Problems with landlords

[Elmo]

I was just wondering if anyone's ever had any problems with their private landlords.

I'm staying with my bf at the moment, who's been living in his privately rented flat since the begining of july, and since he moved in we've noticed a few things that are needing done. They arent exactly vital, but they're just annoying, and going by the amount he pays in rent, i would expect them to be done.

One of these things is the shower. If you're in the shower for longer than 5 mins it started leeking from under the shower base and can create quite a substantial puddle on the floor. This can be annoying, especailly when we have people round to stay and they arent aware of the leak until the puddle has engulfed their clothes.

Another thing that doesnt work, and has never worked, is the door bell. It was reported to the landlord as soon as we realised and he said it was the batteries, so he put new ones in, and it STILL didnt work, he was notified again but we've heard nothing since. This is a pain, as if we're wanting anything delivered we have to stand at the window and wait for it as we're up stairs and cant hear the knock on the door (which is what i'm doing just now... waiting for DHL to arrive...).

Now, the house is rented through a letting agent, which prevents us from getting intouch directly with the landlord. Everything must go through the agent. So every month that the rent is paid, a letter is included explaining the problems etc and we get a letter/call back to say that it's being dealt with and they'll get in touch with the land lord....

we're still waiting for him to turn up....

The things needing sorted are as follows:

• Front of shower casing on wall comes away revealing wires - not good in a wet environment!

• Shower base leaks all over bathroom floor whenever shower is used

• Crack above bathroom door - no idea what it's caused by...but apparently it was on the inventory

• Door bell doesnt work

as i said, these things arent EXACTLY vital, but going by the amount paid in rent, i would expect these to be sorted....

So, anyone got any ideas what we can do? We have had no contact from the landlord in 6 months...(since my bf moved in and he reinstalled the boiler that blew up 2 days after my bf moved in)

[gss03]

what sort of tenancy agreement has your b/f signed?
(hopefully its a short assured tenancy)
if so...its in there somewhere that everything should be in working order...and if not there should be a DISCOUNT from his rent till the problems are fixed.

[Ferral]

Get in touch with the local council, nowadays there is a register that contains all landlords and details etc (they have to be on it wether private, housing association or whatever)

Explain to the council whats going on (not hearing or seeing from landlord etc) and they should look into it for you. Should imagine they will send someone round pretty quick to assess the damage (shower is dangerous for a start) and get onto the landlord to get it sorted.

May be worthwhile taking a few photos to take with you.

Finally, you did get a chance to mention these damages before you moved in and have record / signature of what was said. If you dont have this the landlord could say that you and the people living there have done it.

[Howard]

Pardon me if I aren't gathering the whole idea of rented accomodation, but does it prevent you from fixing things such as the doorbell yourself?

[gss03]

its the landlord's responsibility to ensure things within the house are in working order. It is only the tenant's respoinsobility to report them.

What would happen if the tenant attempted to fix something that was broken and they failed to fix it...the landlord could then resolve himself of all responsibility and would probably be a pain enough to charge them from their security deposit to then get it repaired!

[Ferral]

If you do anything yourself and the landlord dont like it they can be really funny with you. Any probs and the landlord is supposed to sort them immediately

[Howard]

Ok. Lol

[gss03]

Elmo. your in Glasgow...is the house there too I assume?
if so...how many people are resident in there? or how many bedrooms are there?

Glasgow has some funny housing laws...that my mum only found out about when she went to a lawyer to resolve problems she was having with her tenants.
They've been clamping down on landlords there since there was a fire in a student flat a few years ago...and the students died coz their flat was dangerous (ie had steel bars on the windows of the basement flat, so no escape!)

[Elmo]

Since i wasnt here when he moved in i really dont know what was on the inventory and what wasnt. the leaking shower only became apparent after a couple of weeks and was reported immediately, i only found out the front of the shower unit came away when i was turning the knob to turn it on and realised it wasnt actually doing anything cos it wasnt attached. The bell he knows about and the crack above the bathroom door was on the inventory cos my bf said it was on the list.

The problem is that my bf wont say anything to anyone i.e he wont go to the council cos he thinks it's nothing to do with them and they wouldnt be able to to anything anyway. He'd rather not cause a fuss and put up with it. Problem is, i'm wanting to get it sorted, but the lease is in his name, so i've got no control over anything that happens.

gss03 - I'm not sure of the exact lease he's got, but it's for 6 months at a time, and he's just renewed it since he cant really afford anything better/of a similar standard cos there's either nothing or it's like £600 pcm. This place is of a high enough standard in a lovely area and small enough for one person and big enough for 2, but it's just these few things that are nagging at us :s

[Elmo]

No, this is in wakefield. In glasgow i stay in a council house with my mum.

[Iain]

Anything to do with water near electrics, puddles on floor are all health and safety hazards and the landlord can be sued for negligence if he doesn't attend to them within a reasonable period of time. If he doesn't respond I'd call him/her and tell them that you will have to get legal assistance if he won't address the issues.

[Elmo]

I would, or rather, my bf would, but we cant contact him directly or we would have by now, we have to go through the letting agent and they dont seem to be getting anywhere either.

Thing is, we know he hasnt dropped off the face of the planet, cos he owns this whole cul de sac of flats, and one of them has just been relet so he had to have been here for that, but we've just not SEEN or HEARD from him.

I'm going to try to persuade the bf to get his finger out his bum and do something about it.

[Romanov]

The letting is probably handled by the agent not him, if you're going via an agency they usually take on repairs and such like as thats why you get an agent to manage your rented property, ask the agency who handles repairs as if he has a proper management agency for his flats its them not him that should be doing the work. We had this in a rented flat in Dartford, basically the agency pretended they were waiting for the owner to get back to them, but we knew the owner who told us he paid them to handle repairs, he had to cancel the contract with that agency and start with a new one.

Some of these agencies are absolute cowboys so you may well fine that they are supposed to be doing this - check the agreement.

- a leaking shower should defeinitely be fixed, that is not acceptable at all. You have alot of power as tenants nowadays so use em but the only way to make things happen is to send LETTERS. If theres no record they wont do anything about it.

[MiggyMan]

Doorbells sorted

Althought the wiring is *terrible*

[aeonf242]

I think the only thing that works with Letting agents and Landlords is persistence and putting everything in writing.
Call agency every week, then every other day and then every day (if you can use a work phone!) or call in and see them every time you pass. Make yourself annoying so that they want to get the things fixed so you stop annoying them.
Read the tenancy agreement and see what provisions are made for repairs and wear and tear.
Alos find out if the agency actually manage the property, if they do then they should pull their finger out (even if they have to get the landlords approval). If the agency don't manage it try to cut them out of the chain of communication.
If you have dangerous wires in the bathroom then yelp like hell, maybe seek advice from the CAB.
Btw, I don't think you'll get anywhere useful by trying to withhold rent.

One last thought, you may be breaking the tenancy agreement by co-habiting, depends on the agreement!, so make sure you don't get involved in the discussions..

[Elmo]

we're not cohabiting i'm only visiting for the hols and he's allowed visitors. However, there are families in the surrounding flats (god knows how they fit 2 adults and 2 kids into a flat this size) so i dont think it'd be much of an issue only having me staying every few weeks.