kevinl

We had our house on for 10 weeks with viewers and offers from people who were not in a position to move but no real offers, then we had a couple with nothing to sell.
Very easy sale, all done from first viewing to completion in 6 weeks, kept contact between ourselves the agent and solicitors didn't hardly get involved.

Found a rental around the corner, good size, can still walk to schools, bit expensive but ok and available when we wanted, fantastic.

Got the keys on the 10th, what a s**t hole.
We had viewed one evening and there was a single man living there.
It was very untidy and a bit dirty but we only looked quick as he needed to go to work and we were rushing to find something so we could exchange and we assumed that it would all be tidied up for us to move into.

It wasn't, there was thick grease and grime all over the kitchen, you couldn't open any cupboard or draw without ending up with a sticky mess on your fingers.
The light in the hallway was hanging by its cable, the smoke alarm was on the floor, the gas fire had a gas board notice on it saying unsafe do not use, a couple of the sockets had similar electrical warnings, the fitted cupboard doors were hanging off and the garden was virtually waist high in weeds and... and.... and...

We spoke to the agent and they said you were aware of the condition when you viewed and as the gas fire and sockets were like that when you moved in they don't need to be sorted.

What a nightmare, after speaking to ARLA, which is the association of letting and rental agents, we found out this was all crap and by law they have to provide us with the name and address of the landlord so we can have our solicitors approach him directly to get this stuff sorted.

This seemed to put the wind up the agent a bit as they could see we weren't going just to take and the landlord came round for a chat and sorted a couple of the things and we are still waiting to get the rest done.
We ended up paying £140 for cleaners to come and make it livable and then spent another day cleaning making it right for us.

So my point is be very careful when renting here, view, then view again just before you sign the contract as once you have signed you are snookered.
ARLA were very good and have a good website if you do get in trouble.
Roll on January.

Kevin

bridiej

Did the agent not do a handover? usually they will meet you at the property to give you the keys and go round the house doing a "record of condition" so that you can point out any marks, damage, dirt etc. as the property has to be left in the condition you found it.

Sounds like you may have picked a dodgy agent - hope you get it sorted, sending k in the meantime

Luke I Amyofath

when it comes to electricity and gas (gas especially) I thought an inspection had to be done by law ?

bridiej

With gas it is indeed law to get a CP12 Gas Certificate. Not sure about electrics but I would have expected some kind of certificate / check.

Wol

It all comes down to standards, and I'm afraid that what you experienced is far from unusual here.

Phil-UK

I looked into renting our house out if it didn't sell and as a landlord you are legally obliged to provide a property that is safe and fit for use.

All gas appliances MUST be checked annually by a CORGI registered plumber and a certificate issued and electrics MUST also be safe although no certificate is required (yet) but it must be safe. Any furniture must also meet fire regulations. Smoke alarms must be fitted also.

Sounds like you have a seriously dodgy letting agent and Landlord (unless he wasn't aware). If I were you I'd not pay any rent until it was brought up to standard... you have rights too!

Phil

kevinl

Thanks everyone for your replies, should have been clearer, we are still in the UK.
Hope Aussie lettings are better.
We have a gas certificate that states the fire is unsafe and it dates from March 05 but the agent and landlord said thet didn't notice.

An appliance test also states one of the sockets has no earth, again the agent had'nt noticed.
and my ruddy broadband keeps dropping off so it takes me ages to do anything as I have to keep reconnecting and I had a lorry drive into me last Thursday and a blow out on the M11 this morning.... come on lets go.

Kevin

g1wsi

mate a good move is to also take as many photographs of the property as possible as when it comes to leaving the property folk sometimes like to say that you have damaged there property... give a copy of the [photos to the agent with dates on

spalen

This is illegal - smoke alarms are required by law, as are safe electrical fittings, and gas fittings. All are required to be present , correct, and working. Anything not working must be removed.

I would terminate immediately the lease and let agent know you are doing so because its unfit to rent.and youve given them due time to correct matters but they have failed to find remedy.

find somewhere safe + clean. this is not negotiable, its not something they should fix afterwards , - its the law for rental in UK. These people sound like total sheisters if they dont know that.

Luke I Amyofath

Just a note about your broadband:
Make sure you are not using any sort of cheap phone extention cord. If you have, that will most likely be your problem.

Centurion

Please be careful with just walking away. There is a contractual obligation both sides with a tenancy agreement, you are still required to serve due notices etc.

Of course one way would be to say to the agent that you are going to see your solicitor with a view to taking appropriate action against them and the landlord, jointly. You would rather avoid that completely. The landlord was clearly "hasty" in letting this property and obviously did know the dangerous and illegal condition (yeah right) and you will forgo the above to be released from the tenancy.

Alternatively legal advice will be sought and since the managing agent has not complied with the obligations either so cant pass all the buck, it will get a bit messy. You then point out at this stage that you will of course not be in the country come any court case anyway and so even if you loose any case it will be next to impossible to enforce against you, whereas the landlord and managing agent are well within the UK jurisdiction.

I always feel the firm, friendly but at the end of the day you have a big gun and they dont approach works for me. f course - I am probably teaching you to suck eggs but just my thoughts.

kevinl

I think the place is safe, as long as we don't use the gas fire or the socket that is condemned.
We have scrubbed the place clean and replaced some bits and pieces.
To find another rental in this area is very difficult and then fork out another £1850 in deposit and first months rental would be a nightmare.
I'm sure we could ppursuethe landlord through the small claims court but we are going in January and we don't need the stress.
We are going to have to negotiate break in the tenancy anyway or walk away and sod them.
Hopefully we can negotiate.

I hope anyone else looking to rent before they go are more cautious then us and remember once you rent you get treated as a second class citizen.
Our landlord pointed out at one point that we were lucky to have had him deem to rent us the house and should be grateful.

Thanks again everyone


Kevin