Repair problems in rented properties
Sadly more common than it should be. Here are five tips which maybe you didn’t know:
1. The law says that your landlord must keep your property in proper repair.
Your landlord is obliged by law to keep the structure of your rented property, and the installations for the supply of gas, water, electricity, sanitation and space and water heating in good repair. This applies to ALL tenancies where the term is less than seven years. The relevant law is section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
2. You need to TELL your landlord if your property is in disrepair
You can’t expect your landlord to do anything about the disrepair if they have not been told about it. You need to do a letter setting it all out clearly, and ask him to deal with it. Keep a copy. Even if you tell your landlord and he says he will deal with it, it is best to confirm this in writing. Otherwise it may be hard to prove that he had notification of the problem.
3. Your local authority can help
If you ask them, the environmental health department of your Local Authority will come out and do an inspection of your property (although if they are busy you may have to wait a bit). If they find any ‘cateogry one hazards’ they will serve an improvement notice on your landlord ordering him to bring the property up to the required standard.
4. If your landlord refuses to do the repair works, you can get them done and deduct the money from your rent
You need to be careful about doing this however, and there is a procedure you need to follow. I have a page explaining this in the tenants section of Landlord Law.
5. You have legal obligations to keep the property in repair as well as your landlord
For example you need to look after the property and ensure that small problems do not turn into big ones. This means letting your landlord know about something before it gets worse and more expensive to repair.
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There is a lot more information for tenants about disrepair in my Tenant Law site.
I just had a long chat with our environmental health lads following a phone call from an irate woman complaining of mice. She called out pest control who did the usual with the poison but couldnt put too much down because she has a young child. She felt it was the landlord’s responsibility but pest control couldnt dteremine the cause of the problem. Which raised some interesting questions.
At what point does infestation become a breach of Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act?
At what point does it come under Environmental Protection Act notices?
What if the infestation is caused by tenant’s cleanliness?
Having said that, most of us have had mice at some point, regardless of how clean we are. The problem often is, as EH explained to me today, is that you can have a handful of the furry critters and before you realise you have a problem you have 500.
Also in flats they can eminate from a variety of sources but infest the entire block. Would that make the landlord of a block liable?
It seems to me that in order to make any person responsible for a problem you have to clarify the source of it. With things like defective boilers tenants will quite rightly point to the landlord but the landlord usually comes back with accusations about the way the tenant uses it.
Questions Questions
I did a post for tenants on vermin here http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2010/08/30/tenants-legal-help-%E2%80%93-vermin-who-is-responsible/ which explains pretty well what my view is.
Which can be summed by by saying that it depends on whose fault it was, and if it is no-ones fault, it depends on when the infestation started. If it started before the tenant moved in, the landlord is responsbile, otherwise it is down to the tenants. If no-one knows, you have problems!