Estate Agent not honouring what they promised

Blue_Diamond

EA promised to professionally clean a very old carpet that's come to an end of its life before we moved in, as landlord was unwilling to replace with carpet. We just got the keys yesterday, to find the carpet had just been hoovered!

Upon inspection, there is mould in the carpet, mainly in the corners and along skirting boards, as well as loads of staining. The carpets really smell pungent too, and makes me feel sick. When challenging this, EA offered to use a spray sanitiser to kill germs, which hospitals use. 

There is also mould on the walls, but we agreed my husband to use fungicidal wash before repainting, and reduced the price of rent, on the terms we repaint before we leave too. There was even mould in the fridge! Thank God I have my own furniture!

Where do I legally stand on this with the estate agent? This was verbally discussed with the estate agent too, not via email. We haven't moved in yet either due to this. Any help would be much appreciated 🙏

Blue_Diamond

EA promised to professionally clean a very old carpet that's come to an end of its life before we moved in, as landlord was unwilling to replace with carpet. We just got the keys yesterday, to find the carpet had just been hoovered!

Upon inspection, there is mould in the carpet, mainly in the corners and along skirting boards, as well as loads of staining. When challenging this, they offered to use a spray sanitiser to kill germs, which hospitals use. 

There is also mould on the walls, but we agreed my husband to use fungicidal wash before repainting, and reduced the price of rent, on the terms we repaint before we leave. There was even mould in the fridge! Thank God I have my own furniture!

Where do I legally stand on this with the estate agent? This was verbally discussed with the estate agent too, not via email. We haven't moved in yet either due to this. Any help would be much appreciated 🙏

HampshireH

Make sure you take lots of photos follow up your complaint in writing with all photos and insist all photos are logged as part of the inventory. Do this for the whole house.

That way at the end of your tenure you have all the evidence to protect your deposit.

I personally would be insisting on that clean taking place. Be at their office first thing this morning making a nuisance of yourself until they have made the phone call and booked the cleaners in.

Also ventilate the property. Sounds like it's going to need it

This post is probably better on the home buying and renting board. I've asked for it to be moved.

Mr.Generous

Sounds dreadful, and yes, agents say just about anything to both landlords and tenants as required to just brush issues under the (moldy) carpet. It wouldn't suprise me if they hadn't asked the landlord about replacing or cleaning the carpet at all. When you pointed out the mold did they contact the landlord to agree work or just tell you straight away they would sort it? Some agents have authority to act, but most don't.

I'd guess this isn't a great place to rent, and that this landlord / agent combo are also not going to be on your Christmas card list.

For those who post "I think we'll go into rented for 6 months" every now and again on the forum would you just explain what you had to do to get this property, why you chose it, and how easy it was please?

t14cy_t

im a landlord. my advise would be to ask the estate agent for a direct point of contact with the landlord, as it seems you are being given the run around. always take photos of anything that is a problem. these are one of the reasons i do all my own vetting, showing of houses etc. you also get a feel for the people rentiong and they in turn do too. estate agents can be a tricky bunch!! please do not dispare and bombard the ea with emails etc. they will soon face the reality that you wont be fobbed off. i wish you well.

Hoenir

Suspect you've a LL that doesn't care one iota unfortunately. 

Emmia

And I'd be seriously considering whether you do actually want to move into this property.

Mould is bad for your health, and do you want your furniture to be affected by damp/mould?

housebuyer143

Not sure I would have rented a property with visible mold from a landlord who doesn't care at all about his property. Refusal to replace extremely old and manky carpet screams slum landlord.

Did you get it in writing from the agent? 

silvercar

As you have the keys, I’d be checking your contract carefully. See if you have accepted the property or not. You need to tell the estate agent you can’t move in until the work promised is complete.

saajan_12

Practically, there will be an issue of proof that they even promised it if this escalates. So if you can get it in writing (eg send an email / text that's initially calmer so that they're more likely to reply confirming the original agreement). 

Second issue will be whether the verbal promise is enforceable - if there was a subsequent written contract then they may argue that the contract superseded everything. You'd argue that the promise is what induced you to sign the contract.. this is a toss up, and ultimately up to a judge. 

If the above two issues go against you, then the default assumption is you receive the property in whatever condition and you leave it in the same way. If the issues CAN be resolved, then if they fail to do the work, you can 
a) report and chase them in writing;
b) after reasonable attempts, get the cleaning done yourself and claim the cost back

gazfocus

I've been in a similar situation where I viewed a house (shortly following the pandemic), and there was a puddle of water on the kitchen floor and the kitchen was generally in a poor state. I mentioned it to the landlord at the viewing and he told me it would be sorted before we moved in but current tenants were still moving out. Surprise surprise, when we get the keys, the puddle was still there and that was just the start of the issues with that house. 

In our case we just took it as a life lesson and sorted the problems ourselves. We actually replaced the carpet throughout the house we rented and decorated top to bottom before we moved in. We ended up doing so much work that the neighbours thought we'd bought the house.

I would never offer to rent a house again with clear issues on viewing, on the promise of the issues being resolved by the time I move in, or at least if I did, I would make sure it was a term of my offer (in writing) that the issues be resolved prior the the start of the tenancy.

The problem at the moment is that so many people are applying for each and every property, if one applicant kicks up too much of a stink, the landlord will just offer the property to someone else.

As for your situation, if the tenancy has already started (which, if you have the keys, it sounds like it has), there's not a great deal you can do to force the landlord to do anything. You can complain to the agents and the landlord, but your best course of action might be to live out of boxes for a few months and find somewhere with a better landlord for the end of your tenancy.