Landord accused,Loss of earnings, Refund of rents, killer boiler, Murder case court,

[LIBERTO]

Landord accused,Loss of earnings, Refund of rents, killer boiler, Murder case court,





Hi all

Some advice would be great. cheers

I have been renting a flat in London with a 12 months AST contract, running from april to april. I am now in the after 6 months period and both can give a 2 months notice to leave. I do not want to leave.

3 days ago the boiler broke down. I informed the landlord (who is running a property agency!). He ask me to contact his "handyman" working for him to fix the boiler. As this one was unavailable he sent someone else, a plumber, who use to work for him but not anymore...

When checking the boiler he refused to service it saying it was too old, in a non ventilated room and he said that previously the boiler had been serviced by someone who rewired the cables in such a way that it could electrocute anyone in the kitchen!!

It was in shock to find out I had been leaving in a dangerous place , possibly dying by electrocution or monoxyde carbone. He refused to do anything and said to the landlord that the boiler should be replaced.

This was on Wednesay 14th morning and I have not got any news from the landlord, although I sent a recorded letter yesterday (15TH).

MY QUESTION
Obvisouly the boiler has been faulty since I moved in and no yearly check has been done. The boiler replacement may convince the landlord to give me 2 months notice to fix the problem with more ease.

Can he give me notice like this? Can he evict me?

I have decided to pay the rent until the day it broke down and 1 pound per day as a gesture of good will, but in effect the full rent is suspended ...

At the moment, I have no hot water and no heating, christmas is coming and I have to leave outside the property.

Can I take the landlord to court for seriously putting my life at risk and others in the building (the same boiler may be in place)? Could I ask for a compensation ? ask for the full repayment of the rent since 2001, on the grounds that the flat should have not been rented at all?

With all that what is the risk of being kicked out?

Any personal/thoughts and advice welcome victor

[Ericthelobster]

Can I take the landlord to court for seriously putting my life at risk and others in the building (the same boiler may be in place)? Could I ask for a compensation ? ask for the full repayment of the rent since 2001, on the grounds that the flat should have not been rented at all?You can't ask for compensation for what 'might have happened', the law doesn't work like that. Obviously the LL needs to replace the boiler pronto, you could and should request compensation for the time for which you are without heating/hotwater - eg cost of alternative accomodation? Even if he gets the hump over this and decides to evict you, as you say, he can't give you less than 2 months' notice, so he'll still need to get the boiler sorted out quickly in the meantime. And you could choose to make life potentially very awkward for him by high-tailing it down to the local council and pointing out you have no gas certificate...

[Raggy]

It's possible that the "plumber" didn't know his a..e from a hole in the ground and took the easy way out - rather than try to mend something you just frighten the customer. Why don't you call the original "handyman" and ask him to take a look (hoping of course, that he's a Corgi registered handyman)?

[LIBERTO]

thank you for taking time to reply. When the handyman tried to see what was wrong, he spotted the lack of electricity in the timer... eventually we realised that the fuse went off. so we turned it twice on , and twice it went off because of a short circuit! I could not believe it... a short circuit due to wrong re-wiring in a GAS APPLICANCE like a boiler... the whole building could blow out...

Actually I have the feeling that the landlord's silence so far (still no come back since wednesday and the registered letter poster thursday and delivered by friday 11.50 am) means that he will want the first handyman to have another qucik fix... avoiding 1,500 GBP costs for a new boiler and compensation (in rent) plus over costs over christmas...


Or else, a nice letter with 2 months notice saying: "please vacate the premises"

It does not look good I can tell you.

Also having researched the subject, I realise that the tenant has actually few rights and can be easily evicted. not paying rent seems to be dangerous as an eviction request could be granted on the grounds of rent arrears...

Oh dear, seems like time to move and buy my place...

But if the landlord ever tries to say "leave" I will teach him a lesson, by contacting the Health and Safety council department and put pressure on the corgi handyman...


Not much to gain i am afraid for me, but honestly when one is a property agent getting 350 pounds per week rental and knows the trick, a little f****g consideration for the tenants. I do not mind to pay but people put money first at all costs... life is hard enough not to suffer from this

anyway, glad I can defend myself and take time to defend my rights and comon sense and socially acceptable behaviour...

Imagine distressed people with little education, they would be run over again and again and risk dying in their own home because of someone else's f****g greed.

The only thing is that I was considering make an offer to buy the flat as actually i like leaving there... a bit ridiculous not?

What to do know?


still no hot water and heating, christmas looks chilling...

also before going i was advised to pay the rent for this month but to a seperate account pending works being completed, which could be helpful in case we go to court...

Please, do you think it is worth to go to the extra mile (bailiffs) to leave?
for instance, i move everything BEFORE the day the baylifts come, and the day they come I open the door and leave with a single suitcase... ahahaha


no???

[Owen Money]

If the fitter who turned up was CORGI registered he would have condemned the boiler if it was lethal. He doesn't need to give a reason.

For an electrical problem in a room sealed boiler nowadays you need an electrician even if the fitter can sort it.

[LIBERTO]

Because he was not working for the landlord anymore and obviously did not want to cause "trouble" the handyman told me "I will not put a red sticker on it but I should" Basically, he did not want to do anything with it anymore.

At first i thought he was a bit lasy but when the short circuit (inside the boiler) blew the fuse twice, I knew he was serious... but not serious enough to put a red sticker, which apparently is irreversible...

Soooo, I guess the landlord will try to come with handyman number one, for a quick fix... big rental revenues and return... I will keep you posted.

[Raggy]

OK, so the electrical supply to the boiler has a short circuit. It shouldn't happen but things do go wrong from time to time. It could be something as simple as a wire that's come loose and is now shorting to earth. It doesn't necessarily mean that the whole boiler needs to be replaced. As for blowing up the whole building .... the fuse is doing its job and shutting off the power in a fault situation. Get in someone who knows what they're doing and find out what's wrong.