Hi everyone, I just wanted to get your thoughts and feedback on behalf of a friend who has just started renting a room with a landlord who is using a R2R strategy… I only have experience with single lets at the moment so have offered the best advice I can and what pressures and legislation to quote but the message doesn’t seem to be getting through so I would be interested in your thoughts short of them going to the Citizens Advice Bureau… As a landlord I would never have let things get to this stage and I’m sure the vast majority of you wouldn’t accept it either. First off I had to tell my friend to ensure their deposit was protected under a custodial scheme as he was in not forthcoming with the fact he had to do so… I doubt the other tenants deposits are protected either. Since taking over the room the boiler has been faulty, and despite being informed by a heating engineer that the boiler should be turned off immediately, the landlord has been in no real rush to get it fixed and would have rather let the tenants sit without heating over winter… until they threatened to withhold rent until it was fixed at which point he told them to just turn it on and use it anyways! He is still fobbing them off and continually telling them he had to speak to the homeowner. I though most R2R contracts meant that the landlord takes over the responsibility for maintenance – either way my friend is renting off the landlord not the homeowner!!! Can someone clarify who is ultimately responsible for maintenance? The landlord has also refused to provide the tenants with a copy of the CP12, assuring them that he has one – which I found doubtful based on the condition of the boiler. And while all that is going on… after just a couple of weeks he has now said that he is getting pay as you go meters installed and the tenants are now responsible for the bills – they have 6 month agreement which says all bills are included… and there has been no offer to reduce the rent as a compensation in the meantime. The current rent is within market amounts for the area and the house is out-dated so certainly doesn’t warrant a higher than market rent – especially as all the communal areas have now been converted into additional bedrooms. I know in many HMOs meters are installed on room by room basis but one for the whole house seems unacceptable, especially as some tenants may only be in the house a couple of nights a week. Thanks (on behalf of my friend) Craig
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 22:43:34 +0000
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