Letting agent issue! (too late - look at the pictures)

Ace Modder · 24 Jul 2011 at 21:49

Hey guys.

I have a few minor repairs which needs doing and my letting agent have been informed a number of times, but still no joy, so I'm sending this email.

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Hi

We currently rent a property through yourselves, (Address) and we have a couple of issues at the moment. My telephone number is 07890 ******

1. A radiator in one of the bedrooms has come away from the wall over a period of time, due to the plaster breaking away. In January the radiation came fully away from the wall and currently we have had to secure it by putting a chest of drawers in front of the radiator. This is unacceptable and we have reported this numerous times and we keep being promised a call out, but it doesn't happen. The radiator been held upright by a chest of drawers is also a possible fire hazard.

2. The plaster board celing in the living room has developed a crack and is getting worse and worse as time goes on. This was reported at upon at least 1 house visit and also my wife phoned up last week and still nothing has being done. The ceiling crack was just cosmetic looking to start with, but now the whole ceiling is starting to sag at the centre of the crack and the crack itself is getting bigger, and wider. See attached images - you can see from the light source that the ceiling is starting to droop down in the middle.

I would like you to arrange for these issues to be fixed this coming week. Please call my above telephone number to sort a suitable time and date for these issues to be resolved.

We have 2 young children in the house I would prefer for the risk of the ceiling falling on them to be minimised.

Regards
Ace Modder

Verbium · 24 Jul 2011 at 22:08

Ace Modder said:
In January the radiation came fully...

Radiation can do a lot of damage, but I think you meant radiator!

Big Chris · 24 Jul 2011 at 22:12

I rented from a similarly useless bunch of idiots last year, after numerous calls to them to fix a long list of stuff, suggesting that perhaps I didn't pay the rent until someone paid me a visit seemed to do the trick.

Either that or turn up in their office when there's a few customers in there and make sure they hear you complain to the office manager about how disappointed you are having kept up your end of the deal you signed.

Amnesia · 24 Jul 2011 at 22:26

Tell them you're with-holding the rent until they sort the issues, probably the best way to get their attention.

jaybee · 24 Jul 2011 at 22:29

Yep. I'd do the same. Cancel direct debit and tell them you have done so until fixed. Don't care if it's legal. They take the mick these people.

Cleeecooo · 24 Jul 2011 at 22:35

Nuke the house from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

I would get a structural engineer in and then send the bill to the letting agency. If it's safe then just keep complaining. If it's potentially unsafe then you could possibly have serious grounds to sue.

If the house is about to collapse then there is no point writing letters to the agency. Depending on what the structural engineer says, go to a hotel and send the letting agency the bill. You have a contract with them saying that they will give you a roof over your head in exchange for money. They are breaking the contract. (I know, I've oversimplified, but my point still stands)

.Andy · 24 Jul 2011 at 22:43

Amnesia said:
Tell them you're with-holding the rent until they sort the issues, probably the best way to get their attention.

jaybee said:
Yep. I'd do the same. Cancel direct debit and tell them you have done so until fixed. Don't care if it's legal. They take the mick these people.

Don't withold the rent - you will lose all your rights as a tenant. Talking from hard learned experience!

Amnesia · 24 Jul 2011 at 22:54

.Andy said:
Don't withold the rent - you will lose all your rights as a tenant. Talking from hard learned experience!

you may aswell go into detail a bit more.

Glaucus · 24 Jul 2011 at 23:14

You have no rights to withhold rent.

LOAM · 24 Jul 2011 at 23:22

AcidHell2 said:
You have no rights to withhold rent.

Absolutely this, if you withhold rent you are in breach of contract they can evict you and take court action to recover the debt. It the worst thing you could do.

Out of interest how is the chest of draws a fire hazard infront of the radiator?

Oh and that ceiling will be on the floor before the years out. Looks like the boards or laths have come away from the joists, is the Rad in the room above? If so are you sure its not leaking ?

Amnesia · 24 Jul 2011 at 23:23

LOAM said:
Absolutely this, if you withhold rent you are in breach of contract they can evict you and take court action to recover the debt. It the worst thing you could do.

no they cannot

LOAM · 24 Jul 2011 at 23:27

Amnesia said:
no they cannot

Yes they can

Reaper 392 · 24 Jul 2011 at 23:28

AcidHell2 said:
You have no rights to withhold rent.

unless the landlord is not abiding to his contract, which i would assume covers making sure the house isnt falling apart.

luckily my letting agent seems like she's pretty good. i havent actually moved in to the house, but so far everything has been sorted quite quickly and she has been very helpful....
although, because she is also a model, i may have been a bit distracted when we were talking

(if your really interested, there are pics of her i can dig up from the interweb for you guys)

Amnesia · 24 Jul 2011 at 23:29

LOAM said:
Yes they can

No even if a tenant is behind on rent and you want him out you still have to give 2 months notice. You cannot just walk in and throw their stuff out.

Amnesia · 24 Jul 2011 at 23:30

AcidHell2 said:
You have no rights to withhold rent.

well if the landlord isn't playing ball then its a good way to get his/her attention.

Glaucus · 24 Jul 2011 at 23:30

Reaper 392 said:
unless the landlord is not abiding to his contract, which i would assume covers making sure the house isnt falling apart.

Nope, you still don't have right to withold rent. You can seek other avenues.

•*Give the landlord notice of the disrepair and a reasonable time to remedy it

•*Inform the landlord (preferably in writing) that s/he will do the repair her/himself unless the landlord complies with her/his obligations

•*Allow a further reasonable period for the landlord to do the work

•*Obtain three estimates for the cost of the work from reputable builders

•*Write to the landlord again, enclosing copies of the estimates and reminding her/him of her/his obligation to do the work, giving a further reasonable period to carry it out. The letter should warn that, otherwise, the tenant will do the work her/himself and deduct the cost from rent

•*If there is no response, arrange for the contractor who gave the lowest estimate to do the work, and obtain (and send to the landlord) receipts, with a request for payment

•*If the landlord does not pay, the tenant may deduct the cost from the rent (but not other charges such as service charges), then send the landlord a breakdown of the amount and period of the rent to be withheld.

The tenant, they add, should avoid running into rent arrears before taking this action. If, however, the landlord takes court action for arrears and/or possession, the fact that the tenant has had to pay for repairs can be used as a counterclaim to the proceedings.

Damages caused by the landlord's default can also be set off against arrears in a defence to possession proceedings. Specialist advice will be needed.

piggeh · 24 Jul 2011 at 23:33

the LL would need to issue a section 8 notice to repossess through the courts to evict you, it's surely less hassle to just get the bloody thing fixed for them.

Personally I would give them a few days to respond with a timeframe to fix the faults.If they remain unresponsive then I'd write another threatening to withhold a month's rent until its sorted. No response, withhold the rent.

LOAM · 24 Jul 2011 at 23:36

You can only withhold rent for repairs in th UK after you have written to the landlord informing him of your actions, you must then give him suitable time to undertake the repairs himself. Finally you need to provide quotes from different companies to undertake the work.

Also I didn't say they could come round and throw you out, I said they could evict you. Two completely separate things.

Raumarik · 24 Jul 2011 at 23:38

Cleeecooo said:
I would get a structural engineer in and then send the bill to the letting agency. If it's safe then just keep complaining. If it's potentially unsafe then you could possibly have serious grounds to sue.

Are you a structural engineer? Because that's a rather strange suggestion. The ceiling is sagging, that doesn't indicate a structural fault unless the walls are moving too. It's more likely that the ceiling hasn't been attached properly, it's coming away from the joists or there's water building up above it which isn't getting into the plaster and making it look wet.

Structural engineer to even look at that will be £300+ and they'll want paid by you, not the letting agency.

Amnesia · 24 Jul 2011 at 23:42

LOAM said:
You can only withhold rent for repairs in th UK after you have written to the landlord informing him of your actions, you must then give him suitable time to undertake the repairs himself. Finally you need to provide quotes from different companies to undertake the work.

Also I didn't say they could come round and throw you out, I said they could evict you. Two completely separate things.

well you did say evict and then take court action

they cannot evict you without going through the courts first.
they have to give 2 months notice and then if the tenant doesn't leave you have to take it to the courts.
section 8 someone mentioned must be filled in(i cant remember from the top of my head), that will take a few months to get to court and if the judge is satisfied that the tenant should be evicted (good possibility he wont if the rent was with-held for repairs) then a date is set for the tenant to leave.
if the tenant doesn't leave then go back to the courts and they will get their bailliffs(i think) to come and evict the tenant.

its a very long procedure and very costly to the landlord if the tenant isn't paying the whole time.....