Rental property nightmare

[Tenantindespair]

I’m pulling my hair out! We have recently moved into a rental and are having never ending problems. The boiler is 30 years old and there are no numbers on the thermostat; just pen marks. An engineer has come out to say it’s an extremely outdated system but not technically broken and will be very inefficient to run. He’s advised we listen for a click on the thermostat to tell us it has turned on, but it will then take 5 or 6 hours for the radiators to come on. The problem is it’s impossible to tell if the clicking is us turning it on or off!

When we viewed there was no flooring in the conservatory; we were told a carpet fitter was coming to fit carpet the day after we viewed. We moved in to find no flooring.

Our window cleaner has discovered the gutters are blocked and grass is growing in them - one gutter has come off and is causing a leak in the conservatory, which we think has damaged the previous flooring hence why it had been removed.

We have spoken to the estate agents by phone and email asking when the carpet will be installed to be told they have been trying to get in touch with the landlord but have heard nothing back from him.

I went to take a shower this morning to find that the drain was blocked and both the shower and sink weren’t draining. There was a plunger left in this bathroom so I’m presuming this is an ongoing issue.

We have gone to plumb in the washing machine and dishwasher to find that the washing machine water supply taps don’t seem to have any water to them no matter what we turn - in the process we have also discovered that there is a pipe dripping under the sink.

We plugged in the new wifi box to discover it won’t connect so we have no wifi (not the landlords fault obviously but so frustrating!)

It feels like we can’t win and whatever we touch in this house seems not to work! We have now had the keys for 6 weeks, but only officially moved in this weekend as we’ve been slowly moving and trying to sort things.

I am 30 weeks pregnant, have gone on maternity leave early with stress (partly house related but also had some unexplained bleeding earlier in my pregnancy). DH is in a hugely stressful period at work and has been working crazy hours, and all this on top just feels like too much!

I was so excited to move into this house, but since Saturday we’ve been sat cold, with no wifi (and awful phone signal so can’t hotspot) no working washing machine or dishwasher, and no carpet in what should be DD’s new playroom. I’d love to climb into a hot bath now but it turns out the pilot light had gone out on the boiler today so we have no hot water. DH has got it going again but I have no idea how long it will take to heat up.

I’m probably being whingy but it’s so frustrating and I don’t know what we’re supposed to do now if the landlord isn’t responding to the letting agent! Between the rent, deposit etc we have given the landlord nearly £4000 and it all feels so unfair. What do we do?!

No helpful info or suggestions, I'm afraid, but yes, that sounds utterly crap. And 30 weeks pregnant! You have my sympathy - it's so frustrating.

When did you last speak to the letting agents? Who sent the engineer to look at the boiler - was it the letting agent or did you call someone in yourselves?

Are you able to get a portable heater of some kind to at least keep one room warm?

Your LL is taking the piss.

Are the electrical and gas certificates up to date? If not, the letting agent is probably liable as well as the LL. If the pilot light is going out, I would suspect the gas certificate is out of date.

You have the right to have repairs carried out 'in a reasonable time' (not sure what that means, but I would think within a few weeks), per the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. There are minimum heating standards for private rentals.

This is a useful link:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-privately/during-your-tenancy/dealing-with-repairs/#:~:text=Contact%20your%20local%20council%20and,contact%20your%20nearest%20Citizens%20Advice.

I’m trying so hard to be positive but it’s really starting to wear me down! I just want to get everything sorted and get back into a routine with washing etc. but it feels like we’re in limbo waiting for so many things and I feel powerless!

I spoke to the letting agents today who have said they will keep trying to get in touch with the landlord but haven’t said anything beyond that. The letting agent sent the engineer which was the same day, and we managed to get the heating working for a day but we’ve done the same thing today and it isn’t working. Hoping now DH has got the pilot light back on it will kick in but a bit worried this is going to be a regular occurrence!

Luckily there is a gas fire in the lounge so we’ve had that on and been able to get warm in there. We slept in our dressing gowns the first night here and then managed to get the heating working last night so had a good sleep. I’ve just checked the radiators and they seem to be heating up now so fingers crossed it stays on!!

Is there an immersion heater for an alternative hot water supply?

Be the squeaky wheel and complain every single time. There are legal requirements on the landlord regarding heat and hot water. Eventually the letting agents will have to put pressure on the landlord.

We’ve been told the gas safety certificate has been done. The day we were due to collect our keys it was delayed until quite late in the day because they said they were waiting for confirmation from the landlord that it had been done - but we haven’t seen a copy of it. I don’t know how it’s passed a gas safety certificate - it looks ancient and appears to be on its last legs! (Though I will admit to knowing nothing about boilers! But the gas engineer did not seem impressed with it).

Thank you for the link I will have a read through.

You poor things - this is not acceptable! Your LL is taking the piss and I would be complaining every day about all the things not working properly.

Honestly, I would be threatening to withhold rent if things don't improve.

just asked DH who said there is an immersion heater. The heating and water seems to have kicked back in now thankfully but I will remember this for next time!

It's not good enough. Make a list of everything and get some advice from Citizens advice about how to take it firearms. Good luck

Sorry forward that should say

You are entitled to a copy of the gas certificate, iirc. Insist on seeing it - the letting agent should have at least a photocopy in their records for a new rental if they're doing a half-decent job.

Think ll has 28 days to produce the safety certificates and proof of the deposit being protected in a scheme.

thank you all for responding it makes me feel a little less alone in this! We have been stepping quite lightly/trying not to be too pushy re carpet etc up until now because we didn’t want to come across as difficult tenants and we hadn’t actually moved in so most of the issues hadn’t become apparent. Obviously now we’ve moved in and realised how much is wrong we’re a lot more worried especially as the estate agent have said they haven’t heard anything from the landlord who they’ve now been chasing for weeks.

I have just reported the leak on the online portal and have had a message to say it has been instructed to an emergency contractor and they will call us within 30 minutes! They were very efficient with the boiler repair too so that side of things does seem to be good.

we have managed to log on to the tenancy portal and there is a copy of the gas safety certificate there which is positive, though a bit strange given the issues we’ve been having.

I'd be reporting the gas boiler issues in detail to the agent.
I'd also check out who issued the certificate.

Would Shelter be any help? Sounds like you've got a slum LL .............

Careful! Immersion heater is VERY expensive to run.

As a tenant of reasonably high end house rentals for last 22 years we have rented 2 complete lemons out of many houses. Neither were obvious lemons on viewing

House number 1 had a persistent mouse problem for months and the boiler fell off the wall ! LL was a complete twat- thought he could make money by buying up houses constantly but wanting to do all repairs himself-,despite having no qualifications in electrics, plumbing etc and he did them as he said to us 'when I'm good and ready' - these houses were not cheap!! Detached houses in good areas.

Housecnumber 2 - window fell out first time we opened it- conservatory roof was leaking and at the 5 month point there was a plumbing leak under kitchen floor meaning the whole floor was going to have to come up for weeks. (As contractor told me)? Also we were getting electric shocks from certain sockets.

In both cases we luckily had a 6 month break clause in the contracts, got our references , gave notice and then held back last months rent for deposit on next place- told them they would have to take it from the deposit rental scheme as we needed to get out asap. We are very good tenants and they had not sorted issues out in a remotely timely way to any satisfaction , both houses gad issues at every turn ..Neither said a word, nor did the agent - as they knew both houses had been very poorly maintained. In fact the 2nd agent told me they had no business renting it out and refused to re rent it. Turned out they had been trying to sell it for months and months and it had failed several surveys.

A little update!
Things were looking up for a while, we managed to get the pilot light back on the boiler. Before that happened we had submitted the problem to maintenance and a gas engineer came out - by which time we’d got it working again. He said he’d recommend that the whole system be replaced and the boiler be relocated but he would have to note in his report that the heating was working when he arrived.

We haven’t had any issues since and the heating has been very hot if anything but we’ve been scared to turn it off in case it stops working! Sure enough, we turned the temperature down this afternoon and the pilot light has gone off, can’t get it working again, so no heating or hot water yet again!

The valves behind the washing machine and dishwasher are broken and they leak if either are connected so I’ve still not got a working washing machine or dishwasher - and am down to my last pair of clean leggings! And the sink and shower in the en-suite are still blocked despite our best snaking/plunging/drain unblocking products.

It feels like we get things working for a couple of days and then they break again; it’s so disheartening.

I’m not sure what to do now - while the heating issues are a nightmare, I don’t want to keep reporting the pilot light going out if we then manage to get it back on by the time the engineer is out. I don’t want the landlord to think we are making call outs for no reason or just being difficult as we’ve had so many problems already.

we are calling out a plumber tomorrow which we’ll pay for ourselves to hopefully sort the washing machine issue properly as I think our attempts to fix it have made things worse! That should be a relatively cheap fix (hopefully!) but the heating issues are a different kettle of fish especially as the consensus from both engineers so far is that the system needs replacing.

I’m not sure whether there’s anything we can do though if the boiler is technically working - although very inefficiently and for a couple of days at a time. It’s just soul destroying. DH is out to work tomorrow and I’m looking at another day at home with no heating, hot water, washing machine or dishwasher unless I can get the pilot light back on (it’s only DH whose managed it so far!)

Trying to be positive but it’s killing me!!

That’s all just so crap. The landlord should be ashamed but I doubt they will care.
Couk you contact your council’s environmental health service? And tell them you suspect your property would fail to meet the Housing Health and Safety Rating System requirements? No reliable heating could fall into that category.

It’s Unlikely to win you the landlord as a friend but really, will you want to stay there beyond 6 months if it has no effective heating and plumbing issues??

It’s such a nightmare. DD has been on holiday with her grandparents while we’ve had the heating issues thankfully but is home now so we really do need the heating to be working - she’s only 2 and I don’t want her to be cold. I’m terrified the boiler will break properly and it’ll take ages for them to call someone out to fix it and then days to fit a new one.

Ideally we really don’t want to move at the 6 month mark because we’ll have an 8 week old baby at that point and this move seems to have really unsettled DD as it is, and cost us a fortune but we will have to if we’re still having these problems! I’m praying they’re teething issues and we will manage to get it all sorted. But we are both getting incredibly frustrated and I think we are going to have to stop tiptoeing and be more forceful. I don’t want us to be thought of as nightmare tenants, but we really aren’t! We rented our last place for 3 years and I only ever had to contact the landlord once about an issue - which was rectified the next day! Missing the brand new boiler at our old house terribly!

DH has just managed to get the pilot light on so the heating will be working again shortly - thank goodness!

I am so sorry- some places are indeed complete lemons!

OMG! what part of UK are you in OP? you cannot be expected to live like that. the agent needs to get this all sorted out for you asap, infact, it should have all been sorted out before flat was put up for rent! Did you receive the annual gas maintenance certificate from agent????? is there carbon monoxide alarm for your safety?

My daughter having trouble with her landlord too. They been there 6+ years now, the landlord decided to catch up with upgrading kitchens, bathrooms and downstair wc.
All at the same time, since they started theyve been left with no water or heating last weekend, then a leak.
Followed up progress yesterday, the water turned off to connect the new bathroom. , then today no heating as somethings upset the boiler.
Tonight boiler blew, so no hot water, no heating, nowhere to do clothes washing, or wash school uniforms.
Theyre trying to fix tonight but builders say they need to replace it.
Her youngest is ill and is asthmatic, my daughter has bad lungs she was hospitalised with pneumonia a little while ago.
Shes broke, now with no water, she cant cook dinner.
Ive had to lend her money to get them hot food.

I told her to claim compensation, I'm worried sick. If i had enough money i would give it to her tell her to come here until its sorted.
I cant understand why they didn't sort accommodation out whilst this work went on. Absolutely disgusted.
I feel us poor folk are being treated despicably not just my daughter.
Im in buckinghamshire, shes in Nottingham!