Renting problem

tranmereforever

Hello all,

I was just wondering if anyone on here would be able to help me, I have recently (3 weeks ago) moved into a property that we are renting however since we have moved in we have had a series of disasters

Let me start with the state of the house as we moved in, we were told before moving in that the garden to the property would be cut and sorted out (was overgrown), we were also told that a new bathroom was to be fitted and repairs to the loft converted bedroom would be done

As we moved in we moved into the house the garden hasent been done and the bathroom has been left in a very poor condition for example the front of the bath isn't attached and the shower is nto working correctly, bathroom replaced but ruble in the cupboards, extractor fan not working, mould on celling just painted over etc. This was all logged in an independent inventory that we had and the estate agents havent contested it, the inventory also stated that the house was in a poor state cleanliness wise and that the repairs to the loft hadent been completed

Also where they have had builders in to do the bathroom the builders equipment is in the back garden and the greenhouse has shards of glass in it, there is also a slight problem with the electrics in the house as some of the plugs do not work etc

On top of this we have had two wasp nests and have today had people out to look at a mice problem we have which the guy has told us that it is likely they have been at the house for a long time and established a nest, that being his opinion, and the likely cause is the areas in the loft that haven't been completed and also the Landlords own personal effects that have been left in the garage and we are unable to access this to lay traps so will never full get rid of the mice.

What we were wondering is what our rights are and where do we stand legally as if the property needs a lot of work done to it eg bathroom, electrics, pest control etc do we have to remain in our contract bearing in mind we were advised this would be completed before we moved in.

any help and advise will be greatly appreciated.

pinkshoes

Ask for a rent reduction until all work is completed?

kunekune

Get out? They have broken their side of the contract, they were conditions of you moving in, and therefore you have not received what you contracted for ...

clutton_2

have you paid a deposit ?

tranmereforever

hello all,

thanks for the replies, yes I have paid a deposit, we had to pay one before we moved into the property, according to our contract we cant move out until April but would the above consitute the landlord breaking the contract as obviously we had to sign the contract before we moved in so we didnt realise the extent of the problems until we had done

If we did try and cancel the contract how would we go about it and also would the landlord then have the right to evict us immediatly for complaining?

sooz

Make two calls to your local council

One to the private housing officer

The other to enviromental health

That should get things moving!

tranmereforever

thanks, I will be doing that and thanks for the help

Also as a different point someone told me today it is illegal to have a front door that doesnt have a latch on it due to fire regulations ( ours we have to unlock with the key from the inside) is this true?

TJ27

I'm not sure that the lock question is specifically in the legislation but the council may well require it.

The principle is that you should not be able to lock a door from the inside, lose the key, then have to search for it to get out if there is a fire. This actually happened to a chap in my area some time ago. There was a fire in his flat and he was unable to exit via the locked front door. He was very lucky that the fire brigade broke it down before he was overcome by smoke and flames.

Deadlocks are OK but they must have thumbturns on the inside rather than keyholes.

kitchen_buff

All houses especially rented ones should have an MOE means of escape window, which is a fully opening window on the first floor of the building.

tranmereforever

oh thanks for that, im learning a lot from this house!

We dont have any door with a latch on it as the back door etc all have to be opened from keys as well so will have to look into it

Thats basically what I was told that you cannot have a door where you can only get out through using a key which is the case for us

Debt_Free_Chick

tranmereforever wrote: »

What we were wondering is what our rights are and where do we stand legally as if the property needs a lot of work done to it eg bathroom, electrics, pest control etc do we have to remain in our contract bearing in mind we were advised this would be completed before we moved in.

any help and advise will be greatly appreciated.

Put all your concerns & complaints firmly, but politely to the letting agent. Ask for everything to be put right within the next month.

Bear in mind you will need to allow access to the property in order for the work to be carried out, so you'll need to be flexible.

I wouldn't go rushing off the local housing department without having given the LL/agent the opportunity to put it right. Having said that who, in their right mind, would have thought the state of the property was suitable for rental, having inspected it :mad:

Don't, at the moment, ask for a rent reduction or anything other than rectifying the problems. If the work is done and one properly and you've co-operated, I'd ask for something to compensate you for the inconvenience - at the end, when the work's done.

Strictly speaking you have no right in law to a rent reduction - but a decent LL would recognise you've been fair and would offer "something for your trouble".