Compensation/legal action advice needed

Thrugelmir

Did you really turn your heating on in August? Didn't turn ours on until late October. Which is fairly normal for us.

[Deleted User]

Only had mine on last week or two lol.., woolly jumpers etc much cheaper.

Mr.Generous

On the night shift theme think of it this way ... Your heating has failed and the engineer can call round between midnight and four am Tuesday - will that be ok?
I've done a few shifts in my time and its amazing how people don't consider it a problem to phone you up in the afternoon for something knowing you worked the previous night or expect you to be up at a certain time etc.
However, I would say the landlord cannot be expected to accommodate this, they have arranged various expensive repairs and tried to resolve problems. You cannot seriously be expecting to be compensated for not taking on shifts you were offered?

Hoploz

It seems to me that the problem here has been communication. You must make sure the landlord and the agent are both aware of the problems. It looks as if when the problem was reported they sent someone round, and then there was a gap because the engineer didn't get back to you. You reported this and it got sorted.

Let me explain my experience of being a landlord with an agent managing one of my properties. Tenant reports problem to agent. I get a call asking for authorisation to get the repair done. I then hear nothing else. When the rent is due to be paid out, I then get a statement showing the rent less an amount which is to pay for the repair (plus agent's commission fee) That's it. I am not told what the resolution to the problem was, I am not told the name of the company doing the repair, nothing.

Point is, make sure the landlord AND the agent are both kept fully informed at each stage, and this way everyone will know what's going on, whether the problem is resolved, or whether the tradesman has said he will get back to you.

Communication is key.

Perhaps the previous tenant was also not keeping the LL informed and he thought it was fixed.

Perhaps the engineer was embellishing his little story about other unresolved issues. Some people like a gossip more than others.

FBaby

Your first opening post was about getting advice about legal action. My post was to reinforce that you didn't have a chance to go anywhere taking legal actions.

You can't have it both way, claim compensation because of the severity of the impact of the lack of actions on the part of your LL, but then say that you were not prepared to be flexible to allow them to fix the issue.

You might think I contributed nothing to the thread, I expect because you were not told what you were hoping. That's your choice. Go ahead and sue your LL if you wish, but be prepared to accept that the outcome won't be the positive one you are hoping for.

csgohan4

OP wants their cake and eat it.

saajan_12

Think of it this way: your LL has a duty to respond in a reasonable time to repair any issues. However to successfully sue them, what have they done wrong?

* You saw the property and could have asked any questions / investigated before agreeing to rent. LL doesn't have to give you a brand new or perfect property by checking every single thing.

* LL only has to respond when they are informed (in writing to the address for serving notices). Previous tenants may not have reported issues.

* Timeline should reflect what is reasonable for an owner occupier. This means arranging mutually convenient times -> sending out people to investigate -> repairing. Miscommunications and missed appointments with the BG person happen. If there was no convenient time earlier due to your work schedule, what do you expect anyone to do about that?

G_M

Hoploz wrote: »

It seems to me that the problem here has been communication. You must make sure the landlord and the agent are both aware of the problems........

.......

Point is, make sure the landlord AND the agent are both kept fully informed at each stage, and this way everyone will know what's going on, whether the problem is resolved, or whether the tradesman has said he will get back to you.

Communication is key.

Perhaps the previous tenant was also not keeping the LL informed and he thought it was fixed.

Indeed.

As per post 3.

5) have you written to the LL in writing to the proper address summing up the problems an listing the outstanding issues with the floor, and requesting a time-table for resolution?