Oven Broken for Weeks

I'm in a rented accommodation. Over has been broken for a while now, since 13th of November at least. We are in contact with an agency who represents the landlord. They organised a "handyman" to come out and fix it. Most of us are working so we arranged specific times for him to come that suits both parties. He simply doesn't show up. We've arranged at least 3 times for him to arrive. His phone usually off if we try call. Allegedly he will come tomorrow after not showing up today. We have no reason to believe he will turn up.

My main question is: Can we hire our own guy and bill the agency?

What elce can we do? This guy isn't showing up because he clearly doesn't give a fcuk about the job at hand. If we were paying him ourselves, I think this would be a much smoother process.

sunnyday1234

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm in a rented accommodation. Over has been broken for a while now, since 13th of November at least. We are in contact with an agency who represents the landlord. They organised a "handyman" to come out and fix it. Most of us are working so we arranged specific times for him to come that suits both parties. He simply doesn't show up. We've arranged at least 3 times for him to arrive. His phone usually off if we try call. Allegedly he will come tomorrow after not showing up today. We have no reason to believe he will turn up.

My main question is: Can we hire our own guy and bill the agency?

What elce can we do? This guy isn't showing up because he clearly doesn't give a fcuk about the job at hand. If we were paying him ourselves, I think this would be a much smoother process.

eat out due to having no oven to cook with and knock price of receipts of next months rent

The_Conductor

sunnyday1234 wrote: »

eat out due to having no oven to cook with and knock price of receipts of next months rent

Illegal advice- this is not the wild west you know- tenancy law- and the rights of both tenants and landlords- are defined under the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act.

listermint

The_Conductor wrote: »

Illegal advice- this is not the wild west you know- tenancy law- and the rights of both tenants and landlords- are defined under the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act.

You should also give the OP advice rather than giving out to 1 poster.


tbf.


(i dont have any put perhaps you do)

sunnyday1234

The_Conductor wrote: »

Illegal advice- this is not the wild west you know- tenancy law- and the rights of both tenants and landlords- are defined under the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act.

whats illegal about that advice ?

not the wild west - do you consider not having a working oven in a rented house for almost a month not "wild west"

Graham

sunnyday1234 wrote: »

whats illegal about that advice ?

not the wild west - do you consider not having a working oven in a rented house for almost a month not "wild west"

Go and read-up on making deductions from rent.

Graham

Graham wrote: »

Go and read-up on making deductions from rent.

I had a google of that just now, found this:

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it70.html#section3

repairs, (a 'repair' means the restoration of an asset by replacing subsidiary parts of the whole asset). Examples of common repairs which are normally deductible in computing rental income include:

1. damp and rot treatment,
2. mending broken windows, doors, furniture and machines,
3. replacing roof slates.

Sounds like I have a case to hire someone myself.

Butters1979

OP, do not listen to the above advice. You have the right to be reimbursed, but not by withholding rent. You have confused what is deductable from tax related to rent income, with what a tenant can deduct from rent (which is nothing)

Anyway, from threshold

http://www.threshold.ie/advice/dealing-with-problems-during-your-tenancy/standards-and-repairs/

According to The Housing (Standards for Rented Housing) Regulations 2008 & 2009. You have the right to:

Food preparation and storage • A 4 ring hob with oven and grill • A microwave oven • A cooker hood/extractor fan • Fridge and freezer or fridge freezer • Sink • Adequate presses

They are required by law to fix them. There is no law to exactly say how fast but the Threshold guidelines are:

Urgent: These are repairs that need to be carried out quickly to allow the tenant to enjoy their tenancy and to avoid damage to the house. Examples of urgent repairs are: broken fridge, cooker or shower; heating system not working (particularly in winter), build-up of mould.

Suggested timeframe for urgent repairs: 3-5 days.

So they really need to fix this quick. I'm not sure form your post but have you chased up with the management company again?
You need to fill in the letter on the link above. Send it on. Get back on to your management company, quote the links above and explain this has gone on too long. You could lodge a complaint with Threshold at this stage as this is way beyond reasonable, strongly suggest they get someone else to fix the oven as this guy is not showing up or replace the oven.

They are taking the p***

Graham

Sorry partyjungle, my post was in answer to sunnyday1234.

The page you have linked to is about tax relief, not helpful to you I'm afraid partyjungle.

Try here:

http://www.prtb.ie/landlords/rights-responsibilities-obligations/minimum-standards-for-rented-dwellings
http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/FileDownLoad,33422,en.pdf
http://www.prtb.ie/dispute-resolution/disputes/the-three-stages-of-a-tenancy/the-property-is-below-minimum-standards
http://www.prtb.ie/dispute-resolution/disputes/the-three-stages-of-a-tenancy/breach-of-minimum-standards

Short version: "you must first write a letter to your landlord, outlining the issues, and giving them a reasonable period in which to rectify the situation."

runawaybishop

Deleted User wrote: »

I had a google of that just now, found this:

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it70.html#section3


Sounds like I have a case to hire someone myself.

Thats off revenue.ie, nothing to do with a tenant deducting a cost from the rent.

Deducting meals would most likely be illegal as there is no provision for it, at least none I have ever noticed.

There is an argument to be made for engaging a professional to take care of the job yourself but there are a number of steps to jump through first otherwise you may be in breech.
You'd need formal written letters sent via registered post to the agency/ll outlining the issue and giving reasonable time to fix it.
You'd then need the same formal notice sent outlining that you'd take steps to repair it yourself.
You'd need X (think its 3) quotes to send to them, then you engage the professional (must be professional, no mates), then you supply them with the copy of receipt for paid work and (this is where its not very clear) they reimburse you via a deduction from the full rent.

Do you have the landlords contact details?

If not you keep ringing the agent until it is sorted.

Mrs OBumble

OP, tell the agent that they need to let the handyman in themselves, because you cannot take any more time off work to do it.

And that they another 10 days to get it repaired, or you will hire someone yourself and send them the bill.

sunnyday1234

Graham wrote: »

Go and read-up on making deductions from rent.

go and read up about what is to be provided by law in a rented house to a tenant .

The landlord must provide:


Facilities for cooking and for the hygienic storage of food, for example, a 4-ring hob with oven and grill, fridge-freezer and microwave oven

sunnyday1234

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

OP, tell the agent that they need to let the handyman in themselves, because you cannot take any more time off work to do it.

And that they another 10 days to get it repaired, or you will hire someone yourself and send them the bill.

10 days ? the person cant cook in a house they are paying for and its going on for a month!

give them until end of week

runawaybishop

runawaybishop wrote: »

Thats off revenue.ie, nothing to do with a tenant deducting a cost from the rent.

Deducting meals would most likely be illegal as there is no provision for it, at least none I have ever noticed.

There is an argument to be made for engaging a professional to take care of the job yourself but there are a number of steps to jump through first otherwise you may be in breech.
You'd need formal written letters sent via registered post to the agency/ll outlining the issue and giving reasonable time to fix it.
You'd then need the same formal notice sent outlining that you'd take steps to repair it yourself.
You'd need X (think its 3) quotes to send to them, then you engage the professional (must be professional, no mates), then you supply them with the copy of receipt for paid work and (this is where its not very clear) they reimburse you via a deduction from the full rent.

Letters via registered post?! What century is it again?

Graham

sunnyday1234 wrote: »

go and read up about what is to be provided by law in a rented house to a tenant .

The landlord must provide:


Facilities for cooking and for the hygienic storage of food, for example, a 4-ring hob with oven and grill, fridge-freezer and microwave oven

As was pointed out earlier in the discussion/links about minimum standards for rented accommodation.

You're halfway there, now go and investigate withholding rent.

Butters1979

Deleted User wrote: »

Letters via registered post?! What century is it again?

Or you could bitch about and ignore all the advice you specifically asked for. You seem to be doing so well without it.

Graham

Deleted User wrote: »

Letters via registered post?! What century is it again?

It's a bit archaic but thems the rules. If it comes to the stage where you need to lodge a complaint/dispute, I'd expect 'did you write to your landlord' to be one of the first questions you're asked. You might as well get it out of the way now.

In your letter it might not hurt to mention that due to the lack of cooking facilities the property no longer meets the minimum standards for rented accommodation. That might be enough to put the skates under them.

Butters1979

Butters1979 wrote: »

Or you could bitch about and ignore all the advice you specifically asked for. You seem to be doing so well without it.

I was complaining about the archaic process

Butters1979

Deleted User wrote: »

I was complaining about the archaic process

Fair enough, perhaps I was a little reactionary. The process is there for a paper trail, which would be needed if complaints were brought against the landlord to prove when and if you raised the issue.

Although I agree at this point email is trail enough and faster, the legislation hasn't caught up with this t'interent thing as fast as it should.

Graham

There's a couple of template letter on the Threshold website that might be useful (I haven't read them):

On the right-hand side of this page:

http://www.threshold.ie/advice/dealing-with-problems-during-your-tenancy/standards-and-repairs/

runawaybishop

Deleted User wrote: »

Letters via registered post?! What century is it again?

Sorry, I thought you wanted help and advice? Thats the process.

Rackstar

The_Conductor wrote: »

this is not the wild west you know

:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

Arbiter of Good Taste

sunnyday1234 wrote: »

10 days ? the person cant cook in a house they are paying for and its going on for a month!

give them until end of week

At this stage I would be giving 24 hours

Arbiter of Good Taste

sunnyday1234 wrote: »

go and read up about what is to be provided by law in a rented house to a tenant .

The landlord must provide:


Facilities for cooking and for the hygienic storage of food, for example, a 4-ring hob with oven and grill, fridge-freezer and microwave oven

Deducting from rent is a fast track to notice of eviction.

REXER

Arbiter of Good Taste wrote: »

Deducting from rent is a fast track to notice of eviction.

Perhaps you could respond with the trigger to fast track essential repairs!!!

April 73

Email the agency tonight. Tell them the oven has not worked since Nov 13th & you have arranged three visits from the handyman. He hasn't showed up for one of them. There is no guarantee he can even fix it. It may need parts. Tell them they have until Friday to have your oven repaired & working or you will raise a case with the PRTB for unacceptable accomodation standards.

I don't normally advocate running to the PRTB but this is an unacceptable length of time to have a broken oven with damn all progress. You really need to shout & continue shouting (metaphorically speaking) to get a result. Don't sit back any longer, get mad.

AnonoBoy

I was in a similar situation with a repair that wasn't been done years ago.

I rang the letting agency and said that if it wasn't fixed within two days I would be hiring my own handyman to fix it and he would be billing them directly. "He's very good so unfortunately his prices are quite high."

The landlord was around the next day to fix the issue himself.

Arbiter of Good Taste

REXER wrote: »

Perhaps you could respond with the trigger to fast track essential repairs!!!

No need to be smart. I agree with the OP that the repairs need to happen ASAP. It's not going to do him any good breaking the terms of his lease though

Butters1979

REXER wrote: »

Perhaps you could respond with the trigger to fast track essential repairs!!!

The OP was already shown the rules and the procedure for this. As with anything bureaucratic it's not guaranteed fix nor is it necessarily fast. This doesn't justify withholding rent illegally nor does it excuse stupid illegal advice on the boards which could get the OP in serious trouble.

Mrs OBumble

sunnyday1234 wrote: »

10 days ? the person cant cook in a house they are paying for and its going on for a month!

give them until end of week

where do you get the idea they cannot cook.

The oven is broken.

They've said nothing about the grill, hobs or the microwave, so I assume they're still fine.

Dunno about anyone else, but the oven in my house is hardly ever used.