iain atkins

I can't believe this.......

Rang her yesterday regarding storage heaters.

Her first response was 'if its going to be expensive i'm not interested'

I explained that i was willing to purchase the storage heaters myself at a cost of £646 inc VAT.

I also explained that i spoke with the electrician regarding a problem at my parents house and subsequently asked him what he would charge me to fit some points for storage heaters at the property (of which she is the landlord) whilst he is rewiring the property. He quoted me £180 for all the points, to include all consumables etc as a total cost including VAT etc.

She then explained that it was 'bad form' that i had contacted the electrician, and that she will be speaking with him when he arrives to start work on Thursday 13th November - (nice to know that a potential fatal problem has taken 4 weeks to sort out) (despite it being regarding a problem at my parents property, i had considered it a worthy question to the electrician and made no mention of her paying for the work or for the storage heaters).

She then proceeded to hang up on me, after she mentioned 'bad form' therefore stopping me from explaining the situation.

Tried to apologise to her, later on that day for contacting the electrician, she proceeded to say 'i have nothing to say, its the height of ignorance' and slammed the phone down.

rant over





[Edited by iain atkins - 11/12/2003 5:24:44 PM]

[Edited by iain atkins - 11/12/2003 5:25:59 PM]

NACRO

Tenants are a pain in the *** but a necessary evil.

MooseRacer

Strange woman - you're offering to pay and she's not interested

ChrisB

She sounds like a first class fruit loop...

ajm

Crazy cow. Install them anyway!

what would scooby do

as per unclebuck above but take a **** in the bath first and hide prawns in various rooms

iain atkins

At the moment there is no form of heating in here apart from an open fire downstairs.

She told me to 'stick another jumper on' before ffs!!

There was nearly an electrical fire here a month ago because her wiring is substandard, and she has only just got round to doing something about it!!!!

And i've done her numerous favours before, but she ignores that

What a fu@@king great birthday i'm gonna have

unclebuck

even better. burn the place down and claim it was caused by her dodgey electrical wiring.

best birthday ever...

UB

SPEN555

If your gonna burn it down though make sure she is in it as you can't have her profiting from it as that would be wrong!

Leslie

Somehow I don't think she fancies you!

Les

DrEvil

If what you say is true - report her, especially if the wiring has been known about for sometime - I thought they are supposed to have electrical and gas (if applicable) safety certificates? (someone correct me if I am wrong)

RB170

Move

iain atkins

It is all true.

One of my friends is a tenant of hers too. He's been waiting for 8 weeks for her to replace rotten window frames, and subsequently the window pane has fallen out.

And get this......

She expects him to pay for it first, and make sure its cheap lol, and she will then pay him back when he produces a receipt.

I don't think she realises her responsibilities.

She is know for being 'difficult'.....

When i took the place on we agreed a low rent because the place hadn't been lived in for a few years (mutually).

I then re-decorated, and fitted carpets as my sort of thank you to her - 3 months later she tries to put the fu''ing rent up by almost 50%!!

Fatman

...what's stopping you?

TopBanana

You should both stop paying rent

douglasb

...and when you move out, take a dump in the toilet cistern. I seem to remember Roger's Profanisaurus referring to this as "top-decking".

Doug

David_Wallis

have a word with the electrician and get him just to fit some seperate 'fused outlets' on a seperate supply.. by accident..

David

iain atkins

Fatman

It's a long story........

iain atkins

David

Were on the same wavelength m8 , i thought exactly the same

NACRO

someone who should know better said:quote: "You should both stop paying rent"

Then the Landlord will have madatory grounds (ground 8) for eviction. Don't stop paying rent because a Landlord doesn't let you fit heaters. However he/she needs to provide you with some form of heating and hot water and maintain the facilities in good working order. You can withhold some rent until things are sorted but you need to put it all in writing and if I were your Landlord and you were p*ssing me off then there are ways of getting you out quite quickly and legally.

47 NAT

Nasty old cow [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] I'd find somewhere else to live, knock the rent and let her keep the deposit (if its 1 month) and give her the problem of financing an empty house.

Nath

Redkop

If you have gas in the house she is required by law to get in a Corgi registered plumber and have a gas safety check done annually and a certificate issued, at her own cost.

imlach

Nacro,

What exactly are the ways you have of *legally* getting a tenant out quickly? If they are on a short assured tenancy, the law sides more with the tenant than the landlord, and just chucking them out is not an option unless there is some *serious* $hit going on (ie, serious damage to property etc).

Chris_

Alot of the comments made here rely on you being protected by an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement although by the sound of this Landlord of yours, it could be a bit lacking. I would really like to see a copy of it.

Yes, if you have a gas appliances, your Landlord must provide you with a "Landlords Gas Safety Certificate" anually. Electrical Safety Certificates are not yet a legal requirement, however, there are a number of other electrical requirements your Landlord must comply with.

Whilst I think of it and depending on the size of the property, your Landlord must also supply at least one smoke detector.

If you wish to remain in the property and achieve your goal of a decent heating system, it would not be prudent to withold your rent at this time but convince her that it is enhancing the value of her property by doing this.

Nacro is correct that by witholding your rent, your Landlord could serve you with ground 8 and a few other grounds besides, although, it is highly unlikely that she would do this because the cost to her persuing this route is very high. In addition you would counter sue her for not keeping the property to a proper and suitable living standard. If what you say is true, she would not stand a chance. In any case you have to be two clear months in arrears before she could start this action. Nacro is not correct when he says there are quick and legal ways to evict you.

Your Landlord has a "Duty of Care" to provide you with an adequate heating system and you should remind her of this, however, if you really want to get down and dirty, just ask the Council enviromental officer to visit, she would be so bogged down in legal paperwork that she would be pleased to put you in Hotel accomodation whilst she refurbed the house for you.

Its about time that Landlords of this type are stamped out for good.

NACRO

quote: "In any case you have to be two clear months in arrears before she could start this action. Nacro is not correct when he says there are quick and legal ways to evict you."

The quick way I'm talking about was the 2 months just to clarify, a lot quicker than waiting 6 months for example. If the place had ever been her primary domicile (or she could say it was) and that she intends to move back in there herself for example she'd have grounds for possession under mandatory ground 1.
It wouldn't cost a fortune either as any judge would grant the order.

StickyMicky

sounds like shes but ****ing you big style

inwouldnt be doing no favors for any kind of landlady/bloke/chimp

keep it buisness like, there not your friends, there just people you have to give your money to in exchange for a rotten roof and ****ed up electrics

iain atkins

Thanks for the help guys, theres a lot of good advice there!!!!!

I'm currently waiting for the electrician to arrive so he can start doing what he needs to do.

I have had no response from the landlady as of yet , i think she is totally unaware of her duties as a landlady (she's in her late 70's ish), and when her name is mentioned to previous tenants theres a great intake of breath - wish i'd have known this before [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

The favours i have carried out for her are indeed in the past now, and will not be repeated whatever the outcome over the next couple of days.

My goal is to have a suitable heating system installed here, as i have many ties in this immeadiate area, yet if needs be i will have to move out - and i am on the look already for a fall back if its needed.

Chris,

I would be interested in talking to you offline, do you have previous experience of these situations (from either side of the fence)

Once again, thanks for the help / advice

Cheers



Iain

unclebuck

move out.

oh, and put a dead rat in the water tank before you leave.

[Edited by unclebuck - 11/12/2003 5:17:36 PM]

iain atkins

Living like this is totally alien to me.

And i could move, and i could tip off the enviromental health agency , but i would never do that to her .

I will see what happens regarding the storage heaters etc in the next couple of days.

In the meantime when the floorboards are pulled up tomorrow for the electrical work to start i will be frantically taking photographs of the burnt out wiring etc

[Edited by iain atkins - 11/12/2003 5:54:21 PM]