No fire safety labels in fully furnished rental

dimbo61

Well the last tenant could have removed the fire safety labels  because the felt like it.
If the Landlord produces  a receipt  from say IKEA that the 2 sofas were purchased in 2020 they will be fire safe.
If the sofas are old and worn and look like something from the 50,s that's a  different story.

Did the Landlord supply  bedding ? Pillows and fitted sheets ? 

Alderbank

dimbo61 said:

Well the last tenant could have removed the fire safety labels  because the felt like it.
If the Landlord produces  a receipt  from say IKEA that the 2 sofas were purchased in 2020 they will be fire safe.
If the sofas are old and worn and look like something from the 50,s that's a  different story.

Did the Landlord supply  bedding ? Pillows and fitted sheets ? 

I assumed she did since the OP complains about 'blood on one pillow and mattress protector.'

Interestingly the 2020 sofas from IKEA will be fire safe but can't legally be sold for fire safety reasons, whereas those old worn sofas would go straight up in flames but are perfectly legal if they were made before 1950.
Different story indeed.

diystarter7

Alderbank said:

dimbo61 said:

Well the last tenant could have removed the fire safety labels  because the felt like it.
If the Landlord produces  a receipt  from say IKEA that the 2 sofas were purchased in 2020 they will be fire safe.
If the sofas are old and worn and look like something from the 50,s that's a  different story.

Did the Landlord supply  bedding ? Pillows and fitted sheets ? 

I assumed she did since the OP complains about 'blood on one pillow and mattress protector.'

Interestingly the 2020 sofas from IKEA will be fire safe but can't legally be sold for fire safety reasons, whereas those old worn sofas would go straight up in flames but are perfectly legal if they were made before 1950.
Different story indeed.

Hi

A very valid point about fire labels rasies a slightly OT point for a moment as not wanting to derail thread. We have 3 x 4 seat sofas costing around 5k each and bought those about 3/4 years ago and certialy before covid - I recall looking for fire labels other than the tags on plastic string on the back one of wich our grandkids have pulled off - there are no other tags not even underneath them. However, we have internet receipts and time to sell them will use that as evidence

Thnaks

Edit, update - my mistake, Mrs Diy reminded me about me cutting off the long sewen labels to the underside front of the sofas and as they are on legs and could be seen hanging down i cut them off. Then Mrs D reminded me that there are more labels on the inside of the leather cushion covers along with the ones attached to the backs one of once grandkids pulled off.

powerful_Rogue

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

As another stated, please do contact environmental health.

The LA should have been aware re fire regulations and furnture, what did they say about that?

Do you have pets?

You said you checked over the flat o the 12th and moved in on the 14th. May I ask why you moved in and how you was able to move so quickly from your last rental?

Many thanks

What's that got to do with the price of fish?

Oh, nice little boast in your last post

Alderbank

diystarter7 said:

A very valid point about fire labels rasies a slightly OT point for a moment as not wanting to derail thread. We have 3 x 4 seat sofas costing around 5k each and bought those about 3/4 years ago and certialy before covid - I recall looking for fire labels other than the tags on plastic string on the back one of wich our grandkids have pulled off - there are no other tags not even underneath them. However, we have internet receipts and time to sell them will use that as evidence

Thnaks

Evidence of what? That you made an illegal purchase?
Your fifteen thousand pounds worth of sofas have no resale value, they are worthless.
You can't even give them to a charity.

Your sofas were made with cheap flammable materials. Don't forget the fire patrol each night before bed.

_Penny_Dreadful

It sounds like the sofas are the least of your worries when it comes to this property. It also sounds like you’re pinning all your hope on a couple of sofas without fire safety labels to get you out of the contract. 

All furniture and furnishings that are provided in a rental property should comply with the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988. This Regulation is enforced by local Trading Standards Officers and Landlords can be fined up to £5,000 and sent to prison for six months.

The bigger problems seem to be the smell of !!!!!! and the fly infestation. I’m assuming neither was apparent when you viewed the property otherwise you’d never have taken the property. You could attempt to have the tenancy unwound since you’re still in the first 90 days so I would suggest writing a letter to the address for the serving of notices given in your tenancy agreement setting out the issues with the property, stating that you were misled into signing the tenancy agreement and that you wish to reject the contract under the provisions of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, also known as the 'right to unwind'.

Hedgepigs

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

As another stated, please do contact environmental health.

The LA should have been aware re fire regulations and furnture, what did they say about that?

Do you have pets?

You said you checked over the flat o the 12th and moved in on the 14th. May I ask why you moved in and how you was able to move so quickly from your last rental?

Many thanks

OP said they pulled out of the sale of their other house - I'd presume they moved into the rental as a stop-gap between selling and buying, or had decided to sell up and rent indefinitely, but in any case not sure why that matters - other than they may have moved in a bit of a hurry for completion of their house and not looked, or had the opportunity to look, throughly enough at the condition of the rental before signing.

MobileSaver

Dairydodger said:

the lack of fire safety labels on the 2 sofas ... I feel like we've been seriously misled ... what can I do to get out of this contract?

There are two fundamental aspects of UK law that you need to be aware of, "de minimis" and "pre-action protocols".

"De minimis" means the law isn't interested in trivial things; trying to get out of a 12 month rental agreement simply because two tiny labels are missing is a complete non-starter.

"Pre-action protocols" mean you have to give the landlord a reasonable opportunity to address and/or fix any issues before you can take legal action.

However, if you notify the landlord of any breach of contract, advise them in advance you will take legal action if not resolved and the issue is still not resolved then you may be able to persuade a court to find in your favour.

RedFraggle

Is there anything that would justify unwinding the contract?

From the Shelter website:
Unwinding the contract

You may be able to end the contract if you only signed it because the landlord or agent told you something that was not true. This is called a misleading action.

For example, the property was advertised as furnished but you were told to get your own furniture after signing the contract. 

Ending the contract because of a misleading action is called ‘unwinding’.

It’s not enough for the landlord or agent to have failed to mention something. You can only unwind the contract if they deliberately did something to mislead you.

Might be worth a chat with Shelter. 

pinkshoes

Dairydodger said:

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help.

We signed a 12 month contract on a fully furnished, ground floor flat on the 11th February. I checked the flat over on the 12th and noticed that it wasn't in the best condition, so took a lot of photos as we hadn't seen an inventory. We moved in on the 14th February. The conditions in the flat are horrendous, fly infestation being the worst and I have discovered from another tenant that the drains became blocked a couple of months before, flooding the flat with excrement. We were aware that there were problems with the flat, which entailed work, but not what actually happened. The letting agent assured us that the flat had been cleaned but I have been told, again by the other tenant, that this wasn't a deep clean. In fact she told me to get some Jeyes fluid to clean the floors when I visited the flat before we moved in.

The conditions have affected my OH's health (she has MS) and I made the difficult decision to pull out of the sale of our other property and move us back into it. I complained to the letting agents about the conditions and the effect it had on my OH. I also asked if we could get out of the contract. We were fully aware that we would have to carry on paying the rental until another tenant is found and that we would probably have other fees to pay.

The letting agents acknowledged our complaint and also sent the inventory over for us to sign. After going through the digital inventory I saw that the lack of fire safety labels on the 2 sofas in the flat was flagged up. I've checked both sofas and there are definitely no fire labels on them anywhere. Surely this is illegal?

I haven't commented on the inventory or signed it, but they chasing me up about doing this. I'm really angry about the condition of the flat when we moved in and now I have found out there are no safety labels, I feel like we've been seriously misled. I don't want the next tenants to go through all of this and feel that the landlord/agents shouldn't have allowed it to be let where there are no fire safety labels.

Have they acted illegally and what can I do to get out of this contract?

TIA

Julie 

Pulling out of the sale of your property sounds a little hasty and irrational.

If a rental property is not fit for human habitation then call environmental health. If they condemn the property then either the LL has to pay for you to stay elsewhere, or they sever the contract and you find somewhere else to rent. 

Call EH first thing tomorrow.

An alternative would have been to move into an hotel for a few days and insist the agent/landlord pays for a proper clean of the property. 

I'm not sure why you moved in on the 14th of February if you had already verified it wasn't in a suitable condition.