Advice needed: bad landlord/estate agent

mariejane

Hi I wondered if anyone could give me any advice. I have been renting my current house for 4 and a half years, it has not been the best place to live (there is a lot of mould and it's generally a bit run down) but the low price rent is all we can afford as everywhere else is too expensive.

In the last year the bath broke (they fixed this, but it took 3 months and we were left without any other way of having a bath/shower in the property at that time. After that the tap in the bathroom broke and it took four months for that to be fixed. Both times we did not have any rent reduction or anything. It also took them about 5 months to replace the broken oven.

All these times we didn't complain or make a fuss. But this time we had too ask for our yearly gas safety check (it was not carried out in January like it usually is) we did not get it until may this year after we had to request it. We did this because the hobs were playing up (some not lighting, overs giving out huge flames). The gas inspector said it was safe, just something to do with the grease going and that they need replacing, but the landlord did not offer to replace them.

A couple of months later I kept smelling gas and the hob would light a little when turned off. We rang the estate agent (thinking because the gas inspecter said it was safe, just needs replacing, that they would send someone to check. They said someone would come out to us. This was a friday afternoon, when the contractor rang late friday he clearly didn't want to come out, so he got my husband to look at it and tell him and then told us it's a small leak, but safe, and to put some bluetack on it and he would be out wed/thurs to replace the hob. I wasn't happy with this so I phoned him back and he said the same to me, but was very patronising when I told him I didn't think this was ok. I asked if he would come and look like he was meant to but he refused. Isaid I would rather keep the gas off altogether in the house untill he comes then and he very specifically tried to get me not to, telling me I would have not hot water, and trying to tell me I was overreacting. I knew he wasn't going to help and by now the estate agent was shut for the weekend so I rang the emergency gas leak number. Someone came out and was horrified by what we had been advised to do. he shut our gas off, told us we had a very dangerous gas leak and that we should not use that contractor. He also sent a letter to our landlord.

On the monday we explained all this to our landlord, who also seemed upset by this and apologised and said the estate agent will not use that contractor again. The estate agent came round that day (I'm not sure why) he said to look at it, he seemed to not believe us for some reason. He also said we needed the gas to just be shut off and not capped off, so that it can be fixed. It really seemed unusual.

The next day he said someone else could come and fix it and assured me they were "coming with a gas registered engineer who could check it after" this seemed strange to me as I thought any one who fitted gas appliances needed to have this qualification, not bring someone with them. In the meantime I asked why the previous contractor had been trying to ring my husband and I. The estate agent told e that the man had told him that he did in fact tell us to turn the gas off (when me and my husband both know he didn't) and that the estate agent believed him and acted as if we were just causing trouble. After this I became worried about who he would send next so I said we would be out and couldn't have the hob fitted that day (I had hoped to talk to my landlord and get his advice what to do). Instead the estate agent became angry with me and told me that I was wasting the new contractors time and it became heated when I tried to explain to him why I would be worried about. He did not listen and was rude and aggressive, and tried to blame the whole situation on me, saying that I didn't tell him we had a gas leak and various other things. After this I said if the man you send is gas safe registered I have no problem with him doing the work.

I rang my landlord afterwards to tell him what was happening and explain I was upset by the way the estate agent had treated me. But now my landlord had changed his mind and said he now believed the first contractor when he said that he had told us to turn the gas off.

I have absolutely no reason to lie and make this kind of thing up, and if I thought for a second that I had made a mistake like he is suggesting I would back down, but I know that he said it, because he got very annoyed with me questionning it when he did. Now I feel like I am in an impossible situation. I wondered what I can do here, is there any sort of lettings advice place I can turn to as I really think this is a bad way to treat tennants, especially in reguards to their safety. I have a four year old son and if I did not I might not have been as worried about the broken hob, which the emergency gas man told me could have lead to a serious accident. Any help would be great as I feel there is nothing I can do and no one to turn to. thankyou.

tomtontom

Your post would benefit greatly from some paragraphs

mariejane

haha sorry, I just realise that now looking back! I will try to do that .

[Deleted User]

You could ask to get the whole place looked at by environmental health.., but this could very easily result in you being evicted. If this happened, with children, you'd have to be offered emergency housing (but it would probably mean B&B initially and it could be a long way from where you are now).

However, there's no risk of you being killed by a gas leak and negligent LL in B&B.

You could try phoning Shelter for advice.

If reporting repairs, and the LL is like this, you need to do it in writing (to and from him) so there is a record. Otherwise its your word against his and a toss up as to who is believed.

ognum

mariejane wrote: »

Hi I wondered if anyone could give me any advice. I have been renting my current house for 4 and a half years, it has not been the best place to live (there is a lot of mould and it's generally a bit run down) but the low price rent is all we can afford as everywhere else is too expensive.

In the last year the bath broke (they fixed this, but it took 3 months and we were left without any other way of having a bath/shower in the property at that time. After that the tap in the bathroom broke and it took four months for that to be fixed. Both times we did not have any rent reduction or anything. It also took them about 5 months to replace the broken oven.

All these times we didn't complain or make a fuss. But this time we had too ask for our yearly gas safety check (it was not carried out in January like it usually is) we did not get it until may this year after we had to request it. We did this because the hobs were playing up (some not lighting, overs giving out huge flames). The gas inspector said it was safe, just something to do with the grease going and that they need replacing, but the landlord did not offer to replace them.

A couple of months later I kept smelling gas and the hob would light a little when turned off. We rang the estate agent (thinking because the gas inspecter said it was safe, just needs replacing, that they would send someone to check. They said someone would come out to us. This was a friday afternoon, when the contractor rang late friday he clearly didn't want to come out, so he got my husband to look at it and tell him and then told us it's a small leak, but safe, and to put some bluetack on it and he would be out wed/thurs to replace the hob. I wasn't happy with this so I phoned him back and he said the same to me, but was very patronising when I told him I didn't think this was ok. I asked if he would come and look like he was meant to but he refused. Isaid I would rather keep the gas off altogether in the house untill he comes then and he very specifically tried to get me not to, telling me I would have not hot water, and trying to tell me I was overreacting. I knew he wasn't going to help and by now the estate agent was shut for the weekend so I rang the emergency gas leak number. Someone came out and was horrified by what we had been advised to do. he shut our gas off, told us we had a very dangerous gas leak and that we should not use that contractor. He also sent a letter to our landlord.

On the monday we explained all this to our landlord, who also seemed upset by this and apologised and said the estate agent will not use that contractor again. The estate agent came round that day (I'm not sure why) he said to look at it, he seemed to not believe us for some reason. He also said we needed the gas to just be shut off and not capped off, so that it can be fixed. It really seemed unusual.

The next day he said someone else could come and fix it and assured me they were "coming with a gas registered engineer who could check it after" this seemed strange to me as I thought any one who fitted gas appliances needed to have this qualification, not bring someone with them. In the meantime I asked why the previous contractor had been trying to ring my husband and I. The estate agent told e that the man had told him that he did in fact tell us to turn the gas off (when me and my husband both know he didn't) and that the estate agent believed him and acted as if we were just causing trouble. After this I became worried about who he would send next so I said we would be out and couldn't have the hob fitted that day (I had hoped to talk to my landlord and get his advice what to do). Instead the estate agent became angry with me and told me that I was wasting the new contractors time and it became heated when I tried to explain to him why I would be worried about. He did not listen and was rude and aggressive, and tried to blame the whole situation on me, saying that I didn't tell him we had a gas leak and various other things. After this I said if the man you send is gas safe registered I have no problem with him doing the work.

I rang my landlord afterwards to tell him what was happening and explain I was upset by the way the estate agent had treated me. But now my landlord had changed his mind and said he now believed the first contractor when he said that he had told us to turn the gas off.

I have absolutely no reason to lie and make this kind of thing up, and if I thought for a second that I had made a mistake like he is suggesting I would back down, but I know that he said it, because he got very annoyed with me questionning it when he did. Now I feel like I am in an impossible situation. I wondered what I can do here, is there any sort of lettings advice place I can turn to as I really think this is a bad way to treat tennants, especially in reguards to their safety. I have a four year old son and if I did not I might not have been as worried about the broken hob, which the emergency gas man told me could have lead to a serious accident. Any help would be great as I feel there is nothing I can do and no one to turn to. thankyou.

My first thoughts when reading this is why are you still living there?

Pixie5740

You don't have a contract with the letting agency. Your contract is with the landlord. Stop speaking with your landlord on the phone and get writing. Any repairs and maintenance that needs done, write to your landlord at the address for the serving of notices given in your tenancy agreement.

Since 1st October 2014, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 S83 requires letting agents in England to sign up to one of 3 schemes:

* The Property Ombudsman
* Ombudsman Services Property
* Property Redress Scheme

Find out which redress scheme the letting agency is registered with and raise a complaint.

Any engineer sent out to replace the hob, or carry out any work on a gas appliance in your home, make sure he/she is Gas Safety Registered here.

Until this is sorted keep the gas turned off and if you don't have some already, get some carbon monoxide alarms. Not the ones that change colour but the ones that make a loud noise when they detect carbon monoxide.

In your shoes I'd start looking at other places to move to. I wouldn't want to continue giving the landlord my money if I was living in a place like this.

mariejane

deannatrois wrote: »

You could ask to get the whole place looked at by environmental health.., but this could very easily result in you being evicted. If this happened, with children, you'd have to be offered emergency housing (but it would probably mean B&B initially and it could be a long way from where you are now).

However, there's no risk of you being killed by a gas leak and negligent LL in B&B.

You could try phoning Shelter for advice.

If reporting repairs, and the LL is like this, you need to do it in writing (to and from him) so there is a record. Otherwise its your word against his and a toss up as to who is believed.

thankyou, I will try this. I know I have asked many times if we can get a council house before but are told because my husband works (as a carer so pretty much all day everyday. And I have been looking for any jobs that fit in my sons school time but they don't) we won't have much chance of being offered one. And unless my husbands work give him a very dramatic pay rise we would never be able to afford the agent fees/deposit/first rent etc. let alone a much higher rent, so we are kind of stuck in the middle. Not poor enough but not rich enough either! lol.

m0bov

You could also get a Gas engineer to come round and check and offer a written report of the current hob. I would also speak to Shelter.

mariejane

Pixie5740 wrote: »

You don't have a contract with the letting agency. Your contract is with the landlord. Stop speaking with your landlord on the phone and get writing. Any repairs and maintenance that needs done, write to your landlord at the address for the serving of notices given in your tenancy agreement.

Since 1st October 2014, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 S83 requires letting agents in England to sign up to one of 3 schemes:

* The Property Ombudsman
* Ombudsman Services Property
* Property Redress Scheme

Find out which redress scheme the letting agency is registered with and raise a complaint.

Any engineer sent out to replace the hob, or carry out any work on a gas appliance in your home, make sure he/she is Gas Safety Registered

Until this is sorted keep the gas turned off and if you don't have some already, get some carbon monoxide alarms. Not the ones that change colour but the ones that make a loud noise when they detect carbon monoxide.

In your shoes I'd start looking at other places to move to. I wouldn't want to continue giving the landlord my money if I was living in a place like this.

Thankyou, I will do this. I know, I think it's because they know they can do this to people who are in our situation where we have no other choice but to live there. It's horrible.

m0bov

Have you spoken to the local Enviro health?

mariejane

m0bov wrote: »

Have you spoken to the local Enviro health?

hi I haven't yet, I may do that tomorrow. thankyou