Problems with rented flat

[Dr House]

My wife has rented a flat above the Radisson Blu in Birmingham

Now the flat is not exactly cheap and so we expect everything to be in working order. She has been living there for 2.5 months now and the flat is full of problems the major problem is that both the AC and the Hob do not work.

For the last 2 and half months my wife has had to eat out most days as she has no way to cook at home. The owner has give her 200 quid in compensation which is a joke considering she pays 800 per month in rent plus 150 for the parking.

Is there anything we can do? Could I take it to the small claims court?

Its not worth us moving as she will only be working in Birmingham for another 7 weeks.

 

[Dr House]

Why has she waited 2.5 months?

Has he promised to fix it? It doesn't take that long to get a repair man to come round or to replace a cooker. I'd be tempted to withhold the rent.

He has been trying to fix it since she moved in however they cant seem to get hold of the parts he needs, a new hob would only cost 2/300 quid anyway!

He is paying money back in leui of fixing the issue. 25% back is a large amount, £200 for food a month is loads for 1 person.

he has not given 200 each month just 200 total.

I don't mean to be funny but with ur name I would have expected that you were expert on all the housing solutions. So you would have sorted out your wife problem in a day.

I would suggest looking for a temporary cheaper flat somewhere else within the city or close to your wife place if it is possible since your wife would only be working for 7 more weeks in birmingham.

Its difficult as she is also a Doctor and works very long hours, finding a new palace and moving would be a real pain.

Also if it is not worth moving out then what does the contract say. Does it hold the owner responsible for fixing these kind of problems and also does it have any legal backing in case one of the parties breach their terms and conditions. So if the owner is not being cooperative then He could be taken to court if mentioned in the contract.

I will check but I assume it says he has to fix major problems.

 

[Dr House]

Not through a letting agency?

No idea, I will ask.

Cant she move in with Wilson for the remainder of the stay?

seriously though has he been in to inspect the faults? or just given £200 because he already knew there was a problem?

no but he has sent people over to try and fix it (took ages to come). He must have known the problem was there but did not tell her before she rented the place.

 

[Dr House]

See a solicitor.

That may be worth doing.

She wants to live in a palace now?

lol sorry for the typo

I'm assuming you've never had to eat out every night/claim expenses when say working away from home - eating out can easily come to more than £200 in a month in a UK city and tbh... it sounds like this dodgy landlord has simply given them £200 as a one off payment. As a single person I probably spend at least £200 a month on food from the supermarket.

Yep, if you assume 10 pounds each time you eat out (its more then that really) it starts to add up very quickly. Also Im staying with her from next week to it will come to even more.

 

[Dr House]

This makes no sense at all but then Paras threads rareley do

Does everything she eats require a hob or something? Surely the oven etc still works?

Lol thanks . Yes the oven works but to be honest there is not that much vegi food that you can cook in the over.

I don't understand why you are hyping this up as so bad? frustrating maybe.. Especially with an oven and microwave.. i cant think of all that many things it would really completely stop.

He has already given £200, that's plenty really. You could buy a single electric hob to temporarily use and a microwave and then still have £120 change to pay for some of the take aways!

Not ideal but at least he isnt completely ignoring her.

Its just a royal pain because she works really Unsociable hours and we pay quite a lot of rent so we expect everything to be working. Admittedly he has now started to try and get things sorted but it took weeks before he even sent someone to have a look.

 

[Dr House]

Unfortunately with disputes like this IME you need to be 110%, recordable and verifiably on the case from day 1 - the flat still classes as habitable as a microwave is I believe considered sufficient to comply with the regulations.

That said, in your contract I suspect there is something along the lines of the landlord having a duty to keep the fixtures in good condition etc - however you cannot legally withold rent. You can repair it yourself and deduct that cost against rent, but you have to be squeaky clean in terms of giving the landlord sufficient notice of your intent to repair it, the estimated cost and suchlike before doing it.

The above involves informing your landlord in writing that the fault exists, pestering your landlord consistently in writing that the fault still exists etc etc, if there's no written evidence of correspondence between the tenant and landlord regarding the problem then you don't have much to stand on.

Given the length of time left in the property and the shaky standing of any legal claim, your best bet by far is just to try and negotiate discounted rent for the remaining period of the tenancy, hopefully if your landlord is decent then you should be able to agree this.

Good advice. Thanks

 

[Dr House]

Just a quick update.

I checked with my wife. Both the oven and Hob still do not work and she is moving out in 2 weeks anyway.

Oh and the flat did not come with a microwave.

 

[Dr House]

Another update.

I started legal proceedings against the landlord, he agreed to give us back 825 GBP I could not be bothered to fight anymore so I just took it and we are done with the flat.