# Advice wanted on House Rental!!!



## caulkhead (Jul 25, 2007)

Long story short, my daughter has just moved into a rental property and she is desperately unhappy. She looked at the house in the dark and with a family of six inside so didn't see the problems that are now evident in the daylight and with the house empty. Smoke alarms are hanging by their wires from the ceiling brackets which are broken and so the alarm cannot be attached back on the ceiling. There is a constant beep from the alarms which can only be stopped by turning the smoke alarm circuit off at the junction box. There is evidence of the cooker plug having caught fire and melted at some point in the past. The lounge carpet stinks of animal urine, apparently the previous family had a puppy and assorted hamsters, guinea pigs etc which were kept in the lounge! The downstairs toilet and shower room is unusable due the plaster and tiles falling off the walls due to a leak from the bathroom above. Lastly, the kerosene tank is just a couple of feet outside the lounge patio doors and therefore there is a smell akin to something you would find at an airport every time the patio doors are opened. Is that even legal I wonder. She has told the private landlord that she is not signing a contract until necessary repairs etc are done but she is now minded to just walk away. Do you think the landlord would have a case against her? I should add that all her stuff is in the house! Any advice would be appreciated.


----------



## cabby (May 14, 2005)

I would remove all her goods and rebut the pressure if any to sign the contract.Walk away and report the premises to the local council.I take it she did not use an agency.Can you look after her until she has found a suitable place hopefully.Those type of landlords need reporting.

cabby


----------



## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

I agree with Phil.


----------



## Lesleykh (Apr 13, 2009)

I agree. She needs to walk away. Life's way too short to be unhappy with where you're living. Presumably the landlord has her deposit though. She could come to agreements about the inside of the house, but he's unlikely to move the tank away from the patio. Maybe she will just have to forgo a return on the deposit and chalk it up to experience.

Lesley


----------



## cabby (May 14, 2005)

If the place is really uninhabitable and she has paid a deposit, did she get a receipt. Then she should go to the council and report this and get trading standards and CB to advise her how to get it back legally. Remember the deposit was made subject to agreement that the place was suitable to occupy.Take plenty of photo's to back up your claim.Courts love paperwork.:serious:

cabby


----------



## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Yes, lots of photos to back up her claim.


Does the Landlord even know what condition the property is in? They should visit the premises for a pre let check and usually take their own set of photos to use against the new tenant if there is a deposit dispute.


The trouble is nowadays that demand outstrips supply and landlords have the upper hand again. It is how Council Housing came into being all those years ago.


----------



## Geriatricbackpacker (Aug 21, 2012)

I would set up a meeting with the landlord at the house. Outline all the problems to them and explain that they are dangerous and point out that the landlord has by law a responsibility to ensure that the premises is safe (see link)

https://www.gov.uk/private-renting/your-landlords-safety-responsibilities

There should be in force a valid electric safety certificate for every new tenant (which I doubt there is if there is fire damage to a plastic plug facia).

Any deposit should be lodged (by law) with a Government approved agency so that any dispute can be handled independently by a third party. You need to find out who he has lodged it with and then apply to them for the deposit to be refunded.

With regards to the fire alarms, I would contact the local Fire Safety officer at the Fire Brigade and get advice off of them prior to the meeting.

Photographs, documented contact phone calls/letters/meetings will all help your daughter to walk away from the contract if the landlord doesn't put things right. I would also list the problems and get a separate response to each one before moving on to the next. This sounds a bit time consuming but it stops you getting an all encompassing response.

Good luck.

Terry


----------



## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

I've been watching a repo program on TV, where the High court is repossessing properties, and with a lot of the landlords, their first language is not English, so they may or may not understand the finer points of renting their own property out.


----------



## caulkhead (Jul 25, 2007)

My daughter had a meeting with the landlord and pointed out all the problems. He was very defensive and blamed the previous tenants. He offered a month free IF my daughter sorted the problems herself. She told him she would think about it and let him know by the end of the month.The landlord agreed and has in fact not taken a deposit yet nor any advance rent! My daughter has decided that she does not want to stay in this house and has been to look at another property that is through a well respected letting agency. Hopefully she will get this new place and we will then have to decide how to tackle the landlord and what, if any, renumeration to offer him.


----------



## Geriatricbackpacker (Aug 21, 2012)

I wouldn't offer him anything, him agreeing that there were problems would suggest that it wasn't ready for renting. With nothing signed and no monies paid what is he going to do? His options are very limited and will involve him spending money to pursue a situation any solicitor will tell him is a hopeless cause. 

He sounds like a chancer and gives landlords (and ladies) a bad name. We always apply for new tenants through a reputable agency and they do all the vetting checks, house inventory, check our gas and electric safety certificates are in order and lodge the tenants deposit. Generally costs us the first months rent but we feel that having a third party undertake this task keeps the process on a professional level. We then manage the property by ourselves which keeps administration costs down. 

Terry


----------



## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

Geriatricbackpacker;2272161
He sounds like a chancer and gives landlords (and ladies) a bad name. We always apply for new tenants through a reputable agency and they do all the vetting checks said:


> I totally agree with Terry's opinion about using a reputable letting agency. I have one for my property in London. It was started by a really experienced lady whose husband is a builder, so she understood construction, but he, quite rightly, never undertook work on any of the agency's properties. The office only undertook lettings not sales, unlike some agencies where the 'Lettings Department' is one desk at the back of the Sales Office. Most of the staff have been there for years, despite ownership now being in a bigger company, which has sensibly not changed anything other than the letterhead and centralising the accounts function.
> 
> The agency regularly checks the property and insist that we make good any defects - we have just renewed the hallway and stair carrpet, done some redecoration and fitted new blinds - about £4k. However that is tax deductible at 40% and is a small proportion of the value of the property, and probably adds more to any re-sale value than the cost of the work. I would rather spend the money with tax deduction than if it were vacant for sale.
> 
> ...


----------

