Landlord shitting on you : advice needed

[YUUP]

Brief summary.

Lived in a one bedroom flat for 3 yrs 3 months.

Roughly £25000 in rent X 1.42 in US dollars

Have done all minor repairs myself up until recently.
Last estate agent visit I thought fuck it, they can sort bathroom fan , grout, siliconing etc.
Reported it, got a reply from landlord, "sorry , we're away for a few weeks, sort it when we get back"

Well. We are now 4 months later, and not a thing has been done.

A week ago my boiler packed up, no heating or hot water . Still no plumber, boiler engineer.

What's the play? I'm thinking go to agents tomorrow, tell them I want a month rent free for the aggro etc. Bottom line i don't pay the rent next month. Reimburse me lost works days etc

Thanks
also just typed this waiting for The Big Short to download, hope it's better than above
I don't live in Cambodia Pooh
Also took some sertaline, only thing in the locker....

[GrenadaRoger]

read your lease contract for responsibility for repairs...

the contract should lay out whose obligation those repairs are, the renter's method for reporting needed repairs, plus probably specifies a means for resolving disputes (arbitration)

if your contract has no provision, search online for the renters/commercial code that applies to your area...there is probably code that specifies whose obligation those repairs are when the contract does not specify

lastly, your information re: rent paid, 25000 pounds. is probably meaningless (barring specific provisions in your area's renter code); usually the amount of consideration paid is of no consequence in resolving/judging contract disputes...also, 25000 paid i take it was the cumulative amount paid during your 39 months of occupance

[Pooh]

Buy a house.

[YUUP]

Thanks for the advice, I'll give Florida a miss .

[4Dragons]

Thanks for the advice, I'll give Florida a miss .

For a grand a month you can live like the bleeding queen in Florida.

[Alvin Finklestein]

I am only licensed to practice in California, Nevada, Washington, and New Mexico, so I cannot comment definitively on laws in the UK. I will say that US laws tend to be fairly uniform when it comes to the 50 states, regarding matters of neglected repair. I will be answering this from the point of view of California law.

The tenant has a right to timely repairs to his unit. There are two types of repairs: Urgent, and non-urgent.

Urgent repairs (no heat in winter, no A/C in summer, no water, no hot water, no electricity, no working toilet, major plumbing issues, etc) must be performed within a matter of a few days of notification of the landlord. If the landlord does not take action, the tenant has a right to hire an outside repairman at market rates, and can deduct that from his rent.

Similarly, the tenant also has the right to hire someone to perform non-urgent repairs, but only after a substantial amount of time has passed from notifying the landlord. In most cases, this time period is 30 days, but it can be fewer depending upon the necessity of the repair. For example, a broken stove, while not an urgent matter, should be repaired in less than 30 days, while a refrigerator with a broken handle would more likely falll under the 30 day guideline. Much of this is decided on-the-fly in court, so you should wait 30 days for non-urgent repairs before hiring your own repairman.

Please be aware of the following:

1) You CANNOT perform the repairs yourself and bill the landlord for your services. You must hire a LICENSED third party. Avoid hiring family members, for obvious reasons.

2) Make sure you are getting approximately a market rate repair charge (or cheaper) by calling around. If you substantially overpay, you may not be allowed to deduct all of it.

3) DOCUMENT DOCUMENT DOCUMENT. Phone calls are not good for "proving" that you notified the landlord of the repair necessity. You should send e-mails, text, or even visit the landlord/manager in person and record yourself requesting the repair. You will need this in court if the landlord attempts to evict you for deducting from the rent.

4) You cannot typically deduct from the rent for related damages, such as time missed from work, pain and suffering, loss of productivity, etc.

5) Do not be afraid to do this! If you document your repair requests and they are ignored, you have the right to do this, and the landlord will lose every time in court. Judges do not like landlords who avoid their obligation to fix things.

6) You can only deduct rent in the case of ignored urgent repairs. So if you're without water for 5 days due to a plumbing issue they won't fix, you can deduct both the rent for the 5 days and the cost of the repair. But you can't do that for a broken stove, or at least I wouldn't suggest it. In non-urgent cases, you should only deduct the cost of the repair, and make sure you have receipts to prove it.


Again, I suggest you verify that UK law allows you to do this. Call up your local housing authority and ask these questions, or research local laws online.

[YUUP]

I forgot to mention , my ex married a man who's dad was stabbed by Charlie Krays driver. He's only been dead 5 years so u Floridian's are on the list. DRUFF DRUFF help!!!!