Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Flip

Original poster

Issues with letting agency - please advise on what to do!

24 replies

LaCerbiatta · 21/04/2011 08:21

We've moved to a new rented house 2 months ago and so far I'm very unimpressed with the letting agency.

Whenever there's a maintenance issue that is clear they / the landlord are responsible for, they will sort it out straight away, very efficiently. However, when there's an issue for which we need them to contact the landlord, they never come back to us. When we insist, the response is always the same: 'oh we've just heard from her, the answer is no'.

I'm getting really pissed off with this as I don't think they're contacting the landlord at all. I've asked them for the landlord contact details but naturally they're not giving them to us.

So yesterday I found the name of the landlord on our contract and being a very unusual name I decide to google it. And bingo! found her on linked in (I'm sure it's the same person from basic details we know both from the agency and from a neighbour).

So, should I contact her via linked in? I'm worried she'll be really unimpressed with the tenant 'harassing' her when she's paying a fortune to an agency not to be contacted and have to sort out petty issues...

What do you think?

TIA!

OP posts:

ChristinedePizan · 21/04/2011 08:24

What are the issues if they are dealing with maintenance ones though?

I'm trying to think about how I would feel if my tenant contacted me on Linked In (I'm not a landlord). I suppose the worst that could happen is that she ignores your message.

Original poster

LaCerbiatta · 21/04/2011 08:33

The issues we've had so far are:

the bathroom doesn't have a shower. We will install one regardless but seeing that it will add value to the house as we can't take it with us it's not unreasonable to ask the landlady to pay for half.
The garden doesn't have a lawn, it's a meter high in weeds. Again we will put a lawn in regardless, but we feel the landlord should at least pay for half.

I don't think this is too unreasonable.... I'm feeling really frustrated with the idea that the landlord might respond positively to this, but just hasn't been contacted at all!

OP posts:

LynetteScavo · 21/04/2011 08:35

I think you will royally pee her off and the answer will still be no.

As you say the issues are petty. They agency, who you you say have efficiently sorted out everything they are contracted to do, are probably fed up with getting an earful from the landlord for bothering her with these petty requests.

You need to asked yourself how important these issues really are to you.

Original poster

LaCerbiatta · 21/04/2011 08:36

Just to add that I think her response would be positive from the initial conversations we had via de agency before signing the contract. She was always very quick to respond, very accomodating, agreed to lower the rent because there weren't any white goods, which she didn't have to do, etc

OP posts:

LynetteScavo · 21/04/2011 08:38

Ah, x-posted. You knew the property didn't have a shower or lawn before you moved in. I wouldn't dream of asking for half the landlord to pay half for the shower. I would just be happy if they gave permission, which I would have checked before signing a tenancy agreement. (I have been in this situation).

Same goes for the lawn.

LynetteScavo · 21/04/2011 08:40

So why didn't you bring up these issues before you moved in?

If she is so nice, contact her. At worst she will ignore you, or say no. At best she will cough up a load of cash.

Original poster

LaCerbiatta · 21/04/2011 08:41

Lynette, to the very well off landlord (from her linked in profile) they are indeed petty. For us, who have practically no spare money the money for half a shower and half of putting the lawn make a huge difference. They really are expenses we'll strugle to aford.

But, having a shower crouching down every morning andtaking ages just to rinse the hair off and having to take the children out because we can't entertain them in our own garden, doesn't really make that much sense ....

OP posts:

Original poster

LaCerbiatta · 21/04/2011 08:44

We should have brought up the garden issue. I think because it wasn't really overgrown, being winter, it didn't strike us as important....

As for the shower, it wasn't working when we viewed the property - the switch think that changes from tap to shower had was broken and we couldn't test it.

OP posts:

Original poster

LaCerbiatta · 21/04/2011 08:44

shower head

OP posts:

befuzzled · 21/04/2011 08:45

This is par for the course sadly in my experience

Original poster

LaCerbiatta · 21/04/2011 08:46

What do you mean befuzzled?

OP posts:

LynetteScavo · 21/04/2011 08:51

There is a shower, but it's broken?. Then she should pay to have it mended/replaced. I thought you wanted to install a shower where there isn't one at all. TBH, I would have put my foot down about this before moving in, but hey.

ChristinedePizan · 21/04/2011 08:57

If the shower is broken then that is a maintenance issue. Garden is a bit of a grey area - you should have raised it when you moved in really. Even if it was winter, it would have been obvious that it wasn't turfed. What does it say in your contract about the garden?

Itchywoolyjumper · 21/04/2011 09:59

YAB a bit U. Your landlady is paying the agency to manage her property and if she wanted you to contact her directly she would have made her details known to you. Its quite likely she would feel a bit harrassed if you got in touch after finding her on the internet.
However, I've been a tenant in private lets for years and the only time I ever had problems was in the one agency managed place we had.
In your situation I would be worried that if I went ahead with work that the letting agent had vetoed I would lose my deposit if it had to be returned to its original state.
Would cutting the weeds down and running a lawnmower over the garden work?
If the shower/bath switch thing is broken get the agency to fix it. They should replace all the bits as well and then all you need is something to fix it to the wall, which should be cheap to put up and take down.

Itchywoolyjumper · 21/04/2011 10:06

Oh I'm so sorry! I'm a bit of an AIBU nut and I thought thats where you had posted, hence the YABU
I don't think it would be a great idea to contact the landlady direct, though.

Original poster

LaCerbiatta · 21/04/2011 10:20

The shower was broken when we moved in so we couldn't check the pressure. It was only after it was fixed (after we signed the contract and moved in) that we realised that it wasn't really a shower, just a hose attached to the tap iyswim.]

If the inventory calls it a shower does it have to be functional as a shower?

I know I'm being a bit U and it does feel wrong to contact the landlord like this, but surely it isn't right for the agency to lie about contacting them...

OP posts:

Original poster

LaCerbiatta · 21/04/2011 10:22

But I agree it's our fault for not sorting it out before we moved in. You're all right!

OP posts:

Itchywoolyjumper · 21/04/2011 12:51

I don't really trust letting agencies very much either but there really isn't any proof that they didn't speak to her, you just have a feeling. Pushing like this will cause trouble and make it harder if you need any favours later on and will make them less likely to be lenient if you damage anything accidentally. I think you'll just need to accept that they've said no, but there are ways round it. You just have to be careful that what you do doesn't damage the place beyond repair and be willing to pay to make good if it causes damage.

We've got something like this in our house and it works really well:

www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9986588&fh_view_size=10&fh_sort_order=1&fh_sort_by=_price_rrp_min&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB&fh_search=shower+taps&fh_eds=%C3%9F&fh_refview=search&isSearch=true#BVRRWidgetID

Speak to a plumber but it should be easy enough to fit. If you keep the original taps you can replace them when you leave, or if they ask you to before that. A spot of polyfilla and a wee lick of paint will sort out any holes you need to make in the wall.
If the bathroom isn't tiled to full height you can get round shower rails.

Original poster

LaCerbiatta · 21/04/2011 14:14

Thanks Itchy, that's really kind of you!

We already have something like that though. But when we stand up and lift the shower head the pressure's gone...

I think I won't contact the landlady exactly for the reasons you gave: we are not sure whether the agency contacted her or not and it will only make our relation mor complicated...

OP posts:

Itchywoolyjumper · 21/04/2011 15:59

Its really annoying though, from what you're saying it sounds as though the letting agents represented the house would have a working shower when you moved in and it clearly doesn't. What did they say at the time about the shower not working?
I don't know a lot about plumbing but that type of showers shouldn't need a lot of water pressure to work. If the shower was working previously and now its not the water pressure must have dropped quite a bit. If this is the case its a maintenance issue and the letting agents need to arrange to have it fixed as it can have implications for he boiler and whatnot.
They are slippery buggers a lot these letting agents so email rather than phone so that its all in writing and ask that the landlady is cc'd into the replies.

Sarsaparilllla · 21/04/2011 16:03

If the shower doesn't work then it's a maintenence issue, maybe the lettign agents aren't understanding you if you're talking about installing a new shower

If the garden was an issue you should've mentioned it before you moved in, if it was of imprtance to the landlord they'd have done something about it, I can't see they will now

I don't think contacting the landlord directly is appropriate, they've got a letting agency for a reason and I doubt it'll do anything expect put their back up!

sueglitter · 21/04/2011 16:05

I would be a bit careful by contacting her directly because its a bit pushy tbh and a bit like a stalker sorry hope you know what I mean. I would send a letter to the agency recorded and in the letter I would a copy of the letter one for the owner and one for the agent. I would ask the agent to forward the letter to her and ask in writing that this has been done. I think the key here is as you said you are willing to pay for half so you are giving the landlady something for free really. I'm sure the agent is just lazy and thats why they have not come back to you!

SindyW · 25/04/2011 21:25

If your shower has no pressure it is not a simple job to fit a new one. You need an electric one (if your mains pressure is strong enough) or else new tanks in the loft or a high pressure twin shower pump fitted. All three options are expenive in both parts and labour. Just fitting a new shower valve will not alter the pressure and one of the fancy german ones may make it worse as they are designed for high pressure european plumbing systems.

MaggieW · 26/04/2011 14:28

First of all, don't contact the landlord direct. And don't install anything that will alter/damage walls/tiling/bathroom without getting written permission first, otherwise you may find you won't get your bond back as you'll be liable for reinstating things. I suspect, as SindyW says, the shower problem may be more involved than you imagine so proceed cautiously. Have you had a plumber give an opinion?

I wouldn't expect a landlord to pay for/contribute to something such as a shower (unless it's broken), or garden overhaul but that doesn't stop you asking. Really you should have noted on the inventory that the shower wasn't working properly at time of inspection and ditto that the garden needed work. If it's a metre in weeks now, I'll guess it's in your lease to maintain the garden to the state it was in when you took over ie not let it get overgrown, so you may be in breach of your lease by not keeping the weeds under control.

You mention that "when there's an issue for which we need to contact the landlord" - but you say you've only been there for two months - so reading between the lines I'm guessing the agents/landlord have heard from you many times during this period and aren't really prepared to show much goodwill towards you, especially as you say the landlord was accommodating in terms of reducing rent etc prior to you moving in. I also don't think you can make statements saying that the agents are lying when you have no evidence of this.

Flip