Who's to blaim? Our tennants, out letting agents or us?

costelloe16

Hello,

I own a property, which has been let out whilst I'm travelling and has had the same tennants in there for just over 2 years.

I've received a letter this morning from the council with a request for us to make some quite significant changes to the house with reference to the due to the Housing Act 2004 - Potential Risks to Health & Safety.

I'm waiting to speak to the council woman who wrote us the letter, who indicates she's recently performed an inspection at the request of the current tennant and has provided us with a list of things that need changing, including things like constructing a wall around our staircase that bends around into the living area, and then constructing a doorway at the bottom, plus changes to double glazing etc (we're talking thousands in pound of changes for the entire list)

So

1) I'm completely confused as to why I've received this letter - I've had no requests, no warnings from the tennant or the letting agent. Is this a usual process - is 28 days a legitimate timeframe from hearing about an issue to resolving and paying in full ( have NO idea how to pay for all of this)

2) If these things were wrong with the house originally - should it be my letting agents who should have not allow us to rent out the property in the first place. None of the things are broken or damaged, they're just not suitable - for example instead of the smoke alarms we have, they want to have hard wired connected through all floors

3) Do I have any legal rights to extend or postpone these changes for when I can realistically pay for them which would be one thing a month at a push?

4) Does it sound right that someone can rent a house that you've paid a letting agent to be in charge of, and then 2 years later demand you spend thousands.

Any help or advice about his would be great - I'm not a property developer, I hired a letting agent to make sure these things didn't happen!

Laura

zarf2007

costelloe16 wrote: »

Hello,

I own a property, which has been let out whilst I'm travelling and has had the same tennants in there for just over 2 years.

I've received a letter this morning from the council with a request for us to make some quite significant changes to the house with reference to the due to the Housing Act 2004 - Potential Risks to Health & Safety.

I'm waiting to speak to the council woman who wrote us the letter, who indicates she's recently performed an inspection at the request of the current tennant and has provided us with a list of things that need changing, including things like constructing a wall around our staircase that bends around into the living area, and then constructing a doorway at the bottom, plus changes to double glazing etc (we're talking thousands in pound of changes for the entire list)

So

1) I'm completely confused as to why I've received this letter - I've had no requests, no warnings from the tennant or the letting agent. Is this a usual process - is 28 days a legitimate timeframe from hearing about an issue to resolving and paying in full ( have NO idea how to pay for all of this)

2) If these things were wrong with the house originally - should it be my letting agents who should have not allow us to rent out the property in the first place. None of the things are broken or damaged, they're just not suitable - for example instead of the smoke alarms we have, they want to have hard wired connected through all floors

3) Do I have any legal rights to extend or postpone these changes for when I can realistically pay for them which would be one thing a month at a push?

4) Does it sound right that someone can rent a house that you've paid a letting agent to be in charge of, and then 2 years later demand you spend thousands.

Any help or advice about his would be great - I'm not a property developer, I hired a letting agent to make sure these things didn't happen!

Laura

if the tenancy is no longer fixed, whack the rent up 50% to cover this and if the tenant complains serve an S21 and tell them to reap it!

just kidding ;-) but as a landlord it aint all money and love....get used to it or get out of it...

costelloe16

The tennancy has expired they're just on a rolling contract now, and we even turned a blind eye when we found out they have pets even though it clearly states no pets allowed on the tennancy.

If I kicked them out, I'd still have to sort everything within 28 days though presumably or before new tennants were allowed in?

zarf2007

costelloe16 wrote: »

The tennancy has expired they're just on a rolling contract now, and we even turned a blind eye when we found out they have pets even though it clearly states no pets allowed on the tennancy.

If I kicked them out, I'd still have to sort everything within 28 days though presumably or before new tennants were allowed in?

you may still have to do the work but at the very least I would be either getting more rent out of them or serving them an S21 for causing this grief...

anselld

To answer the original question, if you have let a house with safety hazards you are legally to blame. The LL is ultimately responsible for the state of the property and the agent works for you so you cannot blame them for incompetence.

Having said that, what type of tenants do you have? It sounds like the Council has applied HMO standards regarding protected fire escape routes when doing the inspection which seems over-the-top.

costelloe16

Thanks for your respsonse!

I'm not sure what you mean by what sort of tenants, they're a working family in a 3 bed terraced house. The stairs have a banister going all the way down and twist into the living room, we've been told to box the whole staircase up and add a fire door.

So just to confirm, as far as you're aware, letting agents can allow you to rent out a property that's legally unsafe? They have no legal requirement to check you're aware of the legal safety standards before agreeing to take a fee from you? That sounds so dodgy!! I genuinely thought they're there to know the things that you don't!.

anselld

costelloe16 wrote: »

So just to confirm, as far as you're aware, letting agents can allow you to rent out a property that's legally unsafe? They have no legal requirement to check you're aware of the legal safety standards before agreeing to take a fee from you? That sounds so dodgy!! I genuinely thought they're there to know the things that you don't!.

That is correct. No qualifications or experience are needed to become an agent, it is best to assume they know nothing.

Legally speaking they are only answerable to you for performing what it says in your contract with them. Does your contract require them to make any health and safety assessment on your behalf?

costelloe16

Good thinking I'll have a read through that and see what it says!

Pixie5740

As anselld says, any old Tom, !!!!!! or Harry can set themselves up as a letting agency. Do you know if the tenants have written to the LA about their concerns about the safety of the property before? Also do you know if the agency has protected the tenant's deposit, or did you do that?

costelloe16

I know our letting agents are lazy are terrible, and they've let things slip from both sides - i.e they won't tell us something needs fixing until it's become really bad.

None of the things highlighted on the list to be changed have ever been mentioned to us - but before I call the LA I want to know where I stand.

They always give you a sales chat and promise a bunch of things, but I wanted to ask question on here first to sort of get an idea!

chanz4

The requests do sound like shared dwelling rules, I would contest