Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To sue the arse off my landlord

167 replies

FlickeryWicket · 09/01/2017 20:13

TWO years we've been asking him to replace the loose stair carpet. All requests logged through the agents. He came round and ummed and ahhed. Hit it back on the carpet rail with a hammer despite me telling him we do that everyday and it just comes back off again. Logged at all inspections.

I've tried fixing it numerous times. It's so frayed around the edge it won't attach. I've tried with carpet glue, it still won't stay out for more than a few days.

The carpet is at the top of the stairs, if you aren't careful and step on the edge of the top stair the whole carpet comes with you.

DD stepped on the edge yesterday and went flying down the stairs (along with the fucking carpet). Possible fractured coccyx (they weren't sure) in so much pain, will miss her netball tournament and a dance competition. Hurts when she goes to the loo for a poo, sits down for too long, can't walk to the bus for school.

I am bloody furious and feel like suing the tight bastard. I don't bloody care if he evicts us!

OP posts:
WaitroseCoffeeCostaCup · 09/01/2017 21:06

Give it up Rogue!

Ginmakesitallok · 09/01/2017 21:07

Channelling judge rinder - he'd say that yes your landlord was in the wrong, but that you were contributorily negligent as you knew the carpet was dangerous and still allowed your child unsupervised access to it.

traviata · 09/01/2017 21:07

OP have a look at section 4 of the Defective Premises Act 1972.

RougeSeas · 09/01/2017 21:09
Hmm

So.. If i was looking after my dd at home whilst my husband is at work. I decide i can't really be bothered to watch her whilst she is playing on the stairs. I am well aware how dangerous they are for her to play on but....

Meh I'm not the only person responsible for her

She falls down the stairs which i know how dangerous they are

I can sue my husband for the harm she has come to can't i? Because afterall he has responsibility for her aswell no?

Just because the landlord has a level of responsibility does not mean that the op can go around suing him because she decided not to take sensible steps to ensure her house is safe!!

Earlgreywithmilk · 09/01/2017 21:10

My sister has rented her current place for 3 years and hated her scruffy, frayed carpet so much that she paid to have it replaced herself despite not having a pot to piss in.
I guess you are either the kind of person who sorts it out yourself (no matter how unfair it may seem) or wait for someone else to sort it out for 15 years and moan about it.
Sorry.

daisygirlmac · 09/01/2017 21:10

There is specific legislation in place which clearly sets out what a LL is responsible for. Please, for everyone's sake rougeseas, give it a rest as you have no idea what you're on about.

Daisyfrumps · 09/01/2017 21:13

You're comparing bananas to oranges, Rouge:

a level of responsibility is different to the (most likely) total responsibility in this case.

Streuth · 09/01/2017 21:16

yeah according to some posters the child shouldn't be allowed to walk on carpet unsupervised ... Hmm

confuugled1 · 09/01/2017 21:16

Op do you have legal insurance on your contents insurance? They could maybe help you with this.

I'd keep a dedicated notebook where you note everything to do with this as you go. So the details of what happened, print outs of previous emails, any costs incurred as a result of the injury (eg taxi to school or you driving her to school instead of the bus), hospital appointments, how it affects your dd on a daily basis (missing netball tournament, missing dance comp, missing lessons due to pain, unable to sleep due to pain, taking tablets for pain control that interfere with concentration affecting schoolwork, and so on. If there's a contemporaneous account of what happens it is apparently a powerful tool if this does go down the legal route - not least because you will have everything all together and won't forget things plus it will show very clearly all the extra costs incurred as well as suffering experienced.

DontTouchTheMoustache · 09/01/2017 21:16

rougeseas that's ridiculous comparison and you know it. The landlord owed a duty of care and was negligent. The OP reported the carpet over and over so she was not negligent in this case. If she had known it was dangerous, never reported it and then tried to blame the landlord that would be different.

BarbarianMum · 09/01/2017 21:18

Fitted carpets (and stair carpets should bloody well be fitted) come under buildings insurance and therefore are the responsibility of the landlord. Who is also legally obliged to ensure that the property they rent is safe.
OP I should contact a solicitor.

ElfOnMyShelf · 09/01/2017 21:19

i think the contents insurance is confusing you rouge.
If your flooded contents pays for carpet, but this is a completely different thing.

If I remember rightly carpet is given a life time of 5 years on the deposit scheme. I'd speak to a solicitor before starting legal action as I'm pretty sure it will result in you being given notice. But yes I'd pursue it. I've replaced carpet in my rental (it had been down since 1986 and was filthy). But there's no way you should have to for your own safety.

RougeSeas · 09/01/2017 21:19

If we were talking about lack of heating, gas boiler blowing up, no water, poor insulation, damp mould issues i would jump on the bandwagon and come along with my pitch fork for the bastard

But this was so easily avoidable.

DontTouchTheMoustache · 09/01/2017 21:21

Yes it was avoidable. The landlord should have fixed it on one of the many times he was asked to.

Original poster
FlickeryWicket · 09/01/2017 21:23

I've just checked contents and yes I do have legal cover (glad I paid the extra £3 for it now!)

Rogue, Landlord must love you, going around replacing carpets so they don't have to. My £1100 a month rent on his mortgage free house is clearly too little for him to spring for a new carpet.

OP posts:
Meeep · 09/01/2017 21:24

Your poor DD, yes talk to a solicitor.
Wanker landlord.

PurpleMinionMummy · 09/01/2017 21:25

Where does that end rogue? When the LL refuses a gas safety check and a tennant dies? Maybe it's their own fault for not booking and paying it for themselves?

Daisyfrumps · 09/01/2017 21:26

What was the outcome of his most recent visit OP? How was it left with him exactly after the last lot of umming and ahhing? What did he say?

"Oh just give it a bang before you come down the stairs each time" ?!

RougeSeas · 09/01/2017 21:26

Yes he should but for TWO years it was getting worse. You don't leave an accident waiting to happen in place just because you think someone else should sort it?

Where does it end? Do we accept no responsibility for our own common sense?

Bringmewineandcake · 09/01/2017 21:27

I would definitely sue in your situation, OP. So sorry for your DD.

I do have insurance knowledge - carpets can be classed as either contents or buildings depending on the wording of the specific insurance policy. Carpets can be the responsibility of the landlord or tenant depending on the wording of the tenancy agreement. There is no one rule that applies 100% of the time.

The most likely scenario is that the landlord is responsible under the tenancy agreement for the carpet. It's a moot point re insurance though as you can't claim for wear and tear under any policy. If he is responsible under the tenancy agreement and you've made him aware (as you say) of issues with the carpet then it's likely you have a good case to claim negligence against him.

DontTouchTheMoustache · 09/01/2017 21:29

rougue because not everyone can afford to replace a bloody carpet. Op did what she was supposed to do and it was the landlords responsibility. As many PP have already stated you cannot go around making changes to rented properties. She did use her common sense and asked for it to be fixed.

Oysterbabe · 09/01/2017 21:30

Whether the op should have fixed it is irrelevant. In law she is entitled to sue the landlord for not repairing the unsafe carpet promptly after being notified about it.

JassyRadlett · 09/01/2017 21:30

If the carpets are not in the exact condition as the when the Tennants moved in then the agency / landlord would usually seek to replace using the deposit

And landlords would be laughed out of the place when the tenant took them to dispute resolution for trying to withhold the deposit for this reason.

Total nonsense.

HungryHorace · 09/01/2017 21:31

I defend claims like this. I'd most likely recommend this claim was settled, unless there's something drastic I don't know about which would alter my position.

And yes, the Defective Premises Act is some of the legislation I'd look at.

Please contact a solicitor about this, OP.

(Contrib. for non-supervision of children has very little case law to support, actually. And you can't avoid the stairs, so I probably wouldn't argue this with any great passion, again, unless there's something drastic we haven't been told.)

Whosthemummynow · 09/01/2017 21:31

Anyone else thinking rougues dad isn't very good at his job?