Landlord dragging his heals

[WhatevaTreva]

Right.

I’m currently paying £700 rent a month for a two bed, and it’s about to go up between 2.5% and 5.5% in March.
I am a reasonable tenant. I have a fairy good relationship with the landlord but I’m shy and tend to play down my concerns because I don’t want him to sell up because I’ve bothered him (I have anxiety), as there are no other affordable homes local to me and I need to stay in this area.
Anyway, a few years ago my power shower broke, it took him 6 months to fix, 6 years ago my fence fell down (the one which is a partition between my garden and my neighbours); it took him 3 years to fix. You get the jist?
So, in November I messaged him that my garage roof was leaking as we were already communicating about something else (a leaky pipe 🙄). He sent someone round the next day to give him a quote. He’s since had 3 of his own quotes and one quote that the estate agents arranged.
Having 4 children in a 2 bed means I need a lot of storage. All 4 are the same gender so there are lots of hand-me-down clothes and toys stored in the garage. As well as this there are car seats and other children parifamaluia. Yesterday I went into the garage and there is mildew and mould on lots of items so now by belongings are ruined.
My question is - am I unreasonable to think that rent should be withheld until this problem is fixed, and once it’s fixed to pay the outstanding I owe? As a passive person I don’t want any conflict, but also, I now have to replace ruined items, and don’t see the problem being fixed any time soon.
I got an email today from the estate agents to say they have tried to call and have emailed him today after I emailed yesterday to see if they could rush it along.
I’m asking for advice as I know I’m in a contract with them to say I will pay the full £700 a month, so would it be wrong of me to suggest withholding rent? Also, one of my worst fears is saying my bit and then the other person (estate agent in this case) going - “actually blah blah blah” and shooting me down.

Thank you for taking the time to read, and I look forward to reading your advice/comments

Thank you for this @echt

I don’t know how to use landlordzone - I’ve just looked and to post a question I had to add usernames of others?

“One valid recipient”

That’s ridiculous. You chose to store the clothes in a completely unsuitable place.

Yes, thank you @Gilmorehill
anyway, like I said, they were in plastic boxes, and it was not damp in the garage until November when the leak started

@Nocutenamesleft yes I get that it’s the damp that causes the mould, and that’s clearly very undesirable which is why I’d never use my garage for storing anything of value. But @FamilyAreEverything said that the temperature fluctuations in a garage or loft would damage the seat construction of a child seat so a seat shouldn’t be be stored in those locations. I agree I wouldn’t store one there because of the risk of damp, but the temperature fluctuates more in the car and that’s not seen to damage to seat construction. The worst it’ll do is bleach the fabric!

Garages are (almost) never heated at all, so wouldn't be a good place to store clothes or other textiles.

That isn't the point. You might as well say 'well, they were out of doors for months and it never rained, so it's surely fine!' You got lucky that they didn't get damp, even though they were in plastic boxes in a garage.

I've been a tenant for virtually all of my adult life. You are giving a bad name to tenants, and contributing to a negative stereotype that makes it harder for people to rent. Please don't do this. It was your mistake to imagine that a garage would be a suitable place to store your belongings. Own up to it, accept it, and stop trying to blame your landlord.

I never actually threatened to withhold rent. I’ve never said that. It was a thought which I asked on here.
forget about the mouldy stuff. I just want to know if he’s legally obliged to fix it as it’s the only place I can store anything as the loft is black with mould, or if he’s not.
I’m not difficult. I never kick up a fuss whatsoever. I never complain. For 3 years I did not complain once about the fence.
I would just like the garage roof to be fixed so I can continue to keep things in there as I cannot use the loft

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Thank you for that @FlowerArranger

It’s the sustained temperatures which cause the damage over time. I agree that it gets pretty hot inside your car on a summers day, but you would presumably be using the car often, so opening the doors, driving with the windows open or using the air con, which obviously would reduce the temperature. There’s very little respite in the loft.

In the meantime, enter 'landlord repairs' into the search function at LandlordZone. A large number of past threads on this issue come up. Some of the responses may be useful to you.

Thanks for your help @FlowerArranger

@DashboardConfessional is correct about tenants insurance.

Sadly you wouldn't be able to claim for goods stored in the garage. When our neighbour committed suicide and set the house alight our personal property was insured but the LL hadn't got adequate insurance to cover the full cost of repairs. Normally the house would be fully repainted and cleaned but it wasn't.

From citizen advice

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/repairs-in-rented-housing/repairs-what-are-your-options-if-you-are-a-social-housing-tenant/withholding-rent-because-repairs-havent-been-done/