallly ill, including a neighbour who terrorised me playing music at high volume for days, let alone the screaming banshee on the other side and the frequent drunken visits from a lonely neighbour.

Your letting agent sounds incompetent, your student support services lazy, the local council poxy, your landlord a money grubbing Rachmanite.

But what is the point of you moving away from home and undertaking higher education which is supposed to give you research and communication skills if you can't take responsibility for yourselves? 5 of you and you are barely addressing the tangible issues surrounding a tenancy that commenced around 6 months ago.

At least you are having some life experiences rather than being cocooned in books or drinking lager in the student union but it's a shame it involves the delegation of responsibility, a lack of team work and substandard quality accommodation. Jeez.

Pleeeeease don't tell me that one of you is studying law ...

Amusingly two of us are studying law, one of them being me! I know it's a complete mess, but bear in mind that we're first years and we didn't choose to live together - in fact we met each other on Facebook and didn't even talk for more than 20 seconds before we agreed to move in together. We've not gotten along well since we moved in, either. On top of that we've also had a lot of other, unrelated drama; one of us is hardly ever here so he doesn't care, one of us is an absolute princess and feels that she shouldn't have to exert herself, one of us is struggling massively with finances (she has a job but gets minimum loan so after rent she has £2/week), and I myself have been struggling to balance uni and home, because my mum's illness has gotten worse so has been in and out of hospital, so I've been rushing home a lot. So the house issues have taken a bit of a back seat. And as a teenage girl, obviously the first thing I do is come and whine and hope someone has a magical solution

I've just come to give an update on the situation. It seems that numerous threats of small claims court and getting lucky by talking to the right people in pest control has resulted in things actually being done!

The kitchen cupboard has been replaced but a large hole has been left to in order to feed pipes through, but someone's coming today to fill that in. Pest control have been called out and mouse bait has been put down (at no charge to us), and they'll be back again in 3 weeks time. The broken vent is being dealt with (the man from pest control called up the letting agents and told them they had a week to fix it). The agency called up at 7.30pm last night (I was impressed!) to let us know that they've arranged a contractor to come around today to fix the leaky taps and install a shower screen.

The mould is being eradicated, I wrote a letter to the agency and they've finally started responding to our communications. The mould in Charlie's room and the bathroom have been dealt with, they're going to do the landing and my bedroom next. I think the legislation that I mentioned to them helped. We still don't know about the damp surveyors though - they didn't show up and the letting agency seemed genuinely baffled this time as to why they didn't.

They responded to our request of the landlord's information but we only got a name and an address, no telephone number or anything. We were thinking of writing to him, but we weren't sure if that would be a good idea.

So it seems things are actually starting to get done!

dimbo61

So lesson from all of this is too find the people you want to live with next year!
Start looking for the right student property NOW as many good one,s have already gone. Now I have a few friends who rent out student properties in Manchester and you can pay £45/50 per week or upto £85/90 and as the old saying goes you pays your money you take your choice.

Manchester Student Homes operates a voluntary landlord accreditation scheme setting out management and property standards for student accommodation. Through this scheme we recognise and promote landlords who offer a reliable service and who deal openly, honestly and respectfully with our students. We recognise and promote student accommodation that is safe, secure and well maintained. As members of the university accreditation scheme, landlords are expected to conduct their business in the spirit of fairness, professionalism and good service.
Check your own uni Housing officer/office if you have one ( ALL uni,s should )
Please understand that a GOOD Landlord is running a business and is in it to make money BUT in return should provide a Very Good service ( ie a property fit to live in that is safe, warm, well maintained etc )
Good Luck at uni

VanyaHargreeves

dimbo61 wrote: »

So lesson from all of this is too find the people you want to live with next year!
Start looking for the right student property NOW as many good one,s have already gone. Now I have a few friends who rent out student properties in Manchester and you can pay £45/50 per week or upto £85/90 and as the old saying goes you pays your money you take your choice.

Manchester Student Homes operates a voluntary landlord accreditation scheme setting out management and property standards for student accommodation. Through this scheme we recognise and promote landlords who offer a reliable service and who deal openly, honestly and respectfully with our students. We recognise and promote student accommodation that is safe, secure and well maintained. As members of the university accreditation scheme, landlords are expected to conduct their business in the spirit of fairness, professionalism and good service.
Check your own uni Housing officer/office if you have one ( ALL uni,s should )
Please understand that a GOOD Landlord is running a business and is in it to make money BUT in return should provide a Very Good service ( ie a property fit to live in that is safe, warm, well maintained etc )
Good Luck at uni

Hi,
Thank you, I've already found a house with a group of friends and we already signed the contract back in January. I didn't want to fall into the same trap again!

We're actually in Brighton so the average house costs about £90/week to rent, which makes it a huge pain in the !!! to cover rent with student loan! :eek:

Fire_Fox

VanyaHargreeves wrote: »

.
We're preparing ourselves to take the agency to small claims court to get our deposits back, we've had written promise that we will not be charged for removal of the mould in the bathroom and in charlie's bedroom but we don't trust the agency. We also spoke to quite a few second and third years, and they told us that when they rented by the agency, they had a lot of trouble getting their deposits back too. My housemate says yes, it was through a deposit scheme though.

You do not take the agency to court, you are contracted to the landlord it is them who is legally responsible for the disrepair and for the deposit, it would be them you take to court. And that is only if your deposit is not properly lodged or you reach stalemate with the deposit protection scheme's arbitration/ mediation.

VanyaHargreeves wrote: »

They responded to our request of the landlord's information but we only got a name and an address, no telephone number or anything. We were thinking of writing to him, but we weren't sure if that would be a good idea.

So it seems things are actually starting to get done!

You have been told to put all your complaints into writing, so you don't need the landlords telephone number and have no legal right to it anyway. The letting agent has no legal responsibility to you, disrepair is the landlord to resolve so yes write to them. If you end up with a deposit dispute or in court you will need a full paper tail, saying you telephoned is useless.

And don't have anyone's mother do it, you come over as quite mature on here but that just makes you all look like immature children. Unfair as it may seem, the fact you are running to mummy who is not party to the AST is likely contributing to why you were not taken seriously.

Have you reported the place to the HMO people at the council yet?

VanyaHargreeves

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You do not take the agency to court, you are contracted to the landlord it is them who is legally responsible for the disrepair and for the deposit, it would be them you take to court. And that is only if your deposit is not properly lodged or you reach stalemate with the deposit protection scheme's arbitration/ mediation.



You have been told to put all your complaints into writing, so you don't need the landlords telephone number and have no legal right to it anyway. The letting agent has no legal responsibility to you, disrepair is the landlord to resolve so yes write to them. If you end up with a deposit dispute or in court you will need a full paper tail, saying you telephoned is useless.

And don't have anyone's mother do it, you come over as quite mature on here but that just makes you all look like immature children. Unfair as it may seem, the fact you are running to mummy who is not party to the AST is likely contributing to why you were not taken seriously.

Have you reported the place to the HMO people at the council yet?

I understand that it's not a good idea to have anyone's mother do it, but unfortunately I don't have much say in the matter - her mum's pretty overbearing and I've attempted to write the letters with my housemates but when her mum found out I got told off quite severely for doing so...I can't say I've had the guts to do it again.

I don't remember if I've mentioned it on here but the HMO people already know, apparently, and have been in contact with one of my housemates. Apparently the letting agency only recently applied for HMO status so they're processing that now.

I'm a bit confused with the whole situation - I know that it's the landlord's responsibility with the house but it's the agency who's been sending the contractors and paying for the repairworks. Could someone explain to me how that works? Is the landlord paying the agency to pay the contractors?

Fire_Fox

VanyaHargreeves wrote: »

I understand that it's not a good idea to have anyone's mother do it, but unfortunately I don't have much say in the matter - her mum's pretty overbearing and I've attempted to write the letters with my housemates but when her mum found out I got told off quite severely for doing so...I can't say I've had the guts to do it again.

I don't remember if I've mentioned it on here but the HMO people already know, apparently, and have been in contact with one of my housemates. Apparently the letting agency only recently applied for HMO status so they're processing that now.

I'm a bit confused with the whole situation - I know that it's the landlord's responsibility with the house but it's the agency who's been sending the contractors and paying for the repairworks. Could someone explain to me how that works? Is the landlord paying the agency to pay the contractors?

I'd put the telephone down or walk out of the room/ house if someone's mother tried to tell me off! She can't tell you off if you don't permit yourself to be told off, let her talk to thin air if you don't have the guts to confront her. Otherwise you might use the 'broken record technique' - have a couple of stock phrases prepared that you repeat over and over and over again calmly but very firmly whatever the person says. That can be anything from "please do not talk to me like that" to "we appreciate your help, but we have been advised that it must be the tenants themselves who write".

The mother has no right to write letters on your behalf if she is not party to the contract, the landlord or letting agent can completely ignore her and arguably should if anything discussed falls under Data Protection legislation. You are adults now, it is a shame you have been thrown in at the deep end in your first let but that's life.

Have YOU contacted the HMO people and let them know the house is currently occupied without the proper registration? 'Apparently' suggests you are hearing this from the agents.

Agents work on behalf of or are a representative of the landlord, landlord can ask them to organise all the repairs and maintenance and will pay an extra fee for this service. But ultimately the landlord is responsible and the landlord is paying.

HTH.