We've recently renewed our rental contract for a third year. It's a nice house in a nice area at a good price. I think we're good tenants - clean, quiet, inform landlady of problems in good time. We are the first tenants in the property - it used to be her family home before she had to move to another city for work.
We've had a few maintenance issues and I am getting increasingly pissed off with our landlady's response. I assume I haven't got a right to complain as it's her house and if we don't like it we can move, but I'd love to be told I'm wrong!
- We had a leak in the gable roof in our bedroom when it rains heavily. Water was dripping off the curtain rail. We had to put towels on the floor. She tells us if we're having condensation problems we should be sure to open the windows. She sends round Mr Handyman who puts some silicone sealant around the inside frame. Surprise surprise, it rains again, it leaks again. We send a video of water coming from the ceiling. Mr Handyman comes round and fiddles about with the outside window frame. Surprise surprise, it leaks again. Finally he comes round and discovers missing tile on the roof! Replaces it, problem solved.
- Our shower starts turning randomly hot and cold. She asks us if we've been fiddling with the settings on the boiler. Mr Handyman comes round. In various attempts he replaced various parts of the shower. Eventually replaces the thermostatic detector whatnot and it finally works again.
- We now have a leak from the cistern inflow pipe in the downstairs loo. She asks if the water is coming from the upstairs bathroom down the wall. We say no. Also tells us not to flush anything but loo roll down the loo. Duh. Mr Handyman replaces the silicone sealant around the shower upstairs. Then puts some around the base of the loo. Then tightens the inflow nut. It's still leaking.
To cap it all off, she's got a bee in her bonnet that we don't answer the phone immediately every time. No, we don't. I've told her it's hard for us to answer the phone during the day. But she stills calls us with the plumber waiting round the corner to ask if he can come round now.
Am I being unreasonable in thinking that:
- She needs to listen to what we say is the problem and not tell us off for doing unrelated things we haven't done.
- Her handyman is shit and it's not fair for us to have to put up with these endless visits (he's always late too!) which never address the actual problem.
Or is this just life renting privately? I know it's her house, but it makes us very reluctant to report any problems when we know they won't be fixed - not through inaction but through uselessness!