My agency won’t give me any info about my Landlord

Norah93

Hi everyone,

I’m a bit lost on the UK law so I’ve been having some slug issue in the house I recently moved in back in July. I’ve sent multiple emails to the agency and I feel like they aren’t taking this seriously since I am still having slugs after 4 months of being here. I have asked 3 times to have my landlords full address but they keep saying that since they manage the property on his behalf communication has to go through them.
I feel like they aren’t talking to my landlord and want it to be smooth wih any issue we might have.
I had to say that if I didn’t have someone coming in the same week I wouldn’t pay ma rent and someone magically appeared after a phone call.
How can I request to have this kind of informations about my Landlord since I would really like to write to him and deal with this with him directly rather than a bunch of fake guys. I’ve read about the 1 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. but I want to be sure I am not doing something wrong first and I feel like they would give me the agency address again.
Am I allowed to request the landlord OWN address? In the case they would give me their (agency) address, anything else that I could do? Would they be in the wrong to not providing me my landlord’s full address?

Also, could I request to have some compensation due to this slug issue? It’s been an issue that’s been here for more than 4 months since I managed to get in touch with the previous tenants and they had slug issues as well.

Very sorry for the long post, I could really use some of your help 😊

Thank you

dimbo61

You can check with the Land registry for £3 who owns the property.

Slithery

dimbo61 wrote: »

You can check with the Land registry for £3 who owns the property.

Who may or may not be the landlord.

Tiglet2

Buy some slug pellets?

G_M

Norah93 wrote: »

....... I’ve read about section 1 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. but I want to be sure I am not doing something wrong first and I feel like they would give me the agency address again.they should not.
Am I allowed to request the landlord OWN address?Yes - that's exactly the right granted you by the Act. You must do this in writing. I strongly suggest
* a letter (not email) and
* you quote the name and wording of the Act

In the case they would give me their (agency) address, anything else that I could do?
You cannot prosecute them yourself (its a criminal offence, not a civil matter), but would have to pursuade the council or trading standards to prosecute. Sadly this can be a challenge.

Would they be in the wrong to not providing me my landlord’s full address? Yes

Landlord & Tenant Act 1985

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.

In my experience and from reading the forum here, it seems common that

* agents are ignorant of the law in this area
* agents rely on 'data protection' and/or 'client confidentiality' - neither of which over-ride the 1985 Act
* agents often refer tenants to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987which allows LLs to use any address in Eng/Wales 'for serving notices on him'. However that is completely unrelated to the requirements of the 1985 Act.

Another tactic if they still refuse is to refer them to the relevant ombudsman:

Since 1st October 2014, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 S83 requires letting agents in England to sign up to one of [STRIKE]3[/STRIKE] 2 schemes:

* The Property Ombudsman
*[STRIKE] Ombudsman Services Property [/STRIKE] (no longer works in property sector)
* Property Redress Scheme

PhilE

Your dealing with another idiotic LA. You don't want to deal with these people, should your boiler breakdown in the middle of winter. I'd strongly advise to rent with another agent.

AnotherJoe

Pour salt along the door sills

(You should know your LLs name and address but really, asking them to deal with slugs is pathetic )

Rosemary7391

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Pour salt along the door sills

(You should know your LLs name and address but really, asking them to deal with slugs is pathetic )

Except the previous tenant also had issues - so maybe there is something more wrong than the odd slug slithering in...


OP, could you explain the issue with the slugs a bit more? It might be that the LA is dismissing it as AnotherJoe is despite it needing their attention, or maybe it has a quick fix you can/should do yourself.

Thrugelmir

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

Except the previous tenant also had issues - so maybe there is something more wrong than the odd slug slithering in...

That's the nature of older houses. Setting some traps is easy to do.

Don't leave pet food on the floor overnight etc.

Clean your floors well and regularly.

Cakeguts

You need to find out where the slugs are coming from. There is something in the garden that they like. Get rid of that and you get rid of the slugs.

Norah93

I’ve been pouring salt all over my room since I moved it.

Basically they are coming from under the last steps of the stairs and I’ve got a tiny step to go to my bathroom (in-suite) but I’ve never had anything in the bathroom. It’s always the same place.

My suspicious is that they build another flooring so they could install the thing to evacuate the water from my room underneath it (since I’m in the basement) so the last step of my stairs isn’t even at all to the rest. I’ve put a screw down where it seems like they sealed a gap wih expand foam and the screw went down about 15cm. I believe that if they block the gap around the evacuation thingy under my stairs it will shorter the space in the tank, raise the water up because of lack of space and then I’ll have more moist and damp coming from it. Does it make sense? My room isn’t damp at all by the way if you wonder because it’s in the basement.

I understand this can happen, but 4 months 3-4times a week?

Do any of you think I’ll be in the right to ask for some compensations on my rent? Nothing has been done, I personally hate those things and i found them everywhere on my stuff and it’s just disgusting. I have also received an email from the agency saying to just pour salt and let them know. I think they just really don’t care. We’ve got no other problems in this house otherwise.

I would post some pictures but I can’t find how to attached them to this message.