Just moved into rented house - massive issues!

[NumberNotRecognised]

Moved in 3 weeks ago. Property has a bathroom and en-suite shower.

A day before move in date, we were informed there had been a leak in the property from the bathroom but it had been resolved and the dining room ceiling had been repaired with new artex which was still drying.

It immediately clear it was a really bad job as they’d just patched up a metre square of the ceiling and it looked like a toddler had tried to do the twirls but thought fine, we’ll try to go over it ourselves to blend it in a bit better later on.

Bath has shower over so DC used that no problem but a few days after move in, I decided to have a bath in there. DS came running upstairs to say water was pouring through the dining room ceiling. Water all over my work station including laptop and monitors which was positioned underneath! Informed letting agent who were not concerned at all that there may be water damage but said they’d get someone out to check it in a few days.

Leak was in the same area as where they’d patched up the artex.

In the meantime we also discovered water was coming out of the back of the sink and water was also coming through the light fitting in the dining room intermittently when we had showers in the en-suite. Initially we thought it was due to the shower controls not having sealant so sealed it but it continued. We were using the en-suite due to the bathroom leak.

We then realised there was a silverfish infestation as bath panel had been sealed with silicone, and when it was taken off so it could dry out underneath, they started coming out. Again letting agent not bothered and suggested we buy sprays to kill them (which I’ve done but they won’t go until the leaks are resolved and I’m worried they’ll spread around the house).

Plumber comes out and tells us that letting agent told him that previous tenants had replaced the bath themselves as they’d damaged it (hence the leak before we moved in) and didn’t want to pay for it out of their deposit, and according to him hadn’t even used a spirit level as it wasn’t level. He replaced the silicone around the bath as a temporary fix and said we could use it the next day. I disagreed as the bath hadn’t leaked when used for showers which you’d expect if it wasn’t sealed and it had only leaked after a bath and no water had gone over sides as I don’t tend to splash it around!. DH had looked underneath it and said the pipes looked like they hadn’t been fitted correctly but plumber insisted it wasn’t that.

Another plumber then came to look at the en-suite leak and said we can’t use it as it needs to be pulled out and refitted as there are so many leaks in it. Again this is weird as we think it’s all to do with the bath as pipes link to the en-suite next door.

Another (!) plumber then came out to look at the bath again and said it also needs refitting but he’d made some more temp repairs and we could use it for bathing and showering after 24 hours. That was yesterday. DS then had a bath at lunchtime today and tonnes of water poured through dining room ceiling again.

Ceiling now looks like it going to collapse! It was already sagging from the last leak.

Letting agent had told us that the landlord wants to use her own plumber to do the works and will be getting quotes over the next few weeks……….

I get the impression it will take some time to resolve.

AIBU to be furious that we moved into a property that had ongoing leak issues and we are now having to deal with the mess, disruption and inconvenience of all the work that needs to take place as well as not being able to use the facilities we are paying to use?

The property was empty for at least 10 days before we moved in. Obviously no one was using the bathrooms in that time so it looks like letting agent never bothered to check if the bath had been fitted correctly by a qualified plumber and just patched up the stains on the ceiling.

Property is fully managed by letting agent and previous tenants apparently got their deposit back as they weren’t aware of issues then and they don’t have previous tenants new address so landlord is going to have pay for all the repairs!

Previous tenants also patched up the walls with a darker vinyl silk paint instead of vinyl matt so you can see loads of very visible large shiny areas on the walls all over the house where the paint doesn’t match and they need to be completely repainted. Letting agent has said they didn’t realise this and landlord ‘does not do maintenance ‘ so we’ll have to do it ourselves if we aren’t happy. Walls were not like this on viewing as tenants did it just before they moved out which was a month after we viewed.

I cannot believe this wasn’t picked up on checkout and the tenants weren’t charged for repainting!

I don’t even think the landlord knows about this or knew about the bath being fitted by the tenants themselves. We can’t contact directly as contact is letting agent.

We can’t even use the dining room as the celing looks like it’s going to come down!

AIBU to think this is totally unacceptable and needs to be sorted urgently? We are paying £1800 rent for a 3bed which is standard in this area. I WFH and am being disrupted dealing with plumbers in and out and more to come.

We are also concerned that the landlord might be pissed about the thousands they are going to have to shell out and either delay doing the work or give us notice to sell up at the 4 month mark and we will have to put up with this and will have repainted the whole house at our time and cost for nothing! We were told it was a long term let but contract is 6 months initially then rolling monthly. Rentals are scarce in this area and it was hard enough finding this one and it is awful to think of having to move again!

WWYD?

That’s pretty shocking, especially given the high rent. Sounds like the letting agent have done a very poor check of the property before giving the deposit back

This is shocking OP and I feel equally sorry for the landlord to be honest as if they have a letting agent managing the property you’d expect them to check these things properly before returning the deposit! I wouldn’t be surprised if the landlord here has a claim against the letting agents to recoup at least some of the cost for the leak/bath situation.

Report them to environmental health at your local council. They can enforce the landlord to do repairs.

Sounds like the landlord IS doing the repairs - why would they NEED REPORTING? Both new tenant & landlord have received a rum deal from the vacating tenants.

It sounds like the letting agency are the issue here for not properly checking after the last tenants and not arranging someone competent to come round and properly assess the issues, and arrange repairs. The landlord is likely to be just getting endless bills.

That is awful, OP. I would email the letting agent a summary of all the issues, what the plumbers have each said, the damage being done to the property and the fact that you now have two unusable bathrooms and dining room. I think the difficulty is that there is no legal definition of what consitutes the 'reasonable' timeframe in which landlords must complete repairs, but I would view this as an emergency rather than a standard repair request.

Highlight that the level of water ingress should be viewed as an emergency repair, particularly as you have children, who are at greater risk of serious injury if the ceiling comes down on them or they get electrocuted because water pours through the ceiling light/sockets. The landlord is required to resolve emergency repairs swiftly.

I doubt you'll get anywhere with this, but I'd also request written confirmation that they have forwarded your email to the landlord, as well as confirmation that their landlord's insurance covers accommodating you elsewhere until repairs are finished.

These sites might be able to give you some more info:

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/how_long_should_a_private_landlord_take_to_do_repairs

https://www.gcoffey.co.uk/our-services/housing-disrepair-claims-solicitors/housing-disrepair-resources/how-landlords-know-what-constitutes-uninhabitable-living-conditions-uk

https://www.hortonandgarton.co.uk/blog/landlords-responsibility-for-repairs/

Also, on the bath issue, is the overflow pipe connected? I had a similar issue when I moved into my flat and when the bath panel was removed it turned out no one had ever connected the overflow pipe to anything - it was literally just resting on the wooden floorboards, so anytime water went down the overflow, it just poured onto the floor (which we couldn't see, as it was hidden behind the panel).

I would make a complaint to The Letting Agent.

They have allowed a property to be let when it is not safe, they should have checked these things when the previous tenant checked out but did not.

They should be members of a redress scheme who you can complain to if they turn your complaint down.

I would also go through

https://www.gov.uk/renting-out-a-property

And check that the agents have done everything they are required to do to let the property, if not I suggest going to The Council.

Bear in mind of course that The Landord will have lost out as a result of the agents incompetence so he may be your friend in this

Just to update, we were told by the letting agent yesterday that we can’t use the bath in the main bathroom for bathing or showering AND the shower in the en-suite. Therefore we can’t bath or shower at all.

This was OK apparently as it was only for 24 hours as the landlord was sending their plumber out today to fix the bath in the main bathroom so we could use it and would be getting another quote for the ensuite shower.

Just got a message, after the plumber didn’t show up, to say he had an emergency so would not be coming out until Thursday! No mention of what we were supposed to do for 2 more days with bath/shower facilities.

WIBU to get a an emergency plumber out myself today to do the work and take it off the rent?

Bits of the ceiling in dining room keep falling off.

We also discovered the kitchen drain outside was blocked yesterday with tonnes of gunk (looks like fat) and have tried to unblock it ourselves but it’s all over the patio! Letting agent unbothered.

Letting agent have said the landlords were given quotes in April to replace the main bathroom and en-suite (so obviously there were issues back then) but did not proceed.

Honestly could not make this up!

That is so frustrating OP but you cannot just pay yourself and pay less rent without proper communication and agreement that both sides are happy for you to do that. I’d get back on to the letting agent if that’s your point of contact to make clear that this is not a 24 hr issue now, and ask what their solution is. You can always ask them if they agree for you to sort & then reduce rent but I really wouldn’t be doing that without their express agreement.

Go to agent, ask to move!
The place clearly unfit for living in,these issues could take weeks to sort

They should be putting you up in alternative accommodation like a local hotel while they sort out this uninhabitable mess.

@NumberNotRecognised what does the contract say? I’d contact the council myself or citizens’ advice as the property is not inhabitable. Don’t get people out yourself as you may get blamed for shoddy work. Landlord and agent need to resolve it.

The agent will have contact details for previous tenant as part of deposit protection requirements but tbh sounds such a mess I wonder if the previous tenants are at fault. Very difficult situation.

Take it up with shelter & check if your local council has anyone who deals with private rentals (some do, as a way of preventing people ending up emergency homeless)
Don't assume it's the previous tenants fault if it's a shit landlord. We had similar, and the landlord was adamant they'd fixed things (multiple times) and that it was our fault - we had water running down the walls downstairs if anyone showered.

The reason was because a slow leak under the shower had caused the floorboards to warp and the shower was no longer level. The 'fix' the landlord did every time was to use a bit of sealant around the shower and repaint the mouldy wall in the room downstairs. Of course as the floorboards were sodden and flexing, every time someone stepped in the shower the sealant 'broke' and that's what they blamed on us... I think it took us posting the video on social media before it got properly fixed, but obviously that came with a risk of eviction.