Landlord dragging feet to make repairs

baconbuttieman

Can our landlord do these things

Hi Guys

Apologies in advance, this is a complicated one

We have lived in a rented property for nearly 14 years, The property is owned by 2 brothers, one in Australia and the other in a granny flat (which had its own large ensuite attached to the back of the flat) attached to the our home but used the same front door as us, I know that this was not a standard tenancy but that was fine at the time


We only had a tenancy agreement in the name of the LL in Australia and he claimed to be the sole LL, His brother who lived in was not the LL , we now are aware that BOTH owners are actually classed as the LL in the eyes of the law, but we are also now aware that our old agreement was not a true short hold tenancy as one of the house owners was living on the same premises as us with the same front door.


Over the years, the LL that lived here neglect his home and the house has gone into some disrepair, Gutters, GSH, old fuse box, leaking roof, damp (not severe) failed flat roof, failed renderin g on the extension and the list goes on, BUT we were paying next to no rent as per our agreement so we were ok with that. £500 pm including all bills, but they never paid the bills so we had to ajust the rent and WE paid the bills, this arrangement went on for about 9 years. Up until nov 2013.


I did as many repairs as I could, I fitted new kitchen, bathroom toilet etc, we Never had any safety certs, ever.


Why did we stay you ask, well, it was our home, we were happy there, kids settled in school etc, His mess never impacted on us, we put air fresheners on his door, and it was ok. It really was, he lived in filth n squalor and we kept/keep a clean home


We did email the LL in Australia and told him about his brother state, he said, don’t bother me with it, sort it out with him.


However, the LL who lived here fell into some sort of depression over the years, failing to look after himself by cleaning his flat and his flat began to crawl with maggots on the floor and after a while his ensuite toilet became unusable due to the faeces all over it and we suspected he used the shower for no’2 ugh, I even went in and put strong toilet cleaner in it to remove the smell but I wasn’t prepared to clean it for him, this was a grown man In his 40’s who went to and from work every day!!, He never used our facilities which were very separate from his, we tried to encourage him from many angles to sort himself out, but to no avail, he finally cleaned it up to a degree when he left,


Any way as of November 2013 last year, The LL that lived here with us in the building, upped and moved to Australia with his brother.


BEFORE he moved to Australia, the other LL (who owns another rental property) asked is letting agent to “POP” round to see us about paying rent etc. we knew that the rental agreements would change and that rent would go up as we would then become proper tenants with rights.


When the agent came round, she wanted to look around to assess the rental price, she was gob smacked at the state of disrepair, we were use to it, she wasn’t, especially after seeing the LL’s other property and how nice that is, We took her in to the live in LL room, she was horrified, we made her go into the bathroom, she had to wash her hands twice when she came out due to her own disgust.


In an email to the LL in Australia, her exact word about us were “Those poor people”. But we were use to the house.


So over the next few months we hammered out a deal and agreement, the LL struck up a schedule of repairs, to which all repairs should be finished by the end of the first 6 months of tenancy, we have a 2 year agreement and our rent is £600 pm and we pay the bills, which is standard and fair as we have the house and it was soon to be renovated. Happy days. We signed the tenancy on the understanding that the Schedule was adhered to.


Before the tenancy started, they rewired, put in new GSH plus we got him a free boiler, this allowed relevant safety certs to be issued, alls well at this point, Tennancy agreement was signed on 20th January 14.
In Feb the front and back room was partly re boarded due to woodworm


The schedule of repairs time has now come and gone, very little has been done apart from the guttering. We have asked the agent and the LL to carry on with the repairs as agreed, to which we have been met with nastiness especially from the Agent, we have been constantly made to stay in for workmen who never turn up due to another job coming in.


Also, when the electrician dug out all the channels for the new wiring/sockets, they filled the gap with green expanding foam, leaving our decoration in a right mess on every wall, we assumed the LL would make this good, nope, he now says it’s for us to redecorate the walls, er no, you made a mess you need to sort it out.
In our out house, we have two windows and a glass aluminium back door, Our back neighbours garage is about 3 foot away from our back door so this lets in little light, this is where we have out freezer, washing machine and dryer, the roof is a flat one, the waterproofing has failed and it leaks in, The LL was fully aware of this and was part of his schedule of repairs. We cannot use the electric light in the OH due to the leak.


The leaking roof was to be sorted with in 6 months of the start of our tenancy according to the schedule of repairs


In this out house, one window was falling out and the other has a rotten frame,


The window that was falling out was boarded up permanently. Reducing the light in the room.


On 10th August, the floor was wet in the OH due to leaking in, the door to the outhouse from our kitchen has a step down in the the OH and the leak is now up to there, due to the flashing on the flat roof failing also. I slipped off the step in to the actual OH and broke my ankle in two places. Remember that I can’t use the light in there and this issue was to be sorted within the first 6 month of the tenancy


This issue is currently with my solicitor. So no more on that subject


However, we have asked the LL to repair the window frame that is rotten, to be sorted, The LL in his infinite wisdom has now said that he will get some one to board that window up permanently, he does not see the darkness of the room as a safety issue in his own words. This would leave the OH is greater darkness.
Also has said that we have to stop using the out house and that is is only to be used as a fire escape, my question is this, can he decommission rooms willy nilly, and simply board up windows permanently.


We are in a position now where we are being made out to be bad tenants, when we are not, we have been told by the agent, you have only got 17 months left, thank god, also the LL just said in an email that we are free to leave when ever we like, now that just makes us dig our heals in, we pay our rent each month on time every time.


Can we affect the repairs our self and take it out of the rent????


I don’t think the LL realized how bad the other LL let the property go and I don’t think tbh he can really afford the repairs, It seems to be that he is taking things away that needs to be repairer, de commissioning rooms cos he has not stuck to the schedule, the granny flat was cleaned out and sterilized by me so my daughter could use it, we did not renovate the granny flats ensuite as the LL said this would be done in his schedule of repairs within 3 months, that is way out of date now.


We know he had to take a loan out for the rewire and GSH fitting Cos he told us, he is using our rent to affect repairs, his words again, but we now think when the repairs are complete we will be evicted after our term which is a stab in the back tbh.

We have had an email this morning from our LL telling us not to use the outhouse now!! and that he is going to give keys to his workmen so they can come and go as they please, we have just sent him formal notice that he should not and cannot do this.
He wants to decommission the out house and stop us using it, this is where out freezer is and washing machine plus dryer, we have no where else to put it all, this would cause inconvenience to us, he has also indicated he may knock it down instead of re waterproofing it

We pay our rent on time every month, all we want is a nice home to live in

ACG

I understand your settled but is it worth it?

If I was a landlord again and had a tenant who had been there 14 years I would be bending over backwards to keep them there.

Not wanting to rub it in but the average mortgage is 25 years, you could have a tiny mortgage in that time - so if you think that you have basically paid half of their mortgage off (assuming there was one) then you may realise how lucky they are to have had you!

pmlindyloo

Just follow the advice listed by Shelter here:

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

G_M

You have choices:

1) Move. You have a property falling down and a landlord who does not care & is unreliable. get out.

How/when you do that depends on your tenancy agreement (and other factors), or mutual agreement

2) Carry on. You've lived there in squalor for years. You are used to it. So just carry on as before.

3) Enforce repairs.
* get Environmental Health involved
* follow Shepter process for paying for repairs yourself an deducting from rent (you must follow the process!)
* do not just sink your own cash into someone else's property
* do not take on the LL's responsibility (eg for gas certificate - get HSE involved)

You do realise that as your LL is overseas and you are apparntly paying him direct, you can be held liable for his tax on the rent? See HMRC (Non Resident [= overseas] Landlord Scheme). Start deducting the tax and put it to one side till your LL confirms HMRC have granted him permission.

Does the LL hold a Deposits (Rules on deposit protection)?

As for the period when the brother lived there, if he was not named on th tenancy agreement he was not your landlord. Who did you pay rent to? So you did not have a 'live-in' landlord, and were tenants with an AST, not lodgers.

dimbo61

Where is this property ?
You state that £500 was very cheap rent for the property and you are now paying £600 a month.
What is the average rent for a property like yours in the area ?

baconbuttieman

ACG wrote: »

I understand your settled but is it worth it?

If I was a landlord again and had a tenant who had been there 14 years I would be bending over backwards to keep them there.

Not wanting to rub it in but the average mortgage is 25 years, you could have a tiny mortgage in that time - so if you think that you have basically paid half of their mortgage off (assuming there was one) then you may realise how lucky they are to have had you!

the house is an old family home of theirs so no mortgage. we have paid so much into this house our selves so we dont want to leave.

The house is not squalid as some one stated, it has some disrepair that needs attending to, the £500 included bills so that was cheap, we now pay £600 plus bills, so we had it good rent wise earlier.

aside from whether we should move out, I need to know if they can decommission a room as and when????

G_M

baconbuttieman wrote: »

aside from whether we should move out, I need to know if they can decommission a room as and when????

If you want repairs done, and doing the repairs requires a room to be decommssioned, then they can decommission the room.

'As and when'? No - they need to agree dates with you. But if you make it difficult for the LL timescale-wise then you can hardly complain about the lack of repairs.

Either you want repairs undertaken and you facilitate that, or you don't.

baconbuttieman

G_M wrote: »

If you want repairs done, and doing the repairs requires a room to be decommssioned, then they can decommission the room.

'As and when'? No - they need to agree dates with you. But if you make it difficult for the LL timescale-wise then you can hardly complain about the lack of repairs.

Either you want repairs undertaken and you facilitate that, or you don't.

we are not making it difficult for for any repairs to be carried out!!!
I dont think 8 months is out of the way in a time scale.
We understand that a room will need to be to be decommissioned while repairs are carried out, but while the repairs are not being done is a different story, sure if we have the facilities of the outhouse, then to remove that facility by way of demolishing the structure and not providing a replacement is wrong or against our current rights as his tennans under our agreement

It's like the down stairs en suite, the landlords workman is coming tomorrow to place a lock on the door to the ensuite to stop us using it for storage as they are decomissioning it, The room is situated at the rear of the other LL old room, which we have cleaned, redecorated and now my daughter lives in that room, while the ensuite is clean etc, it cannot be used as there are tiles missing on the walls and the shower unit is not functional. how ever, I personally cleaned this room out, we use it for storage of some boxes, but they are not intending to renovate it any time soon, just simply placing a pad lock on to it.

G_M

Then tell the contractor he cannot come in.

baconbuttieman

i have now spoken to a solicitor who specializes in tenancy law, she has confirmed that he simply CANNOT board up windows instead of repairing them nor can he close off room for the sake of it