No fire safety labels in fully furnished rental

diystarter7

pinkshoes said:

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. 

Hi

I agree o the whole with your post, especially the highlighted bit

However, the OP is aware of that now and people do things in desperation and the way forward is IMO

Contacting environmental heatl, Shelter for advice and then putting their concerns in writing even before they do that and then an update to the LA/LL etc.

I thik you stated that you'd pay the rnet until someone is found by the LL to rent the place you live in, what did the LL say about that, Sorry if I have misunderstood you

Re the furniture, certainly, bring that up but remain friendly etc and you may be pleasantly surprised. If LL does agree to you leaving etc , always get it in writing,

Good luck