Student House Hell - Need Advice

Studenthousehell

"Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, you have the right to expect your landlord to carry out repairs in a ‘reasonable time’. If it’s an emergency repair as you’ve got no heating or hot water, your landlord should fix this in 24 hours."

Rosemary7391

Studenthousehell wrote: »

Absolutely. At 1.5k a month we expect a lot more. All we get is dodgy repairs. When we moved in one person didn't have a desk in their room, which is apparently a mandatory requirement in student housing. The tennant asked for one and the LL started raving how they didn't need one and to find one themselves to be reimbursed for. Bizzare!

Is this part of the conditions for eg advertising through the student accomodation services? I'd go talk to them. They might have some leverage to insist the LL gets things up to scratch.



Otherwise...

Forget the boiler. It's fixed now.



The lock sounds really irritating, but I don't think you can insist the LL makes it more secure or convenient. So long as it is safe - ie doesn't lock people inside (people locked out can just knock!).



With the mould - the most common cause of mould is unfortunately condensation from lifestyle - ie long hot showers, cooking without lids on pans, drying clothes inside, not ventilating sufficiently. If that's the source of it there is nothing the LL can realistically do other than tell you to change it/run the dehumidifier. However, there are other possible causes which the LL might need to resolve. Where is the mould? Which rooms/outside or inside walls?

Studenthousehell

Yes the letting agency just told us to seek legal advice.

We are worried about the safety of the door as it is literally falling away from the wall and is only being secured by a thin lock. The door is basically a porch door with the main door being behind it. That main door has no key. We asked the LL and they shrugged and said "dunno, lost it"

We also have no locks on our bedroom doors which is odd. Our friends houses have them but our LL said it is against the law?

Mold is inside and in bedrooms and the living room. We invested in a tumble dryer and so we do not dry clothes indoors. We wash it off but it comes straight back. Sometimes my window ledge inside has an actual puddle of water on it

wesleyad

Studenthousehell wrote: »

"Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, you have the right to expect your landlord to carry out repairs in a ‘reasonable time’. If it’s an emergency repair as you’ve got no heating or hot water, your landlord should fix this in 24 hours."

It's a little more complicated than that, the LL should try to repair within a reasonable time, but this is clearly not always possible (just took my mum a month to get her boiler sorted in her own home).

So what he has to do is make sure you have other means to heat house (if necessary, weather dependant) and heat water. He could argue, house didn't need heated as it was summer, and that hot water was readily available via kettle, pans on hobs etc.

Not that his response of "use the swimming pool" was much help!

If mould build up is still bad with a tumble dryer I'd suggest the house probably has poor circulation mainly due to the loft space being incorrectly boarded/insulated/vented etc. Doubt this sort of LL is going to rectify that anytime soon.

CarrieVS

Studenthousehell wrote: »

We also have no locks on our bedroom doors which is odd. Our friends houses have them but our LL said it is against the law?

It's not against the law (I'm not 100% sure whether it has implications as to whether you have a joint tenancy or separate tenancies, though.) But it's not that unusual not to have them - neither of the student houses I lived in had locks on bedrooms, and both were managed by the university who were excellent at taking care of the place and us.

You saw that there were no locks when you viewed the property, presumably? And decided to rent it anyway?

Rosemary7391

Studenthousehell wrote: »

Yes the letting agency just told us to seek legal advice.

We are worried about the safety of the door as it is literally falling away from the wall and is only being secured by a thin lock. The door is basically a porch door with the main door being behind it. That main door has no key. We asked the LL and they shrugged and said "dunno, lost it"

We also have no locks on our bedroom doors which is odd. Our friends houses have them but our LL said it is against the law?

Mold is inside and in bedrooms and the living room. We invested in a tumble dryer and so we do not dry clothes indoors. We wash it off but it comes straight back. Sometimes my window ledge inside has an actual puddle of water on it

Photo of the door may help?



Your window puddle sounds a lot like condensation. Is the mould on the same wall as the windows? How warm do you keep the place/ do you open your bedroom window? I used to sleep with mine open to prevent that sort of condensation.



What're you washing it off with? You need to kill it and keep it dry to stop it coming back.

Comms69

Studenthousehell wrote: »

Absolutely. At 1.5k a month we expect a lot more. All we get is dodgy repairs. When we moved in one person didn't have a desk in their room, which is apparently a mandatory requirement in student housing. The tennant asked for one and the LL started raving how they didn't need one and to find one themselves to be reimbursed for. Bizzare!

It's definitely not a mandatory requirement. There is no such thing, legally, as a student house. It's just a standard tenancy agreement.

Studenthousehell wrote: »

We didn't get a single certificate. The LL just said the gas oven etc had been checked. When the new boiler was installed he said he would return in 2 wks to put solutions through it - never returned - presumably money related.

That is unfortunate for the LL, you can not be evicted using a s.21 notice now.


Was the deposit protected?

Studenthousehell wrote: »

"Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, you have the right to expect your landlord to carry out repairs in a ‘reasonable time’. If it’s an emergency repair as you’ve got no heating or hot water, your landlord should fix this in 24 hours."

That is incorrect - no idea where you got that info

Comms69

Studenthousehell wrote: »

Yes £380 per person per month.

Under our contract we are not allowed to make any repairs or changes ourselves. - that is unenforceable do as you please I'm not sure if he was entirely a locksmith or whatnot but he wobbled the door and the whole doorframe was coming away from the wall. When our letting agency did viewings recently they noticed the door and told us to get a lawyer involved through Uni. - Why would your university have a solicitor for this kind of thing? (your union might)

Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11 a LL should not leave a tennant without hot water and heating for more than 24 hours. We went 10 days and given no alternative. - That is incorrect

Student Finance is incredibly tight and we already pay out £380 a month without any bills, so paying more to prevent mold is very hard for us. - so get a job The LL has told us to permanently leave windows open which is against our contract due to theft etc. - you mean insurance? We seem to be in a bit of a hard place

Studenthousehell wrote: »

Another note is inventory. Our LL never supplied an inventory list/form, which in our contracts we should have been provided. - irrelevant We asked and got a mouthful of abuse from the LL. She told us a relative had died the month before (August) and she didn't have time. We still don't have that list nearly 5 months on. We didn't want to be pushy of course. We recently spoke to our letting agency who told us the LL's go through the agency in June and purchase one through a 3rd party company. Our LL never requested one and the agency said it may be a money saving game. Obviously this can give the LL the grounds to take our deposits as we cannot prove missing items etc.

NO, it means the LL will struggle to claim on your deposit...

Studenthousehell wrote: »

Yes the letting agency just told us to seek legal advice.

We are worried about the safety of the door as it is literally falling away from the wall and is only being secured by a thin lock. The door is basically a porch door with the main door being behind it. That main door has no key. We asked the LL and they shrugged and said "dunno, lost it" - so change the lock

We also have no locks on our bedroom doors which is odd. Our friends houses have them but our LL said it is against the law? - no.

Mold is inside and in bedrooms and the living room. We invested in a tumble dryer and so we do not dry clothes indoors. We wash it off but it comes straight back. Sometimes my window ledge inside has an actual puddle of water on it

Suggest you go through the correct reposting procedure. Letters, and then get the council involved. You cant be evicted as long as you keep paying rent; so I would suggest that at the end of this contract the LL will be paying you a very substantial amount.

Norman_Castle

Studenthousehell wrote: »

The tennant tenant asked for one and the LL started raving how they didn't need one and to find one themselves to be reimbursed for. Bizzare! Bizarre

Use the quote button on post you want to reply to.

Studenthousehell wrote: »

"Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, you have the right to expect your landlord to carry out repairs in a ‘reasonable time’. If it’s an emergency repair as you’ve got no heating or hot water, your landlord should fix this in 24 hours."

Emergency repairs are making the property safe and secure. 24hrs is often unrealistic for boiler repairs which can be complex and require parts which are not readily available and also often depends on the availability of qualified tradesmen.

Studenthousehell wrote: »

Sometimes my window ledge inside has an actual puddle of water on it

Sometimes my window ledge inside has an actual puddle of water on it. Its caused by breathing. The options are to increase ventilation or to stop breathing.

charlotte1994

Comms69 wrote: »

Think you need to lower your expectations tbh.

I'm sorry but each complaint is valid. I don't think you would like it if you had to pay over £1000 a month in an unsafe, damp, mouldy property. It's obvious the LL doesn't give a sh#t. You sound like a rogue Land Lord. I bet you wouldn't be happy if your house was in that state. :mad: