Hi there,
I am in urgent need of advise with regards to a dispute that I am having with my landlord.
I have been renting my property for three months and am in a one year contract.
Six weeks ago, the 1930's lounge ceiling collapsed almost hitting my girlfriend and damaging all the lounge furniture. This was all very old plaster and cornice, not the framework.
Since then we have moved all of our scratched and dented furniture and
put in in the open kitchen / dining room area and closed the door to the
lounge. The whole ceiling in bare with an inch of dust over the entire
room, the walls are scraped, light fittings off the wall and ceiling - basically
a bomb site scenario.
We contacted the landlord immedietly who contacted his buildings insurance company and who have got two builders in to look at the repair works.
Six weeks later and still no work has started.
Four weeks ago, the back part of the house (open plan kitchen / dining room area) started leaking every time it rains. Basically, water pouring in through a solid wall ???(behind the wall paper) in the kitchen and dining room streaming down the wall.
This has damaged the wall paper etc. and now huge mould patches are in the ceiling and wall etc. and smells really damp.
We contacted the landlord again, as it started, he sent around builders, they arrived two weeks later and showed me that all the pointing on the outside of the house is shot and that the guttering isnt working and that water is penetrating the walls because of this.
Still no works have started and we have to mop up and try and stop the water from hitting electrical sockets every time it rains.
Basically we cannot use the bottom part of our rented house and have to cook dinner in the kitchen, shimmy passed our stacked furniture and eat dinner in the bedroom.
I have been asking the landlord when the works will be carried out and he replied that he is waiting for the insurance claim to be approved.
He hasnt apologised once about any of this and today we spoke and I told him that I am not happy to have to pay full rent for a house I cannot use.
He would not budge and inch and basically told me its my bad luck.
I now have the works to look forward to if they ever end up happening, which are going to involve the whole back of the house covered in
scaffolding and different contractors repairing the lounge. We both work
in very demanding jobs and have no time to supervise / allow entry daily, etc.
and I feel that I should be compensated with reduced rent for this inconvenience.
We both dont feel safe in this house anymore as it obviously has had no maintenance carried out on it and there are cracks in all the ceilings and
cornice similar to the lounge before it went.
Have I got grounds to get out of the contract or demand reduced rent?
Any advice appreciated.
Kind regards,
Mike
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