Nightmare Student Housing Company

TBagpuss

does your university have a housing office? They might be bale to assist with advice and perhaps supporting you with letters to the landlord.

Have you written formally requesting refund of rent for the period you could not inhabit the property?

Did they, or the landlord, explain why the insurance company is only paying £180? Is it because there was a £320 excess, or that they disagree with the value of the items, or a combination? What basis did they pay out on? did they, and/or the landlord, accept that the theft was by the cleaners?

ali_hire

It's theft, which is a crime and a matter for the Police to investigate.

I would imagine that someone needs to be found guilty of the crime (or admit liability) in order for you to be able to seek damages.

Why will your insurers only cover £180?

LeedsStudent13

TBagpuss wrote: »

does your university have a housing office? They might be bale to assist with advice and perhaps supporting you with letters to the landlord.

Have you written formally requesting refund of rent for the period you could not inhabit the property?

Did they, or the landlord, explain why the insurance company is only paying £180? Is it because there was a £320 excess, or that they disagree with the value of the items, or a combination? What basis did they pay out on? did they, and/or the landlord, accept that the theft was by the cleaners?

Yes i have written a letter to the housing company for a refund or some for of compensation which was declined on the basis of what i mentioned in an earlier comment. the housing company isnt through the university as i am not in halls. the insurance only paid £180 as they will only pay out £250 on theft claims where there is no forced entry and they wouldn't pay the £70 difference as some of the items were dropped and left at outside the property however were completely destroyed by the weather when i returned to my house two weeks after moving my belongings in, the insurance company said this was "accidental damage"

LeedsStudent13

ali_hire wrote: »

It's theft, which is a crime and a matter for the Police to investigate.

I would imagine that someone needs to be found guilty of the crime (or admit liability) in order for you to be able to seek damages.

Why will your insurers only cover £180?

yeah theft is a crime however you can claim for a criminal act under the tort of vicarious liability, i know as i studied the principle for a year. whether there need to be individual blame i am unsure, but it is clear that it was the act of an employee of HIVE

i mentioned above as to why the insurance wouldn't pay more

ali_hire

You sound like you're more legally qualified than anyone to answer your own question to be honest.

Surely the theft has to be proven? Otherwise it's just you claiming to have had some items stolen.

I could ask a cleaner to clean my house while I'm at work. When I get home I could sell my laptop to a friend and claim the cleaner stole it.

He/she would quite rightly tell me to eff off unless I could prove it.

Obviously I'm just playing devil's advocate here but this is surely how anyone you claim liability from will see it.

dimbo61

Welcome to the world of being a student.
Now you need to put everything in writing and post not one but two copies from two different post offices with Proof of posting ( NOT recorded delivery)
Did you take dates photos on the day you moved in?
Did you email the photos to the Landlord and agents stating the condition of the property ?
You have a bad back and bad lungs ( sorry LL/LA will not care!)
Did the LA/LL protect the deposit and give you the prescribed Information?
Did you sign a check in Inventory and point out all the faults/dirt etc?
Did you see the tenancy agreement before you signed ?
Are you part of a group and have all signed a Joint and several tenancy agreement?
Did the LL/LA get guarantors for each tenant ?
How much time did you spend looking for a decent house to live in for 12 months?
many people spend 25/30 minutes looking at a flat/house before spending £100/200/300K in buying it.
I am a student landlord and rent our properties via Manchester Student Houses as Accredited Landlords A+
Please have a look on the website MSH
The paperwork is right and emailed to students BEFORE they sign anything. ( Mum,Dad and the local Solicitor can check)
The properties are maintained to a good standard and we have no problems getting students each year.
My current tenants viewed 20 houses before picking mine!

LeedsStudent13

ali_hire wrote: »

You sound like you're more legally qualified than anyone to answer your own question to be honest.

Surely the theft has to be proven? Otherwise it's just you claiming to have had some items stolen.

I could ask a cleaner to clean my house while I'm at work. When I get home I could sell my laptop to a friend and claim the cleaner stole it.

He/she would quite rightly tell me to eff off unless I could prove it.

Obviously I'm just playing devil's advocate here but this is surely how anyone you claim liability from will see it.

I was hoping to find someone with better knowledge than I haha, Whilst i understand that it could be that simple in theory it may not be so in application. I already have a successful insurance claim for the items whilst it only covered £180 it is more evidence that i had the items stolen. As well as the reporting of the crime to the police, the photos of the items that where dropped. Also HIVE aren't completely denying that it was their staff who were in and who were responsible for the loss of my items, the cleaners however are denying they stole them.

LeedsStudent13

- dimbo61 -

Put everything in writing and send it to whom? sorry if that's a stupid question.

i didn't take photos on the day of moving in as i was ensured the housing company take photos of everything prior to us moving in and every time someone visits the house, this is why for example i know the theft occurred between the 1st and the 4th as i have a photo dated to the 4th showing the dropped items.

they did protect the deposit and i requested and received the information on this.

yes, we did have guarantors for each tenant and we !!! read and signed the same agreement.

we looked for 2 weeks however we viewed and put our deposits down in Jan of 2014 and moved in on the 1st of July so there was a change in condition since then.

Pixie5740

LeedsStudent13 wrote: »

i tried that but they could only compensate upto £180 which isnt a scratch on over £500

That was the housing company's insurance. What about your own contents insurance or did you take that out via the housing company?

LeedsStudent13

Pixie5740 wrote: »

That was the housing company's insurance. What about your own contents insurance or did you take that out via the housing company?

As part of my rent contents insurance is included which is what i went through in this instance.