Water damage and mould, next step???

[chrisfraser05]

Hi guys,

Hopefully someone could help me out here.

About 3 weeks ago we noticed some water marks appearing on our bedroom celing. Over night it got extemely bad and by the morning there was water running down all 4 walls and pooling by the light on the celing.

I should explain that the bedroom is a loft conversion so there is no attic and no loft space so the water was clearly coming from the rain outside.

I called the out of hours number for the letting agency (sunday morning) and they said somebody would come and look. Nobody came.

Monday morning I took some time off work and went to the letting agents and spoke to them explaining that we could see our own breath due to the amount of water in the air. We at our own cost obviously at this point had all the windows open and heaters maxxed out to try and help.

Someone came by about 4 on monday afternoon to look then returned on tuesday and apparently refixed some tiles. I spoke to the letting agent and they said any water would dry up within a day or so and to wait until another "big rain" to make sure nothing else came in before they'd discuss repainting.

On sat morning I had to ring the letting agents again as the water has been comming in again in exactly the same places and although they said leave it with them nobody has even been back in contact.

I have now tonight found the water has been getting into the back of our built in wardrobe and mould has formed on many items of clothing ruining alot of it including the £75 shoes of my partners meant for our wedding.


Firstly I'd like to know what you guys think I should do to put the pressure on the letting agents to get their fingers out, do I need to get an EHO in?

Secondly where do you guys think we stand with regards damages to our personal possetions as it has been through no fault of ours, infact if they had inspected properly and provided adiquate means of drying the damage it wouldn't have happened!

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long winded exp lol

[chrisfraser05]

Anyone???

Cheers

[dominic]

Have you spoken to the LL directly? He would definitely want to know that his property is not watertight, and (not so) slowly succumbing to damp, with parts of his house starting to rot....

If the property is still habitable, I don't think there is much you can do in practice, other than phone Environmental Health from the local council. They will then come round for an inspection and make a report.

As to your possessions, if you can contact the LL, why not ask him nicely if he would be prepared to compensate you?

[chrisfraser05]

Have contacted letting agency today again and told them it is now getting beyond a joke.

I have also spoken to a woman at enviromental health who is going to get someone to phone me back later. At this stage I just want to know my rights and any precautions or dangers.

I'm not trying to cause trouble I just want it sorted.

Please if anyone has any advice on do's and don't in this situation could you help as I don't want to cause any unneccisary upset with the landlord but need to protect my own belongings and the health of my fiance and daughter!

[chrisfraser05]

Have you spoken to the LL directly? He would definitely want to know that his property is not watertight, and (not so) slowly succumbing to damp, with parts of his house starting to rot....

If the property is still habitable, I don't think there is much you can do in practice, other than phone Environmental Health from the local council. They will then come round for an inspection and make a report.

As to your possessions, if you can contact the LL, why not ask him nicely if he would be prepared to compensate you?

Cheers buddy. I unfortunately have not been able to get intouch with the landlord with any of the numbers the agency have given me, they say he is now living in france but have spoken to him themselves a few times over the last month.

Hopefully EH will give me some sort of hope but also I was hoping it wouldn't come to that lol

I'm not holding out much hope for getting any compo for our damages though.

Thanks again, Chris

[westminster]

I would first of all put complaints of disrepair and damage to your belongings in writing to the agent and LL (using the address for serving notices), keep a copy and get a free certificate of posting.

If EHO fails to get things moving, there is a procedure you can follow to organize repairs yourself and deduct the cost from the rent, but you must follow the procedure to the letter and keep copies of all correspondence/proof of posting or you risk eviction for rent arrears. It's also fairly long-winded, so it's not an immediate solution, but as the repair is urgent I think it would be reasonable to give agent/LL fairly short deadlines to respond at each stage.

The procedure is given on the following webpage:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets/tenants_doing_repairs

[chrisfraser05]

Very helpfull advice

Thank you very much for your reply.
What you are saying makes alot of sense. I have spoken to the agents again who do seem to have taken the concerns onboard however as you suggest I will now put the list of required repairs and damage in writing and send copies.

Also I maybe should have mentioned that I am in scotland in the original post but thank you for the link as I reffered over the the scotland site and have found it extremely informative.

Thanks again, Chris :)