Advice on Private rented Problem

HipChick_2

Hi guys for the past few days i have been reading with interest the posts on here and your solutions to the posters woes so hope you could help me solve my problem.

I moved into a 2 bedroomed flat with my two children in november 07. This is a private let run through an agency but has not been well maintained. Now the Landlord has never lived in this flat she merely bought it for the purposes of renting. The flat was supplied with a built in cooker, washing machine and 3 + 2 cream couches, all walls were cream and so were the carpets (god only knows why) The deposit was £1100 and the rent is £550 a month

When i came to view the flat the current tenants were very quiet, showed me the rooms and basically showed us the door. The area is fantastic and my neighbours are a dream!

I must admit i immediately fell in love with the flat at first, one of the reasons being we were having to move from an anti-social area and also needed to move for support from family due to my seizures getting worse and the council would not help. The other reason was it 'seemed' in very good condition i.e. cream carpets, newly painted cream walls and fitted kitchen.

What i didn't realise (until the day i moved in) was the house was only heated by convector heaters (at first she only supplied two and a livingroom electric fire until i complained it was so cold).

Since i moved in there have been a catalogue of repairs and alas my seizures have started to get worse due to all the stress: bear with me while i attempt to explain my frustrations etc

A week after i moved in the electric fire stopped working, the agency contacted the landlord who was meant to get an electrician to sort it, instead he brought his elderly friend. After weeks of tooing and froing they finally decided to replace the fire. The electrician who fitted the brand new fire laughed at the securing (two foam pieces with doublesided sticky tape) expected to secure the fire into the surround and said he expected due to the chimney not having a granniehat (cant remember the name for it but its a thing that goes on the top of the chimney to stop wind coming down it) the fire would blow out of the surround with any huge gusts of wind.

Not long after that i noticed the windows (which look like their the first ever double glazing) were extremely draughty and have very little seals left on them thus every gust of wind blows what heat we have built up away.

I went into hospital at the begnning of December for a week, the nite i came out the built-in cooker blew up - i mean literally it set flame to the top of my lasagne. They sent an electrician after a fuss and all he did was change the fuse and said it would do me till after xmas yet everytime i used it there was a rank smell of burning plastic. Xmas day was a disaster as 10 minutes into cooking it blew again. I contacted the agency on the 27th dec who said they'd do something about it but left me without a cooker till the 5th January - now with two kids you know cooking facilities are priority esp over the holiday period but they said there was nothing they could do so i took them at their word.

After january i got a call from the agency saying they would do a 3 month inspection - which would give me a chance to tell them any repairs i needed doing - i thought great!!

Later that week when i was in the office talking about all the electrical faults they let slip that the electrical inspector had recommended the flat to be rewired as it was still the wirey fuses but the other agent said it wasn't urgent.

They already knew that the heating situation was a problem and i had asked about whether the landlord would be intending on fitting central heating to which they said she didn't have the money. I said there was grants available to help with the cost and during the week i gave them the available information to access them. (anything to help get heat right) Please also bear in mind my electricity bills range from £30 a week if i watch what heating i put on and cower under duvets to £49 when i got out of hospital and needed the room heated to a normal level)

So over the coming weeks i wrote down any worries i had and these are as follows:

Toilet seat - won't stay fastened - with it being part of a set is it fixable, can i fix it, if so where do i get another from?

Shower - (this shower seems like its an original its a mira 7.2 cream supreme thingy) Its never run anything but luke warm water since i moved in. Since this is a fixture can this be repaired?

Washing machine - it won't condition clothes. also will only work for 10 minutes then switch itself off.

Kitchen strip-light - Flickers, possibly on its way out - where can i get a new one? (have since fixed myself)

Livingroom fire - Can't use when windy - keeps cutting out heat when wind comes down chimney also meets the floor when windy.

Chimney - constant draught from Chimney even more so when windy. it likes to whistle alot too.

Windows - They whistle when windy and mega draughts from them too, no seals on front and back windows left. There is a constant mould appearing on metal frames too

Doors - Livingroom door doesnt close properly. Front door surrounding including letterbox could do with draughtproofing as gales come through.

Then i wrote down some of my worries about certain stuff:

Carpets - Even though we take our shoes off at the door the carpets are getting damaged i.e they have frayed while hoovering

Walls - cream walls and kids don't mix could i repaint them a slightly darker shade of cream/brown?

Couch - When in hospital my cat scratched the sides of couch also some pen marks where son went over paper - to save heart ache and my £1100 deposit could i buy suite off landlord?

Fireplace - Scratch marks on fireplace where electrician removed old fire

Airvent - in bedroom fell off wall (have since fixed myself)

Heating - heating bills very high can't heat home properly and energy rating survey found flat was an 'F rating' is there something that can remedy this?


So the agency came in and did their inspection i gave them the list away and got a call from them last week saying the landlord was very angry at the list of repairs. She said the landlord would consider draughtproofing but it would have to wait as she didnt have the money. They asked me some other questions and said they would get back to me once they'd spoken again to the landlord but that it wouldn't be till next month as .... wait for it .... shes away for 3 weeks to canada on holiday!!

Now the thing is everytime they phone they are very rude and given the current repairs not helpful at all - i pay £550 a month for a inadequate flat which i had to take out a loan to cover the £1100 so i don't want to loose any of that!

But where do i stand?

I cannot see me being able to live here much longer with the heating like this yet they dont seem too fussed as they say theyve provided heating i.e. convector heaters.

The only way i could get a council home would be if the landlord gave me a notice to quit yet everytime i ask them about my security in the flat i.e. it coming up to the end of my initial 6 months in May and will i be staying or going they say they won't talk to me about it but the landlord is considering telling me to leave when she returns from holiday.

I'm sick of constantly having to phone them up and fight just to get some much needed repairs done and feel that the only best option is for me and the kids to get a move to somewhere more suitable and healthy. From what ive been told about this house the previous 3 tenants left due to the same conditions ALSO i found out the Agency has a reputation for this kind of thing

i really wished i'd found all this out before as i would never have taken the house - we survived JUST through winter but as a result i ended up in hospital and my kids caught croup and are now back on their inhalors i suspect from the mould in their bedroom.

So what exactly are my rights regarding going to the council with all this information and asking them to help me out - i'm on the EDindex register but have been told unless i'm homeless i don't have a whilstling chance of getting a place (but if the agency gave me a notice to quit i would then be deemed as needing help and be elligible for a place)

Could i ask the agency to give me a notice to quit on the grounds of section 5 ground 6 in the AT6 form

'GROUND 6 is that you require possession in order to demolish or substantially reconstruct the house, or to carry out substantial improvement works on the house, and that the work can be carried out only if the tenant gives up possession.'

Obviously its up to them whether they make repairs or not but i just feel my life is suffering due to the stress of it all and my 8yr old daughter is having to cope on a daily basis with my seizures as well as my 3 yr old son (btw i'm a single mum) so life atm isn't very peachy or fun for either of them!!

I know if the situation improved them my seizures would get better but its just tryin to improve the situation is difficult hence why i'm making this post to you.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

tbs624

I notice that you’re in Edinburgh - there was new legislation brought in late last year emphasising the minimum accepted standard of repair for tenanted homes in Scotland. If your home doesn't reach the standard and your landlord refuses to do the work, you can apply to the PRHP (Private Rented Housing Panel). Your LL has an obligation to ensure that the property is wind and water tight and that electrical items are in safe working order, ie your cooker, the fires. S/he also has a duty to maintain installations for the supply and heating of water, ie your shower. Your home also has to meet the “tolerable standard” which includes adequate ventilation, lighting and heating - if the LA/LL won’t deal with this, you can report this to the PRHP, and also to rading Standards at the local Council (for unsafe electrical items).By the way, is your LL/LA registered?

Damage done by workmen sent by the LA should be brought to the LA/LLs attention in writing, and keep a copy of the letter for your records. You should pay for any damage that your cat or your son has done to a sofa - you’d need to agree the way forward with that one via the LA/LL.

Information that may help you is available on the housing charity Shelter’s Scotland web site here: http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-3593.cfm#wipLive-31934-5 or you can go to one of their offices at Shelter - Edinburgh Housing Aid Centre, Ground Floor, Unit 2, Kittle Yards, Causewayside, Edinburgh, EH9 1PJ. tel: 0844 515 2400. There are also 4 or 5 CABs in Edinburgh who will have advice workers who can help with LL & tenant issues. Do arrange to see someone because you do not have to put up with LL/LAs who are rude to you when you raise genuine concerns. My suggestion would also be to get support from your Doc & health visitor, if thesehousing issues are adding to medical problems, as it could bump you up the Edindex lists? If you can’t get a Housing Assoc/Council place can you not find another private rental in the short -term?

Loretta

I would have thought that the council should hve housed you before you took this house as you were homeless becaue of domestic violence. Is it different in Scotland

HipChick_2

Hi Tbs many thanks for your help I didn't know about the PRHP despite having a support worker from shelter - go firgure lol

My health visitor and doctor are already backing a move but the EdIndex ppl will not take any medical letters into account unless your wheelchair bound i.e. can't walk up a set of stairs

I'm going to go give CAB and the council a phone today and see what they say though hopefully someone can help me!

As for getting another private let - i took out a loan (for the deposit) to get this one and i'm still paying that back so theres no way i could afford another deposit on top of this one and none of the landlords round here take the rent guarantee scheme so i'm stuck between a rock and a hard place really