Landlord issues

[bagsforlife20]

Hi,

I rent and am unsure how to navigate some of these issues:

It’s a new build property, the developers used the wrong fuses in the kitchen. The first time I used the oven, hob and microwave, the fuse blew and it took them 3 months to switch out the fuse to the correct one. Therefore I couldn’t use my kitchen much. Landlord has refused to refund costs incurred eg groceries that couldn’t be used or extra food costs.

There’s an external locked mail box and mine is broken, the letterbox flap has fallen off. Landlord has been aware for 4 months but is not doing much as it’s expensive to replace apparently. Meanwhile I’m scared my post could be tampered with as it’s accessible to anyone and I work full time.

The furniture provided is of poor quality. Eg the sofa is extremely uncomfortable and Rick hard. There is a TV stand which has a drawer but it wasn’t assembled properly (flat pack). The drawer door falls off when you try and open it. I’d rather the landlord takes these items back so I can replace with my own.

would appreciate your thoughts

1. If its thes fuses i'm thinking of that is a 5 min job you could have easily done so YABU.

1. Is a bit annoying, i would keep chasing for it to be replaced.

1. Surely just ask him to take furniture out? Was it let on a furnished base?

1. It’s not. It involved removing the entire oven (it’s all built in and the oven is about 5ft off the ground) and accessing the socket which is behind the oven to switch out the fuse

3.yes it was let on a furnished basis, it’s difficult because the landlord is based in China so they can’t easily remove anything but they’re also super slow to fix a problem

Do you not have an agent in this country who deals with such matters? It's a while since I checked but I thought if the LL wasn't in the UK and didn't have a UK address or UK-based agent, you are responsible for their tax. The experts on MSE's House Buying Selling and Renting forum will be able to help you.

Your landlord is not responsible for building and wiring the kitchen. The redress against the developer is that they fix it, which they have. Sometimes they take ages. You're in much the same position as if you'd bought the flat, in which case fat chance of getting costs of lost food back from the developer. Having a landlord doesn't put you in a better position!

Letterbox - chase, complain, but it's hardly affecting the quality of your life. He should fix it.

Furniture - if it was let furnished then you get the furniture it was let with. If you want to put that furniture into storage you'd need to pay the storage costs. Always better to rent somewhere unfurnished and use your own stuff in my experience.

@LauraNicolaides lol ok. I feel that ultimately the landlord is responsible for keeping the property in the advertised condition and addressing issues on a timely basis. Why should I be in a worse off position due to their ineptitude? It wasn’t the developer that caused the delay, it was the landlord as they were slow to respond to my report and were unhelpful. Eg they suggested it was because the on/off switch wasn’t set to on and refused to act until months later. The developers got an engineer out to diagnose and fix it within days of being informed about the issue. Being without kitchen facilities for 3 months is ridiculous. I paid full rent whilst not being able to access the full range of facilities I pay for.

but it's hardly affecting the quality of your life.

frankly what would you know? It’s not exactly a great quality life not being able to have post/parcels delivered due to my post being stolen in the past considering it’s wide open and accessible to anyone. I don’t know about you, but I can’t book a day off work to wait in for the post man.

I wouldn't worry too much. I don't think you will be there for long.

You ask for peoples opinions and advice and then get defensive when it isn't the response you want.

I think I'd just give notice and move out if I had no kitchen facilities for 3 months. 3 months without a fridge at all - you couldn't run an extension cable from the sockets that did work?

The letterbox I'd just get fixed myself.

But I'd just move out if I didn't like the furniture. Unlikely your landlord is going to change perfectly acceptable furniture just because you don't like it and changing it from a furnished to an unfurnished let is a big change of the type of let it is.

The landlord IS responsible:

Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020,

regarding fixing the fuses so do not ask the tenant to do what the landlord did legally obliged to do I’d send him a letter demanding he fixes it or else inform the local council

Another crap landlord it seems

I don't think you've understood the regs. The landlord is responsible for getting the electrics certified (it's a criminal offence not to do so, and a non-compliant landlord can't evict the tenant). The regs don't make him responsible for her meals while the kitchen is out of action.

Landlords are responsible for all repairs to the property so I do understand.

show me the law then that excuses this landlord from his responsibility

Wrong. Landlord is response for repairs.

Yes, I do agree with you, this is correct.

If the property is new build as the op states, then the electrical fault would be raised with the developer as a defect. Unfortunately, developers are notoriously slow with rectifying defects. The landlord should be chasing this though

Right OP- buckle up- this is Mumsnet- you rent, therefore, you should be grateful to the landlord as you are a second class citizen for not owning. I would honestly use another platform for sound advice. You ARE NOT BEING UNREASONABLE.

your landlord is responsible and unfortunately you have a shit one, the laws should be much, much tighter on this.

fuck anyone that thinks it’s ok to pay rent and have to deal with this shit.

The one person who is not at fault here is the tenant. And the tenant is the only one currently suffering.

Your Landlord sounds bloody awful.

Try landlord zone forum website they are great

Yes, I hadn't noticed that the thread was in AIBU.

Your landlord should have fixed the fuses immediately and the mailbox should have been fixed within a few days.

To be honest for the fuses issue, I think you should be entitled to have a reduction in your rent. Ask citizens Advice.

For the furniture, ask your landlord to remove it.

That sounds quite unlikely, why would an oven be 5 feet off the ground?

If it’s built-in it’ll still be no more that fifteen minutes to take it out, replace the fuse, and out it back in. Yes, it’s annoying that the landlord didn’t do it, but on the other hand I’d view my tenants asking me to change a fuse to not be far off them expecting me to change a light bulb.

irrelevant really the house should be made adequate from the start as it wasn’t from the get go and leaving a rubbish reputation as a so called landlord.

The OP said that bits are dropping off the tv stand, how is that perfectly acceptable?

Yes, the developers should have put the right fuses in, and the landlord should have come round and changed them when he was told, but it’s also quite ridiculous to spend months not being able to cook rather than taking fifteen minutes to fix it yourself if the landlord isn’t.

Then the landlord is incompetent and spells disaster for future repairs if they can’t be bothered to look after their property. Why should the tenant fix up his property the tenant just pays the rent and keeps it clean that’s their duties

thank you everyone, I will have a read over everything properly in the morning 🙂

@SlightlyGeordieJohn it’s kitchen set up like this. This new build apartment came with a warranty manual, the owner can access the warranty. The landlord had to make a claim on my behalf. The instruction manual for the appliances had troubleshooting steps which I tried, the fuse wasn’t mentioned.

However I did test the fuse for the socket on the wall, which was fine. However there is a further socket/fuse behind the appliances which is obviously not easily accessible.

I live alone and am short/slim, I’m not physically able to pull out an oven like that, carry it safely to the ground then lift and reinsert it. Beyond that, it’s not like I knew the wrong sized fuse was the issue before the engineer visited. Neither did the landlord think the fuse was the issue. They thought I must have have damaged it as it was a new build property in “perfect” condition. I’m sure if they thought it was the fuse, they wouldn’t have risked paying for the engineer. It took the engineers 2 minutes to sort it let alone 15😄