Advice Needed re Landlord

[mcquiggd]

Agreed.

And the landlord is only making it worse for himself by attempting fixes. For gawds sake make sure it is switched off and gas turned off if he has been bodging it up with cement and allah knows what else he has done. He simply should not be going anywhere near it.


I don't mean to worry you any further, but unless you get a visit from an inspector in the next day or two, I would consider calling the 24 hour emergency line at Transco.

You would have a fairly good case for a rebate on rent as well, if it can be proved the accomodation was not fit for habitation. I have successfully received 2 months rent back - admittedly from an agency - due to repeated water damage from the flat above that made my second bedroom unusable.

I would also consider moving, once you have set the ball rolling in terms of getting this guy to make the property safe for the sake of future potential tenants.

[HankWangford]

The boiler wont switch on, all power has gone to the unit which what started this whole situation. Gas is off, british gas guy sorted all that out.

Funny thing is the landlord has anoter 'mate' or works as a british gas engineer (pretty sure it's the guy who fitted it as a backhander, but he swears it isnt) He came round a few weeks back to fit an overflow to the boiler and didnt even mention or think about telling me the fume was not sealed correctly. I'll get him struck off aswell as part of this.

I didnt want to mention the fact about not paying rent until I spoke to a solicitor or similar.

[Ardesco]

Stop paying rent right now, it will take a couple of months to evict you anyway (he can't just change the keys when you aren't in he has to formally go through the courts).

It saves the hassle of trying to claim money back from him further on down the line. I do hope you are looking for alternative accomodation right now, he has broken the contract by not having the relevant certificates and by his bodge a job attempt at fixing it so you aren't locked in. Have a screaming fit at the agent you are going through to rent the place as well (If you are going through an agent)

[AtW]

mcquiggd (you really need to change nickname to something easier to spell IMO) covered it pretty well - landlord is certainly responsible and is really in deep sh1t now.

Best is to change place - you don't want to take chances with that stuff, especially if children are involved, so be firm and don't let this job to be botched by his mate - make it explicit, require things in writing so that you know exact names who did what - it's your life at stake here so don't sell it cheap.

In my ex-place that I rented I had problems with boiler twice and the landlord (company) got it done all next day - they know too well responsibility is no joke now. They were pretty good in this respect, pity bast@rds decided to sell the house.

[mcquiggd]

By the way Hank, sorry to hear your child has been suffering... hope a doctor has checked him out...

Alexei, just call me David if mcquiggd is too difficult

[HankWangford]

By the way Hank, sorry to hear your child has been suffering... hope a doctor has checked him out...

Alexei, just call me David if mcquiggd is too difficult

he was in itu last week, high dependency a fotnight ago........

[mcquiggd]

Very sorry to hear that and I understand why you are so concerned.

As this has started since moving into the accomodation, i'd up sticks and leave ASAP - although maybe after the inspector from CORGI has visited to confirm the situation. Send a registered letter - possibly from a solicitor, to the landlord explaining why the accomodation is not habitable, include a picture of the warning sticker attached to the boiler / report from the Corgi engineer and inspector. Explain how he is in breach of his legal obligations as a landlord, detail your requests for certificates of compliance and his responses, and inform the council (ring the Housing Department and they will direct you to the relevant department or the HSE) - they will start there own investigation and hopefully keep tabs on the guy / shut him down. If his 'mate' turns up get a few pics on your camera phone at least.

Small claims court to get your deposit back after you move out - the threat alone should be sufficient to get him to cough up the money, bearing in mind the trouble he is in.

But, please do follow up on the official complaint or someone else might be at risk.....

[AtW]

ok David, will do.

Hank - sorry to hear about astma: I had it myself and it was terrible. I am not a doctor, but I am lucky not to get hooked on medicine inhalers: I was saved by chinese accupuncture, homepathy and one technique that Russian doctor who lived in our city (purpose build for research, my parents worked there in 70s using early computers) taught one very unortodox (at that time, probably still now) thing: if you have astma attack, then holding your breath (hard as you try to get air) will increase CO2 in you but this actually helps beat off attack! I tried it myself and it worked for me, obviously don't just blindly apply it, but just saying it as it was - its tough when you hardly can breath to actually stop breathing instead of desperately trying to get air like a fish on ground, but it worked for me: this gave me temporary control over attacks without using medicines, and accupunture cured me.

Whatever happens don't get your kid hooked on inhaling drugs - overtime their effect gets worse and worse and it does not cure the root cause.

Be extremely firm with your landlord - it is not just you but your kid, the courts won't take this lightly the God forbid anything happens he will be in such deep sh1t, that he would regret being born, don't accept half baked jobs it could work short term, but produce risk long term. Get ready to be moved to a new place, even though you have pretty strong positon.

Small claims court can wait - it is a health and safety issue, particularly due to child being present, this makes it criminal offence so unless landlord gives you 200% assurance it gets done and it actually gets done call relevant services and get emergency response people to get it fixed - you can present bill to landlord and I am pretty sure any court would agree with you.

[mcquiggd]

By the way Hank, if you ordered the SF350 on the link I posted, it is the one recommended by British Gas themselves:

http://www.britishgasnews.co.uk/inde...001&NewsID=352

I don't think they have changed their recommendation since then.

[HankWangford]

Cheers AtW sound advice also.
Little lad (nearly two) is on two types of inhaler, the preventor (brown) and the emergency (blue vetolin). He is too young to try what you suggested, althoughI will bear it in mind in the future. My Russian wife swears by Russian doctors advice also
He has to have frightening amounts of them both at the moment. it's strange that asthma treatment has not moved on since I used to have mild asthma 15 years ago. The doctors cannot begin to explain what may be at the root of an attack, could be one of a thousand things and they cannot run any tests to prove either way. We have had to kick his childminder into touch as she had a dog. This 'may' have been causing it however it may be a certain food or smell.....

Not sure the inhalors carry any addictive substances, I still carry an inhaler although I hardly ever use it.