Would there be anybody here who knows of legal side of shorthold tenancy, rights of the tenant?
The contract covers loads of rules/responsibilities for us but not much about the responsibilities of the owner.
We are renting through a letting agency.

We moved to the property in June so have been in for 3 months.
A week and half ago, we had heavy rains and we had  patch appearing on the wall downstairs.
I contacted the agency(sent pictures) straight away.
They never got back to me and over the weekend more wet patches appeared.
I contacted them again and they promised to get in touch with the owner again as the owner never got back to them regarding the first patch.
I waited for two days and contacted them again to be told they will try again to get hold of the owner who would come around...
Next day, I called them again and was told nobody can come around this week, it will be next week somebody will come and have a look.

We have some marks of moisture in all rooms, upstairs and downstairs! On the walls and in the corners where the ceiling/wall join.
Some downstairs rooms have patches appearing on the bottom next to the skirting board(brick wall).

Basically to me, this house has a serious problem that is not going to be properly sorted out whilst somebody(us!) lives in here.
Where do we stand here? It is likely we will need to move due to property being in such condition it is not healthy to live in!

I contacted Citizen advise bureau who were not that helpful really.
Stating we could fix the problems and go to court to claim back the money(mmm, NO!)
We can not stop paying rent as then we will break the contract (I understand this) and if we move we will be responsible for the rent for the remaining of the contract.
They seemed to say the agency has no responsibilities towards us as the contract is between us and the owner?

It just sounded like basically our options are to stay till the end of the contract then just move or move and pay for the remaining rent...
Surely somebody is responsible letting us a house like this and we should not be out of pocket because of it(it is not cheap to move again)!
Is it really us who will end up paying in a situation like this when property that was let is not fit for us to live in?

HELP!! Getting really stressed about it all...

Hi, try your council, you want the Housing officer as they should be able to advise you. also try environmental health people even tho it is a private let ..............both may take a while to get any action!
Chris

Im not sure about the legal aspect of it, however the fact that you are renting through a letting agency might help.  Have a look first at your contract and see what it says about any problems within the house.  Im also renting through a letting agency and Ive had a leak behind my bath since the previous tenants lived here.  I reported it verbally and they came round to see it.  I had to wait a week or so before they could come round and then another couple of weeks before it could be fixed.  Ive realised that things in a rented house always take a while to sort!  What I would do would be to put it in writing documenting when the damp first appeared, when you notified them first etc, complete with copies of the photographs, date the photos (on the camera if possible so they print with the date on), send it recorded delivery for proof of signature and keep a copy of everything.  That way you have got yourself covered and if its in writing it will have to sit on someones desk somewhere, I would also ring every single day until you get action.  You dont want to be in the situation when you leave that they will turn round and say well you must have done x/y/z to make the damp come in.  The landlord will be losing part of his rent per month to the letting agency for a management fee, get them to earn it!

Edited to add:
The right to live in a property in good repair

The law says your landlord has to keep the structure and exterior of the property in good repair. This includes:

The roof

Guttering

Walls (but this doesn't include internal decoration)

Windows and doors

Your landlord must also keep the equipment for the supply of gas, electricity, heating, water and sanitation in good repair.  The accommodation must have a valid gas safety certificate for any gas appliances in the property. Any furniture provided should be fire resistant.

A tenant is however responsible for taking a certain amount of care for the property. This might include unblocking a sink or changing a fuse when necessary.  Depending on what the tenancy agreement says a tenant can have more responsibility for the upkeep of the property.

Read more: http://www.tenancyagreementservice.co.uk/tenants-rights.htm#ixzz0zDtG1MNK

How is the damp patches affecting you at the moment? I appriciate you say they look a bit off putting BUT are they physically affecting your health? ( long term they may but generally not short term unless you have existing medical conditions)  keep any of your possessions away from the dampness.

At the end of the day this only started 10 days ago during your tenancy and although they should have came and inspected it , it is certainly something that could not be fixed overnight anyway.  It sounds like a combination of the roof and DPC or lack of it.

How long is your lease?  If nobody does make a proposal on resolving the problem you are well within your right to give noticed to terminate the contract. However nobody would be responsible to financially help you.

The rental company should be pushing the landlord a little more.

I suspect this is not the first time the landlord or agency has seen this issue with the house. The whole house doesn't instantly start leaking or have rising damp it is generally a bit gradual in a start off area then spreads.

Well, we both have been blocked up for a month now, so it could be linked.
I am a little sickly person(always have been, I was very premature), get colds, issues with my sinuses etc but my other half hardly ever gets ill and he has been suffering as well...
One of the dogs has started reverse sneezing loads more in a last month or so, I'm now thinking it could be mold in the house.
Obviously we have no way to know or prove if any of our issues are to do with the house!
We also have a parrot and their lungs are very sensitive to things like mold so I'm worrying she will get sick when the weather gets wetter.

The issues have started to come to the surface now but I don't believe this all started in a last 10 days or so, it must have been "brewing" and only with the very heavy rains it has come all the way to the insides of the house.
The house was freshly painted all over when we moved in, I think we now know why!

Our contract states if we leave before the end of it, we are responsible to pay till the end so we would be +£2000 out of pocket even if we gave our notice now...
We have also paid £300 for the agency checks and £300 non refundable pet deposit for the agency when we moved in.
So in total having lived in this house for 3 months and having to move out, we will be over £3000 out of pocket and that is not including any other costs you get when moving house which we will no have to do twice in few months :(.

So basically it looks like in a situation like this as a tenant you have no protection, with my luck the landlord will keep our +£1000 deposit too...

thanks for the link, off to read it now...

If it is really that bad and you don't hear from them in the next 14 days you could although I would normally not advise this as a landlord myself but don't pay your rent it normally makes people shift.   

What do you mean by a non refundable pet deposit ?  If it is non refundable it is not a deposit

Also why have you paid £1000 deposit. Is that your monthly rent?    Normally it is one months rent in advance and one month rent value as a deposit

There are also new laws regarding deposits.  

Your agreement in general sounds a bit of a raw deal. 

But if I do not pay the rent, we are then breaking our side of the contract.
I would not dare to do that as then I would be afraid we will be kicked out!
A moldy, leaky house is better than no roof over our heads! If we refused to pay, I'm sure the rent would just be deducted from the deposit they hold?
It is difficult to find a suitable property that allows pets(took us 5 months this time) and this is partly why I'm so upset about this all as it means we are back in the stress of searching and calling around...
I must have called info about 50 properties when we were looking for this one... Some were gone in a day, many would not accept pets.

Regards the pet deposit:
I said exactly the same, we were not told it is non refundable till we were already in the process of renting the house.
To be called a deposit to me looked like it is just extra deposit paid because of the pets and if no issues will be refunded but when I checked it is not so but is kept by the agency when we leave. Again due to difficulty to find a property that accepts pets, I could not really do anything when I realized this would be a case and to be honest had we been able to live here for few years we planned to stay, it would have not been such a high price to pay.

Our deposit is 1.5 x the rent (in this area that seems a norm) so +£1000 as we pay £850 per month for the pleasure to live in this poop house!

:(

But if I do not pay the rent, we are then breaking our side of the contract.
I would not dare to do that as then I would be afraid we will be kicked out!
A moldy, leaky house is better than no roof over our heads!

I gave comments based on you first post where you said you had 2 options and implied you were considering moving.. so my advise and comments were based on helping you not get totally ripped off finacially as that is what you were or seemed more concerned about rather than actually moving..

BUT you now say a moldy leaky house is better than nothing  almost the opposite of the first post :-D :-D :-D   errr maybe wait then and give them a bit of time all parties will know this is not a quick fix :-D :-D

I would also say that in future get someone to look over your lease contracts as you have definately got a bit of a raw deal.  If you could really be bothered some of terms could possibly be challenged.

Blue, I probably don't make any sense!
It is all a mess in my head and very stressful when "your home" is wrong and you are relying on others to do something about it and they seem to be in no hurry to start solving the issue! Meaning coming to look and giving us good enough plan to how it all will be fixed (which I doubt is possible whilst we live here)or we can discuss us moving out early.

We can not afford to be paying rent on two houses(that would be over £2000 per month when council tax etc is added). Rental market moves very fast, many houses come and go off the market in few days so we can't seriously start looking for a new place before we know they will let us go before the end of the contracted period!

I would love to stay here if the house was ok, we have just got settled and it is our home.
But I don't think there is chance of it all getting fixed properly to allow us to live here.
Walls/ceilings will need to come down and be replaced as they have gone soft etc... 
I can see there is another area coming through in our bedroom :( in a corner that had no damage upstairs or downstairs yet.

We can't be kicked out for breaking the contract as then we would be "suffering" even more, mentally and financially.
Where would I accommodate us,2 dogs and a parrot? our furniture etc.
That is what I mean about this house being better than nothing.
Last time it took us 5 months to find a suitable property so we can't be out of here before we have somewhere else to go.
We have no family in UK and any friend who has offered to help lives too far for us to travel to work.

I'm very concerned to be loosing out financially in this as we have been working very had to save so we can buy a house.
All this will end up eating in to our savings, meaning we will be further away from ever getting out the rental market!
We have been counting pennies for ages, therefore even the most positive outcome of losing the mere £600 in fees they have taken off us and paying moving costs again "hurts the bank".
Obviously we will have to pay similar fees again for the new property as well...

The owner/agency has now had nearly 2 weeks to come and look and I have been chasing to get any response.
They do not seem very concerned of the state of their house or just don't know what to do so are buying time.
I have spoken to the neighbor today who said there were a couple living here before us and they moved due to the same issue.
But there were loads of work done by a contractor of some kind before we moved in so maybe the owners have been done in too.
If this is the case, surely they would have been in to look at the damage, they live only about 10 minutes from the house.

:(

I have a property which i let out through an agency. We got a letter through the post one day to say the flat roof in the extension was leaking and they had their contractor give a quote of £1000 for a new roof. When we went to look at the roof the tenant was there and she said she actually told the agent over a month ago and we had only found out!!! We went the very next day to look at it.
Make sure the agent has acyually contacted the landlord, as communication can break down quickly.
As a landlord we wanted to know asap about the problem as it was compromising the structure of the house, i would think most people are the same.

[url]http://www.thesite.org/homelawandmoney/home/tenancyrights/yourrightsasatenant[url]

I hope the link above comes out OK - it should take you to a 'your rights as a tenant' page which has some of info on it, plus a link the the housing & tenancy act, not light reading but worth a good look through.

Have you put the issues in writing to both the agency and the landlord (by writing I mean recorded delivery letter, not email)? If not, please do that ASAP - it's a good was to show you mean business. Also, your agency must, by law, provide you with the contact details for your landlord, so if you don't have them already it would be worth asking for them.

On another note, have you received confirmation (within 14 days of paying it) that your deposit has been protected in 1 of the 3 approved schemes - this is also a legal requirement for landlords, they cannot just keep your deposit anymore, an deductions must be agreed at the time of the lease ending, and if you disagree with the deductions, you can put the amount into dispute with the scheme the deposit is held with, and they will hold it until you and the landlord reach an agreement. If the LL wants to keep part of the deposit, I beleive they must also prove the costs, i.e. if they are wanting to deduct for damamge, they must a) provie it was not there when you moved in, and b) provide a quote from a tradesperson to repair.

Sorry, I've gone on a bit there!! I hope the link helps, in my understanding of housing law it is the landlords responsibility to make 'running repairs' on the house, and fix any problems that occur, such as your damp. However, in reality it can be a tough job to make them carry out their duties, which is why I would suggest you only communicate with them via recorded delivery letter (keep a copy for yourself), that way they cannot deny a conversation has taken palce etc.

HTH,

Claire

p.s If you look on the moneysavingexpert forum there is a good housing advice section on there, maybe worth joining and posting for advice. They can be a 'tough' bunch, but are generally fair (a bit like us lot :-) )

I had this exact problem with my previous landlord, a few damp patches started that then turned into thick black mold. I got so frustrated that I moved out of the house without giving notice. I just left and posted my keys back through giving no forward address etc.

I didn't get my bond back (which I wasn't expecting anyway as one of my pups had eaten its way through the carpet on the bottom step!!!) and he soon got bored of threatening me with legal action.

I know this doesn't really help you - I just wanted you to know that things like this happen all the time. We lived in that house for 18 months and numerous things happened, once I went without hot water and heating for 5 days trying desperately to get him to pay for a plumber. He wouldn't so in the end I paid for one and took it out the rent. Again, he was threatening legal action but nothing came of it. My gas fire was condemned and he wouldn't fix it, nobody was interested in helping me so in the end I had no choice but to leave. it was a shame because I really loved the area and the house (if it wasn't for its problems) was perfect for us and the dogs. Since leaving I have realised that they were the most miserable 18 months of my life. I didn't even pick up on how despressed it was making me until we left. I never had anyone round to the house as I was so embarassed about the moldy patches and the wallpaper hanging off the walls.

My advice would be to stick it out until the end of your contract (is it 6 months - If so, you've done half already) and then get out of there... don't let it rule your life like it did mine. Your home should be happy place where you can enjoy your family and your pets, not somewhere that you start to resent and makes you feel sad and depressed and takes over every single conversation!!!

As said before they can't not give you the deposit back or tell you afterwards its non refundable.

Make sure you write down the date, time and who you spoke to every time any contact is made. Make a note of your health issues and seek advice from your doctor, even just to get it recorded.  Consider a trip to the vet for the dog, it could explain the reverse sneezing and that means mould spores which can make you extreamly ill, especially if you have a weakness anyway. 

I would be a nuisance and call every day.

You can by law withold the rent (put it to one side then there is no proof that you're just not paying it) until the issue is sorted out.  Can you afford to get someone in to look at it or get a free quote to have proof.

As lucymissy said if you do a flit and move , the rent is usually unrecoverable if something is wrong and it take a lot of money to do it.  Most don't get it back.  If they tried to recover it, you have reason and proof why it wasn't paid.

Right as a landlord ourselves and having kids in rented accomodation. Stop payin g the rent the landlord has already breached the contract by not attending to the leaks, dont spend it but hold it until the agency (who guarrantee the landlrds rent) gets off their a--e and sorts this out.

You have a contract that says the house or flat has to be kept in good repair, if it isnt and they are ignoring you, you have the whip hand ie the rent. Write to the agents recorded keep the copy and receipt give them 5 working days to effect repairs or else, you have a contract with the agents and they must do something.

Regretfully you have to show you have the b---s to carry through, go to court whatever, a damp patch could be a hole in the roof, a tile off anything. Become bloody minded and stick with it.

Failing that they still hold your deposit yes? so you pay in advance but dont let them get away with it.

ben & helen had no hot water for a week got a free weeks rent and a night in the hotel Du Vin and champagne!! you may not get that but if you dont get what you paid for they are in breach of contarct not you!! Citizens advice make me laugh they really do. Our tenants had a boiler go up the shoot I paid for a new part a free weeks rent and a meal out it was the least I could do, hence they are staying another 12 months!!

Dont get stressed get even.

>>Our tenants had a boiler go up the shoot I paid for a new part a free weeks rent and a meal out it was the least I could do, hence they are staying another 12 months!!

Whistler - I wish you were my landlord!!!

Update...
Week 3 going since I reported the first patch and we have had a builder in today :) after me pestering the agency daily/sending pictures etc.

Builder has done some work on the house before and also told the owners(gave quote) the house desperately needs rendering (I think that is what it is called, new "plastering" on the outside).
The owners told him they were let down by the previous tenant(the neighbour told me they left because of the issue we are now having).
The work was not done and they have obviously just boarded in and painted.

The builder has left their card to me so if I have any questions I can contact him directly.

Basically the water is coming in through the walls(which the owners knew was a problem) and we also have rising damp.
He has measured the moisture on different walls and will be writing a report and sending it to the agency and the owner.
Most areas are there to see but we also have a wall that did not show any moisture on the machine but he can see it has been boarded in so who knows what is behind the wall(there are some patches coming through where the wall&ceiling joins).

Stop paying the rent and find somewhere new to live, it sounds like you'll only have a nightmare on your hands.  The weathers altering which could start making you ill and more cold,damp rainy weather.

They have your deposit so make sure you get your rents worth out of it, don't thibk you'll get it back.

Good luck.