landlords (urghhh)

[Chilly]

So, my landlord is a ****. The house I live in has pathetic insulation, and I mean pathetic. Half the windows are single glazed, there drafts all over the shop and the gas bill is astronomical during the winter. Bills is paid on top of basic rent and varies month to month.

My question is: does my landlord have any obligation or duty to bother to insulate the house properly and thus reduce my bills or do I have to vote with my feet? Apart from this issue, I quite like it here.

 

[DaGaffer]

How long have you been there? New rentals have to have an EPC (Energy Performance Cert) which prospective tenants can check before they move in. If you've been there a while it might be worth telling the landlord that if you move out he'll have to get it done and no-one's going to want his inefficient property so he may as well get it insulated and save himself the bother that he's going to have to do with no rent coming in anyway.

 

[Moriath]

i think you feet is the only way to go ... might get ssomething done if he uses a management company but i doubt it

 

[Chilly]

nah he owns and manages it directly, been here about 3 months. I dont rent the whole place, it's a large shared house - 7 rooms I think.

At six months, my contract expires, I'll say to him either he: 1)drops my rent by a hundred quid 2)fixes the long list of shit the place needs fixing or I'll leave.

 

[DaGaffer]

nah he owns and manages it directly, been here about 3 months. I dont rent the whole place, it's a large shared house - 7 rooms I think.

At six months, my contract expires, I'll say to him either he: 1)drops my rent by a hundred quid 2)fixes the long list of shit the place needs fixing or I'll leave.

Right, he should definitely have given you access to the EPC then; the law's not been in place that long but I had to get it done when my new tenants moved in a couple of months' ago. Check with your local CAB and they'll tell you if there are any remedies because he didn't disclose full info to you.

 

[Tom]

Pathetic loft insulation? Go up and have a look. To be honest it'd be less hassle if the insulation was poor simply to do it yourself. Same with draughts, if there are gaps under the doors just shove a big cotton sausage there.

 

[Chilly]

Most of the defects are minor, but there about 30 of them. I've no idea about the loft insulation actually, might take a poke.

Oh and while I'm happy to do various bits of minor work around the house to improve life for me (I do all sorts of stuff anyway), I object in principle to having to do everything - especially when it so hugely impacts what I have to pay to live here. In the long run I'll make a "profit" if I do all the work myself now, but I dont really plan to stay that long so there's no fucking chance I'm going to spend even MORE money making it cheaper for the next people.

 

[MYstIC G]

Feet.

Speaking as a landlord, we wouldn't insulate a property because a tenant requested it, sorry mate. If this chap is doing it all themselves, they're doing it to retain as much £££ as possible so you'll get nowhere with that.

As I recall the EPC requirement came in around October 2008, though you'd have to check.

Forgot, EPC Registers here: http://www.epcregister.com/

 

[PLightstar]

one of the reasons I moved out of my last place was because of the lack of insulation and a broken radiator. To be fair there wasn't alot he could do as far as insulation because it was a protected building, but a working radiator would have been nice. In the end I bought a convector heater and took the cost off my rent the next month and told him. He agreed and promised to look at the radiator at some point.

Is your landlord reasonable at all, because the best way is to talk to him and get the work done yourself and get your money back through the rent, but make sure everything is in writing, you don't want the landlord going back on his word.

 

[Chilly]

il try for the discount on the rent to make up for it then or ill fuck off. plenty of flats in the sea and all that!

 

[throdgrain]

If it's in the sea it will need bloody good insulation.

 

[Scouse]

My question is: does my landlord have any obligation or duty to bother to insulate the house properly and thus reduce my bills or do I have to vote with my feet? Apart from this issue, I quite like it here.

Vote with your feet m8. I'm a landlord myself and if my tenants started complaining about stuff like this then I'd kick 'em out...

....but then the house we rent out is double glazed and recently decorated

 

[old.user4556]

If it's in the sea it will need bloody good insulation.

repped

 

[Ch3tan]

As a landlord I'd not be too bothered either. If it was a case of doing the work inbetween tenants because it absoluty had to be, maybe, other wise no. At the end of the day you signed your tenancy agreement having viewed the property and accepted it as is.

 

[Chilly]

As a landlord I'd not be too bothered either. If it was a case of doing the work inbetween tenants because it absoluty had to be, maybe, other wise no. At the end of the day you signed your tenancy agreement having viewed the property and accepted it as is.

Yeah I agree. This energy rating stuff could be a fun lever to hurt him with though. He charged the previous tenants 120 quid when they moved out for a deep clean of the room including a full on carpet clean. Did he actually do it? Did he fuck! When I moved it was filthy, carpet covered in stains. Had to withold rent to force him to clean the place up.

 

[Ch3tan]

Yeah I agree. This energy rating stuff could be a fun lever to hurt him with though. He charged the previous tenants 120 quid when they moved out for a deep clean of the room including a full on carpet clean. Did he actually do it? Did he fuck! When I moved it was filthy, carpet covered in stains. Had to withold rent to force him to clean the place up.

See what I would do is demand a receipt for any money taken from a deposit, also as a tenant it is in your own interests to leave the property clean when you leave. Too many tenants don't bother, or don't check the inventory property and return things to the state they were in when they moved in.

 

[Chilly]

I intend to leave it as close to exactly as I found it as possible.

 

[Ch3tan]

Filthy then? ;p

 

[Chilly]

I wont hoover, I wont dust the shelves, I wont clean the curtains or windows, I wont launder the sofa covers, I wont air the mattress, I wont scrape my blutac off the walls. Just like I found it! When I left halls at uni, I left it spotless, the cleaning lady who was doing my floor on move out day said she only spent 10 minutes in there bleaching the bathroom up and inspecting the rest. Other rooms she said she expected to be in for at least an hour! She was very pleased.