Tenant in a dangerous property, advice please

Tenant Discussion Property Search
1

Good Evening

I would be grateful if anyone could give me some advice.

I was renting a house previously with many heating issues, leaks etc and when I raised this with the landlord they served me with a Section 21 (no fault) eviction notice claiming they had a family member moving in.

The only replacement in the area available at the time (August 2024) was a house in a lovely area but it appeared to me to be a bit of a DIY disaster zone. This time I went through an estate agent and she was very sympathetic towards my situation and assured me that I would be fine in this house and felt I had been unreasonably treated. She assured me this would not happen again.

Although the agent has been paid without fail every month like the last one, they have never had any complaints against me but really objected to any complaints . There are many issues, but I will highlight just a few.

Within days of moving in, a huge water leak was addressed, meaning removal of part of the ceiling and insulation. This ceiling repair has never been actioned despite numerous complaints. The agent said it “was not for want of trying” to get a builder to repair this, and other jobs!

The house has 9 night storage heaters but only 2 appear to work. Running these gave me an electric bill of over ÂŁ600 per month so I decided to use portable heaters and the wood burner until this was resolved.There are 3 rooms including the master bedroom with no heating whatsoever.

last January (now a year ago) I had an issue with the wood burner. The carbon monoxide alarm was going off and the rope on the door had perished. The flu had never been attached to the burner.

With the agent doing nothing, even after emails stating the danger, I was unable to get a HETAS engineer to look at it as it was not registered on the HETAS site or with the Council under any planning. The wood burner is newer than 2015 so would need a certificate.

The agent sent a chimney sweep out a month later, but he agreed the burner was “not right” and cleaned the chimney but was not prepared to get more involved. I now know that in reality, he shouldn’t have even touched it and should have condemned it .

After a year of 2 home visits by the agent and emails saying things like “we really must get on top of these repairs”, I sent them a firm email asking for the certification (they claim to have) for the wood burner and for the heating and other to be sorted out.

The agent called to say she had not read the email but was calling to say it was coincidental but she had to serve a Section 21 due to the landlord wanting the house back for a family member! She claimed she had not read the email and then went on to discuss her proposals to sort out the issues I raised!!

There is a wire in the shower exiting the wall into the ‘wet’ area and then into the electric shower unit. I really feel this is dangerous.

There are many other issues.

Now I know this house is a nightmare but I needed it as a stop gap before moving later this year. Due to previous experience, I didn’t want to be more of a nuisance than I was already, complaining about these dangerous issues for fear of eviction.

I have researched building control on the dangerous wood burner and discovered that there appears to be no wood burner listed. At the same time I noticed two applications for building control from 2004 and 2015 were never approved or signed off explaining some of the dangerous work carried out at the property.

I would ideally like the agent to provide me with like for like housing as this is not suitable for habitation but what are my rights?

Many thanks

2

Flue not attached to the burner? Wow . Did you not realised when you went in?

1 Like
3

The fire was not lit until i got some wood and was rather shocked at the electricity bill!

I am in disbelief that there are some really decent conscientious landlords but others don’t care and seem to get away with it!

4

I don’t have the knowledge to advise, but would suggest you Google retaliatory eviction for some research

5

Unfortunately,’unless I had reported it to the local Cpuncil Private Sector Housing prior to the notice, it cannot be considered retaliatory or revenge I believe.

Been here before!

6

An agent is going to provide you with anything, they have no responsibility to you. Your legal relationship is with the landlord only. for these safety matters you can report them to the council’s housing standards team and let them come and inspect and they can challenge the landlord probably more effectively than you can alone. As for the cost of heating, the property should have been advertised with an EPC certificate, the purpose of which is to give you some idea of the likely cost of heating it. If the house is able to hold a “healthy” (see HHRS) temperature then the cost of getting to that temperature is not taken into account unfortunately. You can review the HHRS guidelines that the council’s housing standards team follows. Getting the council involved will help with any retaliatory eviction claim you will make, but if they already issued the s21 before you got the council involved then it might be more difficult. But getting the council involved is the first step if you want any chance of staying put.

7

Storage heaters use cheaper night time electricity, so running 2 of them should not cost ÂŁ600 a month. You may be on the wrong tariff or they may have a fault or be coming on at the wrong times.

8

Thank you for the kind reply. Unfortunately the EPC is from several years ago and things have changed dramatically since then if this is to be considered current.

There are two outstanding extensions to the property which have never had building control signed off and are still showing as incomplete. These date from 2004 and 2015.

I can’t find any legal reason why a landlord cannot rent a property with a lack of building control assuming it is safe, but unsure on this?

I would welcome any more help?

Many thanks

9

There appears to be an issue with the storage heaters and I am having them tested today.

There appears to be only one tariff on the property so this is not economy 7

many thanks

10

Economy 7 is phased out because the radio signal the meters used is being switched off, and the house had an old economy 7 meter then it needs to be upgraded to a smart meter, and a controller (timer) will have to be fitted for the storage heaters. I imagine these are old storage heaters put in the 1970s when the government promoted storage and economy 7, and the landlord hasn’t dealt with the radio signal being switched off. They never worked well, I had them at home! So now the house is stuck with old storage heaters that don’t work well and you need to find the best tariff. However, you need to read the HHRS I told you about because if they cannot heat the house to a "not excessively cold” temperature then you have a claim. But you need to get council involved ASAP, do not try to deal with this yourself.

11

Whether safety, heating or building control, all this is down to the council’s housing standards team.

12

Many thanks to all concerned for helpful replies.

The Council’s Housing team came with Landlord, Landland, letting agent and the company that fitted the wood burner.

I await the reply but so far:

The wood fire is condemned awaiting a HETAS investigation, Building control are enforcing an issue with an unregistered wood burner, HETAS say it was never registered with them, contrary to the letting agent blagging me for over a year telling me that it was certificated and she “held the paperwork in the office”. The installer attended and offered to commission it and fit a plate, then come back another day to “service it”. Apparently the flue not attached to the burner is not an issue if you light the fire as any vapours are drawn up the chimney? The inspector from the Council advised he didn’t plate it!

HETAS have informed us that any house or contents insurance would have been invalid since we moved in.

I had an electrical test on the building that highlighted 15 dangerous points including a smoke alarm that expired in August 2022 and an undated, unmounted carbon monoxide detector that was undated,

The agent was asked, yet again, about the smell from the drains. She said “does the toilet flush”, I said yes, she replied “no worries then”. When I informed her that the Environment Agency would be informed about the septic tank, she sent a company who eventually found the tank approximately 40cm underground with a barbecue built on top of it. They think it has not been inspected/emptied for at least a decade and is causing pollution to the nearby houses and land.

The letting agent has sent out an electrician to repair some of the issues. He has tested the wiring to the night storage heaters, bolted one securely to the wall and even though the thermostats don’t work, has assured me they are now “safe to use”

I await the response from the Council on any improvement notice.

I have absolutely no sympathy for the letting agent. I emailed them over a year ago stating that the wood burner was setting the carbon monoxide alarm off and, despite a chimney sweep a month later, they did NOTHING aside from promise they would sort it out.

Two months after reporting the issue with the carbon monoxide, I suffered heart failure, went to the doctor with vertigo, tiredness and even went to the opticians for the first time in over 20 years with blurry eyesight. The optician found nothing wrong! The other tenant in the property has been off work as she is always tired and has a massive thyroid.

Naively, I have only just connected the dots and the picture looks grim!

Moral of the story is that if they had just fixed the issues, it would have been a lot less painful for us, and “no worries” for them as they kept saying.

Anyone recommend a competent solicitor?

Thank you .

13

I lived in an old mill that had a septic tank , depending on the capacity and how many people are in the house it should be emptied each year. Yours is probably old with a filter bed near it. They only smell when too full. Local farmer is the one to empty it. Newer tanks have micro organisms in them that “eat” the contents…… Re the CM alarm going off just do not use that fire.. Sounds like a wreck of a house.

14

Thank you, I agree .It amazes me how people get away with these simple things.

15

You can get ghe meter changed yourself without landlord consent and then you could get a a dual tariff.

16

Thank you for the advice.

However, in a house with little insulation, gaps in windows and doors etc, we have found it safer and warmer to use portable electric heaters.

The night storage heaters appear to be dated from the 1970s and 1980s and are yellowed on the casings. The thermostats done work on most of them and there is just no heating at all in the master bedroom.

HETAS are sending an inspector for the wood burner next week and have warned that at the moment, due to a lack of planning and certification for the wood burner, any buildings and contents insurance would be invalid. Therefore I feel modern portable heaters are better at this stage.

The landlord has had some plants trimmed and a gutter cleared (a week after I had the gutters cleaned!) but has yet to remedy any issues that make the property legal for habitation

17

Well let’s see what council says in their report as it could all be out of your hands. Carbon Monoxide is very serious.

18

Further to my last messages, a contractor was finally sent by the agent after the Environment Agency contacted them.

The single chamber septic tank was under 40-50cm of garden with a barbecue built over it.

It has concrete lintels (cemented to the tank) appears to have no breather and was sealed. It was, as predicted solid and I would imagine has never been serviced or inspected since the 1960s/70s

It has been causing pollution to a neighbour’s ponds for over 10 years with all the wildlife disappearing.

Does anyone know the rules for letting a property and an old fashioned septic tank?

As the letting agent said when i repeatedly complained of the drains smelling “if the toilet flushes there is no problem”.

There are 2 soil stacks (albeit with AAV/Diego valves) located just below the two bathroom windows.

Given the smell/ potential gas build up and the fact HETAS have informed us we are not currently insured due to the uncertified wood burner, it does concern me.

Any knowledge on the letting rules that relate to this would be helpful

many thanks

19

HHSRS rules hazard 17 “drains” covers foul smells entering which is a “serious” hazard, again for the council housing standards team. The environment agency will deal with the external pollution.