Tenant Rights

jangor_2

My son and partner are renting a bungalow which is in a rather poor condition. When they viewed the property they were advised that it would be cleaned, the sockets repaired, the rubbish removed, the kitchen cupboards repaired and other bits and bobs. My son's partner actually cleaned the property herself and they were promised a reduction in the first months rent. Several weeks after they moved in it became apparent that the property has a very real problem with damp, they discovered two walls very wet indeed and are unsure if the problem is to do with a cracked wall or the drains. All other repairs have not taken place. They have contacted the landlord a number of times and, if they do receive a reply, he ignores their requests relating to repairs and removal of the furniture and rubbish left by the previous tenants. They do not even have a gas safety certificate as yet. In one room all the sockets are hanging from the walls. They did take photographs of the condition when they moved in.

I am unsure what advice they require to discover what repairs and services the landlord should be supplying. I am particularly concerned about them living in such damp conditions. The heating is also expensive as they do not have doors leading to the kitchen area or hall. These appear to have been removed.

Diamond78

Hi,
Im in a similar position and dont know my rights as much but one thing I can advise you on is to contact your local councils envoiremental health team who will arrange a home visit. They usually deal with private landlords and inform landlord once they have done the checks of the works that need to be done. If landlord fails to do so, then the matter gets taken further. Inform your son to write a letter to the landlord stating the outstanding jobs and tell him to keep a copy for himself as thats what I was advised by my council as I am a private tenant.

Most councils usually have a department that deal with tenants in the private housing sector. You can check your local councils website which might help. Good luck

Guy_Montag

jangor wrote: »

My son and partner are renting a bungalow which is in a rather poor condition. When they viewed the property they were advised that it would be cleaned, the sockets repaired, the rubbish removed, the kitchen cupboards repaired and other bits and bobs. My son's partner actually cleaned the property herself and they were promised a reduction in the first months rent. Several weeks after they moved in it became apparent that the property has a very real problem with damp, they discovered two walls very wet indeed and are unsure if the problem is to do with a cracked wall or the drains. All other repairs have not taken place. They have contacted the landlord a number of times and, if they do receive a reply, he ignores their requests relating to repairs and removal of the furniture and rubbish left by the previous tenants. They do not even have a gas safety certificate as yet. In one room all the sockets are hanging from the walls. They did take photographs of the condition when they moved in.

I am unsure what advice they require to discover what repairs and services the landlord should be supplying. I am particularly concerned about them living in such damp conditions. The heating is also expensive as they do not have doors leading to the kitchen area or hall. These appear to have been removed.

Confirm that there is no gas safety certificate: check, check & check again.

Find somewhere else, call the LL, explain that either they agree to let the the tenants out of the tenancy agreement then & there or you will request the HSE prosecute the LL which could lead to six months in prison & an unlimited fine.

once the deposit has been returned - call the HSE anyway. It's your civic duty.

TJ27

Diamond78 is quite correct in saying that your son or partner should contact the council private sector rented people, which is typically run by environmental health practitioners. They will probably come and rate the house under the, "Housing Health and Safety Rating System", or HHSRS. Depending on the outcome, they should be able to serve notices on the landlord requiring him to do remedial work.

Guy is also correct that the HSE are the enforcing authority for gas safety. However in practice the council should be able to deal with this issue too.

Biffa

Your local council may have a Private Maintenance section which, amongst other things, will deal with privately rented properties. They will come and assess the property and what repairs need to be done. I think they work on a sliding scale - urgent, needs doing ASAP, needs doing at some point etc etc.

They will write to the landlord and tell him what work he needs to do to make the property habitable. In the meantime, if they deem the property uninhabitable, then the Homeless section may be able to find alternative accommodation for you until the landlord has completed the works.

They will then arrange another inspection to see if the work has been done. If not, they can serve a notice which requires the landlord to carry out the work within a certain time frame, or they will take him to court.

Good luck.

jebervic

jangor wrote: »

My son and partner are renting a bungalow which is in a rather poor condition. When they viewed the property they were advised that it would be cleaned, the sockets repaired, the rubbish removed, the kitchen cupboards repaired and other bits and bobs. My son's partner actually cleaned the property herself and they were promised a reduction in the first months rent. Several weeks after they moved in it became apparent that the property has a very real problem with damp, they discovered two walls very wet indeed and are unsure if the problem is to do with a cracked wall or the drains. All other repairs have not taken place. They have contacted the landlord a number of times and, if they do receive a reply, he ignores their requests relating to repairs and removal of the furniture and rubbish left by the previous tenants. They do not even have a gas safety certificate as yet. In one room all the sockets are hanging from the walls. They did take photographs of the condition when they moved in.

I am unsure what advice they require to discover what repairs and services the landlord should be supplying. I am particularly concerned about them living in such damp conditions. The heating is also expensive as they do not have doors leading to the kitchen area or hall. These appear to have been removed.

You knew all this before the tenancy started and you went ahead?, the mind boggles!

yeah take the advice already offered but in future I would suggest you are a little more careful about where you CHOOSE to live.

Gingernutmeg

Fair point jebervic, but at the end of the day you don't get a long time to look at flats/houses to rent, and the rental process (credit checks etc) takes so long so it does tend to come to a point where you have to say yes to somewhere and stick to it - very few people can afford to loose the couple of hundred pounds holding fees you pay each time you apply to rent somewhere.

You can be as careful as you can, but if the LA/LL is dishonest then there isn't a lot you can do - OH and I are in a similar situation, we checked everything we could, were assured our new home would be clean, certificated and ready and it wasn't, despite us doing everything we reasonably could - I've just spent two weeks dealing with a flea infestation, two months trying to get a gas safety certificate, and over a month dealing with a leaking water tank - how was I supposed to know about these things, given that they're not immediately obvious, the letting agent was dishonest and we only had one fairly short viewing?

It isn't always the tenants' fault for 'not checking', and the idea of choice can seem quite hollow where you're desperately trying to find somewhere to live, given that you only generally get around eight weeks to look and most landlords don't want to wait too long for a new tenant ...

jebervic

Gingernutmeg wrote: »

Fair point jebervic, but at the end of the day you don't get a long time to look at flats/houses to rent, and the rental process (credit checks etc) takes so long so it does tend to come to a point where you have to say yes to somewhere and stick to it - very few people can afford to loose the couple of hundred pounds holding fees you pay each time you apply to rent somewhere.

You can be as careful as you can, but if the LA/LL is dishonest then there isn't a lot you can do - OH and I are in a similar situation, we checked everything we could, were assured our new home would be clean, certificated and ready and it wasn't, despite us doing everything we reasonably could - I've just spent two weeks dealing with a flea infestation, two months trying to get a gas safety certificate, and over a month dealing with a leaking water tank - how was I supposed to know about these things, given that they're not immediately obvious, the letting agent was dishonest and we only had one fairly short viewing?

It isn't always the tenants' fault for 'not checking', and the idea of choice can seem quite hollow where you're desperately trying to find somewhere to live, given that you only generally get around eight weeks to look and most landlords don't want to wait too long for a new tenant ...

Which is why a home is not an investment and all the discussion of houseprice crash is just nonsense. much better to own you home if you possibly can.

Loretta

Having a gas safety certificate is not just a requirement, not having one is a criminal offence. Do no rely on the Council condeming this property, they NEVER do because they would then have a legal requirement to rehouse you.

You have to rely on yourself in this sort of situation with good advice. Write a list of all the repairs etc send it to your landlord and give him 7 days to get back to you with a realistic timescale for getting each of these jobs done. Send copy to letting agent. Go t o the letting agent's offices and sit there until you get a saisfactory response. Tell everyone who goes into their offices that you are living in a slum and neither the lanndlord or the letting agent will attend to their duties and give everyone a list and photos.

Diamond78

My local council would not let me move into my current property until they recieved a gas and electric certifacte. When I viewed the property the landlord told me everything worked fine and all the jobs that needed doing would be done. The gas certifacate was given to me after my moving in date as there was problems with the boiler.Some councils are good and caring and will do the job required where as some others will just fob you off which is why you need to bug them and push them. They will not re house if it fails to meet the standards, even if you become homeless of no fault of your own, homelessness is a comlex and lengthy process.In this situation, they will make the landlord obtain a gas cer which costs a few hundred pounds which is why some landlords dont want to do it but once envoiremental health is involved and landlord is issued with an order to do this, hopefully you will get the works done.

clutton_2

my gas certificiates cost £55 per annum each. An electrical certificate is NOT a legal requirement. A landlords compliance with Health and Safety legislatioin is.