Reclaiming rent from landlord

meme86

We are currently living in a rental property, which we have named the house of horrors. We have been in for 3 months and it's problem after problem.

The day we moved in, we hoped, like any normal person would, that the place would be clean and ready to move into. In actual fact, the kitchen had not been cleaned properly. The work surfaces were sticky and had grease. The hob did not work. My wife spent a lot of time trying to sort this. The cupboards were also dirty. There was a dead pigeon in the log burner that had been there for sometime, and had decomposed. The bathrooms had not been cleaned and there was a urine soaked bathmat on the floor. The hob did get replaced within a couple of weeks. Outside mas messy. There was rubbish in the garden and used fireworks on the grass.

A large amount of the outdoor decking had rotted, and was clearly unsafe. It was like walking on a trampoline with the amount of movement on the boards. Some of the he safety railings were rotted so much that when there was a slight breeze, they would sway to and fro. This was reported, and the initial response was that they were not going to get it sorted. We threatened the landlords with going to the council, to which they changed their minds. The LL came to inspect, and said he already knew of the issues and would fix it himself in the summer. We said no, and again threatened with the council. It took 6-7 weeks to get the decking repaired, and even then, the people who fixed the sections were not happy due to the rotted timber underneath. They have simply put a plaster over the issue. The gap between the spindles on the safety railings is breaching building regs. There is an approx 2 meter fall, and my 20 month old toddler can easily fit between them. This has not been rectified.

When I first cut the grass, I ended up cutting a wire that was going from the shed to a fountain in the pond. Thankfully it was not plugged in. The cable had simply been placed of the surface, not drug in or anything, and it wasn't seen because of the grass and weeds.

We have heard birds trapped in the chimney. We reported this. Nothing happened.

Inside the house, we have reported that 1 of the bedroom windows is leaking when it is raining. We have received no response to this from the letting agent. At the same time we reported an electric issue as we get an electric shock when we touch the dishwasher and metal sink at the same time. The agents response is that the electrics were tested in march. There is no issue. With the multimeter, it varies, and we have had a reading of 35v. At the same time as reporting this, we also complained about a constant foul smell coming from the sink pipe. Again ignored. I have looked and there is no u-bend or trap. Another breach of building regs.

We believe there have been breaches of the tenancy on their end with everything mentioned:

1. that the tenant may hold and enjoy the property during the tenancy and that any alleged breaches of the agreement will be resolved through the courts if necessary
2. to keep in repair and proper working order, the structure and exterior of the property.

Not to mention safety issues...

We are hoping to move out in the next couple of months or so when the property we are buying has finalised. With everything mentioned, would we be in a good position to possibly take them to court for the breaches, and safety issues that haven't been resolved?

We have reported everything and have proof of this. There are some bits which I think the letting agent has not passed onto the LL, but that is not our problem.

If so, what kind of percentage of the rent could we realistically try to claim back. Obviously we will try to sort outside of court, and come to some kind of resolution when we give notice, but will look at that option if required.

TroubledTarts

What are your feelings about the property, sounds rather disastrous, have you considered using your complaints as a reason to leave on your terms and find somewhere else.

Prepare now anyway

Make sure you have a clear concise list of dates when you logged the issues and the responses (if any)

As for a reduction in rent that's a discussion to have with the letting agent and when you mention this ask for their complaints procedure then you have to wait 8 weeks to report them to their indepent redress scheme that they belong to.

If you do want to stay in the property be very clear as to what you expect to be fixed and a reasonable time frame as well as any reduction of rent you believe is reasonable.

silvercar

Thanks to the renters rights act, you can give 2 months notice to end at the end of a rent period and leave.

Grumpy_chap

Did you view the property prior to agreeing the rental? If the state of the property was so bad then, why did you start the tenancy?

Was there a witnessed check-in inventory? If so, why were these issues not noted then and a route to resolution implemented?

As a Tenant, you are expected to act in a Tenant-like manner. This can mean tolerating reasonable times for matters to be rectified - perhaps equivalent to the timescales an owner-occupier would suffer. For example, IMO, the 6-7 weeks to get the decking repaired might be the timeframes it actually takes to get a tradesperson to attend, asses the job, quote and then schedule the work. In the mean-time, what temporary measures did you take to make matters safe - avoid the toddler falling off the edge? Is this a balcony of some kind? Decking with a 2 m fall is unusual.

I imagine whatever happens you will never be happy in this property so look for somewhere else, spend your time to actually look critically at the properties you view and then serve notice to leave this place.

mlz1413

I was also going to ask if you visited the property before signing the contract.

Plus what the Check In looked like? as you should have agreed the inventory, where things like a dirty kitchen and bathroom should have been noted.

If you didn't view the property and signed an inventory without being at the property, how long was it before you made your first complaint? IE the first day?

meme86

In answer to the responses.

We didn't view before because we kept getting knock backs, with properties going off the rental market the same day as going on. But having being landlords ourselves and also tenants in the past, one would expect a clean and more importantly a safe house?

The complaints started from day 1. It was the owners who lived in the property before us. They are first time landlords and clearly didn't know their responsibilities.

The decking is like a a balcony because of the gradient of the back. The delay in making the decking safe, was purely down to the landlords not wanting to get it sorted. From getting quotes to getting it completed was about a week.

To prevent the toddler from going through the railings we have had to put furniture in front to create a barrier. There is approx 8-10 meters worth of barrie. It runs the whole length of the back of the property.

We have a timeline and actual response screenshots.

My thought is that the agent has not told the LL of the electrical shocks or leaking window, or the sewer smell.

We have not had an inventory list. So not sure if one has been done or not. We have asked. It was bad enough trying to the the signed tenancy copy which took almost 6 weeks. I always walking around though videoing the whole property so I can prove any disputes.

We had to rent because we sold our previous home, and just waiting for our next purchase to complete, which hopefully will be in the next couple of months. Something that we are possibly looking at is negotiating leaving with a 1 month notice, and leaving it at that, but looking at options if they say no. If they say no, will will fulfill our end of the tenancy and act after. We even had to pay and extra £50 a month for pets.

user1977

"enjoying" the property just means that you have exclusive occupancy of it, it doesn't mean you'll have a good time. It's keeping the property in good repair which is the relevant point.

mlz1413

If the property wasn't clean when you moved in and there isn't an inventory then you can leave it unclean when you go.

Safety stuff needs tackling and 1 week to repair a decking sounds good to me.

The fact you didn't view it and only went off photos /videos could leave you in a poor position to argue anything outside of LL legal responsibilities IE electrics.

If the market for rents is as strong as you say then the LL and LA maybe happy to let you go early, but under the new rules they have the right to 2 months notice.

TroubledTarts

Sounds like you got lucky finding a landlord that would allow a short term rental and pets, even with the extra rent for the pets.

Having seen your additional information maybe chalk this one up to experience and enjoy your new property and focus on that.

Ratkin007

1 thing that may be worth looking into is whether or not the property falls under selective licensing and is licensed. If the property is required to be licensed but is not licensed then you can apply for a rent repayment order to get all of your rent back. Have a look on your Council's webpage for selecive licensing. There would also be a register online which would show if the property is licensed. If it does not appear, ask the council as there may be an application waiting to be processed.

silvercar

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82026498#Comment_82026498

I agree with all this. You chose to take a property without viewing, so accepted some risk.

As unpalatable as an unsafe balcony is, one week to repair isn’t unreasonable. As for complying with regulations, it may be that it complied with whatever regulations were in force at the time, if any. I have a balcony off a bedroom (so truly upstairs), it has just 3 horizontal bars, that anyone could fit through. We would never allow our toddler grandchild out on it. But it passed the (lack of) regulations when it was installed in the 1950s, so in that sense is compliant. You saw the danger, made temporary provision and the landlord fixed in a week. I don’t see this is an issue.