Anyone know about rights in rented accommodation?

[Hayls]

HI, my sis lives in a rented flat with her boyfriend and s having some probs. There was a problem with the bathroom and the landlord has finally started to fix it- when she came home from work yesterday there was a hole 'the same size as her' in the wall (I haven't seen it) and he's only done a patch up job on it. He's told them it'll take at least 2 -4 weeks to put right and in the meantime it's dirty, smelly, loads of bugs are coming in and it's really damp and cold. She's sooo upset and was wondering if the landlord had any obligation to rehouse them (perhaps on insurance) while the work was being done- as far as she's concerned it's not livable in but landlord disagrees. I've told her to look at her tenancy agreement to see what it says but she's still at work so hasn't had a chance yet.

Anyone got any advice? She's been trying to get through to CAB all day with no luck. I also suggested she try the housing dept at local council.

TIA

As a landlord we had a similar problem when our water tank leaking left a hole in the roof of the house we let. Athough the house was and is habitable the tennant didn't want to leave there. So we agreded for her to move out aqnd not pay rent until the work was done. Does your sister let directly from the landlord or does she use a letting agency ? If an agency they should help. All landlords with any sense have insurance to cover themselves in case they have to find alternative accomadation(?). In my opinion I would guess the house is not habitable especially if there are bugs and its damp. Is there a CAb website she could look at or pop in to a letting agent and see what they think. Where in th country is she living?

It's unlikely that there'd be anything specific relating to this situation in her tenancy agreement - I'd keep phoning the CAB, make an appointment to see them and take the tenancy agreement along. I found
this
on the CAB website , looks like it'll be up to her to insist that the flat is unliveable while the repairs are carried out.

She doesn't use an agency, deals directly with the ll. Ill speak to her later and see if she got in touch with the cab

oh and she's in Glasgow

Unlikely that the landlord has any obligation to rehouse, unless it is say, unsanitary ie without fresh running water or loo disconnected etc. and insurance wouldn't cover it if the problem is longstanding. Tenancy agreements alone don't really cover this sort of eventuality.

They could try environmental health I suppose. Otherwise do they rent privately direct or through an agency. If the latter they may be able to negotiate on their behalf.

This is probably of no help but when we lived in a rented house the bolier packed up and the landlord was very slow to fix it.

In the end i rang around every whjere i could think of just to get some info to threaten him with.

It was hard to find anything but there is apparently some housing act or something (sorry don't know more than that) and i just basically rang the landlord and told him i wouldn't be paying him any rent until it was sorted out as as far as i was concerned the house was not fit to live in.
He got a move on then. In the end it took him a week and so i underpaid his rent by 100 pounds, he moaned but i stuck to it and he conceeded.

Hayls, your sister needs expert housing advice and as turquoise has pointed out if she gets an appointment with the CAB she needs to take her tenancy agreement. Dealing with private landlords can be very difficult and even if your sister has rights regarding getting the repair done by the landlord it may be essential that she negotiates with landlord initially as however the law stands ultimately s/he has potentially the power to make your sister homeless. Obviously I am not accussing all private landlords of this but your sister does need to be aware. I would imagine she has an assured short hold tenancy but this needs to be clarified and at the end of the tenancy period usually with two months notice from landlord tenant can be given notice. I am not trying to alarm you but it is very important that your sister is aware of the potential problem. Go to a specialist housing solicitor or CAB.

Before anyone proffers any advice, remember that Scotland has its own legal system and laws. What applies here may not apply there. Your sister really needs to check her tenancy agreement and take it with her when she contacts any advice centre.

She could also look here .

An alternative Hayls. Your sister could pay for and undertake the work her/himself, if the landlord agrees. Protected tenants and local authority and registered social landlords tenants have the right to carry out improvements themselves, with their landlord's written consent.
If negotiation fails the tenant could take one or more of the following courses of action:-

As nutcracker pointed out: use the rent to pay for repairs. Remember that this is a risky course of action, unless the correct procedure is carefully followed. The tenant must not simply withhold rent

to use rent to pay for repairs, or to offset the cost of repairs against arrears, your sister must carefully follow (in order) the steps below:-

give the landlord notice of the disrepair and a reasonable time to remedy it; then

inform the landlord (preferably in writing) that she will do the repair her unless the landlord complies with her/his obligations; then

allow a further reasonable period for the landlord to do the work; then

obtain three estimates for the cost of the work from reputable builders; then

write to the landlord again, enclosing copies of the estimates and reminding him of his obligation to do the work, giving a further reasonable period to carry it out. The letter should warn that, otherwise, the tenant will do the work herself and deduct the cost from rent; then, if there is no response

arrange for the contractor who gave the lowest estimate to do the work, and obtain (and send to the landlord) receipts, with a request for payment; then

if the landlord does not pay, the tenant may deduct the cost from the rent (but not other charges such as service charges), then send the landlord a breakdown of the amount and period of the rent to be withheld.

As you can see this is a lengthy process and it may be in your sisters interest to simply start negotiating with her landlord to get the work he has agreed needs doing done sooner.

Beyond this comes

take court action

get the local authority to take action

contact the local government or independent housing ombudsman

. HTH

Freckle, good point hadn't taken on board location.

Freckle - have you seen the help me get my deposit back thread?

No. Will have a look.

Ok, just sopke to her again and the situation is that there has been aleak that they were slow to identify (water flowing into flat for 2 days) and they've removed the wall back to the brick so that when she's in the bath she's right next to bricks, pipes and lots of bugs- she's had cockroaches and beetles scuttling about. The LL says he intends to leave it for 2 weeks until it has dried out and in the meantime they have to put up with it, surely meaning the dampness will continue. The floorboards have got soaked and sh's worried that they'll collapse on her.

And he reckons that the carpet will dry out and still be usable!!!
Her bf is phoning later so I@ll see how she gets on...

Sorry butI don't think she'll be able to claim any rehousing based on that alone I'm afraid, although perhaps Scottish law is more in her favour. He probably has to leave it to dry out before any work to rectify the damage can be done. If he has found the source of leak and done remedial work then that would probably suffice from his point of view. tbh we had a problem with leaks in bathrooms and it took a lot more than 2 days worth of water damage before any significant damage was done, but i'm sure this varies. Hold fire on the carpet too, ideally it may need replacing but again probably any insurance company would wait and see.

However, if there is an infestation she could still call Environmental Health or whatever the Scottish equivalent is. If it needs fumigating they may not be able to remain living htere whilst it is carried out.

Floorboards won't collapse simply because they are wet. The joists underneath are what is holding everything up. In any case it takes a long time for a board to rot away and that's generally with constant wet.

It probably makes sense for things to be dried up before closing up the wall again. Why doesn't your sis suggest to the landlord that he pays for an industrial heater or something similar to be run all day in the bathroom to dry it out more quickly.