Renting - No working shower in property

RachelP27

Hiya, I hope it's okay to post here.

Quick backstory. My partner, dog and I moved into our private rented property in March 2018. As soon as we moved in we had issues with the shower leaking into the kitchen. There is 1 bathroom in the property and it's above the kitchen. We have spent a lot of time accommodating people coming to "fix" it, including people who are just friends of the landlord. A long term fix was never put in place.

The issue came back and in July this year the letting agent finally decided to get someone to pull the kitchen ceiling out which they did. It's now taken the contractors 2 months since then to come and do some proper work.

Every time we have a shower it pours, and i mean POURS into the kitchen.

They arrived this morning and pulled out the shower with the view of replacing it and replacing the kitchen ceiling. To no-ones surprise they told us the floor underneath the shower is rotten (this has been going on at least 18 months since we moved in) and will take longer to get a working shower into the property. They have said maybe by the end of this week but going on their previous timescales it will be longer than this...

We only have one bathroom and it's made up of a toilet, a sink and a shower so there really is nowhere else for us to wash ourselves.

I was wondering if anyone has any similar experiences as either a landlord or a tenant and could provide helpful advice?

Can they house us temporarily somewhere else? Put us in a hotel? Give us a break or a reduction in rent for the massive inconvenience this situation is having?

Halfie

I lived in social housing previously and had a non working shower. Myself and 2 kids - was told that as long as we had hot water and a sink then we could wash and it wasn't a higher priority. Unless you have an absolutely amazing landlord I think you either need to pay for yourselves to stay in a hotel (which will be difficult with a dog) or get used to having a "tarts bath" in the bathroom or kitchen sink until it's fixed.

AdrianC

RachelP27 wrote: »

Can they house us temporarily somewhere else? Put us in a hotel? Give us a break or a reduction in rent for the massive inconvenience this situation is having?

Of course they can.... But I don't think that's the question you really want to ask.
Do they HAVE TO? No. You have facilities to wash. Flannel and sink. It's what everybody used to do until very recently.

But why have you stayed there with this saga of incompetence going on for a year and a half...?

sevenhills

Halfie wrote: »

I lived in social housing previously and had a non working shower.

Me too, the council actually removed the shower that the previous tenant had installed.

cooltt

AdrianC wrote: »

Of course they can.... But I don't think that's the question you really want to ask.
Do they HAVE TO? No. You have facilities to wash. Flannel and sink. It's what everybody used to do until very recently.

But why have you stayed there with this saga of incompetence going on for a year and a half...?

LOL! What planet are you on? By your estimation the dinosaurs only became extinct last week!


@OP, of course you can bill the landlord, all repairs have to be rectified within a reasonable timescale end of. Eighteen months is completely unreasonable. The facilities should be exactly as advertised prior to you signing the TA. Now whether the Landlord will actually pay you what your owed is another issue entirley.



Also what AdrianC said, why on earth have you stayed there,

AlexMac

It's probably too late to do much more than grit your teeth and see if the plumbers/builders do complete within the 1-2 week estimate, That's a reasonable timescale for a half decent contractor, even assuming the need to rip out the old shower trays and flooring, renew the rotten joists and flooring, replace the ceiling below, re-install a shower assembly, waste and plumbing, screens, tiling and (hopefully effective) sealant, etc.

But if they don't, look at the advice about repairs on the charity Shelter website, and call in your Council Environmental Health people.

Frankly, you should have done that months ago. I own a rental flat which I let out via a Housing Association, and when they failed to respond to their tenant's complaint about far more trivial leaks and other minor flawa, the EHO inspected and demanded repairs under threat of legal sanction. Regrettably, I suspect you have no right to alternative hotel or other lodging unless the EHO condemns the place.

In fact you could get the EHO in now if you're convinced the Landlord won't perform. After lodging your complaint with him in writing, ideally. But he might on the other hand simply evict you; in which case google "revenge eviction" for your rights.

If I'd been managing my flat myself, a leak would have been fixed in days immediately on it being reported; I once got a failed boiler replaced within days, even though I was on holiday in Italy when the tenant rang me.

I suppose you can take wicked pleasure in knowing that the landlord will be paying ten times more for the work than if he'd fixed it correctly when it first happened; water is terribly destructive if leaks are left for months, or as seems to be the case here, years?

Good luck and sympathies

[Deleted User]

I agree, contact Environmental health tomorrow. Keep evidence (emails/texts) of how long this problem has been ongoing to show them. But be prepared that Environmental Health may not dash round to inspect.

Alternatively you could negotiate an early surrender of tenancy with the LA/LL and move if you are under a fixed term tenancy still.

But I was a kid in the 80's, no showers, we washed most days using flannel and sink. Not exactly medieval times. We survived quite nicely, didn't get mass plagues (or even small ones) due to not keeping clean. Repair costs now are going to be very high when at the start it might have just been a pipe repair or perhaps resealing the shower tray. Not what you should have to do, but you could have followed Shelter's repair advice and taken the costs out of the rent. Doesn't take a lot of googling to find this. I'm afraid with difficult LL's you have to be more proactive to protect yourself and save a lot of stress.

But I do agree that its been a long time, no suprise floors/ceilings have gone rotten, water has to leak somewhere. I'd have moved long ago or got it repaired properly myself (which is what I did in a private rental with bathroom problems), just for the convenience factor.

G_M

In your position I'd have been writing formal letters to the landlord 18 months ago to follow the proper enforcement process.

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

And I'd have contacted Environmental Health 14 months ago.

Now? Ask to be re-housed during the repairs. Ideally ask the landlord, face to face or failing that go in to the agent's office. Be polite but firm. Get any agreement in writing.

If that fails, ask to be released ('Early Surrender') from your tenancy, on a date of your choosing (ie when you find somewhere) and without penalty (ie paying rent pro rata for days in the final month). Get any agreement in writing.

If that fails, ask EH to inspect and judge whether the property is 'habitable' or not.


By the way, "the letting agent finally decided to get someone to pull the kitchen ceiling out" - no, they did not. The lanlord agreed and instructed his agent to do it.

tom9980

cooltt wrote: »

LOL! What planet are you on? By your estimation the dinosaurs only became extinct last week!


@OP, of course you can bill the landlord, all repairs have to be rectified within a reasonable timescale end of. Eighteen months is completely unreasonable. The facilities should be exactly as advertised prior to you signing the TA. Now whether the Landlord will actually pay you what your owed is another issue entirley.



Also what AdrianC said, why on earth have you stayed there,

Your advice is wrong there is a set process to go through before a tenant can deduct repairs from rent.

G_M

tom9980 wrote: »

Your advice is wrong there is a set process to go through before a tenant can deduct repairs from rent.

Indeed.


Shelter ( claiming back cost of repairs via rent)

lookstraightahead

Omg flannel washing in 2019. There is so much wrong with that. I was born in the sixties. My parents were working class - dad a coal miner. The only time I had a flannel wash was in a tent on holiday. Really it's not very hygienic.