Hi

I'm posting here in the hope that someone can help me figure out what the heck I can do to solve my problem!

To cut a long story short, we started leasing a commercial unit in Oct 2017 and turned it into a dance studio. We raised £3500 in 2 months to pay for laminate floor (with padding underneath as it was originally concrete), fitted radiators, fitted a kitchen in the waiting room, painted the wall with some cool art work, etc.

We were really hoping to turn the space into our new 'home'

The lease states that he is responsible for the externals, we are responsible for the internals. I have had this argument with him on many many occasions about various things, but it's important that we know that bit!

Back to the topic - we noticed around Christmas that the roof was leaking a little when it rained. We let the landlord know and put some buckets and towels down on the floor to catch any dripping.

Around the beginning Feb, he got someone to come look and said they'd done some work. It still leaked, but nothing too bad, so we just said we would keep an eye on it.

It has gradually been getting worse and worse every time it rained. To the point that it's now running down the side of the walls next to the electrics (like a very light waterfall, not a trickle like a tap being left on!)

Before my holiday at the end of March I sent him an email to say if the roof hadn't been looked at when i got back i would get someone in to do it and invoice him.

Funnily enough he replied and said he would get someone to look at it. He sent me photos as proof and they had indeed done some work.

I got back from my holiday on 4th April to find it was now even worse down the side of the walls. We have now had to block off part of the studio, put bin liners down and towels down too to try prevent further damage to our floor.

It stinks of damp and the skirting boards are turning mouldy!:mad2:

You can see it on the pics i've attached. Pic 1 Jan 2018, Pic 2 Feb 2018, Pic 3 March 10 2018, Pic 4 and 5 March 30 2018:mad2::mad2:

How can i get this fixed without withholding my rent? I don't want to get into that but if i have to then so be it.

I think he thinks i'm just a dumb blonde who doesn't have a clue so he is taking the p*ss a bit!

All i want is for him to do his job and stop it leaking!

What can I do?! help please

Dont know how legal tho is but I would not pay the rent and put it towards paying a roofer to fix the issue.

Or withhold the rent until landlord sorts it out

Not a good idea to withhold the rent ..you will be in breach of the Tenancy agreement.

" The lease states that he is responsible for the externals, "

You are sure of this and its not "FRI" (full repairing and insuring) ?

Is this a single storey build ...flat roof ...slate or felt?

Andy

your LL wont do anything unless they are forced to so start off by getting a decent roofer to have a look at the problem and give you a quotation. You can then offer this to the landlord and say that if YOUR floor continues to be damaged them you will get the roof fixed and bill him for not only the roofing work but the cost of rectifying your floor, loss of earnings etc.

you dont have to be friends, you are just a source of income fro him.