AIBU to ask for advice on this complaint by the neighbours?

[Smythe77]

I've been renting my present flat for almost a year now and been loving it. The only blemish in this experience has been some complaints by the downstairs neighbours about a leak into their flat from my bathroom.

They have claimed that the leak has damaged the walls and roof of their bedroom. I've seen the pictures they've shown me and from what I could see they were very minor stains. Nonetheless, as soon as they complained to me I got in touch with my landlord and requested him to send someone overt to address the issue. I also gave the neighbours his contact details in case they needed to speak to him directly. I did everything I could to help.

The landlord sent someone over to seal around my bathtub and he said this should fix the issue. Apparently it didn't fix the problem for my neighbours. Instead of coming back to say that issue wasn't fixed, the neighbours went straight to the environmental health council and filed a complaint. I was given no warning about this.

Just as I was leaving for work one morning, a person from the council knocked at my door and demanded to be let in. I asked what this was for and explained that I was on my way to a meeting that I couldn't afford to be late for. I had been given no prior notice about this visit and no efforts had been made to arrange a mutually convenient time. I was told I didn't have a choice but to let him in and allow him to inspect the property. I was subsequently 45 minutes late to work that day. I missed the meeting and had to face an extremely unhappy boss. Should clarify that I live alone and don't have anyone living in the flats adjacent to mine so couldn't have asked a flat mate or neighbour to let the council representative in and stay through the visit.

A legal notice was served on my landlord to conduct the repairs necessary within 21 days. So he sent a plumber over who replaced the plumbing in the bathroom. Again, as I live alone with no family in the city and all my friends working full time, I had to take time off work to supervise the repairs. The repairs also meant I couldn't take a shower for 3 days.

After these repairs there were no more complaints for a while so we assumed that the issue was fixed.

However, a letter was delivered few days back stating that the council wanted to come back and check if everything was actually fixed. I immediately contacted the person on the letter to arrange a mutually convenient time. I explained that I live alone, work from 9 to about 6:30 or 7 ( yes, I know these are long hours ) and don't have family in the city to let them in in my absence. So I said that they could come on a weekday before 9 (with notice so that I could make sure I wasn't late to work) or on any weekend that I was in town. I was happy for them to come after 6 as well, but I realise they don't work those hours.

The gentleman I spoke to was very rude to me and not understanding at all. I'm new to this city and I can't help my work hours or the fact that I don't know anybody else who could let them in.
My landlord lives in a different city and not particularly helpful so he isn't going to be coming to town just to let them in.

Anyway, the next day I got a call from the council to say that they weren't going to come for an inspection. Instead they issued a new warning over the phone. They said that the neighbours had now advised that the issue still wasn't fixed so he wouldn't come over to confirm repairs. And this is when things got so horrible that I was literally in tears. He said he didn't care about my problems and threatened to force entry into the flat and send his repairmen over to conduct repairs. This made me especially stressed because I'm going to be away for Christmas holidays and I don't want strangers in my house while I'm gone. I also don't want to be in a situation where I have to take time off work to have this resolved. I completely understand my neighbours have a problem and I want to fix it too, but I am feeling stressed and anxious as a result of this constant chasing and these threats. I get calls during work hours and they last for half an hour because it's hard to communicate with the people who are assigned this case. It's interfering with my ability to concentrate at work. And when they call, They don't let me speak or explain at all, they keep talking over me.

As things stand, I'm stressed and extremely panicked. I don't have much legal knowledge so would appreciate any advice that I can get.

Can they actually force entry and send strangers into my flat without my consent to conduct repairs? What would my recourse be? And am I entitled to notice before they do this?

I'm also very concerned about the repairs taking long. It's obviously terrible to not be able to take a shower or use the bathroom for a prolonged period of time. The three days I couldn't shower or use my bathroom last time were miserable. It appears that this time the repairs will take even longer and this is really not good news because it means I won't have a functional bathroom for possibly a week or more.

I'm also not in a position to cancel my holiday plans but I'm very hesitant to leave my flat alone and go away for fear of what might happen in my absence.

Any advice or guidance on what I can do is appreciated.

It's not your responsibility to take time off for repairs. The landlord should do that or make access arrangements (but obvs you have to be happy to have people in the house without you).

Sorry, seriously? Give the council a key? Are you out of your mind? No way on this earth I would be handing keys over to my council, or their workmen. Not ever, not in any circumstances. For one thing, it would invalidate my house insurance.

OP, I'm in rented accommodation too, with a crap landlord/letting agent, and unfortunately the only thing that works is refer to landlord OVER AND OVER AND OVER. As a pp suggested (cut across the council when they ring): 'you need to speak to my landlord, here are the contact details, goodbye'. As many times as it takes.

I don't think you're making excuses, I think your landlord is shit. And I hope you can get it sorted.

Wow I am stunned at some of these replies.

YANBU. You are not being obstructive. It is your landlord's responsibility. It doesn't matter what you would have to do "if you owned it" - you don't own it. The only circs in which it would be your responsibility is if you have a fully repairing and insuring lease which is very rare so I assume you don't.

Yes you could arrange a date to let them in but they have to stop harrassing you and deal firstly with the LL. You have given the Council his details and they persist in calling you. Tell them in writing you are happy to arrange a time to let them in to do the work but they must deal with the landlord first. Tell the landlord he must deal with it and you want a reduction in rent because of the hassle and inconvenience if you have no water. I also think the first guy at the Council sounds bloody rude.

I would also look for somewhere else to live asap if you possibly can because, like many LLs he sounds shit. If he doesn't want to deal with it, he should get an agency to run it but no doubt he doesn't want to pay the fees.

Gosh OP you are getting a hard time. You don't own the house, you just pay for the privilege of living in it. These issues are purely the landlords responsibility. As a PP said, if I gave my keys to a third party it would invalidate my contents insurance and therefore would not be a reasonable solution. Why should you take unpaid time off work to have someone else's repairs done? One of the (few) benefits of renting are that issues like these are not your responsibility to sort out.

One of the (few) benefits of renting are that issues like these are not your responsibility to sort out.

Exactly. So pass the documentation to your landlord, tell him you're not liaising with anyone but him and get him to sort it. If he refuses to be present during repairs put a lock on your bedroom door and put anything you're worried about in there before the workmen come over. There are very, very few workmen that will carry out repairs outside normal working hours, so forget that.

Sitting hyperventilating in a corner isn't going to help; you have to tell your landlord you're not prepared to act as a project manager any more and instruct him to sort it. Ultimately it's him that's liable if their ceiling comes down, not you. The fact he lives in another town is completely irrelevant and shouldn't stop you from making a fuss.

If you've rented via an agency go to them too. We did when I suspected a problem with our boiler and got no response from the LL. The letting agency arranged the repairs and billed the LL.

You have a choice over the access though. Either make friends with the neighbours, take a day off work, get the LL to come over and let them in.

It's your landlord's responsibility to deal with this, and he should be there to supervise work, not you. It doesn't matter where he lives, it's his flat and his responsibility.

If the council call you again, just keep telling them to contact the landlord. Don't get drawn in.

Wow, harsh replies.

You're renting, therefore none of this is actually your responsibility. Your landlord needs to get his arse in gear. If the council need access, they need to speak to your landlord and he needs to be there to grant them access if you're working or busy. It's not your responsibility to take time off for repairs - you're not the owner! It's one of the advantages of renting - if anything goes wrong, you tell the landlord and they have to fix it, and that includes being available to let workmen in if you're unavailable.

Keep referring back to your landlord - every time. You just need to say "This is rented accomodation, therefore you need to speak my landlord. His name is X and his number is Y. Goodbye." Keep repeating it until they get the message.

Does your landlord know that they are planning to force entry and conduct work on the property? Does he know they will send him the bill for it?

If the work has already been carried out a letter from the plumber stating what work was carried out may help convince the council that you are not trying to be difficult.

However, you are going to have to take some time off and allow then to come and inspect the repairs, it's the only way to stop them harassing you and stop them from arriving unannounced and forcing entry.

I know that you don't think you are being obstructive, but if you take a step back and look at things from their point of view, they turn up to do an inspection (EH always turn up unannounced in my experience) and you are unhappy to see them, annoyed at being late and cross that they didn't contact you first. Then when they call to check the work has been done you basically tell them that no time is a good time to visit, other than out of office hours, so you basically told them they can not come and check the work. That plus probably constant calls from the neighbour saying that the problem is not fixed will make them think that the work has probably not been carried out.
I also imagine that the more they call to try and make arrangements with you the more annoyed you get, which to them is probably another indication of obstructiveness.

Basically I would advise that you call the council tell them that you will take a couple of hours off on a morning that is convenient for them, they just need to let you know when, and tell them that you are more than happy for them to come and check the work that was carried out X weeks ago.
I would also get the letter form the plumber and have it ready to present to them.

To get the time off work you could always tell your employers that you have an emergency doctors/dentist appointment. It's not ideal but it's probably the best option.

I can only loudly second Wowfudge's post.

Make one last appointment, let the council see the work that has been done and then tell them that any future visits must be arranged via your landlord.

Tell your landlord that you cannot be available for any future appointments and he should make arrangements for himself or his agent to be available,

Give downstairs a key... let them let the council in. Don't get pissy with them, they have a potentially huge, invisible problem that your home is causing.

Having rented for many years I have done all of the above at one time or another. It is part and parcel of renting.

Whoah there Op!

None of this is your problem, it's between the council and your landlord.

I'm a landlord so I know what I'm talking about.

You shouldn't have entertained the initial council person who you let in missing your meeting at work. Of course you had a choice, what was he going to do? Stop you going to work? Is not your problem, it's your Landlords problem.

You say you 'had to take time off to supervise the repairs'. No you didn't, that's your Landlords responsibility.

You said your landlord wouldn't come from another city to let them in, how is that your problem?

You're a tenant, none of it is your responsibility.

I'm sorry Op but you've been very naive and been too much of a pleaser. I think the council, workmen and landlord have spotted that a mile off.

You've volunteered yourself totally unnecessarily trying to get this resolved. I'd say the landlord can't believe his luck.

If these people turn up at the door, refer them to the Landlord and continue on your day. What do you think is going to happen if you do that?

The landlord would have to step up, that's what!

Hi OP - The first response is I don't know fully how Environmental Health gained access as I live in a different part of the country and have agents who deal with this particular property on my behalf, mostly. What I can tell you is that I was liaising through the agents for some time when Environmental Health were trying to gain access, all the time despairing because I knew that the leak was continuing unnecessarily, then all of a sudden my agents described Environmental Health as playing hardball, then the upstairs neighbour "allowed" access to the property.

To reassure you - there was no question of the owner of the property that the leak emanated from needing to find alternative accommodation, their property suffered no damage other than the repair to the leak, which my insurance company organised, and it took less than half a day to remedy. It was my property that had the resultant damage. My poor tenant had to find alternative accommodation for 7 weeks, and although he is happy that the interior design choices were left up to him, I'm quite certain that he would far rather not have had to suffer the massive disruption to his life.

I do think that you are unintentionally being completely selfish, in a kind way I think it is because you just are not understanding that the issue is with the property you rent, but the impact of you not attempting to facilitate accommodation of repairs is absolutely horrendous for those affected. My tenant is in his late 70's and really, at his time of life, didn't need the wholly unnecessary disruption.

I know in my tenancy A it says they can force entry if i dont let them in for repairs
I live below someone and because of her stomping n jumping around im constantly getting hairline cracks and having to repair it myself
Its very frustrating for a downstairs neighbour
If they force entry they will board it back up anyway and if you live as a renter it isnt your flat