Nightmare situation. Any advice(For that I will take abuse too) from you lot who are landlords
About 3 weeks ago 1/4 of the ceiling in our living room came down. After a week of the agent (F$%^&&) telling us as far as they where concerned it was safe, contractors came in declared it unsafe and pulled the whole ceiling down in the living room.
Initially the managment company, insisted that the accommodation was habitable and only after a week of fighting with them and the management company we managed to get the managment companies insurer to agree in writing to cover our accomodation costs before and during the repairs.
We are now living in short term accommodation arranged by us and complicated by the fact that we have a dog and live in London where short term pet friendly accomodation is not an easy thing to find.
The insurance companies original definition of habitable was a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen which is why they ininitially refused to pay for alternative accommodation.
Apart from the fact that there is plaster dust everywhere now, all our belongings are now stacked in the bedroom and kitchen while there is no ceiling in the living room, which incidently comprises about 2/3 of the property.
The landlord has only been communicating through the agency which have not helped us in the slightest during this whole time, and we are now in a tiny studio flat awaiting the repairs to the ceiling.
Even though the costs of our alternative accomodation have been covered, we are certainly not getting what we paid for and all of this has been a massive inconvienience with little or no support from any other involved parties.
Now there is some issue with the insurance(I understand the freeholder (MGT companies) insurnace is paying) and the whole process seems to be stuck waiting for permission from the insurance company to commence repairs.
We have a clause in our lease stating that if the property remains "uninhabitable" for a month, either party can terminate the contract.
My question after my sad story is, since we are staying in alternative accomodation paid for by insurance, does this imply that the accommodation is not habitable until the repairs are made?
About 3 weeks ago 1/4 of the ceiling in our living room came down. After a week of the agent (F$%^&&) telling us as far as they where concerned it was safe, contractors came in declared it unsafe and pulled the whole ceiling down in the living room.
Initially the managment company, insisted that the accommodation was habitable and only after a week of fighting with them and the management company we managed to get the managment companies insurer to agree in writing to cover our accomodation costs before and during the repairs.
We are now living in short term accommodation arranged by us and complicated by the fact that we have a dog and live in London where short term pet friendly accomodation is not an easy thing to find.
The insurance companies original definition of habitable was a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen which is why they ininitially refused to pay for alternative accommodation.
Apart from the fact that there is plaster dust everywhere now, all our belongings are now stacked in the bedroom and kitchen while there is no ceiling in the living room, which incidently comprises about 2/3 of the property.
The landlord has only been communicating through the agency which have not helped us in the slightest during this whole time, and we are now in a tiny studio flat awaiting the repairs to the ceiling.
Even though the costs of our alternative accomodation have been covered, we are certainly not getting what we paid for and all of this has been a massive inconvienience with little or no support from any other involved parties.
Now there is some issue with the insurance(I understand the freeholder (MGT companies) insurnace is paying) and the whole process seems to be stuck waiting for permission from the insurance company to commence repairs.
We have a clause in our lease stating that if the property remains "uninhabitable" for a month, either party can terminate the contract.
My question after my sad story is, since we are staying in alternative accomodation paid for by insurance, does this imply that the accommodation is not habitable until the repairs are made?
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