Student rental problems

BigAunty

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.

ok, I was a bit critical of the lack of progress and ownership of the issue but I'm now quite impressed with your tenacity in the sea of apathy and distraction that surrounds you.

if you are going to be a good lawyer, then you are going to have to have good client handling skills which is why you need to tell 'mum' to butt out - only you hold the tenancy, not her. Order her to step aside, tell her you are now in charge, tell her that having an outsider work on the issue is just not working and offer to action all the outstanding stuff directly with her daughter if her daughter is interested in taking on some responsibility. Be polite but firm and if you need courage, I suggest you read up on some online articles about how to be assertive - you are going to need it as a professional. It's not her business and if her daughter is too timid or lazy to deal with her own tenancy issues, then just be glad she's not your mother.

At the very least, the successful outcome of your handling of the situation is something that you can discuss at future job interviews when you will be invariably asked 'tell us an example of the time you dealt with conflict', 'tell us when you took ownership of an issue and how you resolved it', etc.

VanyaHargreeves wrote: »

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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?

You have just a direct relationship with the landlord and the landlord only. The agency is an irrelevance. They are mere intermediaries, or a transparent window, through to the landlord.

The landlord cannot discharge their responsibilities onto them - they do his bidding but the tenancy you hold, even though it is signed and managed by the agency and the work is done by contractors, is directly with the landlord by law.

What happens is that though you've signed the contract with the agency, the agency already has a contract with the landlord that says they will work on his behalf.

The agency does not replace the landlord and if the agency or contractors f*ck up, it is the landlords problem. In the event that you need to take legal action through the small claims court , etc, you do this against the landlord because legally, the agency is an irrelevance, (though some claimants do try to cite agencies as a co-defendent in some property issues).

Your tenancy is with your landlord, end of.