Renewing contact - Can I ask estate agents to replace the carpets?

[Buriedalive]

We moved in a year ago. We were living 300 miles away and desperate to be around family, so as you can imagine, viewing properties were virtually impossible! Anyway, a house that a friend used to live in happened to pop up, my dad recommended it so we paid the application fee.
Upon signing the contract and seeing the inventory the house was quite a mess, but not to worry I thought, because the agency did warn me it may need some decorating, but this would be sorted.
A year later and I've nearly finished decorating the whole place my self! The only problem is, that's always been an issue is the carpets. The kitchen floor hadn't been put down properly so the fibreboard underneath has got wet and its now ruined. There's 3 iron marks at the top of the stairs on the landing, and one in my bedroom. There's also a big crack in the floor of the bathroom and what looks like a huge dried in cum stain on my bedroom floor we've managed to hide this.. I've spent quite a bit getting this place looking good, and I'm on a rolling contract atm. I'd have to pay fees to renew which I'm happy to do but there fees aren't cheap. Am I being rude expecting for them to fix this?

Do you have photos from when you moved in and is the damage to the carpets and flooring listed on the inventory from when you took the house on? Have you asked for permission to decorate?

Unfortunately there are some landlords who don't want to spend money on their property - ask, ask and keep asking. If you want to stay there you could say if the flooring is sorted out you'll sign a twelve month AST to give them some incentive. Horrible though the carpets are, the issues are more cosmetic. The water damage though insist on having fixed or there could be serious damp problems over time. They may try to blame you for it though.

We still have the inventory, and most the floors were rated poor. The kitchen had - floor not fitted properly. I've took before and after pictures of everything I've done to the place.

I've just spoke to the agency now and explained, she said they're going to have somebody call me in a few days to measure up! So that's a bonus.
Whether they call me back or not is another thing!

They also said decorating was fine, as long as we did it to a decent standard. So I've stuck with neutral.

does the landlord (the person with whom you have the contract) know anything about any of this? Especially the water damage which he/she needs to get fixed?

a more-than-fair swap would be no renewal fees; but if you are on a rolling contact (2 months notice to you) there shouldn't be any anyway.

Not sure if the landlord knows. We had some trouble when we first moved in with repairs. I had to call the council for help and they told me to get in touch with the landlord. The estate agent refused to give me his details, but they accidentally put them in the contract!

I can only write to him. I'm not even sure how I'd approach it. Would he be annoyed with me getting in touch? Deposit was taken from my friends for the iron marks but the carpet didn't get replaced.

I feel like a twat now. The kitchen floor wasn't put down properly. I closed the kitchen door and it ripped like paper. It got so bad we took it up and put our own down. That's when we noticed the fibre board. I never mentioned this because I was told the kitchen floor was my responsibility for ripping it.

Would I just be better writing to the landlord and explaining all this?

Wait and see what the agent comes back with. You are entitled to the contact details for the LL by law. If the agent fails to respond to you then you can contact the LL and explain the agent hasn't got back to you. Always follow conversations up with emails or letters so that you have a paper trail to refer to. If you do have to complain you can be completely factual about the lack of response.

Okay so you replaced the poor flooring in the kitchen but the subfloor was damaged and was before you replaced the vinyl, but you didn't mention it. Obviously you should have done. Is it still getting wet or has it now dried but shows sign of damage? If I were you I'd get the carpets replaced first then deal with the kitchen.

Well I've phoned them today to mention the carpets. I've got a name and times I called so I'll keep note of that. I've kept logs of all the previous times I've phoned. Would it be worth putting my request in writing too, so I have that as evidence?

I've phoned back to explain about the fibreboard. She didn't seem to interested but said she'll pass on the message.

I don't know if its still wet or not without taking up the floor, but the damage is done. The fibreboard as lumps in and is spongy were its gotten wet due to it being left for so long.

Definitely follow up in writing - refer to the phone conversation with X at Y time on Z date and state that you look forward to hearing from them soon.

wow, that agent is crooked. Be an informed tenant, know your rights, get landlord details. The agent is clearly doing nothing.

you also have obligations to behave in a tenant like manner, which includes informing the landlord of problems. As you couldn't do that due to the crooked agent, good you kept records of your attempts to do so; this protects you. And no, the floor ripped because it was badly laid. Closing the door is a normal thing to do!

the landlord has a big problem because the damage will now be very expensive as it wasn't fixed earlier. Although more fool him for not being more pro-active in keeping a check on things.

Thanks for the replies, they've helped a lot.
I'm going to get this letter sent off tomorrow. It pretty much explains what needs doing, what I've done, who and when I've informed them of things, so If I don't hear back by next week I'll forward it to the landlord.

This is my first time in PR. When we got the inventory they told us to sign and send back asap. My dad told me not to send it back as that's my evidence of what a state the property was in. I quickly realised why they wanted it back so quickly then! lol.

the floor ripped because it was badly laid. Closing the door is a normal thing to do

Exactly this. It is reasonable to expect to be able to close a door without damaging flooring unintentionally.

Haha, I know it sounded dumb, but when it ripped I posted elsewhere and was told it was my responsibility because I did it.. despite the floor being laid badly. I'd never PR before and had only been here a few weeks/months so didn't know much about were I stand.