renting emergency help please

dancingfairy

Firstly your friend has a responsibility to act in a responsible manner. This includes informing the landlord/letting agents promptly and doing what they can to minimise damage to the property (Which it sounds like they have done).
The landlord has a duty to provide a safe, habitable house and this sounds quite major damage. If it is uninhabitable then the landlord will either have to release them from the contract or they continue paying rent to him/her and then the landlord has to provide alternative accommodation whilst the house is uninhabitable. The trouble I guess is determining whether it is truly uninhabitable or merely an inconvenience. It's almost impossible from here to determine the extent of the problem so it is probably wise to involve an outside party (ie environmental health) to determine this.
Whatever expenses your friend incurs as a result of this she should keep receipts for, including if she needs to move into a hotel or b&b. This should be recoverable under the landlords insurance but to protect herself I suggest she gets extensive evidence of the state of the property, evidence she has reported the problem in a timely manner (keep a copy of the letter and get proof of posting), and ideally advice from Shelter/environmental health to give her a back up.
I hope she can get something sorted soon as it sounds horrible and very stressful.
df

double_mummy

thanks df i am writing letters now as all communication has been via phone up until now

any ideas what to put in the letters as they now wont be delivered until monday if we can get them posted next day delivery tomorrow

smifffy1989

Ask landlord for alternative accommodation. They have a legal liability to and their landlord insurance should pick the bill up

summerspring

Ah the joys of renting privately.. I remember it well. We had leaks, mould on the ceiling, window pane coming out of the frame :eek: communal smoke alarm going off 24/7. Landlord was usually sunning himself on holiday and couldn't deal with the problem till he got back.

Things got done .. eventually :mad: In your friend's case there's also another link in the chain, with it being let through an agency.

ljonski wrote: »

Environmental health

aggypanthus wrote: »

They wont fix it! !

Unless the place is deemed unfit to live in the council have very little pull on private landlords, unfortunately.

meritaten

please contact Shelter - this house sounds uninhabitable!

This is a Shelter page dealing with repairs and problems

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

if you are in Scotland the sites home page will take you to advice dealing with houses in Scotland.

GwylimT

They need to take lots of photos, record how often buckets need emptying etc, include photos of where the children are having to sleep.

Shelter should be able to give advice and support.

Do they have adequate contents insurance?

I remember phoning my estate agents emergency line on a Friday night as a fuse had blow meaning we had no heating, the emergency line didn't have an answer machine and simply advised me to call back on Monday morning when they opened. My fuse box was in the porch of the unoccupied flat below so I couldn't get to it, landlord wasn't answering his phone or email so we had a very cold and dark weekend.

double_mummy

so we have taken loads of videos and pictures and have been emptying as much as possible the guy they sent earlier came back over and has said that it basically needs a whole new roof and has done for a while he has patched it so its not flowing as freely has given us his mobile number and said he will be back between 9 and 10 in the morning so fingers crossed it will all get sorted soon.

i have done the letters and will still be sending them off in the morning - we have checked the contents insurance and most things will be covered and we will be getting the landlord to cover things like the carpets