Tenant/landlord contact

Speak to your local housing officer or the CAB. There is a lot of legislation governing the standards of property left and how repairs should be carried out. Your landlord may be breaching his statutory duty.

Having said that I was a landlord for about 5 years. I left everything in the hands of the agent as I am away from home a lot. My agent was part of a large chain but initially the local office looked after local properties and were good and quick in informing me of problems and sorting out repairs, but then the chain decided to centralise all property management work and the service went through the floor and costs went through the roof.

For the last year I owned the flat I paid the agent but worked directly with the tenant on any problems. I was fortunate I had lovely tenants, they understood my problems and we had a very nice relationship. When they even found me my buyer, which saved me money on agents fees!

It is a long way for the service engineer to come, Fannie - New Jersey US to South west UK. I don't think Phoenix will be using them, in spite of your advertising them (which is not allowed on GN, by the way, so expect your post to be deleted and your membership terminated)

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

The boiler was serviced at the beginning of October but the gas fitter said things can go wrong at any time.

And, yes, the landlord has acted illegally if he has not been getting a gas safety certificate every year and giving it to you to keep at the property.

That's terrible, vq. Surely you should get it checked by someone else, not the same guy who left you with it in that state?
Can you get the agent to sort it out with no further truck with the landlord? Emphasise what could have happened (although you probably don't want to think about it too much).
It's definitely time for this landlord to get his act together.

That's awful , VQ. I know that one of the laws on rentals is that the all gas installations have to have a safety certificate, renewed every year. The checkups paid for by the landlord. Have they kept those uptodate?
We had to have a new boiler installed in ours eventually.
Hope you're feeling better now.

Jeez, Solitaire, that's awful. We hear so much about bad landlords but very little about bad tenants.

My landlord is a very nice man but instead of letting his agent deal with things he likes to be hands on. The agent is fantastically efficient and by now my heating would be working perfectly.

A follow up on the boiler. On Friday the plumber repaired it but left an extra pressure gauge attached so we could monitor the pressure and adjust it if necessary. This way we could have heating and hot water over the weekend. I woke at about 3am on Saturday morning with what I thought was a migraine. Over the course of Saturday the migraine got worse with joint pain, nausea etc. and me fading in and out of sleep. At some point in the late afternoon I became aware of an alarm but thought it was outside. I continued to fade in and out of sleep. After maybe three hours or so I realised the alarm was in the house. It turned out to be the carbon monoxide alarm. I opened all the doors and windows and stood in the garden (in the rain) as I phoned the gas board. I was very groggy and confused. I couldn't even remember where I live. Finally I managed to give enough of the address for them to send a gasman. Gradually in the fresh air I started to wake up and feel less ill. When the gasman came he couldn't check for CO because I'd vented the house so he shut off the boiler and put a cause for concern label on it which means it can't be used until it's been checked by a qualified gas fitter. I phoned my landlord today and he gave me the telephone number of the plumber who apparently is also a gas fitter. I've phoned twice and left a message each time. Needless to say he's not phoned back.

So another day of no hot water and no central heating. We have an electric fire in the living room but we only got it for show really. Burning the fire heats the living room but the rest of the house is cold and it's like burning £5 notes compared to the heating. Hot water comes thanks to the kettle. Fortunately the shower is separate to the boiler so we can still wash in hot water.

I'm very patient but I'm beginning to get fed up.

VQ would you like to move in to my property! My tenant did a moonlight flit taking the washing machine and cooker, both less than a year old and owing £2500 in rent. It was 2 months before I knew he'd gone and a further 2 months to get a new tenant...now through an agency. He had a guarantor, a barrister, his brother, who told me he owed him £7000 so no chance I'd get my rent . I also now have to pay full council tax for those 4 months even though I get 25% discount for my own home as a single occupier. My only income is my pension as any rent I get hardly pays the mortgage and insurance. I regret ' investing' in property.

Oh good, VQ, things are sounding more positive for you

The plumber arrived around lunchtime. The good news is that he's managed to get the boiler working but something is still wrong. He's shown me how to top up the water when the pressure drops so we have heating and hot water but the drop in pressure suggests there is a leak somewhere.

My landlord came whilst the plumber was here. The plumber told him a few home truths about the heating system (as in we will need a new boiler sooner rather than later) and that the damp could be from a leak. Also he'd had a quick look at the roof flashing and said parts around the chimney were loose. My landlord listened to him. Well he's his mate and I'm only a little woman My landlord said he was thinking about changing the boiler in the next few months so I suggested he check to see if he could get a grant as I'm on disability benefits and get a small amount of housing benefit. This seemed to cheer him up.

I have to phone the plumber again on Monday.

VPQueen I'd have loved a tenant like you

You sound like the ideal tenant! Your landlord should be thanking his lucky stars.
We haven't had any really bad tenants, but they have all moved on after a fairly short time, so the house needs seeing to every time they leave.

Thanks for your replies.

Usually the landlord is laid back but this time I seem to have pressed all his buttons. I think perhaps the agent told him off for messing me about (she's quite strict with both tenants and landlords lol).

She thinks I'm a good tenant. I've lived here for 9 years and in all that time I've never been late with the rent. I keep the property in good condition, decorate as and when both inside and out, look after the garden and the garden of the empty house next door. I don't phone for minor repairs (DH does them) but anything big has to be done by a tradesman.

Needless to say the plumber didn't come this evening but apparently is coming first thing tomorrow. I won't hold my breath.

It's a very difficult situation. I don't want to rock the boat and upset my landlord but neither can I live without heating and hot water.

Having been both a tenant and a landlord I would say always go through the agent and don't worry about pestering them to get things sorted; the other thing I would do is follow up any contact in writing so that you have evidence if things are going badly.

I'm a landlord, and, I think, quite laid-back. I don't use an agent. If there was an emergency, I'd be happy for a tenant to arrange a tradesperson to call if I wasn't available. Plumbers are notoriously unreliable in my experience.

I think, by law, a tenant has to have 24 hours' notice prior to entering a property unless it's an emergency.

ps entering the house - if we want to enter the house, as landlords, we have to contact the agent and get him to arrange a suitable time with the tenants.

We rent out our bungalow in England, and use an agent. He gets 10% of the rent, has his own team of workers for different jobs. Recently had to have some trees lopped - very expensive! We don't make much profit out of it, but at least have the capital value of the house.
On the whole we are satisfied with him.
Vampirequeen - read your contract carefully to see what everyone's obligations are especially who has to arrange the repairs etc. I admit I've never read ours, but husband has.
re entering the house - as far as I know no-one can enter a rented property without the tenant's consent. But you would probably have a hard job bringing any legal action against an offender.
Hoping you get the heating and damp problems sorted before it gets really cold.

There are always two sides.
I rented my house (home) out via an agent and the rent was paid to them. They took their 10% for doing dang all.
I was a very good landlord. On one occasion gas pipes were being laid in the street which resulted in the occasional mouse surfacing for a couple of weeks, the tenant complained to the agent who should have told them to have a bit of sense. However for the sake of goodwill I refunded £50 of that month's rent.

Rent was always late and when the contract was up the tenants disappeared a day early without payment of rent. The garden gate was hanging off. The kitchen vinyl flooring was torn. 2 kitchen cupboard doors were in the back garden. The new oven and hob I'd put in for them one year before was filthy as was the entire house. They'd been left with a half tank of oil and should have left it the same. The rear of the oil tank was on bricks to drain it and thus the boiler was airlocked.

Agent was supposed to check the property every two months.

There had been a guarantor on the lease and I asked the agent to contact the guarantor as the damage came to over £1,000. Agent came back to say the guarantor denied knowing anything and had signed nothing. Guarantor was supposed to have signed in the office but agent had let the tenant take the lease to have the signature done !! Fraud.

DH and myself spent a week cleaning and repairing. The house went up for sale, never again would I be a landlord.

It takes a harder heart than mine to be a landlord.

I know there are awful properties rented out and landlords who don't care and I hope you get sorted out very quickly.

My DD has this sort of problem with her agent and landlord. Her house is damp, the heating has never worked properly and he only patches things eg the flat roof! She goes through the agent, but they are not very reliable about passing on messages! II think it is a common problem. Landlords try to do everything on the cheap. I would be tempted to get someone else to sort out your boiler and send the bill to the agent. You cannot live through the winter without heating and hot water.

DD would contact the agent who would pass the info to the landlord. I would expect them to liaise with the landlord on your behalf, isn't that what they're paid for?
DD was lucky the landlord was a lovely man and did most repairs himself.