anyone clued up on the laws regarding lettings

[nottzcruizer]

basicly I moved into an appartment with my fiancee two weeks ago. The integral fridge which came with the appartment hasn't worked since we moved in and we made the landlord aware of this on the first day. They sent a handyman round to look at the fridge who just said it was knackered and that he would have to get an engineer in to fix it. A week passed and still no engineer had been sent, even though I had been promised daily that someone was coming. Finaly on friday an engineer comes out and says the motor has failed, he can get the part for saturday and he would bring another engineer with him as he wasn't qualified to fit it. They didn't come untill yesterday and once they had fitted the motor they have decided that the compresser has also failed. We were promised by the landlord that he would come today to fit the compressor and already i'm being fobbed off with the ''it'll be done tomorow'' line.

Where do I stand with this? am I entitled to ask for a reduction on my rent or do I just have to grin and bare it? i'm loosing my rag very rapidly as it's the first time i've rented and already my food bill is through the roof as i'm having to buy everything fresh everyday!

[Johnny]

..... what a lot of fooking hasstle .... and the fridge will only break again at some point, Why landlords just dont buy a new fridge on line for £150 with a years warantee I dont know

[XScaPE]

Just leave them a call saying you wont be paying your rent unless its sorted, in my experience they are so tight would rather spend weeks saving 20p on a fridge than just bite the bullet and buy a new one.

[JonnyBoy]

Buy a second hand one, keep the receipt and tell him that you are taking the price of the fridge off the rent.

[jow]

Have a word with the landlord and tell him that you really aren't happy with the situation.

Not sure if it helps at all, but this is what I went through with my old landlords, and my most recent one that I moved out of wasn't much better either.

..... what a lot of fooking hasstle .... and the fridge will only break again at some point, Why landlords just dont buy a new fridge on line for £150 with a years warantee I dont know

A lot of landlords will try to not spend money (they hate spending money, will always try and save first) and will keep it as cheap as they can, and a lot of the time they have 'special rates' with the people working for them. But yes, most of the time it would be easier just to buy a bloody new appliance.

[Si-PS13]

..... what a lot of fooking hasstle .... and the fridge will only break again at some point, Why landlords just dont buy a new fridge on line for £150 with a years warantee I dont know

I don't know of any landlords that would ever consider buying a new fridge.. had a few back in my uni days, when an appliance failed it would be replaced with one from another of their houses or one from a second hand shop, which is fair enough as students don't give a sh*t about stuff. Since leaving uni a few years ago and still having to rent (in non student digs though) it's still the same problem, unless its a new 'serviced' appartment, in which case you'd be paying for a new one every couple of months in the service charge anyway

[Johnny]

I would clearly make a crap landlord

[The Chef]

Just explain that you've been (and are being) reasonable but, you don't have a working fridge and your food budget is increased as you're unable to keep food for any period. therefore you only feel it fair for a reduction in rent until the fridge is repaired.
Or... the slightly bolder move would be to say if its not working by the weekend you'll be left with no other position other then to buy a replacement fridge, dispose of the old and deduct the new fridge's cost from your first rental payment (you can sweeten this deal by making it clear as soon as you've been reimbursed you'll hand over the warrenty documents - Hey presto - fridge sorted with minimal fuss for the landlord.)

All depends on your relationship with the landlord but make it clear you need it sorted soon otherwise you'll have to act - be it reduction i nrent to cover additional food costs or in the form of a new fridge.

[ewings999]

I would clearly make a crap landlord

You would make a great landlord just not a very rich one

[Si-PS13]

Could be worse is suppose, my last landlord was a cheeky cnut. We wondered why our electricity bills were so high (~£300 per qtr ). After getting the electricity board to come and take a look they discovered the landlord had tapped off our supply and was feeding the small office building he had next door.. cnut..

[jow]

Just explain that you've been (and are being) reasonable but, you don't have a working fridge and your food budget is increased as you're unable to keep food for any period. therefore you only feel it fair for a reduction in rent until the fridge is repaired.
Or... the slightly bolder move would be to say if its not working by the weekend you'll be left with no other position other then to buy a replacement fridge, dispose of the old and deduct the new fridge's cost from your first rental payment (you can sweeten this deal by making it clear as soon as you've been reimbursed you'll hand over the warrenty documents - Hey presto - fridge sorted with minimal fuss for the landlord.)

All depends on your relationship with the landlord but make it clear you need it sorted soon otherwise you'll have to act - be it reduction i nrent to cover additional food costs or in the form of a new fridge.

You forgot charges for disposing of, that is if you cannot get your local council to pick it up.

Could be worse is suppose, my last landlord was a cheeky cnut. We wondered why our electricity bills were so high (~£300 per qtr ). After getting the electricity board to come and take a look they discovered the landlord had tapped off our supply and was feeding the small office building he had next door.. cnut..

Sorry, that is so cheeky that it's nearly genious!

[JonnyBoy]

One other thing I have just thought of is that you need to act upon this in a decisive way or you may risk setting a precedent. By that I mean if you let the landlord walk over you and fck you around now they will continue to do so with any other problems you may have.

[Si-PS13]

If I was you Nottz I'd withhold rent each month, if it's taken by standing order/dd cancel it until you get the problem sorted.

When moving out of a rented place a good trick is to cancel the standing order or direct debit, withholding the last months rent, that way you get all/most of the deposit back without waiting months after you've moved out. If you have somewhere else sorted you don't need to worry but if you need a reference from your current landlord it's best not to p1ss them off

[Asphalt_Knight]

Maybe it'd be worth going to see your local citizens advice bureau? I'm sure theyd have the procedures that your meant to go through in this type of situation.

[jow]

The only problem I see with witholding rent is, I am guessing that the landlord had some sort of bond off you and a months rent in advance?

[nottzcruizer]

yeah they are kind of sitting on a £700 bond so i'd better not p!ss them off too much, thanks for your help everyone, i'm going to try and have a tactfull conversation with them later today and see if I can get my rent reduced, i'll no doubt be on here having a rant straight after lol

[Prior]

yeah they are kind of sitting on a £700 bond so i'd better not p!ss them off too much, thanks for your help everyone, i'm going to try and have a tactfull conversation with them later today and see if I can get my rent reduced, i'll no doubt be on here having a rant straight after lol

did you sign up to the governments secure deposit scheme? I thought it was now compulsary. My last letting agency i went through were cowboys and the scheme completely f*cked them when they tried to claim allsorts.

My advice is dont give agencies or landlords an inch. If your paying your rent on time and causing no damage then they have no power to with hold security.

plus as a tennant, your armed to the teeth with rights. If you decided to with hold rent it would take them about 18 months to get you evicted. and they know that. It really is crap to be a landlord

[jow]

did you sign up to the governments secure deposit scheme? I thought it was now compulsary. My last letting agency i went through were cowboys and the scheme completely f*cked them when they tried to claim allsorts.

My advice is dont give agencies or landlords an inch. If your paying your rent on time and causing no damage then they have no power to with hold security.

plus as a tennant, your armed to the teeth with rights. If you decided to with hold rent it would take them about 18 months to get you evicted. and they know that. It really is crap to be a landlord

But couldn't they just say that the bond is to come to them as he did not pay his rent that month and bank statement will just prove that?