Landlord refuse to repair

[belbel]

Hi, newbie here, , im a university student and im renting in a student house from a private landlord.
Our backgate to the garden broke in the summer, so my housemates and i notified the landlord. In response, she said that she would get a quote and fix it. Nothing happened. So in December we wrote her a letter to ask for it fixed again (and various other parts of the house which she failed to kept up the maintenance with). Today she came round and removed the the broken gate and also wrote us a very rude letter saying that "...most people dont have a backgate to their house and it wont make much difference to security... we got a quote and will get it fix...".
Now, there was a burglary recently in our area so i am really worried about my safety. And also, it says on the contract that she had to repair all the structure of the property including doors, windows etc. And wouldnt the fact that there was a door there to begin with at the start of the tenancy makes it necessary for her to fix it? And why would whether other people have a backgate make any difference to our contract?
So assuming that she doesnt do anything to get the gate fixed as she promised. What can i do? Where can i get help? I'm really frustrated because i know a lot of landlords pick on students because they think we cant do anything to fight back.

thanks

[Penfold92]

Firstly welcome to the Forums...You are in the right place for help. I do not know about tennacies, however, I am pretty sure you have a case. I would suggest two ploys,

1) When I was at Uni a long time ago I remember the Law students rang free workshope to help fellow students and practice their Law!

2) Go and See your local CAB and get their advice.

Hope that helps somewhat,

Penfold

[demon_x_slash]

How did the gate break?

Hopefully, she will fix the gate as promised. If not, you could fix the gate yourself and take it out of your rent payment - this is known as your right of offset, but be warned, it puts the landlord's back up no end and if you intend on renewing the tenancy at the end of your contract then this probably won't be the choice for you. If you do want to take this route, you need to inform the landlord in writing that you're doing it, otherwise they'll assume you're just paying short rent; also, offsetting against the last rent payment in your contract would avoid strife while you were actually living in the property; again, I'd say to only do this if you don't wish to renew your contract at the end of it.
Another option is to contact your Student Accomodation Office; they'll offer advice about private renting and landlords too.
Finally, you can replace it yourselves, shoulder the charge, store the old gate, and take your new gate with you when you go, leaving the original broken one behind. It sounds silly, but it's all fair and legal, and makes your point.
It's good that you're beginning to correspond rather than ring - you'll need a paper trail if you wish to take (or threaten to take) any action against her if she fails to fix the gate and then tries to take the cost out of your deposit at the end of the tenancy. Try and take a picture of the broken gate in situ with a timestamp in the frame, or a current newspaper.