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Case against former landlord?
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PDodd
Posts: 10 Forumite
Can anyone advise if I have a legal case against my former LL? I'll try to keep this is as short as possible but I can elaborate on points if requested.
- When I viewed the property there was a washing machine connection present but when I moved in it had been removed without being notified, I called the LL who they said it was a 'botched job' so removed it. LL never replaced it, I wouldn't have rented the property due to inconvenience if I was made aware.
- Two windows wouldn't open. One painted shut, the second had the rope severely damaged (sash windows). Never repaired.
- One radiator was broken when I moved in and was never repaired.
- Mould. I had to leave the radiators constantly on for around 8 months to stop mould growth. Even with the radiators on some mould still grew and it damaged some of my possessions. In the room where the broken radiator was I had to battle the mould growth. Also resulted in higher electricity bill.
- The plumbing from the kitchen sink went directly through an external wall and around the pipe there was quite a sizeable gap (big enough for me to fit both hands through) that I repaired.
In a similar regard some of the window frames had 'holes' in the masonry surrounding them which had to be filled otherwise there was a constant breeze and I think was adding to the mould issue.
- Bathroom light wasn't fitted properly and had exposed wires showing (I repaired it).
- No smoke detectors.
- Five people were living in the one bed flat next door. I was happy to let them be but the issue I had was they weren't using or emptying bins. They would fill Tesco bags for life full of rubbish and just leave it in the common area outside. LL never made an effort to stop this, tenants moved out of their own accord.
- I was never given notice when the retail unit directly below my flat was being completely renovated. This lasted from mid August to the end of October. They took the ceiling down and only the floor boards of my flat separated me from the builders. LL knew I work nights and did nothing to ensure they kept the noise to a minimum (noise from construction work obviously unavoidable but loud radios in this situation was totally inappropriate). Builders also used abusive language and worked out of permitted hours, especially Saturday and Sundays again LL did nothing.
- During the building work they took down a supporting wall which resulted in a large crack appearing in one wall in my flat. The floor also came away from the skirting board and I could see into the retail unit below. LL was oblivious to this until I informed them they fixed part of the flooring issue from below but the crack in the wall remained untreated for the duration of my tenancy.
The crack was on the staircase wall and progressively got worse some of the stairs started to feel as if they were failing, in the boiler cupboard below you could see cracks in the underneath of the staircase particularly where those stairs where.
In all other rooms on the ground floor smaller cracks also appeared and continued to spread.
- LL was a local business and decided to change use of the outside common area so their employees could use it.
They were smoking close to my windows which meant I couldn't open them, with the two windows that wouldn't open I was left with no usable windows on the first floor of my flat. The one upstairs was small and had no impact downstairs.
I also had some items stolen immediately after they had access to the common area. LL was not interested and told me to report it to the Police who said regrettably nothing could be done due to no CCTV.
I could hear all the employees conversations whilst they were in the common area and after the thefts I heard the employees talking about me, they made derogatory comments about my appearance and also knew details of my tenancy that they had no right to be aware of.
These are the main issues, some I admit are bigger than others. There's also other petty arguments such as the maintenance man would relentlessly knock on my front door without any notice, knowing that I worked nights.
I did inform the council but regrettably I didn't give them enough notice to do an inspection before I left the property. Do I have a case against the LL?
- When I viewed the property there was a washing machine connection present but when I moved in it had been removed without being notified, I called the LL who they said it was a 'botched job' so removed it. LL never replaced it, I wouldn't have rented the property due to inconvenience if I was made aware.
- Two windows wouldn't open. One painted shut, the second had the rope severely damaged (sash windows). Never repaired.
- One radiator was broken when I moved in and was never repaired.
- Mould. I had to leave the radiators constantly on for around 8 months to stop mould growth. Even with the radiators on some mould still grew and it damaged some of my possessions. In the room where the broken radiator was I had to battle the mould growth. Also resulted in higher electricity bill.
- The plumbing from the kitchen sink went directly through an external wall and around the pipe there was quite a sizeable gap (big enough for me to fit both hands through) that I repaired.
In a similar regard some of the window frames had 'holes' in the masonry surrounding them which had to be filled otherwise there was a constant breeze and I think was adding to the mould issue.
- Bathroom light wasn't fitted properly and had exposed wires showing (I repaired it).
- No smoke detectors.
- Five people were living in the one bed flat next door. I was happy to let them be but the issue I had was they weren't using or emptying bins. They would fill Tesco bags for life full of rubbish and just leave it in the common area outside. LL never made an effort to stop this, tenants moved out of their own accord.
- I was never given notice when the retail unit directly below my flat was being completely renovated. This lasted from mid August to the end of October. They took the ceiling down and only the floor boards of my flat separated me from the builders. LL knew I work nights and did nothing to ensure they kept the noise to a minimum (noise from construction work obviously unavoidable but loud radios in this situation was totally inappropriate). Builders also used abusive language and worked out of permitted hours, especially Saturday and Sundays again LL did nothing.
- During the building work they took down a supporting wall which resulted in a large crack appearing in one wall in my flat. The floor also came away from the skirting board and I could see into the retail unit below. LL was oblivious to this until I informed them they fixed part of the flooring issue from below but the crack in the wall remained untreated for the duration of my tenancy.
The crack was on the staircase wall and progressively got worse some of the stairs started to feel as if they were failing, in the boiler cupboard below you could see cracks in the underneath of the staircase particularly where those stairs where.
In all other rooms on the ground floor smaller cracks also appeared and continued to spread.
- LL was a local business and decided to change use of the outside common area so their employees could use it.
They were smoking close to my windows which meant I couldn't open them, with the two windows that wouldn't open I was left with no usable windows on the first floor of my flat. The one upstairs was small and had no impact downstairs.
I also had some items stolen immediately after they had access to the common area. LL was not interested and told me to report it to the Police who said regrettably nothing could be done due to no CCTV.
I could hear all the employees conversations whilst they were in the common area and after the thefts I heard the employees talking about me, they made derogatory comments about my appearance and also knew details of my tenancy that they had no right to be aware of.
These are the main issues, some I admit are bigger than others. There's also other petty arguments such as the maintenance man would relentlessly knock on my front door without any notice, knowing that I worked nights.
I did inform the council but regrettably I didn't give them enough notice to do an inspection before I left the property. Do I have a case against the LL?
0
Comments
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A case for what?0
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Misrepresentation, negligence and breach of data protection?0
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Did you put your requests for repairs in writing to the landlord?
If yes, how did you follow it up when he failed to act?
Did you report the builders to the council with regard to permitted hours -( having said that, works near me had permission to continue well into the night.)
I'm failing to see where you feel a breach of data protection comes into it?All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
Pedant alert - it's could have, not could of.0 -
Misrepresentation, negligence and breach of data protection?
do you have proof of data protection breach? your word against theirs?
Did you not check the inventory when you rented, did you check the contract in regards to white goods? Some are there as convenience rather than a must
If you work nights, when do you think the maintenance man can do repairs? during the night?
You have left the LL and hopefully living somewhere better, some fights need to be fought, is this one of them?"It is prudent when shopping for something important, not to limit yourself to Pound land/Estate Agents"
G_M/ Bowlhead99 RIP0 -
Was this the cheapest property you could find? The point is that in property you get what you pay for. So cheap will have problems.0
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Did you put your requests for repairs in writing to the landlord?
If yes, how did you follow it up when he failed to act?
Did you report the builders to the council with regard to permitted hours -( having said that, works near me had permission to continue well into the night.)
I'm failing to see where you feel a breach of data protection comes into it?
At first the LL was told verbally over the phone, then they stopped answering the phone or would pass me around to different people so then it was via email or sms. I was always told someone (I think this implied their maintenance man) would come around but never did.
Someone from the LA came over to update the EPC and verbally said they would remind the LL about the radiator and wall repair but four months later I moved out and still no repair took place.
I did complain to the council about the builders, I admit it took awhile because I didn’t know I could actually contact the council about them. The builders were permitted to work between 8am - 6pm during weekdays, 8am-1pm on Saturday and not at all on Sunday. They worked between 7am - 4pm everyday apart from Sunday which was around 9am - 2/4pm. The problem wasn’t so much the construction noise but the radio. The council did tell them to be quiet and they said they would leave the radio off but didn’t, they also lied to the council about the hours they worked.
The LL told their employees details of my tenancy, these are people I never knew or met. They didn’t even work in any part of the building I lived in but further up the street. Would this not be breach of data protection?0 -
do you have proof of data protection breach? your word against theirs?
Did you not check the inventory when you rented, did you check the contract in regards to white goods? Some are there as convenience rather than a must
If you work nights, when do you think the maintenance man can do repairs? during the night?
You have left the LL and hopefully living somewhere better, some fights need to be fought, is this one of them?
It would be my word against theirs but in the same regard the employees also made derogatory comments about the LL clients.
Flat was unfurnished with oven and fridge provided. My point was there was a washing machine connection when I viewed the property, even pointed out to be by LA. I was prepared to pay for a washing machine myself but they removed the connection after I had viewed the property but before the tenancy started and never replaced it.
The maintenance man!knocked on the door without any prior notice. He also wasn’t knocking to do any of the over due repairs, I wouldn’t have minded then. For instance when the common area changed use the entrance door changed from a key lock to a key pad. He was knocking on the door to tell me the door code, something they could have done by leaving a note on the door, in the postbox, via sms, email. Not by relentlessly knocking on the door. Which happened a few times because the employees couldn’t use the simple keypad so they kept changing it. It happened on other occasions too.
The LL was negligent in all regards, they allowed their employees to steal from me and the wall was just dangerous. I’m not particularly doing this for financial gain but the LL behaved unacceptably.0 -
Was this the cheapest property you could find? The point is that in property you get what you pay for. So cheap will have problems.
No it was a mid-price property for where I live. Just didn’t want to pay extra for the same sized flat but brand new kitchen and bathroom it’s the only difference around here.0 -
If you believe there is a data breach you report it to the ICO. You don’t get compensation for that unless of course you can quantify an actual financial loss.0
This discussion has been closed.
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