Repairs in rental

[Lacky301]

Hi all sorry if I ramble along here but Ive been in rental for around 6 years and my landlord has only just increased the rent after this long I've been lucky to have only been paying £425 for this time it has just increased to £500. The place is very dated and he's never done anything to it we ourselves have done odd things which he has cut from the rent after we asked.
Now we have a plumbing issue and money is tight unfortunately although it will cost just £90 to fix should I bother our landlord over this or suck it up and pay myself.

I'm thinking our landlord thinks he's done us a favour by keeping the rent low for so many years and maybe I should just pay this myself. What's everybody think.

Tell your LL. I'm a LL and expect to do repairs/maintenance.

I have told him but he simply said he's away but to get somebody out and he will call me when he's back

He hasn't answered my question about paying for it and the plumber is due today

It’s a hard tossup isn’t it we had a rental like that. Shit but cheap and could do whatever we wanted so we fixed lots of bits as we didn’t want the rent to increase.

I expect from what you’ve said his expecting you to pay and he might reimburse you once his back.

Not saying that’s right btw just that I know exactly how it feels. The LL should be doing all proper repairs without this even being a concern vs cheap rent unless that was the original agreement.

It's a shit situation isn't it not knowing what to do wish I was better off with less responsibilities.

Being dated whilst not ideal isn’t an issue

repairs and maintenance are down to LL
previously you’ve got them done and he’s paid you back in way of knocking it off the rent

really that isn’t the way it should work but realistically is it worth sacrificing very cheap rent by challenging current this setup

just sounds like he isn’t particularly bothered about making money or taking an interest in the property
he gets no hassle you get cheap rent so on the face of it win win

the alternative is he get a management company which will obviously cost then that will be passed in to u

Yes I know what your saying it's cheap but still feels like alot of money to me and dp with everything else going on. I actually feel very stressed and upset with our financial responsibilities and this latest cost is just another turn of the knife.

How good a deal have you got right now and how much would it cost you if you had to move? He really ought to be paying, but if you'd be hundreds a month worse off elsewhere I can see why you're nervous. Much easier all round if landlords stick to the actual rules rather than making up their own as they go along and I always suspect they're getting the better deal out of this sort of arrangement.

It's up to your landlord to attend to any repaira. Being "away" is no escuse.
I think he has kept the rent low as it is not costing him much in maintenance. However, if you are paying below market value and the maintenance costs for him are rising, he will probably increase the rent and so he should

Well I guess it's a fairly good deal as I'm looking other rentals in my area would be at least £650 although updated and fresh looking and central heating we don't have heating here.

It's a old dusty place despite my attempts to clean lol

His accountant said he needs to look at increasing our rent hence it went up from £425 to 500 he said he'd been putting the increase off.

I think you should pay it yourself and not rock the boat, given the cheap rent.

Work out how much you are saving over the course of a year compared to the market value of the rental, with this amount deducted. Probably you should deduct a bit from the calculation to reflect its tired state. But with a shortage of available properties in many areas, the condition is less important than you might think.

If as I suspect you’re still doing well overall, and it would be a real wrench to move, then the sensible thing to do is to pay minor repair bills yourself and let your landlord have the easy life he wants.

Also this would likely get more replies in the Property section.

The landlord is under a legal obligation to carry out certain repairs in accordance with Section 11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. Plumbing would most likely fall into the categories of repair obligations. Also, assuming you're on an assured shorthold tenancy the landlord can only increase the rent once a year and needs to serve a Section 13 Notice to do so