To think if the landlord can afford private school they can afford to fix the damp in this flat?

[weatherall]

Or maybe they're getting a bursary and not declaring the rental income.

I've just found out that LL's child is being sent to £10k private school next term.

I had previously had a bit of sympathy for her as she bought this flat at top of the market and is most def in negative equity now. Depending on deposit the rent we pay probably isn't much more than her repayment mortgage and la fees.

Structural work needs done eg damp proofing. We have been waiting months and have resigned ourselves to moving as it isn't going to happen. DP has asthma so we can't risk his health from another winter in this damp hole.

But now that her DC is going private I think, well she can afford to get the work done and is just being a s*** landlord.

The other possibility is that she is getting a bursary and possibly not declaring this income.

I assume ainbu to be p ed off.

Wwyd?

Kick up a stink with the la?

Stop paying rent? I'm not going to do this, I think it would be unreasonable.

Report her to the school?

It's as much her business as someone falsely claiming benefits is other people's business and plenty people do think that's other people's business to report.

Personally I'd concentrate on making sure the damp is sorted.

I doubt there are rich grandparents paying fees as she is a migrant worker from Poland

I know a widowed Polish woman whose DD goes to private school, she could in no way afford the fees herself. They are paid by her sugar daddy. You have no idea what may be going on in the background.

Deal with the damp through the proper channels

"I keep saying - don't rent dumps."

That's very helpful advice, but people need to find homes at short notice, there's not always a lot on the market, and perhaps even less within your budget, so the reality is people do end up in dumps.

BTW the OP has already complained about her LL here, last month

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/a2085437-To-be-livid-that-letting-agent-made-unannounced-inspection-and-took-photos-of-our-bedrooms

and is leaving in September....

The school her DC attends is not relevant.

If your house needs repairs done, pursue measures to get them done. I'm sure the CAB will give you the steps you need to take.

Do not stop paying rent, whatever you do.

"Do not stop paying rent, whatever you do."

Why?

Yanbu, of course there is a connection! her first responsibility is her legal duty as a ll. she needs to get that fixed before shelling out on unnessary extras like private school ffs. I would be well annoyed, I know people disagree on here, but this attitude pisses me off, your poor dp, if they weren't capable of providing decent living conditions they shouldn't be a ll. why should you be expected to gracefully go through the stress of moving while they live in the lap of luxury with a dd at private school. (And before anyone says having a kid at a private school doesn't make you rich, it bloody well does in most peoples world).

If you do have to move, i would give her an awful reference.

she isn't falsely claiming benefits ! Her child may or may not be on a busary - OP has no idea whether this is the case.

To be honest, at my school there were quite a few children on bursary's - their parents weren't exactly badly off.

Yanbu to be seriously disgusted that this damp proofing isn't being taken care of!

And I really do hate it when people glibly say "oh just move" like its an easy thing to do! Why tf should op have to go through all that cost and upheaval just because LL is terrible?

She may not have a second home. The home she lives in might not be her's but her partner's/ a friend's / any one of a million scenarios. And even migrant workers from Poland can have wealthy relatives as can their partners

Really, I think your energies would be better spent focusing on establishing whether the house is of a tolerable living standard or not; collating any reports you have about the structural work needed and the damp proofing (I'm assuming there are some reports and that you haven't just diagnosed the problem yourself). Then if there has been a clear breach you can put in a written request for the repairs and also report your LL to their local LL registration scheme for providing an uninhabitable property. She's not your friend. You don't need to make allowances for her. You also don't need to get sidetracked by the private school issue, it won't make your home any better.

bursary's ??? bursaries !

It is the school that award bursaries, not the LA. And entirely up to the school what evidence they want to evidence income

The problem is that she's allowed to rent the place out, of course.

I doubt there are rich grandparents paying fees as she is a migrant worker from Poland
there are actually people with money in Poland u know !! weird eh?

"It's as much her business as someone falsely claiming benefits is other people's business and plenty people do think that's other people's business to report."

She has no idea whether the landlord is claiming a bursary when she shouldn't be. She's just guessing, which was not the case with the most recent benefits claim thread I saw. And her motivation is one of spite rather than civic responsibility.

I sent my dc's to a private school and we couldn't afford to fix the damp in our own home. It's a major issue with the house that needs various things sorting to keep the damp out (gutters, windows, possibly repointing brick work). As an interim measure we painted over it with mould resistant paint.
I don't see what your LL's private life has to do with it.

What her landlord does in her private life is not the OPs business, yes i understand why the OP is infuriated, the LL should be maintaining the property, but you don't know who's paying for the private schooling

Ah ok, yes all people from Poland are poor

Bursaries are not the same as claiming benefits. They do not come from the public purse. They do not have standard application procedures across all schools.

At our local private school if you checked their website it says the bursaries are means-tested and has a list of conditions. However, prior to this year bursaries weren't means-tested at all.

OP are you moving in September as it said on your other thread? Is this thread about complaining about the private school issue or about trying to get your property fixed?

"migrant worker' sounds so dismissive and nearly as insulting as the assumption that nobody in Poland has a pot to piss in.

perhaps the OP did not mean it to come over like that though.

OP phone your local council and get hold of an Environmental Safety Officer and ask him/her to come around and do a survey.

I did this once and it pushed me to the top of the housing list (only after i had grovelled to the ESO mind, as often they do not like to get involved with that side of things)

Forget the whole bursary fraud train of thought. It's irrelevant, distracting, frankly quite vindictive and has nothing to do with getting a positive outcome for you. Stop winding yourself up about this woman and stick to landlord/tenant relationship in addressing the damp issue.

You are being too emotional about this, you should not worry about your LL buying flat at top of market.

Sadly saw a program on tv other night about LL and only 1 in 3 properties meets standards but there is no enforced regulation in the UK and no one to make sure properties are liveable.

You really should move if your DP has asthma, mould is the new asbestos its wicked stuff...poor building, ventilation, rain, drying clothes in doors and so on, bad buildings...all contribute but I do not think people should be allowed to profit from charging people to live in damp mouldy homes.

Its digusting.

SaucyJack Thu 26-Jun-14 13:10:03

^ its a hideous scandal.

I sent my dc's to a private school and we couldn't afford to fix the damp in our own home.

Irrelevant. You (as can we all) can choose to spend your money on whatever you like and keep your own house in whatever state of disrepair you choose.

Private LLs don't (or shouldn't!) have the right to choose how they spend their tenants' money or what condition to leave the property in.

Landlording is a business, not a personal favour, and with all the added legal responsibility.

I'd live to live in these places where councils magic away damp in flats!

The council here doesn't even fix the damp in it's own properties let alone bother about private tenants rights.

Private tenants have no rights. If we complain we will get evicted as the ll doesn't need a reason after our initial leae ends in September.

I have no idea how we will afford to move- we don't have savings for another deposit. We paid 6 weeks for here and won't get it back until after we leave (if ever) but we would need to pay for somewhere else upfront.

I had sympathy for her as she used to live here but became an accidental ll due to negative equity.

I now think she's playing the system,

My sympathies now lie with someone who potentially didn't get a deserved bursary because I think the chances are she defrauded the application system.

I have contacted council and housing associations but they won't do anything until she has given us 2 months notice.

We are probably going to end up in homeless accommodation. Probably in a town miles away we don't know. It's all very stressful.

You having sympathy with her or not is totally irrelevant.

Who cares how she came to be a LL, its tough shit she is charging you money to live in this place.

You can squat if necessary and demand your money back as terms of your leaving if things got that far.

carpet bagger she cannot really do that if she ever wants to get another private rent can she?