What are landlord forumites doing with tenants?

Kostandia

@Mstty and @Chrysalis, it sounds like you are living in low standard properties, and it is VERY bad if your landlords are uncontactable. Most councils have a team or department that deal with private rental property and may be able to help put pressure on your landlords - it's worth asking your councils and ask your local Councillors. 

Chrysalis

Kostandia said:

@Mstty and @Chrysalis, it sounds like you are living in low standard properties, and it is VERY bad if your landlords are uncontactable. Most councils have a team or department that deal with private rental property and may be able to help put pressure on your landlords - it's worth asking your councils and ask your local Councillors. 

I can only speak for myself.

In terms of the insulation its not illegal to let out a property with poor insulation, our current letting laws are very below par.

I however did on one occasion report an issue to my council when my property became uninhabitable (unrelated to heating), but it was a huge gamble as I was taking the risk of a revenge section 21, it didnt happen but got a massive rent increase though.

On the visit by the council they were made aware of the insulation issues, but was outside of their remit, they just dealt with the main issue at hand which was informing my LL if they dont fix prompto they getting a enforcement notice.

So this sort of thing until S21s become illegal will make tenants very scared to report problems.

Praying this gets put into law, it will outlaw S21s.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-deliver-new-deal-for-renters

Jami74

macman said:

The landlord should be contactable via the address for service shown on your TA. If this is not supplied then you do not have to pay rent until it is.
Do you have a copy of the current EICR supplied? If not, your tenancy is not regularised.

The address for the landlord is c/o letting agent. He spends months away at sea apparently with poor/sporadic internet. Everything goes through the letting agent. I have a copy of the current EICR. The letting agents are good at their job, everything is above board and legal

Mstty said:

That's really is a catch 22, it would be so much cheaper for the landlord to have upgraded insulation, either updated storage heaters or even replaced them with a gas boiler (up until recently that only cost landlords circa £500). If you were on UC/benefits.

Is it time to consider a move to a higher EPC grade property, even if it costs a bit more a month and maybe has gas central heating you could save a great deal of money on energy bills over the current property you are on?

We are not on UC/benefits and the property does not have gas. He spent nothing on insulation, so not sure how it would have been cheaper for him to have upgraded it. He owns a few rentals and they're all in similar condition. We live in the South East (ie probably one of the warmest and least wintery parts of the UK) and have always been frugal with our heating/energy usage. Every couple of years or so we look at the other rentals available and they mostly all seem similar in state of repair/EPC rating/rents. We're hoping to buy at some point so biding our time here. I am not unhappy with our home (although if it was mine then I'd be upgrading/updating rather than saving for a deposit) but do hate the assumption that all tenants are on benefits, receiving handouts and don't care about their home.

Mstty

Jami74 said:

macman said:

The landlord should be contactable via the address for service shown on your TA. If this is not supplied then you do not have to pay rent until it is.
Do you have a copy of the current EICR supplied? If not, your tenancy is not regularised.

The address for the landlord is c/o letting agent. He spends months away at sea apparently with poor/sporadic internet. Everything goes through the letting agent. I have a copy of the current EICR. The letting agents are good at their job, everything is above board and legal

Mstty said:

That's really is a catch 22, it would be so much cheaper for the landlord to have upgraded insulation, either updated storage heaters or even replaced them with a gas boiler (up until recently that only cost landlords circa £500). If you were on UC/benefits.

Is it time to consider a move to a higher EPC grade property, even if it costs a bit more a month and maybe has gas central heating you could save a great deal of money on energy bills over the current property you are on?

We are not on UC/benefits and the property does not have gas. He spent nothing on insulation, so not sure how it would have been cheaper for him to have upgraded it. He owns a few rentals and they're all in similar condition. We live in the South East (ie probably one of the warmest and least wintery parts of the UK) and have always been frugal with our heating/energy usage. Every couple of years or so we look at the other rentals available and they mostly all seem similar in state of repair/EPC rating/rents. We're hoping to buy at some point so biding our time here. I am not unhappy with our home (although if it was mine then I'd be upgrading/updating rather than saving for a deposit) but do hate the assumption that all tenants are on benefits, receiving handouts and don't care about their home.

Sorry I wasn't clear.

I was speaking from a landlords perspective.

Over the past 10 years we have managed to improve all of our rental properties at a reasonable price due to all the schemes available because we have had tenants on Universal Credit.

That said I have never understood landlords that don't invest in their properties.