repair issues, unresponsive landlord

My husband and I are sub-leasing a semi-detached house in Oxford.  We are listed on the tenancy agreement as having permission to live here, but the primary tenants are still on the agreement too as they want to return here after we go back to the states in late summer 2008.  The house has numerous repairs that have accumulated over time, and there are particular issues about the garden, which we are supposed to keep up.  But the garden shed flooded during the great summer flood here, so the mower is now not working and we don't think we should have to purchase one ourselves.  In addition, the landlord ordered the hedges bordering the garden on both sides cut down to the ground, thus angering the neighbors on both sides of us.  The neighbor on one side put up a fence and told us that each person is responsible for fencing the left side of the garden.  Needless to say the landlord hasn't done anything to replace the hedge on our left side, and that neighbor is really upset and calls the leasing agency all the time and is now writing to the landlord to pressure him to do something.  Not only that, when the work was done, the workers did not haul away all of the cuttings, but instead piled them behind the shed and then the flood waters came, and now that is a real mess and would be regarded as a health hazard in my community in US, but I don't know about here.

To be more specific in my questions, does the landlord actually have an obligation to do repairs in a reasonable time?  to take care of the fence problem?  to have the garden trash hauled away?  (It would take us a very long time to get rid of it, one garden waste bag at a time taken away every other week.)  If so, how do we effectively bring pressure to get some of these things taken care of.  So far, our neighbors have focused their anger on the landlord and the leasing agency rather than us, but I want to maintain good relations with them and would also like these things taken care of.

Would appreciate any advice.  Thanks, docsavage

Hi there

You've pretty much answered your own question!

It is the landlords responsibility to ensure the upkeep of the property - it's not yours.

The property should have insurance and the landlord needs to claim for the flood damage to the shed, mower etc. If he decided to cut down the hedges I 'think' there's a reqirment to replace with suitable fencing to maintain privacy - again, its the landlords responsibility and he'll need to look into exactly how boundaries are meant to be kept and act accordingly.

Your neighbours aredoing the right thing, they know you rent, and hence have approached the landlord/lease company etc to deal with the issue. So long as you maintain to them you've been trying to contact the landlord, you won't (theoretically) have any backlash from the neighbours

Write to the landlord, to the letting agency etc venting your frustrations and keep copies and write in a timeframe for which you want this resolved. If it keeps on, speak to a solicitor to see exactly where you stand and I guess ultimatley, if you don't hear from him, withhold a portion of the rent as you've been in substandard accmodation and in breach of the contract - remember to see what the solicitor says about that aspect just to cover yourself.

you've done nothing wrong, the landlord has all the responsibilty in this case - just keep the neighbours sweet by telling them your taking actions.

Hope that helps!

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

One more questions relating to landlords if you dont mind Dennis... or anyone who knows the answer

Are the people letting the property even authorized to make repairs? Because our sealent in our bathroom needs to be replaced and the landlord has known for 6 months but has yet to do anything.  Its a fairly easy job and DH and I could probably do it ourselves, but DH is under the impression we're not authorized to make repairs on the property? Is this true?  We couldn't possibly make it any worse because its pretty grimey already...

It depends on the terms of your lease. If your lease says repairs are the landlord's responsiblity he has to do it. If you've been waiting 6 months, however, I would let him know if it's not done within, say 7 days, you will do it and send him the bill for any costs.

Many thanks Britwife... I'll check the lease tonight 

You can also report your landlord to the local council if you aren't getting any joy. There are standards that they need to keep to, and reasonable response times for repairs are covered under that. They can even get financial assistance for repairs from the council if they qualify.

Definately make your requests in writing and keep copies, as you will need proof if it goes that far.

Good luck!

http://www.greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich/Housing/HomeImprovements/HelpPrivateSector/PrivateTenants.htm

One more questions relating to landlords if you dont mind Dennis... or anyone who knows the answer

Are the people letting the property even authorized to make repairs? Because our sealent in our bathroom needs to be replaced and the landlord has known for 6 months but has yet to do anything.  Its a fairly easy job and DH and I could probably do it ourselves, but DH is under the impression we're not authorized to make repairs on the property? Is this true?  We couldn't possibly make it any worse because its pretty grimey already...

Definitely have a good read through of your lease. In my house, I'm definitely responsible for things like that, as well as the garden (like you).

Thanks Chary. We dont have a garden because we live in a flat... but we do have a balcony and i suppose we're responsible for the upkeep of that... although theres not much to really upkeep there.. just keep it tidy... but i know what you mean.

We do have property inspections every 3 months because we go through a letting agency and they have noted that the sealent needs replacing in the passed two inspections and sent a note to the landlord whose not done anything about it.. so i THINK hes responsible for it.. but we wouldn't mind fixing it ourselves just to get it done, but i just wanted to know if we would get in any sort of trouble for fixing it... since we aren't really professionals at that sort of thing but could easily manage.

I'll check the lease tonight. Thanks everyone

Hi Chrissy

Yep, good advice so far - technically you are not responsible for the job unless you have an angreement within the contact you signed that small jobs could be fixed by you and any expenses reimbursed to you from the landlord.

Check your contract - you've already seemingly done the right procedure already by notifiying the agent who by now should've told the landlord.

No matter how small the job is and easy to fix - always tell the landlord to resolve - there's simply too many seemingly dodgy landlords who will use the contract in their favour if you've done something not covered by it and no matter how small.

Last resort of course is to withhold payment of rent until the silly bozo landlord wakes up and does what he was meant to 6 months ago! just make sure you speak to a solicitor before you do that just in case!

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!