To sue the arse off my landlord

[FlickeryWicket]

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!

I'm pretty sure that, if the agent had felt it was in any way the tenant's (OP's) responsibility to deal with the carpet, they would have told her so - or told her that she could replace it and the LL would pay. Or told her that the LL was not legally liable to replace it. Or somesuch. Over 2 years, I'm pretty sure that sort of thing would have cropped up in inspection/discussion with the agents.

Since it didn't, it's pretty obvious that it was entirely the LL's responsibility to deal with the fucking carpet, which he didn't, which makes HIM responsible for the parlous state of it and therefore the OP should definitely go after him, IMO.

Rouge is Donald J Trump and I claim my £5

Although, tbh, the agents could potentially have been a bit more proactive about this as well. My agents tell me when stuff needs doing/repairing and say they'll send someone round - admittedly they need my consent to get anything done, but THEY send round the workman/assessor in the first place and then send me the estimate. I obviously agree to anything that actually NEEDS to be done because I'm not a fucking idiot who likes to place my tenants' lives at risk!

Has anybody been called a landlord hater yet for being perfectly reasonable?

Oh don't worry, she'll be along in a minute.

No victim blaming, the dd is the victim and she certain is not to blame.

"I thought that in insurance law, you cannot insure something you don't own?"

No, that's not correct. You must have insurable interest, which for the objects in your home, you do. You couldn't insure some random person's carpet, but you can inure the carpet you use everyday.

My dad has an MBE Rouge , do I win daddy top trumps?

andnowitsseven....... Slow clap.... Take a bow.... i hope he's more original than you are.

Yes they do daisy my dad is an insurance surveyor... Very high up.

Congratulations.
My dad was a fireman; I know fuck all about fighting fires. It's not genetic.

YANBU. At all.
And as someone who has just had their coccyx removed, your daughter has my every sympathy, I hope she feels better soon.
Totally landlords fault.

Ooo ouch, NachoCheese - didn't even realise that was a thing! Why did you need it removed? (don't answer if you'd rather not)

Your poor dd op, that sounds really painful. YADNBU, your land lord should have replaced the carpet the first time you reported it, it shouldn't have got to this stage. This is in no way your fault, despite what some posters are saying.

In our previous house we had similar but with a faulty oven, the LL found every excuse in the book not to replace it, we bought a combi microwave oven to see us through the 2 years we lived there, then fortunately we were able to move (and having a proper working oven seemed like such a luxury at that point!). I often wonder if subsequent tenants had any luck with getting it replaced or if it's still there

Yes maybe in an ideal world you could have replaced it yourself but you would also be taking a massive risk in terms of breaching your tenancy and facing eviction. And also why should you? It is not your responsibility.

If the landlord had faced up to his responsibilities in the first place this whole thing would have been avoided, he is the one who is in the wrong. I have no idea why people become landlords if they're not willing to take care of their properties.

Thumbwitches, yes it is so painful! I damaged it in a fall and it just didn't get better, 3 years later I finally had it removed.
I don't think it helped that they didn't figure out it was my coccyx until a year after my fall.
Just to add though, most coccyx injuries do heal on their own, don't want to panic you op!
You can get special coccyx cushions which may help your dd while she is recovering as well.

If not replaced by Jan 27st you will be fixing it yourself and withholding the funds from your February rent and sending them a copy of the receipt showing full payment made

Christ there's some awful advice being given on this thread. Do not withhold your rent! The LL could seek to evict you for rent arrears. Arguing that you withheld rent due to outstanding repairs will hold no legal water at all.

But Rouge, well done, you really take the biscuit. Your advice and attitude both suck!

OP I am so sorry this happened to your dd. I know how awfully painful an injured coccyx can be and that recovery can be extremely protracted. By all means do your damnedest to sue your LL's greedy feckless arse off. This was entirely his responsibility, whatever Rouge et al say.

Btw, my dad is retired so not high up. But when he's on the glue he gets pretty high

lauder I am an owner of multiple properties which I rent out. To evict someone you need to prove they didn't pay their rent and repairing something like this carpet the OP is having to put up with would not be considered non payment of rent if prior notice and enough time to make the repair had been given. They have paid their rent by replacing the carpet and have given due notice. The courts I've sat in when trying to evict tenants for non payment would tell this LL that they are lucky not to be sued and would side with the tenant every single time.

I ass

Oops! I assume you're not in England want2be, as no reason is needed to evict tenants in England.

I only came back to read the "advice" spouted by rouge! I was not disappointed.
Oh yeah, and sue! You reported this many times. LL needs to realise he has responsibility towards his tenants. Tenants are not just a cash cow.

I'm not sure whether some of the bad advice on here is malicious or just really stupid or both, but it's extremely unhelpful.

Normally the first person to say ppl sue over anything but his isn't the case, he's had plenty of chances to fix it and he hasn't which has resulted in a nasty injury, it's his own fault for not fixing it sooner.

But what Gould she do Rouge?

If she ripped up the carpet( only option nailing didn't work) she'd have been in big trouble and had a huge bill( money she may not have).

You can't not use the stairs in a house.

Busy working families will rush up and down stairs.

I'm presuming the op isn't living in a huge Manor House with flights of stairs to choose from and cordone off.

If she replaced the carpet the landlord could complain it didn't match the landlord could recover costs
Rip it up - landlord recover costs
Tape it down - its damaged, landlord recovers costs.

What was she meant to do?

I'm not going to pay to fit a whole stair carpet (and one that matches the rest of the property)) in somebody else's home

Somebody elses HOUSE. It's your HOME, surely?