To ask for some rent money back after seemingly endless delay with repairs / re carpeting?

[Effic]

And if I'm not, where do I stand legally as this doesn't appear in my lease.
Briefly, returned home to flat after weekend away to find hallway underwater, ceiling hanging down in places. Water had obviously come from flat above but wasn't running through anymore so emergency number just logged it. Contacted agents first thing in the morning. Agents came round and rather idiotically decided to call carpet cleaner despite the fact that the carpet was clearly saturated as were the floorboards. Carpet cleaning company refused to clean it for those reason. Black mould, unbelievable smell but fortunately I was away on 1 weeks holiday so not homeless. Agent finally got a clue and had the carpet pulled up. So I returned from holiday back to flat with no hallway carpet and water damaged ceilings in hallway and bathrooms. 4 weeks later and still the same. Agent blaming management company but they are blaming agent who still hasn't got two quotes for carpet & repairs for their insurance ! I'm fed up of paying full whack for a flat that has no carpet and half a ceiling!
Can I / should I demand a rent reduction? Part of the reason I rent is so that I don't have to deal with shit like this but nothing is happening and the agent basically avoids all phone contact with me. :(

you should demand alternative accomodation whilst the mess is being fixed!

My lease says that they have to find me alternative accommodation if the property in 'uninhabitable'. It's not. It was for the first week with the rotting carpet but fortunately for them, I was on holiday. It's not now, just depressing and crap and nothing is happening to get it sorted :(

Is it really inhabitable, or are you just coping or being accommodating? Don't put up with less than others would. You don't have to. And what you're describing really doesn't sound great

Do you have the landlords details to contact them directly? I rent out my old flat and this is 1 reason I don't use an agency and do it myself! If the landlord doesn't sort I.e new carpets, repairs and money off your rent then LL is being an arse and I'd take it further. That's completely unacceptable but it's possible the LL doesn't know anything about it. You might be doing him/her and yourself a favour if he bins the agency!

well would they get the rate you are paying as it currently stands? if they were to let the property now with ceiling falling through and no carpet how much would they expect to get for the rent? its bloody scandalous what some LLs and agents get away with. I'd have the place valued for rental and offer them the new price or give notice.

Like I said it's possible the LL doesn't know this is a shit agency and probably doesn't know about what's happened. Should probably try and contact them directly. Despite what you read on here the majority of LL are decent and any decent LL would be horrified by this

I have no way of contacting the landlord - it is a "fully managed" (ha - the irony!) property. They most definitely wouldn't get what I'm paying in rent for it in its current state. I could give notice but after a fairly traumatic 2 years (divorce), my boy and I are settled here and love it so I don't really want the upheaval. Think I might try escalating to higher up the chain in the agency and ask for 50% ( figure pulled out of thin air but does that seem ok?) rent rebate for last month?

yes, contact LL and give them 48hours to get it sorted. if they're decent they'll be horrified and get it done ASAP. if they don't, then withhold rent. of course you have no legal right to do that but they might be put off the idea of going through court to get you out and get it back off you and so get it fixed to avoid the hassle. or they'll give notice which is no bad thing as they're clearly idiots and shit LLs so you'd be best out of it.

xpost. i think you have a legal right to your LL contac details.

That's terrible got to be worth speaking to whoever is in charge. If they don't sort it then threaten to write to local papers with pictures etc? Perhaps the LL will recognise his property and I'm pretty sure he will be just as horrified at the state of his investment

sue thank you - I didn't know that. I'll add please give me the contact details of my LL to my list to talk to the agent about tomorrow. Just so annoyed - I'm a great tenant! The last inspection report said the flat was spotless and I've always sorted minor repairs myself. Grrrrr.... :(

I would contact your local council, as suggested on this government webpage.

Shelter suggest that you can claim a refund on your rent, through the courts if necessary, but obviously it would be best to raise this with them first.

It sounds like the reduction would be based on the proportion of the property that is damaged, so this would probably be considerably less than 50%, but I would be tempted to ask for 50% reduction in rent until it is fixed in the hope that they might offer 20% as a compromise. It might concentrate minds on having it repaired more quickly too.