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Damp mouldy house, LL agent constantly delaying vital work

28 replies

WordInYourShellLike · 20/04/2018 23:11

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as the whole situation is causing me huge anxiety Sad Name changed temporarily due to paranoia that agent might see this!

Had to move last year from our home of 10 years as previous LL wanted to sell up. We live in a small village and really needed to stay here (various reasons) and choice was very limited. In the end, there was only one place that we could afford so we moved here towards the end of last year. One of the first questions I asked was about damp and was told there was just one area that was a problem and LL agreed to sort it out before we moved in. Work was done on this area but it hasn't completely sorted it out. It then turned out (and I think LL knew this all along) that the main issue was that water was getting in through cracks around the chimney and filtering down through the walls, coming out into the rooms causing masses of black mould and also thick white mould in the worst areas.

The LL's agent has been promising since the end of last year that the work will be done very soon to sort this out - it'll be messages like 'Builder will be with you next week' or 'Scaffolding will be going up later this week so that builder can start' but nothing ever happens. When I question, the story always changes. I have several reasons to mistrust the agent now. Things started out well but I now think she is totally taking the piss. She is a self-employed lone agent (plus friend and neighbour of LL), so I can't complain to anyone.

When we moved in, we were also promised that the 'blown' double glazing would all be replaced by the end of last year and that hasn't been done either. This is less important but still another broken promise. I really wish we could move again as I'm so sick of it all (and this house is tiny compared to last one with barely any storage space) but the move to here was immensely stressful and I don't think I could bear going through it again...

There's more stuff but I don't want to write an essay and bore you all to tears!

Can anyone tell me what the legal position is and if there is anyone we could go to for help? CAB are very few and far between around here and always booked up for months.

OP posts:
AvocadosBeforeMortgages · 26/04/2018 12:17

Do you think he might be using an agent in order to get out of his responsibilities?

Using an agent doesn't absolve a LL of their responsibilities!

FourFriedChickensDryWhiteToast · 26/04/2018 12:19

i know it doesnt Avo, but some landlords think it does. (going back to my arsehold landlord, when housing standards contacted him, he tried to tell them that it was an agency that was responsible for this stuff, not him. Which was a lie, but it does show how some of them try to operate)

specialsubject · 26/04/2018 12:24

renting anyone a damp mouldy house is bad. Whether there are kids or not is irrelevant.

And yes, the buck stops with the landlord - too many have been caught by that when the agent takes the money and does nothing.

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