Renting a property

Emma-Lou89

Hi,
I am currently renting a property which I've been in for 5.5 years through an estate agent. I received a letter to say my rent would be increasing which isn't a problem my issue is with the estate agent not carrying out repairs I report to them. The property isn't worth the rent they want to charge me (£525 per month) other rentals around here are between £360-£500.

My question is, can I find out who the owner of the house is so I could try contact them directly. He has quite a few properties around the area apparently. I no it's a man that lives/lived in London and I think he has a sister in my area (Grimsby/cleethorpes)

Thank you for taking the time to read and reply

marliepanda

Legally you have the right to your landlords contact address. Don't let them fob you off with the agent address.

However, from experience, he won't care. I did the same in my old property and my landlady flat out lied and said she didn't have any rentals and washed her hands of me. This was when her agents were threatening to break into my home.

FBaby

What are the repair issues you have reported? Anything minor or not? If minor, then you LL might consider that it doesn't require doing. If essential, then you need to raise it officially, in writing.

Saying that, if you think you are not getting a good value for your money and can get something better, why aren't you moving?

Cakeguts

If you feel that the rent is too high move to one of the other places that you have found that are cheaper.

Pixie5740

Your contract is with the landlord not the letting agent. If you are reporting repairs and the repairs are not being done then that might not be the fault of the letting agent. They will require authorisation from the landlord to carry out repairs.

You can write to the letting agent requesting your landlord's contact details. Under the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 the letting agent must provide them within 21 days.

Emma-Lou89

Thanks for your replies,

It's not as easy to just move house, I don't have a spare £2000 it would take to move. Plus I only received the letter on Saturday about the rent increase so just trying to find a solution.

Issues are mostly damp in my kitchen cupboards I have to remove everything out of them on a weekly basic to clean mould off the back of them, if I have anything wooden in my cupboards within a week they are green and fluffy, a wall behind my radiator in the bathroom is slowly crumbling away plus a few other bits that arnt overly concerning.i do have mini dehumidifiers in them to draw moister out.

The estate agent changed hands just under a year ago and the previous estate agent I couldn't fault at all, when I ring it's like they don't care regardless of what I say, I even requested a house inspection so they would send someone so I could show them the problems but 6 months later and a dozen phone calls I'm still waiting.

I just wonder if the person that owns the house is actually aware of any of this or if the estate agent is not passing anything onto him at all.

The house is lovely apart from a few issues and my son who's 5 tells me on a regular basis that he loves our home and never ever wants to leave it

Thanks

Pixie5740

How have you calculated that it will cost you £2k to move?

What sort of tenancy do you currently have? Fixed term or periodic. How has the rent increase been proposed? Just a letter, a Section 13 notice, a new fixed term contract?

The mould will either be due to your lifestyle (not ventilating the property adequately, drying clothes indoors, etc) or the structure of the building (significant quantities of water leaking in for example). If you don't think it's down to your lifestyle and you don't want to move then you need to get your landlord to sort it out.

Stop phoning the letting agent and get writing to the address for the serving of notice given in your tenancy agreement about the mould. If nothing is done then write another letter and if that still doesn't work you can escalate the matter to environment health.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/what_to_do_if_your_landlord_wont_do_repairs

G_M

See


* Rent increases: when & how can rent be increased?

* Repairing Obligations: the law, common misconceptions, reporting/enforcing, retaliatory eviction & the new protection (2015)

* Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 :

1 Disclosure of landlord’s identity.

(1)If the tenant of premises occupied as a dwelling makes a written request for the landlord’s name and address to—

(a)any person who demands, or the last person who received, rent payable under the tenancy, or

(b)any other person for the time being acting as agent for the landlord, in relation to the tenancy,

that person shall supply the tenant with a written statement of the landlord’s name and address within the period of 21 days beginning with the day on which he receives the request.

(2)A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with subsection (1) commits a summary offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

Emma-Lou89

It would cost me roughly £1200 for deposit for a new house + rent upfront depends weather they want 1 or 2 months, plus credit checks and because I don't earn a lot I would have to have guarantors which also have to credit check...plus removal company etc etc it might not be £2000 but it wouldn't be much less

I had a 6month rolling contract 5.5 years ago and not signed anything since, I received a letter telling me they were increasing my rent.

The damp is not due to me, I have my windows open during the day when I'm at home to let air circulate and the heating on to warm the house, I open my kitchen cupboards to try get air circulate in those too.

I will write a letter to the estate agent about repairs and price increase etc and do a copy for the owner if I can get his contact details

Pixie5740

If you paid rent on a new place you wouldn't have to pay rent on the current place. Yes there might be some overlap but not a full month. You'd get your deposit back for the current place although it's unlikely to be immediate. Would you definitely require guarantors? Is it worth speaking with whoever is advertising the properties priced £360 to £500? So I think the costs of moving will be quite a bit less than £2k and with the lower rent you could recoup the costs of moving within a year.

If you are determined to remain in the current property then agree to then only accept the increase if you can have a new 12 month fixed term. Then, once you've signed the new contract and not before, write to the address for the serving of notices about the mould. Do not rock the boat before you have the security of a new fixed term contract. Signing a new TA will give you some protection from retaliatory evictions for requesting repairs.