Landlord ignoring me

[NotAllowed]

I’m about to lose it with my landlord and need a sounding board to see if my anger is justified.

I moved into this property since June. The garage, a major selling point, has an old roof which is leaking badly. I did not know this when I viewed and took on the property as it was early summer. It’s been a very wet year as we all know and my belongings in the garage are soaked, so much so that I’ve had to cover everything with tarp. I reported this as soon as I noticed it back in July. A roofer has been out to try and fix the issue on two occasions, which has only made things worse. It needs a new roof. There’s been no progress and it’s only getting worse, despite being reported 6 months ago. I call and text and largely get ignored.

The chimney breast is also leaking, there is a stream of water now pouring down one of the bedroom walls inside. There’s mould on all the windows and in the bathroom, and bad condensations for which I have requested a dehumidifier and been ignored. I open the windows and ventilate the house as much as possible given it’s winter and wet outside.

I’ve tried to call and text with other questions and concerns, as is understandable when moving into a new property. Lots of empty promises upon moving in such as replacing broken fencing panels which at this point I’m not even bothered about. I am constantly ignored. Calls go unreturned. Texts don’t get replied to. He replies on occasion. If he does pick up the phone there’s no acknowledgement of that fact I’m ignored, I find it weird and awkward. I’m 9 months pregnant and due any moment. I’m tired and irritable. The room that the water is now pouring in through is my baby’s nursery. I know that when I do eventually get through to him, I’m going to explode. Would an explosion be justified? I’m so angry. I’ve never experienced this level of rudeness and ignorance with a landlord.

Paying 😂

Contact housing standards and environmental health, both through your local council. They have the power to force the landlord to do the needed work. I had to go through them in my previous private rental, the window frames were rotten and the glass in them was far too thin, the bathroom was it's own ecosystem with different fungi and moulds growing. It was that bad that the kids broke a window with a ball of wool and when i got a glazier out to replace the glass, they condemned the window and took the half sash away so the landlord couldn't put it back in & boarded up the windows for safety. Even the report stating the windows had been condemned didn't get the landlord to do anything. We went all winter with boarded up bedroom windows.

The landlord kept brushing me off and in the end i'd had enough, i contacted housing standards and environmental health. After they came out and inspected the house, they got straight onto the landlord ad gave him X time to have the work done in and told him that if it wasn't done, that they would have the work done and he'd be billed for it. It was done 2 weeks after they'd contacted him.

Stop paying the rent.. he'll get back to you then. You have every right not to pay rent given the lack of response from him. Your accommodation is unsafe, it is his responsibility.

I Agree, the tenancy agreement would be invalid if this property is wholly the responsibility of the Landlord, anyone would be angry in this situation, but has you Pregnant, it's lot worse for the health of a New born , so you need to move, and until you do use your dehumidifier to deal with it as best you can, opening the windows at the top or as best you can when we get better drier days,
This landlord as others said isn't going to do these repairs, we see this alot and it should not be happening but it still does, this in mind !
I hope you can get a move Soon , I really empathize with you, you must do what's right for the little one due, and yourself.
Bruno

Mould on the windows is water from inside trying to escape. Either from the leaky chimney. Or drying clothes. Chimney needs fixing as a first issue, and is probably just broken cement around it. Or zinc flashing needs replacing. Not really a big job. But something you can suggest to ll to sort. Really shouldn't be that expensive either. (Am no way suggesting you should be dealing with this and getting on the roof) drying clothes, or making a lot of steam in bathroom or kitchen even when cooking would also be an issue.
Is the garage roof made of metal sheets? You may find that's condensation also. Rather than leaking. (Mine did same) and needed insulating from inside. (Foam boards fixed to inside of roof to barrier the cold roof, from interior temperature of the garage. Also not your job. But not expensive. Do you have a tumble drier? Or could you use one for a few months at a launderette. To see if that helps?

Look at citizens advice I had an issue with my property so I followed the advice from citizens advice basically there's several stages you have to follow but then you are within your right to pay for the jobs yourself and claim it back from your rent payments I couldn't afford to actually fund the jobs first they didn't know that though and it gave them the kick up the arse they needed good luck x

We had very similar issues back in the days when we rented. There was water pouring through the ceiling and when DH pulled the pull
cord in the bathroom he got an electric shock on several occasions. It was majorly damp. We complained to no avail and had environmental health out twice. This resulted in us being evicted two weeks before Christmas for him to ‘lift the roof’ and fix it for the next tenant. Funnily enough, we drove past there everyday for work. There was no scaffolding ever and new tenants in within a fortnight. I know now it was a revenge eviction which is illegal.

You need advice from Shelter as this could happen to you.

And its the landlords responsibility to make the sure the house is habitable for the tenant to live in. You can't be so naive to think that water leaking through the chimney breast won't be the cause of mould and damp can you? The OP has told you what she does to combat condensation yet you're still pinning her at fault.. are you another landlord that doesn't take care of houses they rent out too??. OP, buy and dehumidifier and see if this does anything to help but I woukd take photos of the main issues, leaking windows and chimney breast and report to the local authorities. Are you in a financial position to move if the landlord turns nasty and wants you out? Do you have family nearby that can help. It's awful the landlord is allowing this giving your near giving birth. Good luck

It sounds to me like you are justifiably angry so redirect that anger and take positive actions. Get contractors in to quote re window and roofing repairs and get it in writing. Get three quotes for humidifiers off the internet.

Then make a list of all problems that need resolving and provide photos. Leave your feelings out of this, as hard as it may be. Explain contact attempts made with landlord and acknowledge any actions taken by the landlord.

Make it so any third party reading the letter can see clearing what the issue are with the property, illustrated by photos and the reasonable requests made by you and the consistent failure to respond by your landlord.

Then provide the quotes as recommended solutions and give the landlord say 14 calendar days to respond or gou may have no alternative but to take further action but do not state what that is. Explain you are heavily pregnant and this is urgent for the H&S and general wellbeing of your family.

Leave the anger out of it, get factual, evidence your issues and in this way you have laid clear the way to many potential solutions and do not limit yourself.

Send it 1st class recorded delivery and by email if you have an email address. Keep copies and retain proof of delivery from Royal Mail even if initially they appear to be responding positively. Play the long game.

Good Luck!

I had a land lord like this a couple of years ago he was very lazy and refused to address my issues.
At the time I was pregnant and had 2 other children in the property.
I complained to the council and also send him a message to tell him that unless this was sorted as per my tenancy agreement I'm within my right to withhold a certain amount of the rent.

Funny enough after months of me trying to get him to fix the issues he got them fixed within two months.

I would move damp and a newborn is a terrible combination, I gave birth then moved the day after! It was ridiculous but it wasn't an impossible situation and so much better for my little baby in the long run. After you give birth look for somewhere else.

I'm so sorry to hear what your going through while your pregnant....although iv not experienced this problem I guarantee if you withhold paying rent ( save it in the bank so u don't fall into arrears) he'll soon contact you then likewise do what he does ignore his calls and texts until he comes to your house then you can tell him directly once all jobs are done you'll start to pay his rent....I'd also take pics of any work that needs doing incase he tries to evict you've then got proof of why rent was withheld.... I do hope you get this sorted and congratulations on your first pregnancy

This is the only thing that works. No rent until fixed. When we done this the landlord suddenly sent us the money for the repairs. Same thing happened to a friend with a leaky roof and flooded house.

Take photos of any damp mold & other defects & then write a letter/email to your landlord asking for the repairs to be addressed. Give them a time frame in which to reply to letter/email. Keep it reasonable say 10 days. Once you have put it in writing & if still no action from landlord you can then involve your local council & they will act on your behalf. They are coming down hard on bad landlords.

Yeah right, then she’ll be in breach of contract. She’s literally giving him reason to throw her out.

Such a load of rubbish. I lived in around 6 rented places and every single one of them had ‘damp’. I then bought a house and have now bought my second house. I have treated both my owned homes in exactly the same way as my rentals and guess what NO DAMP!! Leads me to the conclusion that it was the property and not me, as I was constantly telling the landlords over the years. So glad I’m fortunate enough to own now.

Sorry this is happening to you OP.

You sound like you're bored. Logically, ppl will know about it. The woman aaked on how to deal with the landlord and still why are you trolling?🤣😅 wasn't a great advice.

The landlords already in breach of his contract anyway by not providing a home suitable to live in u say I'm stupid....obviously u need to learn to read the full situation before commenting

Legally she does not.