Complaint to landlord/letting agent and environmental health report

smulx

The whole situation is a really long story, so I’ll try to summarise it. In November we reported excess cold to our letting agent and it took 6 weeks for the landlord to come and install a more powerful radiator. This turned out to be mostly ineffective and incredibly inefficient. Due to subsequent complaints being disregarded and numerous other issues in the flat, mostly minor maintenance that had been reported months before, we filed a formal complaint with the letting agent. Several lengthy emails went back and forth, and as the weather was now improving and we’d already suffered through a very cold winter with totally inadequate heating, we requested a rent reduction as correcting the issue would now be pointless. Our energy bill had increased significantly due to this ineffective heater and we’d been totally miserable at having to deal with the constant problems. They declined to offer anything more than their apologies because energy bills were apparently our responsibility, end of story, and you can’t quantify an emotional cost, so they won’t even bother trying.

I quoted the government guidelines to them, stating the temperatures that have to be maintainable and that this has to possible at a reasonable cost, and told them we’d be filing a complaint with Environmental Health. As they just thought we were complaining over nothing, they didn't seem concerned about this. They’ve now been served a notice from the council which orders them to make immediate improvements to the property due to level 1 health risks. Whilst these improvements are going to be important for the next person that rents the flat, it’s too late for us to see any benefit at all and were looking for advice on next steps.

Given our formal complaint was an attempt to get some kind of recompense due to the excessive energy bills we’ve endured and being totally miserable in our home for the last 5 months, we don’t feel this matter has been resolved as putting the issues right now isn’t going to affect us at all. The first thing we want to do is try to end the tenancy early as we believe the letting agent has been totally negligent in trivialising our complaints, which have now turned out to be totally justified. We don’t know if we should now refer the original complaint to the Housing Ombudsman, or if we should contact a solicitor, or if trying to take things further will just end up being futile and cause us further frustration. The council identified excess cold and excess damp which they’ve ordered the landlord to address, and my girlfriend actually got bronchitis over the winter, which we think was likely caused by the conditions here. So, we’re just hoping for a bit of advice on what our options might be.

LadyDee

It might be worth contacting Shelter - I should think they have the appropriate people on board to offer advice, at least in the first instance.

Margot123

Some years ago, I made a complaint in similar circumstances to my landlord. I was promised a central heating system that never materialised, and had to rely on a single gas fire to heat a 3 bedroom, single-glazed house.

My landlord would do nothing, just stating they couldn't afford the heating system anymore.

One call to the Council's Environmental Health Dept was all that was needed. I was amazed how thorough they were, checking temperatures, damp etc. The most surprising thing was that they immediately called the British Gas as the fire I had been totally reliant on was leaking fumes!!!!

The result was that I was told not to pay our rent to the landlord but to pay it into a separate account until things were rectified.
Unfortunately, my landlord was unable to rectify the problem and I left without having to give notice (backed up by the Council and negotiated with the landlord's solicitor), and able to keep the rent arrears to fund another place.

So, from my experience, once the ball is rolling with the correct department, you will have someone fight your corner.

HampshireH

Might sound like a stupid question but have you asked if you can end the tenancy early?

Housing ombudsmen etc is jumping the gun a bit at this stage. They will expect you to have progressed through the L.A. complaint process before you do that.

Get a solicitor by all means but it's a bit heavy handed if they agree you can go early.

However they may release you early with no fee. Doesn't sound like you would be satisfied with just that and also feel you should be financially compensated as well?

I would suggest 1 or the other both is unlikely.

If they are acting now on the notice then they are doing what they are told...despite being pushed. You may say it's of no benefit to you but your choosing to leave despite them carrying out the work . If you stayed you would benefit.

Assume your on a 12 month contract else you would be leaving shortly. Does it have a break clause?

takman

smulx wrote: »

Given our formal complaint was an attempt to get some kind of recompense due to the excessive energy bills we’ve endured and being totally miserable in our home for the last 5 months, we don’t feel this matter has been resolved as putting the issues right now isn’t going to affect us at all.

I can understand why you want compensation for higher energy bills but if the heating wasn't adequate and made you miserable why wouldn't you buy some electric heaters?. A couple of fan heaters or electric radiators wouldn't have cost much.

G_M

The Env Health notice will force the LL to make improvements. It s unlikely to help with ccompensation.

The Enforcement Notice is unlikely to enable you to end the tenancy early, unless it was accompanied by a notice categorising the property as 'uninhabitable'. Was it?

What kind of tenancy is it? Fixed term? Dates?

Any tenancy can be ended ealy by mutual agreement. Have you asked for an Early surrender? How did the landlord respond? If you get agreement, make sure it is confirmed in writing, with a specific surrender date, and agreement and what rent is payable.

Have you been dealing soley with the agent? Have you written to, or spoken to, the landlord?

A solicitor will cost you money. You are unlikely to be able to claim those legal costs back.

smulx

LadyDee wrote: »

It might be worth contacting Shelter - I should think they have the appropriate people on board to offer advice, at least in the first instance.

Thanks, I've had a look and there's some good advice on there.

Margot123 wrote: »

Some years ago, I made a complaint in similar circumstances to my landlord. I was promised a central heating system that never materialised, and had to rely on a single gas fire to heat a 3 bedroom, single-glazed house.

My landlord would do nothing, just stating they couldn't afford the heating system anymore.

One call to the Council's Environmental Health Dept was all that was needed. I was amazed how thorough they were, checking temperatures, damp etc. The most surprising thing was that they immediately called the British Gas as the fire I had been totally reliant on was leaking fumes!!!!

The result was that I was told not to pay our rent to the landlord but to pay it into a separate account until things were rectified.
Unfortunately, my landlord was unable to rectify the problem and I left without having to give notice (backed up by the Council and negotiated with the landlord's solicitor), and able to keep the rent arrears to fund another place.

So, from my experience, once the ball is rolling with the correct department, you will have someone fight your corner.

Thanks, that seems like a really good outcome. I’ll keep being persistent!

HampshireH wrote: »

Might sound like a stupid question but have you asked if you can end the tenancy early?

Housing ombudsmen etc is jumping the gun a bit at this stage. They will expect you to have progressed through the L.A. complaint process before you do that.

Get a solicitor by all means but it's a bit heavy handed if they agree you can go early.

However they may release you early with no fee. Doesn't sound like you would be satisfied with just that and also feel you should be financially compensated as well?

I would suggest 1 or the other both is unlikely.

If they are acting now on the notice then they are doing what they are told...despite being pushed. You may say it's of no benefit to you but your choosing to leave despite them carrying out the work . If you stayed you would benefit.

Assume your on a 12 month contract else you would be leaving shortly. Does it have a break clause?

We only contacted environmental health once we'd exhausted the complaint process of the letting agent. We tried to get help from the letting agent for a couple of months before filing a formal complaint, and even after this, they just trivialised the issues as though we didn't have a genuine grievance. So we already complained and reached the point where they said they couldn’t help any further and that’s what prompted us to contact environmental health. I think we’re going to see about ending the tenancy early, and I know we should be satisfied with that, so I’m not sure whether we’ll pursue any compensation too as we’re really annoyed at how they handled the entire situation.

takman wrote: »

I can understand why you want compensation for higher energy bills but if the heating wasn't adequate and made you miserable why wouldn't you buy some electric heaters?. A couple of fan heaters or electric radiators wouldn't have cost much.

We did. We bought heaters, and the landlord eventually installed a powerful electric radiator after us repeatedly asking for 6 weeks. The issue is that due to the flat being very poorly insulated, this inefficient heating ended up costing us loads and it still didn't elevate the temperature to an acceptable level. The council have said they have to install powerful storage heaters that are much more efficient and economical than normal electric radiators. The one additional radiator that the landlord installed was deemed totally inappropriate by the council due to it being so wasteful. We repeatedly reported this to the letting agent after it had been installed but they just disregarded it.

smulx

G_M wrote: »

The Env Health notice will force the LL to make improvements. It s unlikely to help with ccompensation.

The Enforcement Notice is unlikely to enable you to end the tenancy early, unless it was accompanied by a notice categorising the property as 'uninhabitable'. Was it?

What kind of tenancy is it? Fixed term? Dates?

Any tenancy can be ended ealy by mutual agreement. Have you asked for an Early surrender? How did the landlord respond? If you get agreement, make sure it is confirmed in writing, with a specific surrender date, and agreement and what rent is payable.

Have you been dealing soley with the agent? Have you written to, or spoken to, the landlord?

A solicitor will cost you money. You are unlikely to be able to claim those legal costs back.

The notice didn't categorise the property as uninhabitable. When we complained to the letting agent, we highlighted the fact that the tenancy agreement states the landlord is responsible for providing adequate space heating, so we believed they were in breach of the agreement. The letting agent quickly dismissed this. So we were hoping that the notice from environmental health would enforce our original claim that the agreement hasn't been upheld, and we may try to end the tenancy on that basis. Even if they fix the issue now, we originally brought the issue to their attention in November and have chased it up repeatedly.

It's a fixed term tenancy for 12 months. We have a mortgage application in progress so are going to check with our solicitor if we can complete early before trying to get out of the tenancy.

We've been dealing exclusively with the letting agent. Consulting a solicitor was only an idea at the moment as we're not sure if there would be any benefit in doing so.

Smodlet

What an absolutely horrible situation to be in; I really feel for you, OP, I loathe the cold. Were it not for a (very few, imho) fair private LLs posting on this forum, one could be forgiven for believing they are all complete and utter swine. Thank goodness for G_M, MossFarr and the artfullodger; sorry if I missed any.

I have no advice to offer, only sympathy and good wishes for being released from your tenancy early and for your move.

G_M

If the property is habitable, then you are being provided housing in return for rent. This is the fundamental basis of the contract. A breach of a lesser clause by one side does not negate the fundamental contract, it simply allows the other side to enforce that clause which is what appears to be happening here.

There is a legal concept of repudiatory breach of a contract which allows a tenant to return the keys & walk away, but it is very hard to invoke/prove.

It must be "a serious fundamental breach which goes to the very core of the contract. It effectively deprives the innocent party of the substantial benefit of the contract and shows evidence on the part of one of the parties that they no longer intend to be bound by an essential term of the contract."

Repairing issues, for example, would not normally constitute a repudiatory breach unless very severe. See'Hussein & Others v Mehlman'

We've been dealing exclusively with the letting agent.

If you don'tt know the landlord's address, ask for it, in writing.

Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 section 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.

Cakeguts

smulx wrote: »

Thanks, I've had a look and there's some good advice on there.



Thanks, that seems like a really good outcome. I’ll keep being persistent!



We only contacted environmental health once we'd exhausted the complaint process of the letting agent. We tried to get help from the letting agent for a couple of months before filing a formal complaint, and even after this, they just trivialised the issues as though we didn't have a genuine grievance. So we already complained and reached the point where they said they couldn’t help any further and that’s what prompted us to contact environmental health. I think we’re going to see about ending the tenancy early, and I know we should be satisfied with that, so I’m not sure whether we’ll pursue any compensation too as we’re really annoyed at how they handled the entire situation.


We did. We bought heaters, and the landlord eventually installed a powerful electric radiator after us repeatedly asking for 6 weeks. The issue is that due to the flat being very poorly insulated, this inefficient heating ended up costing us loads and it still didn't elevate the temperature to an acceptable level. The council have said they have to install powerful storage heaters that are much more efficient and economical than normal electric radiators. The one additional radiator that the landlord installed was deemed totally inappropriate by the council due to it being so wasteful. We repeatedly reported this to the letting agent after it had been installed but they just disregarded it.

What did the EPC say the level of this flat was? If it was an E,G, or F it is going to be not very well insulated and expensive to heat. Did you see the EPC before you rented the flat? If you did then it will be assumed that you knew that the flat was going to be expensive to heat.