Hell with landlord...ivy!

[onlyhereonce]

Hi,

We private rent in a 3 bed house. The landlord has always been hard work (taking 6 months to fix windows that wont lock when we have 3 young kids). The ivy that is on the side of the house is getting so overgrown its up into the roof and over the side upstairs window. We contacted the letting agent who contacted the owner and she has said we are responsible for the ivy as its classed as a shrub. In the contract it says we are responsible for maintaining the gardens and shrubs and she is responsible for maintaining the house and exterior. Surely we are not responsible for ivy that was here on the house before we even moved in and that has been on the house for years and years?? I feel she is just penny pinching again.

There is the following that need fixing in the house, which she has known about for months now....the shower handle come off and had a temporary fix but that is not working now, there is a leak from the overflow pipe (from the loft) that drips everywhere down the outside wall and actually drips down an electrical cable, the bodge she did to allow us to heat the water without having the radiators on doesnt work as it throws the boiler off , so we have to use an emersion heater to heat it which costs alot of money, the bath was replaced as it was cracked before we even moved in yet its been bodged and the sealant around the top is already coming away and has not been sealed across the floor so water runs down through the floor boards (her response to that was to buy a bath mat). We are so fed up of her. We needed a 12 month contract when we renewed for a bit of security and she wanted a rolling month. We said we would look for something else and she agreed a 6 month. She would only agree a 12 month if we replaced her toilet and sink at our expense as the bath she replaced was a different colour. As we were desperate we agreed to sign a form saying if we dont replace it then she reserves the right to terminate the contract at 6 months. Im so tempted to let her just do that.

Matt

[onlyhereonce]

Anyone? Need to sort this today and dont want to say the wrong thing to the letting agent.

[ChunkyPickle]

Well.. it's not a shrub, and it's destroying her building, but she doesn't sound like she's going to respond to reason.

If I were you, I'd do the least I had to do to deal with the ivy that was annoying me (or at least to the level it was when you moved in) then start looking for somewhere else.

She's not going to change.

[froubylou]

Put your concerns in writing to the letting agent and ask for a response within 7 days and a timescale as to when the works will be done.

With regards to the ivy it will be 50/50 I think as to who should maintain it. If you can open the window and cut it back yourself I'd do that.

The other issues need resolving. You can mention the local council or enviromental health if you don't wish to stay. My experiance (and I deal with landlords and letting agents) is that if you involve those services you tend to be given notice to quit. As long as you are not in arrears any notice to quit will have a 2 month notice period and to be honest, even once that has expired it can still be another 2 months before the landlord gets a possession order from court.

Go from your 6 month contract to a rolling one whilst you find somewhere else.

And move. There are some brilliant landlords and some not so good. And some are downright bloody awful. The worst LL I am finding at the moment are 'accidental' landlords. Not all but some. The sort that have a property let out because they can't sell for whatever reason. Letting property is a business and many fail to see this.

But I would definatly look at finding somewhere else. And with regards to your deposit to ensure it is returned to you in full keep a copy of the inventory and take photographs of every room, plus your 'contract' that you must replace the rest of the bathroom.

[Mabelface]

I'd move. As soon as possible.

[onlyhereonce]

The thing is , this was our first house when we met , we rented and the moved away. we came back and saw this up for rent so snapped it up , albeit with a different landlord. It has alot of good memories and is almost part of the family. I was hoping to buy it next year or the year after is possible.

[greenfolder]

If it comes on the market you can make a bid where ever you are. Really don't stay on the off chance that will happen

[RenterNomad]

I would have thought climbing ivy was something structural, a bit like guttering and pipework, since it's part of the fabric of the building and requires ladderwork to maintain. However, I've never had to test this!

Overall, this sounds like a bad relationship, one the LL doesn't seem interested in saving, so start looking for somewhere else to live, which will give you the stability you need. If school is the issue, being given notice is one of those things that schools must, sadly, be used to seeing...

[ihearsounds]

I would move.
She doesn't do repairs that need doing.
She wants you to replace a sink and toilet because basically she couldn't be bothered getting something that matched.

Why would you want to consider buying this potential money pit?

[valiumredhead]

Ivy is easy to get rid of-find the root and chop it off. Wait and it will all go brown and door and you can pull it down.

[onlyhereonce]

We would only consider buying it if it was at a really knock down price that would give us the spare money to do up (from the problems we know of, we would be looking at at least £20K!) However, i really doubt the LL would knock the price down if it did go on the market.

Ive cut through the roots of the ivy so hopefully it'll start to die off in the next few weeks. The only problem is that its so high up (up to the roof) and its started to come in the loft!! There's no way im climbing that high to pull the dead stuff down.

[Goooooooooooooooooooooood]

Ivy is brilliant at reattaching itself so you should cut a good chunk out of the stem and leave a gap of at least 6 inches or more. It will take a long while to die.

(Sorry if you already knew this )