Landlord Not Repairing Property

JoshStumbled

Hi everyone,

I moved in to a new upstairs flat with my girlfriend on the 8th of August this year that was listed as furnished, and the property is managed by a letting agents.

Since moving in there have been the following issues:

*Broken floorboard that your foot could fall through to downstairs (repaired within 48 hours with broken bits of old floorboard by the landlord himself).

* No heating since moving in.

* Intermittent hot water that comes out murky due to a broken water filter in a 15-year old boiler.

* First two days of residency there was no hot water at all.

* Swollen internal doors that get stuck and need force to open.

* Broken shower unit that has not worked since moving in, the temperature dial is non functional, so the only water supply is straight form the boiler which is dangerously hot.

* A broken oven gas thermostat, meaning only the gas rings on the top and the grill can be used. Even the gas rings didn't work on the first two days, until a gas technician was working on the boiler and the gas supply started working on it correctly.

All of these issues have been reported immediately to the letting agents upon their discovery, both by telephone and email with photographs attached when appropriate.
A gas engineer came over three times in the first week of living here, each time they repaired a part of the boiler and said they had to come back once they got another part if the landlord approved the job. Currently the boiler is still faulty.

Whilst the letting agents have acknowledged the correspondence, the replies each time have been requesting confirmation that the issues are still current, and that they will contact the landlord with these requests.

As of today the 21st of August there is still no functional heating, no functional shower, a faulty oven, and murky hot water.
As a result of this, we're having to pay for a launderette, we are unable to use the shower, and cooking is more costly and problematic than it should be.

It should also be pointed out that the letting agent agreed that the property needed a deep clean before moving in, when we viewed the property, but this was not confirmed in writing. Since moving in we've discovered thick layers of dust coated grease in the kitchen, black mold in the washing machine, dense coatings of dust and hair on carpets, and residual hair and grime in the shower unit.

In addition to the complaints and requests for repairs to the letting agents, I have contacted CAB for advice. The CAB told me to write a formal letter of complaint to the agents, notifying them that if there is no repair date organised within 48 hours I will be contacting the council to inspect the property. They also notified me not to withhold rent until repairs are carried out, as this could cause more problems.

Ideally we'd like to find another property in the area to rent, but we've already paid several hundred pounds in agency fees and are almost out of savings

What on earth do I do?

SmashedAvacado

Stop paying rent
Find somewhere else to live
Demand your deposit and rent back

tom9980

SmashedAvacado wrote: »

Stop paying rent
Find somewhere else to live
Demand your deposit and rent back

The worst advice to follow.

HampshireH

Do not stop paying rent but do as the CAB have advised.

You have been there 2 weeks. Whilst its a rubbish situation you need you need to follow the process

Why dont you ask your LA or LL to do an inspection so they can witness the problems rather than them potentially see your name come up on their phone and dread taking the call.

Be pro active. Send your letter. Request an inspection and go through the inventory and the amendments which need to be made at the same time.

Your inventory should have picked all of these things up

JoshStumbled

Funnily enough there was an inventory carried out prior to moving in, according to the letting agents. They charged us £80 for the inventory, yet over a page of changes had to be made once I went through it

G_M

JoshStumbled wrote: »

....... The CAB told me to write a formal letter of complaint to[STRIKE] the agents[/STRIKE]The landlord, at the address provided "for serving of notices", with a copy to the agent, notifying them that if there is no repair date organised within 48 hours I will be contacting the council to inspect the property. They also notified me not to withhold rent until repairs are carried out, as this could cause more problems.

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

NeilCr

Shelter says you can write to the letting agent if they manage the property

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

JoshStumbled

As I've already sent the letter, should I request the contact details of the landlord to send it to him as well? So far we do not have his details to contact him

nearlynomadic

Section 1, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 - ask your LA for the name and address. They have 21 days to supply it, and must do so, by law.

The less official but possibly quicker ways is that you can also order the deeds from the Land Registry (£3) and then see if you can track down the landlord via a bit of internet sleuthing (I've done it once before)

Continental

The charity ‘Shelter’ has some excellent information on its website for tenants who are having problems trying to get their landlord to do repairs.

They even have a template on what to put in writing to the LL and there is also a step by step guide on how to escalate matters if the LL is procrastinating or is dismissive in arranging for repairs and how important it is to follow the correct procedure and it shows you how to do this.

There are seperate sections for tenants in England and for Scottish tenants. I’m having a problem posting a link, but just go to Shelter.org.uk



Hope this helps!

PersianCatLady

JoshStumbled wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I moved in to a new upstairs flat with my girlfriend on the 8th of August this year that was listed as furnished, and the property is managed by a letting agents.

Since moving in there have been the following issues:

*Broken floorboard that your foot could fall through to downstairs (repaired within 48 hours with broken bits of old floorboard by the landlord himself).

* No heating since moving in.

* Intermittent hot water that comes out murky due to a broken water filter in a 15-year old boiler.

* First two days of residency there was no hot water at all.

* Swollen internal doors that get stuck and need force to open.

* Broken shower unit that has not worked since moving in, the temperature dial is non functional, so the only water supply is straight form the boiler which is dangerously hot.

* A broken oven gas thermostat, meaning only the gas rings on the top and the grill can be used. Even the gas rings didn't work on the first two days, until a gas technician was working on the boiler and the gas supply started working on it correctly.

All of these issues have been reported immediately to the letting agents upon their discovery, both by telephone and email with photographs attached when appropriate.
A gas engineer came over three times in the first week of living here, each time they repaired a part of the boiler and said they had to come back once they got another part if the landlord approved the job. Currently the boiler is still faulty.

Whilst the letting agents have acknowledged the correspondence, the replies each time have been requesting confirmation that the issues are still current, and that they will contact the landlord with these requests.

As of today the 21st of August there is still no functional heating, no functional shower, a faulty oven, and murky hot water.
As a result of this, we're having to pay for a launderette, we are unable to use the shower, and cooking is more costly and problematic than it should be.

It should also be pointed out that the letting agent agreed that the property needed a deep clean before moving in, when we viewed the property, but this was not confirmed in writing. Since moving in we've discovered thick layers of dust coated grease in the kitchen, black mold in the washing machine, dense coatings of dust and hair on carpets, and residual hair and grime in the shower unit.

In addition to the complaints and requests for repairs to the letting agents, I have contacted CAB for advice. The CAB told me to write a formal letter of complaint to the agents, notifying them that if there is no repair date organised within 48 hours I will be contacting the council to inspect the property. They also notified me not to withhold rent until repairs are carried out, as this could cause more problems.

Ideally we'd like to find another property in the area to rent, but we've already paid several hundred pounds in agency fees and are almost out of savings

What on earth do I do?

Didn't you view the flat before you moved in??