Cracked window in our daughters flat...

BertieUK

FBaby wrote: »

I wouldn't take the word of a maintenance man. What does he know who should pay what. He might have just meant that he was expecting his money there and then, from whoever.

Contact the LL or the agency and say that you're contacting them to confirm they will be paying for the work and see what they say. How old are the windows?

Thank you for your input.

Firstly may we say that we actually live about 75 miles away from this flat...so we are going on the info that is being sent by our daughter at this moment, here is what she says.

quote...Also, the top window in our bedroom has cracked (in a triangle shape not a shatter, and just through the inside pane), and we think it might be from temperature difference, as the radiator is under it - but we asked the landlady to send some over to take a look at it and he said it was cracked from within and we have to pay for it. We're not sure if that's fair or not, or if he knows what he's talking about? But we need it fixed as it's getting colder...in-quote

We asked a question initially of what procedure to take in this matter re this 'cracked' window pane.

We will contact our daughter and see if she had made the LL aware of the windows being misted up in the two or so years that they have been there. We first noticed the misting the day that they moved in so this has been an on going problem for some number of years, that is not to say that the LL was aware of this.

F Baby ; The question of the age of the windows we cannot say because we cannot see any date stamps on the inner part of the panes because of misting.

At this moment the building next door to these flats has been removed recently and a new build is in progress at this moment, vibrations from this ongoing work could, and I only say could, have contributed to the inner pane being cracked.

HardSpend. We mentioned earlier that beneath the cracked window pane the rooms 'electric heater' is fitted which 'may' be a contributing factor also.

Mardle. We would like to think that before the keys to a property was handed over to a new tenant an inspection of the condition would have been made, and the condition of the widows should not have gone unnoticed, only our assumption of course.

We hope that we have answered all of your questions and thank you for your input.


Kind regards

Mardle

I had a feeling that this issue had come up before https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/71862816#Comment_71862816 Unfortunately the OP never came back to update it.

BertieUK

Mardle wrote: »

I had a feeling that this issue had come up before https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/71862816#Comment_71862816 Unfortunately the OP never came back to update it.

Many thanks for passing on this information as it is a great start to resolving this issue in a diplomatic way.




Kind regards to you...

EmmyLou30

If you look at it with a landlords hat on....how does he know your daughter didn't knock against the glass with something and break it. In that instance she would have to pay for the damage. She'll have a hard time proving it spontaniously cracked unfortunately even if that is what happened.

BertieUK

EmmyLou30 wrote: »

If you look at it with a landlords hat on....how does he know your daughter didn't knock against the glass with something and break it. In that instance she would have to pay for the damage. She'll have a hard time proving it spontaniously cracked unfortunately even if that is what happened.

With the greatest respect to you Emmy, I believe that considerable force is required to crack any double glazed window, they are a safety glass.


Look at shop widows how much force that get so I think that the odds are in the tenants favour in this instance, although I take on board your comments.


Regards...

missprice

If I may suggest that replacing one unit of double glazing should not cost all that much, therefore is it really worth more than sending a letter to landlord asking for him to pay?
If LL says no in the first instance I would be tempted to just pay, rather than getting riled up at what may only be £50 or so.

Plus when your child moved in there should have been a list of all things wrong with the flat. If there wasn't that works in your favour when tenant leaves, as no list, nothing can be taken from deposit.
Is the deposit held in a scheme?

aneary

Just one thing to add if the windows were misted an your daughter didn't report this she may be liable as she didn't give the LL the chance to fix until it got worse/more costly.

If she did report it through the correct process as per the tenancy agreement and has a paper trail then an independent trade's person can confirm the damage is due to poor maintainance eg the LL's fault.

BertieUK

aneary wrote: »

Just one thing to add if the windows were misted an your daughter didn't report this she may be liable as she didn't give the LL the chance to fix until it got worse/more costly.

If she did report it through the correct process as per the tenancy agreement and has a paper trail then an independent trade's person can confirm the damage is due to poor maintainance eg the LL's fault.

As we mentioned earlier the flat was in this condition when she moved in, except for the 'cracks in the pane', which I believe are coming from all corners of the frame. The LL should have been aware before the flat was rented out.




Regards.

aneary

BertieUK wrote: »

As we mentioned earlier the flat was in this condition when she moved in, except for the 'cracks in the pane', which I believe are coming from all corners of the frame. The LL should have been aware before the flat was rented out.




Regards.

It's still your daughter's responsibility to make the LL aware of the issue. 'The LL should have been aware' does not mean they were.

BertieUK

missprice wrote: »

If I may suggest that replacing one unit of double glazing should not cost all that much, therefore is it really worth more than sending a letter to landlord asking for him to pay?
If LL says no in the first instance I would be tempted to just pay, rather than getting riled up at what may only be £50 or so.

Plus when your child moved in there should have been a list of all things wrong with the flat. If there wasn't that works in your favour when tenant leaves, as no list, nothing can be taken from deposit.
Is the deposit held in a scheme?

If I may suggest that replacing one unit of double glazing should not cost all that much...


...if she had this money to spare she would have done it the easy way, but she is working two jobs to try and make ends meet, as are many couples who cannot afford to find a deposit for their own home.


She will have to make this LL aware of these problems because there are other windows that are blown which was brought to the attention of the maintenance gentleman who called, but he was not interested.


Regards