Nightmare Landlady Running House From Abroad - Need Advice

aneary

Pixie5740 wrote: »

To cover your backside you should send a letter telling her about the leak to the address in England. Start a paper trail just in case you should require it further down the line.

You've told her about the leak, you've accommodated numerous visits from builders, it's unreasonable for her to expect you to continue having to take time off work or work late indefinitely. Would it be possible for you to contact the builders directly to arrange times that are convenient for you or your flatmate rather than having to go through the landlord?

I'd be tempted to put her bags of clothes underneath the leak.*

*For the avoidance of doubt I'm not seriously suggesting the OP does this.

Personally I would have chucked the stuff out and then claim no knowledge of it, I doubt it would have been on and inventory.

Red-Squirrel_2

Pixie5740 wrote: »

To cover your backside you should send a letter telling her about the leak to the address in England. Start a paper trail just in case you should require it further down the line.

When you send the letter make sure it includes a timeline of the communications you've already made. If the calls, texts or emails are still in your phone records then record the date and exact time.

For example "Further to our previous conversations regarding the leak to the chimney which was first observed at approx 7pm on 10th August and which you were informed about in a telephone call at 21.53(UK time) also on the 10th August" etc.

always_sunny

kingblah wrote: »

Hi all,

My housemate and I have moved into a property and the Landlady is showing some very concerning signs. She lives in Canada and rather than appointing an agent to look after the property, she's chosen to do it herself remotely. We're paying £2000 per month to stay in this 2 bedroom property which is a significant proportion of our income. I don't think she's ever worked a day in her life.

The first warning sign was moving into the property and all of her belongings still being there despite us asking for her to remove them. E.g. about 4 heaters, some of her clothes etc which she's asked us to "keep safe" for her. Unacceptable in our view!

Basically, a few weeks ago, the roof began to leak slightly through the chimneys. Both myself and my housemate work full time and can work long hours depending on workload, but the landlady wants to have three quotes to fix the roof. It's taken at least two weeks to organise an appropriate time for the three different builders to come and provide a quote, and also for a fourth to put capping on the chimneys.

I told the landlady it's difficult to allow them access during working hours, as we are out of the house then. After all, one of the pre-requisites for renting the property is that we both had full time jobs!

One builder has already visited twice, she wants a further two builders to make repeated visits for quotes so she can get the cheapest one. However, out of nowhere, the landlady texts myself saying we're being "negligent" by not allowing them to come quicker, and "I remind you that you are jointly and severally responsible", she is very angry that we've not invited them to visit sooner and that it's taken us two weeks. I told her that my work already is getting unhappy that I'm coming into work late.

What are my rights here? I've kept her in the loop all of the way and been more than accommodating, but she just doesn't seem to care and keeps sending threatening texts, it's starting to really get me down. How are we "jointly and severally responsible" for a structural problem to the house?

Would appreciate any help here. Thanks

I think you need to break the problem in chunks and isolate what's not relevant.
i.e. the fact that the LL is abroad and that your rent is £2k is not really a factor to your problem.

What's the actual problem? That the roof is leaking?
What do you expect from the LL? Obviously to fix the issue and she is organising quotes?
Even if the LL lived in Lancashire rather than Canada and you're in London, would you expect the LL to do stuff on site?

What are the threatening text she is sending you?

aneary

always_sunny wrote: »

What do you expect from the LL? Obviously to fix the issue and she is organising quotes?
Even if the LL lived in Lancashire rather than Canada and you're in London, would you expect the LL to do stuff on site?

I would if the LL can't personally manage the property she should employ someone (eg a LA) to manage the property for her. Especially if she expects two quotes from 4 builders that is 8 appointments in under two weeks that the OP has had to arrange and be there for.

The OP is paying for a service and not receiving one.

kingblah

Thank you Aneary you've hit the nail on the head.
She's being unreasonable in demanding I take time off work to allow them visits during the day, rather than appoint someone to allow access when we are not home.

It's simply not fair and an intrusion of our enjoyment.

She sent an email just now copying in the other leaseholders for the flat, lying and saying we're ignoring the builders calls, even though I've got another two visiting to provide quotes next week, which I'm going in work late to allow. I think I've been more than reasonable but she keeps accusing us of negligence in her emails and it's starting to get very upsetting and worrying.

We've already allowed a builder to fix the leak so that's not a problem anymore, but she wants to get the entire roof repaired for some reason which is why she is demanding these numerous quotes

david1951

I think you need to make explicit in the letter that you do not assume any responsibility for fixing the roof or for any repairs that you organise on the landlord's behalf. State that, even though you have assisted so far, ultimate responsibility for the repair is the landlord's, and it is up to her to make sure that they are carried out to a standard that she is happy with.

...or something to that effect.

As a general point, I would say that due to other commitments I am unable to assist further in the repair process and pass the responsibility entirely onto the landlord, whilst of course taking measures to limit any damage caused by the current problem. Maybe you are going on a 3-month holiday...

G_M

Lots of sound advice above - make sure you follow that rather than the less sound.....

Just to add: how do you pay your rent? Direct into her bank? By cheque to Canada? Or to someone else here in Eng/Wales?

If you are paying an overseas landlord direct, you need to read this:

HMRC (Non Resident [= overseas] Landlord Scheme)

You don't want to be liable to HMRC for paying her tax........

FBaby

She's being unreasonable in demanding I take time off work to allow them visits during the day, rather than appoint someone to allow access when we are not home.

Except that most tenants complain that they are not prepared to let anyone else in when they are not present, and insist on being present, so they often can't win.

What I think is unreasonable is expecting three quotes. 2 should be more than enough. What you should have said is that it was her job to pick the people to come for a quote, but it is not unreasonable to ask you to liaise with them to agree a convenient time. OH and I work FT, but we've always managed to get builders to come either very early or after work.

antrobus

G_M wrote: »

Lots of sound advice above - make sure you follow that rather than the less sound.....

Just to add: how do you pay your rent? Direct into her bank? By cheque to Canada? Or to someone else here in Eng/Wales?

If you are paying an overseas landlord direct, you need to read this:

HMRC (Non Resident [= overseas] Landlord Scheme)

You don't want to be liable to HMRC for paying her tax........

My understanding is based on this simple statement addressed to NRLs;

If you want to pay tax on your rental income through Self Assessment, fill in form NRL1i and send it back to HMRC.

If your application is approved, HMRC will tell your letting agent or tenant not to deduct tax from your rent and you’ll need to declare your income in your Self Assessment tax return.

https://www.gov.uk/tax-uk-income-live-abroad/rent

So if the OP hasn't received a letter from HMRC they should be deducting tax from the rent.

00ec25

FBaby wrote: »

What I think is unreasonable is expecting three quotes. 2 should be more than enough. .

3 quotes is actually pretty much the minimum a sane person should get. You cannot meaningfully compare 2, with 3 you get a clear highest and lowest.