AIBU to expect landlord to replace kitchen?

[MiceProblems]

We got the keys to a rented property on the 11th July, and haven't yet been able to move in, the main reason (among several) is we've discovered a mouse infestation in the kitchen.

The inside of the kitchen cabinets and drawers are saturated with mice droppings and urine, so much so that the laminated cover is peeling up from the corners from clearly being repeatedly peed on. There was also a nest in the far corner of a cupboard where a bag of old rice had been left over, with thousands of mice droppings and chewed up plastic and paper surrounding it.

The EA's maintenance team has been out to put down rat poison (they put it outside the property, just sprinkled it around the perimeter? I did knock on the neighbours who I'm aware have cats to let them know this!). They've said they'll be back this Thursday to assess and they'll be replacing a brick vent which is the suspected entry point. All fine, I suppose, it is what it is.

Here's the problem, I now really don't want to use the cupboards/drawers to store my plates and cutlery and whatnot. If it was one or two mice and their urine hadn't soaked into the chipwood beneath, then fine, I'd give it a good bleach and get on with it. But knowing there have been a whole family of mice living there at some point, and the soft wood beneath the laminated part has pee soaked into it?! I want it replaced!
I don't know how long the mice have been there, as I discovered some plastic bags bunched up and stuffed into holes behind the sink, presumably put there by the previous occupant to keep the rodents out, and I'm aware the house had been vacant for at least 4 months before I went for it.
The landlord of the property is flatly refusing to replace anything and has said it's fine and isn't an issue in his opinion. EA have said they do agree with me, however they can't go against the LLs wishes.
He's (LL) offered a £200 reduction in our first months rent (for the unrelated fact the kitchen is covered is grease and grime) as his contribution to a professional cleaner, which IMO should have already been sorted prior to letting the property, so we're not really getting any special discount with that.

What the fuck do I do?! Is this allowed? Is there somebody I can contact? I just want to bloody move into the house that I've had the keys for for 3 weeks without the kitchen being soaked in mouse piss!

I really feel for you. You’re just trying to make a home for your family. Who in their right mind thinks it’s acceptable to advertise and accept someone’s hard earned money in return for this? Good for you that you’ve stood your ground and I’m sorry you’ve had this experience. Shame on the landlord and anyone involved in that side of things.

I truly hope you and your family find something soon.

That’s appalling. I’m glad you aren’t moving in. I’d still refer to environmental health as it should be investigated for the next poor people.

The place should have been thoroughly cleaned before you moved in.

Clearly it hasn't been. It's totally unsanitary and unhygienic. Give them hell.

This does not bode well for future maintenance requests and requirements. Clearly the landlord is one of THOSE landlords ie. slum landlord.

Think you should have a serious think about finding somewhere else. As much of an absolute pain it is.

The EA sound sympathetic, they may be able to help you unwind this tenancy and get into another soon to be vacant property on their books.

The EA should not have let you into that flat in the condition it's in. Professional cleaning is a thing!! They're also clearly useless chancers.

You should have spent zero on carpets

That is the responsibility of the LL !

End the tenancy & find somewhere else

@GhostDecider I wish now that I'd have led with asking the LL to replace the carpets himself, and then I'd have known sooner that he didn't actually care about the state of the property or our comfort in it. At the time my mindset was "right, let's just get what we can do ourselves up to scratch cosmetically, the LL can deal with the repairs"

Trust me, I'm kicking myself over it now. I was just so excited about moving in 😞

That’s a lesson learnt. If the carpets are that bad then you know it’s a shonky landlord.

The carpets in my rental got quite worn - there were clean and not threadbare but were 20 years old (expensive wool though so had lasted well). I wanted to change them for the tenant at the time but she had a small dog and a baby and she said she’d rather stick with them than worry about maintaining new ones. But when she eventually left it was the first thing I did as it wasn’t appropriate to re-let as they were. My own house has vile stained carpets but we are mid renovating and have a 3 year old plus kittens so I am living with it for now-but there’s absolutely no way they are in rental condition.

If a property is not clean and the contents not fit for use don’t touch it. Obviously you might find a house with a hideous carpet that you hate. But the condition speaks volumes about your landlord.

@AlltheFs Well and truly learned. I've clearly been very naive. My current LL of 8 years has always just been very fair, very on the ball, just a lovely guy and clearly wanted his house in good nick and helped towards everything.
So I haven't had to deal with this level of twat before!

I’m a LL.

No way would I allow a tenant to live with or move in with a rodent problem.
No way would I not deep clean if a tenant left a property in bad condition & hadn’t arranged it themselves.
No way would you move into my property with an unfit gas hob. Did you get sight of the Gas Safety Certificate? That hob & presumably boiler should have been safety tested & certified prior to contract signing. It’s a legal obligation.
The kitchen hinges would have been easy to replace but a decent LL should do that.

Im afraid your dreadful LL might now hold you to contract & make you pay rent he’s missing out on up to the end of contract? Legally I think he can? I really hope not.

I am a decent, proactive and responsible LL. It makes my blood boil to read reports like yours because of irresponsible uncaring p*ss takers like the LL in your case. As for EA’s I hope you’ve got a good one because frankly they too can take money & run.

You’ve learned a hard & expensive lesson. Don’t be naive. If you haven’t already done so, make sure you are up to speed with tenants’ rights, what you must expect legally in the way of deposit protection, safety certificates etc and a LL’s legal obligations. There’s plenty on the Gov website & Shelter site.

@Stratocumulus Whilst we haven't seen the certificates ourselves (I've emailed the EA for copies of all safety certificates which should, if they exist, get back to me today), we were told that they had tested the hob on their gas safety visit and that everything checked out.
There are 4 hobs, ONE of them was working but the actual ignition didn't work, so it was just a single hob that emitted gas but didn't ignite. Which is clearly the one they've tested, if they've even tested, and they just brushed over the fact that the rest of it didn't work and was unable to be used for cooking 🙄

For goodness sake those cupboards and worktops need replacing. I'm a LL and the first thing I do when I buy another btl is do an inspection of what needs replacing/repairing. I'd rip out those old cupboards and replace with a good quality one from eBay.The kitchen attached was sold for less than £800.

Whereabouts are you OP. I have a house becoming available end of August. It's just waiting for the carpet fitters to fit 3 bedrooms, landing and stairs and vinal in hall.

Please read the advice I posted above (earlier on in the thread)- it's the government booklet for tenants detailing all the steps the landlord MUST follow.
IT'S ILLEGAL FOR YOU NOT TO BE SHOWN THE SAFETY CERTIFICATES!!
I give my tenants copies of them.
If the landlord hasn't protected your deposit within 30 days in one of the government approved schemes, you can nail him at a tribunal.
Anyway, good luck and it seems you've made the right choice to move out. I understand why you paid for carpets but please never never do this again. As a landlord I would never ever expect a tenant to pay for the upkeep of my flat, unless they'd held a bonfire making competition in the living room or such like. If a landlord lets you pay for something like carpets, it's not a good sign.

It's a weird market at the moment, what with lots of landlords selling up; it seems only the crap ones with houses no-one would touch are having a field day. We recently had to get new tenants as previous tenants left town and we rented our place out at a fair to cheap price (a little below market value)-we had 100+ viewing requests on Openrent and lots of begging messages. We also had people gazumping others in the offers (we didn't ask for this) and people putting down deposits without speaking to us or in some cases even viewing the flat. Maybe I'm naive and stupid for not asking for £300-£400 more- but it didn't seem right as the rent is already nearly double the mortgage.

@pleasehelpwi3

unless they'd held a bonfire making competition in the living room or such like

This is the first thing that's made me chuckle in days!

We signed everything electronically, I went back through all of the documents last night seeing if I'd missed something re the certificates and nope, couldn't see any. Should have been a massive red flag, I'd like to think I'd have noticed in any other, more relaxed circumstances, however as I was in such a rush to move and so stressed, my mind clearly just went "nope, crack on, we're doing it" 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm so sorry op, this is really frustrating. I think you've made the right choice though, that place was vile.

Thank you so much for this comment, you are so lovely for even considering this. Unfortunately I'm looking for houses within 2 specific postcodes (which is why it's been such a pigging nightmare to find anywhere else), I'm a bit reluctant to post exactly where that is incase DM picks this up for another shitty landlord article! 😂

You are so so lovely though, thank you. Xx

Your landlord is a lazy greedy c&nt and you will have no end of issues. Its basically a hovel.

I would be kicking up an alighty screaming fuss and I would not be paying rent for a property I could not live in.

I also would want to see gas boiler safety certificates etc.

Call Shelter for advice.

The LL needs to get an ACTUAL pest controller in (you dont just sprinkle poison round ffs!), THEY need to pay for the house to be clean for you to move into, THEY need to make sure the gas and electrical fittings are working and safety checked.

Do NOT move in and do NOT pay rent. Put everything you say followed up in writing as evidence.

I would also be reporting them to the council etc - im sure LL need licences in many boroughs these days?

@theyareonlynoodlesmichael Absolutely. I called Environmental Health this morning and logged everything, they've said they'll be sending the Housing Safety Inspection team out to the property within 7-10 days. I may not end up hearing the follow up, but at least they'll hopefully give the LL a kick up the butt to do something about it for the next poor buggers that rent the place.

What a nightmare.

Your rent should not start until you move in and you should NOT move in until Environmental Health say it is OK. I would put this in writing to the letting agent and landlord.

If they LL refuses to make the required changes (having seen your photos I'd want the cupboards changing!) then I'd terminate the contract and insist on ALL money paid being refunded. As for the carpets I'd ask the LL to pay for these or you should rip them out. The LL should have paid for these in the first place.

I reckon if the inspection goes your way you'll get your money back for the carpets too. I'd say either you pay up Mr LL or I'll sue you for not only costs but emotional distress. It will be inhis interest to pay

I’d hand the keys back and run for the hills personally! We had a rented property prior to the one we live in now and honestly the landlord sounds similar to yours!

we had in the kitchen a leaking pipe (under the floor) it was leaving discolouration, they refused to sort it, it eventually got worse, I sent pictures over to them of where the ceiling was bulging due to the leaking pipe, they eventually sent someone out (although not urgently) and the next morning the whole kitchen ceiling came collapsing down, I was stood in there moments earlier holding my newborn at the time making her bottle!! And my children were in and out getting sorted for school.

if any of us was stood in that kitchen we could have had serious injuries, all they did was replace the ceiling and not actually fix the problem, they were very old pipes and they point blank refused to actually get them fixed.. we also still got charged full rent!

i understand the location etc is perfect but living with a landlord that won’t fix issues can potentially become miserable and also dangerous!

I would find somewhere where you’ll be treated with respect, he is giving red flags already! He should be replacing the cabinets where the mouse infestation has ruined them, a deep clean will not be enough, if he replaces them, they’ll see where they are coming from and the person can seal and block it; I would hand the keys in tho and be like no thanks!

contact shelter they are very helpful!

This!

Sorry if I missed this OP but is it a gas hob that isn’t working? If so, do you have a copy of the gas safety certificate, you should have been given it at move in? If you want to upload it I’ll happily help you. I’m a fellow of the industry body x