Just moved into a house, found out the kitchen is unusable

[Natsku]

I know I'm not being unreasonable in being massively pissed off that the landlord didn't mention that the kitchen sink leaks really badly and the floor under it is full of mould, but is it unreasonable enough of the landlord that we could/should take it to court if he doesn't get it fixed immediately? I am not willing to live in a house if I can't use the sink and I'm breathing in mould spores for weeks/months and definitely don't want DD to be exposed to the mould for long.

Did you sign an inventory? Could it be as simple as tightening the joints on the drain pipework?

The landlord may not have known if the previous tenants didnt tell him and the inventory didnt spot it( although it should)

So what did the landlord say when you reported it?

Didn't sign an inventory. We called the previous tenant and she said she reported it to the landlord four times, the first time being last Christmas!

We've called a plumber to come look at it tomorrow but even if the sink is fixed easy the kitchen floor will need re-doing because of the mould, the floor under the sink is literally soggy and it leaks right down to the basement so there might be mould issues there too.

Council might be able to help - they can issue enforcement notices to landlords to ensure work is done.

Good idea, will try talking to the council if the landlord doesn't get things started quickly. Spoke to his wife to report it but she talked with OH night me and he's too stressed out and upset to talk about it so don't know what she said.

This does not sound good...

What on earth was said to your husband?

Have any of the legal requirements in how to rent been met? If your answer is 'what is that?' Then your landlord has already broken england/wales law.

Meantime put a bucket under sink, clean up mould with bleach and yes, unleash full forces on the.landlord.

Citizens advice will be able to help you x

Assuming the leak is on the outlet not the supply pipe it is a bit of an exaggeration to state the kitchen is unusable. Use a bowl in the sink and empty down a drain or loo when necessary. Hopefully it won't be long before it is fixed. If the floor below is wet, did the house smell damp?

Not in the UK but in Europe so I'm sure the laws are fairly similar. Will see if I can find the local equivalent of citizen's advice.

All I know is we viewed the house, didn't see any obvious issues, then we signed the contract at a local estate agents so I know the contract itself is legally sound (estate agent drew it up)

This is so gutting as the house is perfect otherwise.

The leak is somewhere in the floor, can't use a bucket to catch the water. Can't believe though that I didn't think of using a bowl in the sink! Think I'm just too stressed to think clearly (DD picked the perfect day to get a UTF so been at the doctors all afternoon and then rushed over to the house without being ready).

Didn't smell any damp when we viewed it, was one of the things I remarked upon, but after taking out flood of the under-the-sink cupboard the smell was really strong. Doesn't smell elsewhere though.

Be careful if the floorings been wet for a while, my first hiuse the overflow wasn't connected - cue first night washing up,in the sink I went through the floorboards :-(

Firstly, make sure that he has protected your deposit and if he hasnt you can sue him for 3 x the amount, this can be a leverage for him to do the work asap, personally though, I would move out, sounds a bloody nightmare

If I've learnt anything from renting is take pictures of everything, document everything, date stamp pictures, keep emails (emails are always better than phonecalls, you can't deny written word) record phone conversations.

Next time you move I recommend turning taps on/off, lights, flushing toilets etc before signing.

Not in the UK but in Europe

In many countries in Europe tenants' rights are much more vigorously enforced than in the UK. I would start with the estate agent who let the house, and ask around to see if there are any local associations that can offer advice on housing issues.

Good luck wherever you are. All advice re how to rent, gas safe , deposit protection etc no use!

It's not just tenants that get stitched up with nonsense like this sometimes it's just as bad if you buy. A friend spent £350k on a house only to find a the sink wasn't connected and was draining into a washing up bowl. One house I bought was all electric but the survey said "no obvious defect to the gas supply". On moving in we had to have new gas pipes laid from the street because it wasn't possible to reconnect the old ones. Not trying to minimise your issue here, best of luck with getting the landlord to fix it. Unfortunately whatever the situation you don't always get what you think you are paying for, it's impossible to check out everything in advance.

The landlord was trying to sell the house as well and claimed that all kind of renovations had been done but its obvious now that most were done badly and some not at all. OH called a lawyer and they said it could be a fraud case.

Tenant's rights should be really good here, been looking up the law now and found there's lots of associations to go to for help and advice so that's good.

Now to open a bottle of wine and be thankful the toilets don't leak!

The plumber came and its even worse than we thought - the kitchen, shower room, sauna and boiler room all have to be torn down and re-done properly. When they renovated, they cheaped out and did it badly.

This is what it looks like under the kitchen sink

I'm a landlord and in my lease there's a clause that says if the property becomes uninhabitable then I am liable to the costs for their accommodation until its fit to be lived in. You can't live there. It's a health hazard. Get a lawyer and get out as soon as you can.

Sounds like the best plan novino I bet they will try to cancel the rental agreement but I checked the law here and they can't do that so if they try we'll just get the health inspector in so they'll have the choice of fixing everything or getting a uninhabitable stamp on the house and lose everything.

Wow. It takes some doing to bodge that badly!