Landlord not dealing with problems

CrazySka

Hi,
I've seen some really good advice on here and I am hoping someone can give me some
Any advice on where I stand on the following story would be really appreciated.

I moved into a one bed apartment in September of last year, viewed it and really liked it, paid my deposit and first months rent, a couple of things at the negotiation phase raised red flags but after looking for a place for a while and a forced move coming up I pushed on anyway, the things that raised flags were the following:
The agent tried to get me to pay the PRTB reg fee, claimed it was the tenants responsibility, didn't pay it obviously, he gave me some story then that the landlord had "agreed" to pay it on my behalf, I have emails covering this if relevant.
The agent tried to get me to pay a 30 "admin" fee, again claimed it was normal, didn't pay it again, I have rented places in the past.
The agent stated that the landlord had a number of other business interests and could be difficult to contact, he suggested that in the event of problems that I may have to withhold rent and get them sorted myself, this was after the lease was signed and nothing was written down about this. I assumed that things would get sorted anyway.

I moved in and in the first few days noticed a few minor things that were wrong, the balcony doors curtain rail was not put up, broken door handle on bathroom door, thought I could fix these.
After a couple of weeks/months noticed three bigger things that were wrong, the shower seems to stuck at a high heat, bearable for me but not right, the boiler had to be reset before the heating would come on and the balcony doors seem to be allowing a certain amount of water in during really heavy rain.
I got in touch with the agent and he passed them on to the landlord, it took some time and some more emails but I got an answer that told me to ring a number for the landlords handyman, I was really busy and didn't follow this up due to a combination of work and the weather meaning that the issue around the doors wasn't a problem, the heating continued to be problematic but did work so I was just tapping along,

I met a representative of the management company about a month ago and was having a chat with them, they have had major problems with my landlord not paying fees, I mentioned about the problem with the balcony doors and they came up to have a look, they say this is management company responsibility and are arranging a builder to fix it.
Two weeks ago the heating stopped altogether, I have been onto the agent and the landlord, the landlord told me to ring his handyman, I rang him and he said he would ring me back, never did, sent him a text saying to ring me and an email to the landlord saying that he couldn't leave me with no heating, no answer from the landlord or his handyman.

Sorry for the big long essay, hope it makes sense, my real question is how long does the heating have to be out for and how many times do I have to get in touch with him before he is breaching any laws or contract?

I realised today that the agent never sent me a copy of the lease either so I have asked him for this today. To be clear on one thing, the agent is not managing the property for the landlord but he did put himself forward to me as a point of contact due to the difficulty as he put it of contacting the landlord.

I wouldn't mind moving as Im a bit pissed off with it now, the shower is dripping, no heating and seems like theres going to be more hassle down the road from what the management company rep was saying to me.

Any thoughts or answers on this would be really great, thanks everyone.

rcdk1

These two parts of the Residential Tenancies Act (2004) are from "Provisions regarding landlord’s obligations".

12.—(1) In addition to the obligations arising by or under any other enactment, a landlord of a dwelling shall—
.......
(b) subject to subsection (2), carry out to—
(i) the structure of the dwelling all such repairs as are, from time to time, necessary and ensure that the structure complies with any standards for houses for the time being prescribed under section 18 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992, and
(ii) the interior of the dwelling all such repairs and replacement of fittings as are, from time to time, necessary so that that interior and those fittings are
maintained in, at least, the condition in which they were at the commencement of the tenancy and in compliance with any such standards for the time being prescribed,

12.—(1) In addition to the obligations arising by or under any other enactment, a landlord of a dwelling shall—
.......
(g) without prejudice to any other liability attaching in this case, reimburse the tenant in respect of all reasonable and vouched for expenses that may be incurred by the tenant in carrying out repairs to the structure or interior of the dwelling for which the landlord is responsible under paragraph (b) where the following conditions are satisfied—
(i) the landlord has refused or failed to carry out the Pt.2 S.12 repairs at the time the tenant requests him or her to do so, and
(ii) the postponement of the repairs to some subsequent date would have been unreasonable having regard to either—

(I) a significant risk the matters calling for repair posed to the health or safety of the tenant or other lawful occupants of the dwelling, or
(II) a significant reduction that those matters caused in the quality of the tenant’s or other such occupants’ living environment,

CrazySka

rcdk1 wrote: »

These two parts of the Residential Tenancies Act (2004) are from "Provisions regarding landlord’s obligations".

Thanks for that rcdk1 appreciate the answer,
Leaves me still a little unclear however, the second piece you quoted seems to state that its up to me to get stuff repaired and then to withhold rent? Thats fine but I have no idea how much the heating could cost to fix and dont really have cash knocking around after paying rent and all the other stuff, I have enough for the month but if I had to pay 3-400 quid for repairs Id be fairly smashed.
If a landlord doesnt fulfill the items you quoted is the lease broken or do I have reasonable grounds to terminate the lease without loss of deposit?
Thanks again.

mathepac

Contact the PRTB and Threshold immediately.

The letting agent sounds like a 1st-class idiot and the management company / managing agent people sound no better. Whoever they were they had no business discussing the landlord's private business with you. Do not repeat what you were told or you and they could be facing defamation charges. They also had no business undertaking a repair to the property for two reasons :

1. They have no contract with you
2. If the landlord is an arrears they have no obligation to provide maintenance or other services to his property (unless they believe they are doing work to protect the overall fabric of the building).

This sounds like yet another of those "let's all make it up as we go along" scenarios, with you as the victim.

edellc

Sounds like my old landlord a Mr Brady ring any bells

Anyway you can do as the other posters said above

However when I was in your situation with no heating in the winter of 2010 with the snow and all I just didnt pay two months rent and then had my deposit and months rent in advance and moved out, I was gone 3mths before landlord rang me asking why I hadnt put money into his account and as I pointed out, I was sick of leaving messages regarding the boiler not working, the windows literally falling off in my hands, and numerous other little things that could have turned into big ones and that I got sick of him not doing what he is responsible for.

I did first ring threshold and send registered letters outlining complaints as advised, I did pay my rent up until the boiler stopped working and I did ring and ring and ring the landlords handyman and go nowhere even though it is the landlords responsibility to do that stuff, so the only other thing I could do was get myself out of there and there was no way I was going to go down the route of the PRTB to get my deposit back I'd be an old lady by then so I did what I thought was best for me and it was.

Landlords will continue to behave like this if they can get away with it and the only way it stops is to hit them where it hurts, their greedy big pockets

However if they are good landlords shout it from the roof tops and play nicely as they seem to be few and far between

CrazySka

Thanks mathepac and edellc for the replies,
I did think it unusual that the management company rep said that stuff to me, but I think the repair in question is also to protect the apartment below and the overall structure of the building.
Not Mr Brady edellc, maybe his cousin or summat

odds_on

The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 states in Part 2, Section 16:

(d) notify the landlord or his or her authorised agent of any defect that arises in the dwelling that requires to be repaired so as to enable the landlord comply with his or her obligations, in relation to the dwelling or the tenancy, under any enactment,

This is very important. Very few tenants actually do this correctly, as a result, repairs or problem issues are not remedied and the tenant is constantly phoning or texting the landlord. This goes on for weeks and weeks if not months. Never ever rely on verbal agreements for repairs etc. either before signing a lease or once you have taken up occupancy.
If the tenant has an issue with anything in the property (appliance failure, pest infestation, problems with windows, floors, leaks, heating, etc) that the landlord should maintain under his obligations, then the following steps should be taken:
1. Advise the landlord immediately either by phone or text.
2. Follow up within a few days by writing to the landlord (keep a copy), date it and state the failure and give the landlord a reasonable time to remedy the failure. A reasonable time would normally be 7 – 14 days but may be less in serious cases. If the tenant does not give the landlord a time limit for the rectification of the failure, the problem will to drag on and on and on …….
3. Under normal circumstances, if the landlord does not rectify the failure within the time limit then he is in breach of his obligations. However, if he has to wait for new parts, then he would not be considered in breach as this is out of his control.

If you have done the above, and the landlord has not remedied the problem then you should be free to leave after a written Notice of Termination (usually 28 days notice but could be 7 days in cases where serious injury or damage to tenant or property are possible) and be entitled to the return of your deposit. Again, keep a copy. There is an Example of Notice of Termination of Tenancy (with notes on its completion) on the PRTB web site which can be used by either tenant or landlord.

You could also make a claim to the PRTB for "damages" - inconvenience, stress, loss of quiet enjoyment of the property etc depending on the type of failure. Financial rewards to the tenant are often made in these cases.
By keeping a copy of the letter requesting repairs (make sure it is dated and specifies by when the repairs/replacement should be done) advising the landlord about the failure, you have evidence to back yourself up should there be a claim with the PRTB as regards the landlord’s breach of his obligations.

Under the RTA 2004 Section 12 (g), where the landlord has refused or failed to remedy a problem for which he is liable, if you feel inclined and would like to remain in the property, you could have the repairs/failures remedied yourself, having:
a) received several quotes for the work and
b) informed the landlord (in writing, keep a copy) that as he has not remedied the issue you will have the work effected using the lowest quote (provide a copy) and withhold rent to cover the cost of same.

rcdk1

CrazySka wrote: »

Thanks for that rcdk1 appreciate the answer,
Leaves me still a little unclear however, the second piece you quoted seems to state that its up to me to get stuff repaired and then to withhold rent? Thats fine but I have no idea how much the heating could cost to fix and dont really have cash knocking around after paying rent and all the other stuff, I have enough for the month but if I had to pay 3-400 quid for repairs Id be fairly smashed.
If a landlord doesnt fulfill the items you quoted is the lease broken or do I have reasonable grounds to terminate the lease without loss of deposit?
Thanks again.

If the landlord isn't fulfilling his obligations under 12(1)(b), you can be use this to break the lease but as odds_on has said you would need to have a solid paper trail showing that you notified the landlord in writing and gave him a reasonable amount of time to remedy the problems.

My interpretation of 12(1)(g) is that you have the option to repair the problems but are not obliged to do so. I agree with you that this is not an ideal situation, especially for a potentially costly problem.

As for your deposit, the Landlord should refund your deposit if you do everything by the book but I'd say the chances are that you'll have to take him to the PRTB to get it back. This is generally a lengthy process but with a basis in favour of tenants.

CrazySka

Thanks guys fro the excellent information and to everyone else who replied, Ill get the paper trail started in the morning as suggested.
I really dont have the expenses for doing work in a rentalproperty, hopefully it wont come to that stage and the landlord will come through in the next couple of days.
Cheers.