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Problems with estate agent and landlord
Squirre898
Posts: 6 Forumite
This is a bit of a long one but I hope some of you can stick with it....
I feel I have been disappointed and let down by the service provided by my landlord and estate agent, since the day I signed my tenancy agreement.
- Signed agreement on 13/9/18, reported on 14/9/18 that 2 of the sockets in the living room were unusable and unsafe. I then had to follow this up on numerous occasions, it was eventually fixed 1 month later on 14/10/18.
- Upon moving in and cleaning the flat completely on 19/9/18, I informed agents of a large crack in bathroom sink and poor water pressure. No plans to fix this have ever been discussed with me but as it did not impact my day to day life, it hasn’t been an issue.
- I was given no instructions or advice on how the boiler system worked for hot water (used a kettle to fill the bath for my little boy for the first few weeks) or how storage heaters worked (researched online for this).
- 1/11/18 – Storage heater in living room broke. Fixed on 2nd of November.
- 7/12/18 – Washing machine disconnected, flooded kitchen.
- 16/12/18 – cooker broke down. While cooking dinner, there was a loud bang from the oven and everything had turned off. Checked the trip switch, pushed it up and there was a loud bang and explosion from the fuse box.
I took the afternoon off of work on the 18/12/18 for someone to look at my oven. The first man who arrived refused to do anything as he checked the wiring providing electricity to the oven and told me it was so badly melted that I was lucky I had not had a house fire. That’s a very scary thing for someone to be told. Two more electricians then visited, they agreed that the wiring was a mess behind the socket however they fixed it and recommended a new cooker.
- 19/12/18 Estate agent entered my flat to take measurements to order a new cooker. He opened every single window in my flat before he left. I returned home from work at 18:20 with a 1 year old who had the cold, to a freezing cold flat in the middle of December. I had no way to reheat the flat as the terrible storage heater system is useless when you need heat fast. I was furious. I text him to tell him so, he did not respond, no apology, nothing.
I understand he perhaps opened the window in a response to the damp and mould in each room – poor ventilation and a bad heating system makes it impossible to avoid damp in winter. I open each window for a short time every morning before work and wash the walls monthly with a mildew and mould treatment but the situation continues.
- New oven was delivered while I was away at Christmas time. No contact was made by estate agent during this time. I arrived back on the 31/12/18 expecting to be able to use my cooker. The cooker had been delivered but not installed. After an angry phonecall, the cooker was installed later that day. Cooker was working, however it was temperamental.
- 3/1/19 Cooker had stopped working again, 2nd time
- New oven delivered and installed 7/1/19
- 15/1/19 Oven stopped working
while cooking dinner again 3rd time
- 18/1/19 reported problems with bedroom heaters
- 22/1/19 Asked to end tenancy early
- 1/2/19 Emailed estate agent to tell him that I had to book a hotel for myself and my little boy for the weekend as I had been given no update on the estimated repair date for our bedroom heaters. We had slept in the living room throughout that week as it was the only room we could heat. Temperatures were due to be so cold that weekend, we could not have stayed in the flat without heaters. I asked for rent to be revised for this month.
- 3/2/19 I returned home on the evening of the 3rd, electrician who had fitted new electric heaters on the evening of the 1st had left both heaters turned on, wasting electric while no one was in the flat. So not only had I wasted money on a hotel room I was also paying to heat a flat I wasn’t using.
- 5/2/19 staff arrived to fix oven – managed to get oven working during their visit and decided not to replace.
- 8/2/19 Received a “courtesy reminder” text from estate agent to “remind” me of a viewing scheduled for that day, at no point had he ever sent me a courtesy text before. This is the first I was made aware of a viewing that day. I was pretty annoyed, phoned him and told him this was the first I had heard of a viewing and I did not agree to it today as I had not even washed my dishes or made my bed. Asked him to send me the original email as proof – he agreed he would. I also asked had he spoke to landlord about reducing my rent, he said he had and he would also forward me the email from landlord. I have asked for both of these emails continuously since then, not received either of them. Also the viewing, that I did not give permission for went ahead.
- 12/2/19 Storage heater in living room broke again, 2nd time. Fixed on 13/2/19.
- I have googled my flat as it is now for sale and I am shocked to see photos of the flat filled with my belongings. At no point did anyone ask my permission for this. Surely this is some sort of invasion of privacy.
- 15th Feb – reported storage heater in living room to have stopped working. Hand delivered letter to landlord. Reply to letter from estate agent – offered £106 in compensation
- 21st of Feb – requested a viewing of flat – no mention of fixing heater
- 22nd Feb – I went on holiday, gave permission for electricians to enter my flat without me being there before I left.
- 3rd of March – Estate agent text to say landlord has asked for a second quotation to be arranged for storage heater
- 7th of March – I text estate agent at 11pm – flat extremely cold, 2 year old has now got another cough, let estate agent know how angry I was.
- 8th of March – Returned phone call of estate agent. He states he was informed by electricians in the “3rd week in February” that the storage heater in my flat had been reset and was now usable. Asked would it not have been useful for him to let me know this information, a text message would have done, and he replied he did not have time, he looks after over 200 properties. Told him this wasn’t good enough as I have already told him the flat is prone to damp and I’ve had my 2 year old child living there in the cold – he argued that I had been on holiday so things weren’t that bad. When asked about the 2nd quotation text message he said yes the landlord has been quoted over £800 to replace the heater as it has broken down a few times now but he wont be replacing it.
Asked for estate agents complaints procedure – agreed he will send by email.
Asked for the email asking for permission for viewing on 8th of feb – he told me this does not exist. I asked for an apology for someone entering my flat without my permission – have asked for this to be a written apology.
Also stated I should have been offered electric heaters to be supplied when heating has broken – he then said he would bring an electric heater to me today (8th March) – after I bought one – this was pointless. He has offered to cover the cost of the electric heater if I can find the receipt – again pointless.
13/3/19 and 14/3/19 – requested complaints procedure again through email
18/3/19 – reported again that storage heater is still not working
21/3/19 – Contacted by estate agent to ask if he could visit me. Visited me and apologised for letting me down over the past few months. Agreed that it was unacceptable that I have been left without heating in the main room of my house for 5 weeks now however the landlord is dragging his heels about replacing the heater as it will cost around £800.
Over the past few weeks I have been hounded by another estate agents to set up viewings of the flat as the landlord is hoping to sell.
Radiator eventually was fixed on 28/3 - 6 weeks after it stopped working.
Wasing machine has now stopped working on 11/4-it really is the flat that jack built.
I have contacted the property redress scheme who say they can't handle my complaint until I have exhausted the estate agents complaints procedure but as he won't provide me with details of their procedure, I'm stuck.
Any sort of advice would be greatly appreciated!
I feel I have been disappointed and let down by the service provided by my landlord and estate agent, since the day I signed my tenancy agreement.
- Signed agreement on 13/9/18, reported on 14/9/18 that 2 of the sockets in the living room were unusable and unsafe. I then had to follow this up on numerous occasions, it was eventually fixed 1 month later on 14/10/18.
- Upon moving in and cleaning the flat completely on 19/9/18, I informed agents of a large crack in bathroom sink and poor water pressure. No plans to fix this have ever been discussed with me but as it did not impact my day to day life, it hasn’t been an issue.
- I was given no instructions or advice on how the boiler system worked for hot water (used a kettle to fill the bath for my little boy for the first few weeks) or how storage heaters worked (researched online for this).
- 1/11/18 – Storage heater in living room broke. Fixed on 2nd of November.
- 7/12/18 – Washing machine disconnected, flooded kitchen.
- 16/12/18 – cooker broke down. While cooking dinner, there was a loud bang from the oven and everything had turned off. Checked the trip switch, pushed it up and there was a loud bang and explosion from the fuse box.
I took the afternoon off of work on the 18/12/18 for someone to look at my oven. The first man who arrived refused to do anything as he checked the wiring providing electricity to the oven and told me it was so badly melted that I was lucky I had not had a house fire. That’s a very scary thing for someone to be told. Two more electricians then visited, they agreed that the wiring was a mess behind the socket however they fixed it and recommended a new cooker.
- 19/12/18 Estate agent entered my flat to take measurements to order a new cooker. He opened every single window in my flat before he left. I returned home from work at 18:20 with a 1 year old who had the cold, to a freezing cold flat in the middle of December. I had no way to reheat the flat as the terrible storage heater system is useless when you need heat fast. I was furious. I text him to tell him so, he did not respond, no apology, nothing.
I understand he perhaps opened the window in a response to the damp and mould in each room – poor ventilation and a bad heating system makes it impossible to avoid damp in winter. I open each window for a short time every morning before work and wash the walls monthly with a mildew and mould treatment but the situation continues.
- New oven was delivered while I was away at Christmas time. No contact was made by estate agent during this time. I arrived back on the 31/12/18 expecting to be able to use my cooker. The cooker had been delivered but not installed. After an angry phonecall, the cooker was installed later that day. Cooker was working, however it was temperamental.
- 3/1/19 Cooker had stopped working again, 2nd time
- New oven delivered and installed 7/1/19
- 15/1/19 Oven stopped working
while cooking dinner again 3rd time
- 18/1/19 reported problems with bedroom heaters
- 22/1/19 Asked to end tenancy early
- 1/2/19 Emailed estate agent to tell him that I had to book a hotel for myself and my little boy for the weekend as I had been given no update on the estimated repair date for our bedroom heaters. We had slept in the living room throughout that week as it was the only room we could heat. Temperatures were due to be so cold that weekend, we could not have stayed in the flat without heaters. I asked for rent to be revised for this month.
- 3/2/19 I returned home on the evening of the 3rd, electrician who had fitted new electric heaters on the evening of the 1st had left both heaters turned on, wasting electric while no one was in the flat. So not only had I wasted money on a hotel room I was also paying to heat a flat I wasn’t using.
- 5/2/19 staff arrived to fix oven – managed to get oven working during their visit and decided not to replace.
- 8/2/19 Received a “courtesy reminder” text from estate agent to “remind” me of a viewing scheduled for that day, at no point had he ever sent me a courtesy text before. This is the first I was made aware of a viewing that day. I was pretty annoyed, phoned him and told him this was the first I had heard of a viewing and I did not agree to it today as I had not even washed my dishes or made my bed. Asked him to send me the original email as proof – he agreed he would. I also asked had he spoke to landlord about reducing my rent, he said he had and he would also forward me the email from landlord. I have asked for both of these emails continuously since then, not received either of them. Also the viewing, that I did not give permission for went ahead.
- 12/2/19 Storage heater in living room broke again, 2nd time. Fixed on 13/2/19.
- I have googled my flat as it is now for sale and I am shocked to see photos of the flat filled with my belongings. At no point did anyone ask my permission for this. Surely this is some sort of invasion of privacy.
- 15th Feb – reported storage heater in living room to have stopped working. Hand delivered letter to landlord. Reply to letter from estate agent – offered £106 in compensation
- 21st of Feb – requested a viewing of flat – no mention of fixing heater
- 22nd Feb – I went on holiday, gave permission for electricians to enter my flat without me being there before I left.
- 3rd of March – Estate agent text to say landlord has asked for a second quotation to be arranged for storage heater
- 7th of March – I text estate agent at 11pm – flat extremely cold, 2 year old has now got another cough, let estate agent know how angry I was.
- 8th of March – Returned phone call of estate agent. He states he was informed by electricians in the “3rd week in February” that the storage heater in my flat had been reset and was now usable. Asked would it not have been useful for him to let me know this information, a text message would have done, and he replied he did not have time, he looks after over 200 properties. Told him this wasn’t good enough as I have already told him the flat is prone to damp and I’ve had my 2 year old child living there in the cold – he argued that I had been on holiday so things weren’t that bad. When asked about the 2nd quotation text message he said yes the landlord has been quoted over £800 to replace the heater as it has broken down a few times now but he wont be replacing it.
Asked for estate agents complaints procedure – agreed he will send by email.
Asked for the email asking for permission for viewing on 8th of feb – he told me this does not exist. I asked for an apology for someone entering my flat without my permission – have asked for this to be a written apology.
Also stated I should have been offered electric heaters to be supplied when heating has broken – he then said he would bring an electric heater to me today (8th March) – after I bought one – this was pointless. He has offered to cover the cost of the electric heater if I can find the receipt – again pointless.
13/3/19 and 14/3/19 – requested complaints procedure again through email
18/3/19 – reported again that storage heater is still not working
21/3/19 – Contacted by estate agent to ask if he could visit me. Visited me and apologised for letting me down over the past few months. Agreed that it was unacceptable that I have been left without heating in the main room of my house for 5 weeks now however the landlord is dragging his heels about replacing the heater as it will cost around £800.
Over the past few weeks I have been hounded by another estate agents to set up viewings of the flat as the landlord is hoping to sell.
Radiator eventually was fixed on 28/3 - 6 weeks after it stopped working.
Wasing machine has now stopped working on 11/4-it really is the flat that jack built.
I have contacted the property redress scheme who say they can't handle my complaint until I have exhausted the estate agents complaints procedure but as he won't provide me with details of their procedure, I'm stuck.
Any sort of advice would be greatly appreciated!
0
Comments
-
1) Is your complaint against the estate agent trying to sell the property, or the letting agent managing your tenancy?
2) does the EA/LA not have a website with their complaints procedure? If not, and if they have refused to give you their complaints procedure, return to te Ombudsman (in writing) to inform them of this.
3) have all the faults and issues been reported properly? ie in writing, and sent to the named landlord at the addres provided for 'serving of notices'. Copies to the letting agent are helpful, but secondary.
4) Given the severity of some of these isues, and the limited response of the LL to some of them (though I note some issues seem to have been dealt with promptly), have you contacted Environmental Health?
5) Do you object to the EA arranging viewings? If so
a) have you written to the LL (with a copy to the EA) informing him of this (and/or gving him specific days/times when you are happy to have viewing - and whether with/without your presence)?
b) have you changed the locks to protect your privacy?
What exactly do you now want?
6) financial compensation?
7) an apology?
8) proper safe repairs to all the issues in a timely fashion?
9) to end the tenancy?
10) something else?
Now read:
* Repairing Obligations: the law, common misconceptions, reporting/enforcing, retaliatory eviction & the new tenant protection (2015)0 -
1. The letting agent managing the property and the landlord.
2) I will contact the ombudsman, thank you for this.
3) all faults have been reported through PropertyFile - the online reporting system. I compiled a letter of all complaints and hand delivered it to the landlord on 14th Feb, the estate agent confirmed the landlord received this, I was given £106 in compensation.
4) what issues would I contact environmental health about? I fear I might be too late to highlight the issues as now my heater has been fixed, I've treated the mould and use my heating adequately so it's not an issue anymore.
5) I didn't object to viewings, was very cooperative, just expected the promised 24 hours notice which is agreed in my contract. To be told about a viewing as people were entering my property, is infuriating and breaching my contract.
b) I didn't think I would be allowed to change my locks as it isn't my property?
Ideally I would like an apology and financial compensation - for breaching my contract with unarranged viewings and for leaving me and my 2 year old 6 weeks without heating. But both my landlord and estate agent do not want to provide either.
Do you think financial compensation is realistic or is there no grounds for this?
Thanks so much for your response!!0 -
Your agent sounds a right nuisance.
However in part your LL has been quite responsive to repairs. Seems your ageny has been the stumbling block.
You have accepted £106 in compensation assume the LL would see that as the end of that matter if you accepted the money.
Unlikely you will receive much in the way of financial compensation from the agent. Have you written to the manager.
You can put a complaint in without knowing the complaint procedure. Just state this fact as part of it.
You mentioned asking to terminate early but gave no update on whether this was declined or you didn't take it further (apologies if i have missed this)0 -
I did think that as I had accepted £106, I wouldn't get much else in the way of financial compensation however this was awarded before I was left for 6 weeks without heating. Surely that would be a whole new complaint?
The agency I'm dealing with is somewhat of a one man band, that's why I'm hitting my head against a brick wall.
They declined my request to terminate the contract early however i have now been in the property for 7 months now and so according to the 6 month break clause, I can give my notice at any point - I'm working on finding a flat.
More than anything I want the LL and agent to be held accountable, neither of them seem keen to accept responsibility.0 -
Eell you've been offered, and accepted, compensation. You could certainly request/claim further compensation for the addiional issues since that compensaion compnsation agreement, but whethr the LL/agent will agree is uncertain.Squirre898 wrote: »1. The letting agent managing the property and the landlord. note that the ombudsman has no auhority over the landlord.
2) I will contact the ombudsman, thank you for this. the O can investigate and rule on the letting agent's actions.
3) all faults have been reported through PropertyFile - the online reporting system. I compiled a letter of all complaints and hand delivered it to the landlord on 14th Feb, the estate agent confirmed the landlord received this, I was given £106 in compensation.
well the system appears o work - sort of.
But for future reference, look for the address that you should have by law been provided with, in writing, for serving notices. If this is c/o the agent, fine, but whatever it is, that is where you write. You can also choose to report issues elsewhere (online/ text/ whatever) but that is for speed/convenience, not for formal notification which just might end up in court.
4) what issues would I contact environmental health about? I fear I might be too late to highlight the issues as now my heater has been fixed, I've treated the mould and use my heating adequately so it's not an issue anymore. yes - if issues are resolved EH won't be interested.
5) I didn't object to viewings, was very cooperative, just expected the promised 24 hours notice which is agreed in my contract. To be told about a viewing as people were entering my property, is infuriating and breaching my contract.
well now that you are 'enfuriated', draw a line in the sand by specifying what you will/will not permit in future.
b) I didn't think I would be allowed to change my locks as it isn't my property?
it's your home.
You have a right to 'quiet enjoyment' ie no unfair interference with your enjoyment/privacy of our home
The LL has a right of access under specific circumstances.
The balancing of those rights is matter of law, but only a court can determine he correct balance where you and the LL disagree.
Ideally I would like an apology and financial compensation - for breaching my contract with unarranged viewings and for leaving me and my 2 year old 6 weeks without heating. But both my landlord and estate agent do not want to provide either.
Do you think financial compensation is realistic or is there no grounds for this?
Thanks so much for your response!!
Personally I'd be looking to move. What is the exact wordimg of the Break Clause?0
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