Many thanks to everyone for your replies, I have found it most useful.To Update, we have decided it best to end the tenancy early, this was a mutual decision between us and the landlord, the decision was based upon us being advised that the repairs will most likely take a further 6 months, and the amount of disruption will be even more excessive. So another load of agency fees for a new tenancy, but at least we are getting it resolved..It is disapointing that the Landlord knew of this before we entered into the tenancy, and already had an insurance claim in progress, but did not inform us until the day we moved in, anyway i suppose these things happen.once again many thanks for all your advice.

Mariner, thanks for your reply. I have asked for a meeting with the landlord and will take from there. Mostly I am just keen to ensure that I act reasonably, bt am also treated fairly.

Thanks for the reply Steve.I think this is one of those situations where at first it looked like it would only affect us for a couple of weeks, so we were just prepared to deal with it, however it is going too long now with no end in site.I will look into one of those electric thingies. With regards compensation for the disruption, should this be in the form of a rent deduction, or one off amount. I am more inclined to go down the rent deduction as then there is clear motivation for the landlord to get the situation resolved. I am keen to be fair though, and definately do not want to fall out with the landlord, but am not sure how to approach this, or where to start with the level of rent discount i should ask for?

Hi All, I would appreciate any advice you can give me.Basically the house I rent is having some work done on it that restricts access to a number of rooms. We moved in to the house at the beginning of August, soon after moving in we were advised by the landlord that just before we moved in there had been a leak from the washing machine in the utility / storage room, this had caused damp to the some of the walls below this area. The house is built on the side of a hill, this means that the entrance and utility room are on a level above the living room, and access to the garden can only be gained through the living room, there is no access to the garden any other way.A company came round and installed a big fan and dehumidifier back in August, this had to be left running 12 hours a day. This did not reduce the damp so the stairs leading to the living room were removed at the end of September and the dehumdifier left running. This too did not reduce the damp so the entire floor of the utility / storage room was removed yesterday, the leak has now been identified as coming from the shower next to the utility room. during the work to remove the flooring, our washing machine was moved which now does not work anymore! The next lot of work to be done is to dig up the floor of the bathroom and shower to repair the leak and dry everything out.I do appreciate the work needs to be carried out, but at the momment I have no access to -1. The Living Room.2. The Garden. (there is no external access to this)3. The utility / storage room. (everything from here is now in the living room)4. The Shower.I do appreciate the work has to be done, but this is now causing considerable disruption, and by the looks of things there will be considerably more to come, would it be considered resonable to expect some form of dicount to my rent whilst this is going on, and if so what sort of calculation would be reasonable? Would it be reasonable to expect that the cost of running the fan and dehumdifier is also refunded?I really do appreciate any advice you can let me have.

HI, sorry the formatting of the information from the handbook never came out right, it reads. Period of Employment No of weeks at full pay (including SSP) 0 to 6 months - SSP only 6 months - 1 year -2 weeks 1 year - 3 years - 4 weeks 3 years - 5 years -12 weeks Over 5 years 20 weeks Thanks, Rob.

Hello Everyone, Our company has recently been bought out, and all employees are currently going through the TUPE process via an employee representative panel. My understanding of TUPE is that it was a fairly straight forward process as your terms and conditions will remain the same. Currently i am entitled to 20 weeks full pay for medically certified sickness (which I might add i have never had to use, but it is nice to know it is there). However - there has been talk that our entitlement to sick pay will change for the worse as part of the process, and that sick pay does not form part of our employment contracts. I have dug my contract out and the line about sick pay is as follows - The Company’s sickness year runs from 1st January to 31st December. After an initial period of six months there is an entitlement to sick pay, other than SSP – see Staff Handbook for full details. I refered to the company hand book and that says - As well as our statutory obligation to pay SSP we operate a contractual Company Sick Pay Scheme which operates for medically certified absences after an initial 5 days paid sickness as follows: Length of Service Annually Paid Sickness Non-medically certified absence after 5 days of paid sickness Medically Certified Sickness 0 – 6 months SSP only SSP only SSP only 6 months – 1 year 5 days SSP only 2 weeks 1 – 3 years 5 days SSP only 4 weeks 3 – 5 years 5 days SSP only 12 weeks Over 5 years 5 days SSP only 20 weeks Now is I see this as part of my contract which should not change through TUPE, am I right or do I just have to take this on the chin? Thanks you all so much for looking at this for me, and I look froward to your advice on this.

Hi All, Just after some advice please, I vacated a property over the weekend, and met the landlord there yesterday for the final inspection, there were a few problems that I need some advice over. On Saturday I mowed the Lawn in readiness to hand the property back, whilst doing so, a stone got flicked into a window by the mower. The lawn was knee high when we moved in, so I didn't really have to mow it, but was just doing so as I thought it was only the right thing to do. My question here is does the window get claimed for on the landlords insurance, or will my deposit have to cover it? I made the landlord aware and he saw the window yesterday when he came to inspect the property. The property is still secure as it is only the external pane of the double glazed unit that is damaged. We cleaned the oven as best we could, however the landlord has said that he will have to get someone in to do it again as it was brand new when we moved in, this I am OK with. Then there was an issue about the little flap on the central heating copntrols, this was broken ever since we moved in, in fact we even pointed this out to the lady doing the inventory, but she did not put this down as she said this was minor. The only other issue he came up with was about the garage door handle, the external handle is missing, and I pointed this out to him when he came round to do one of the inspections, he has acknowledged that the door handle was faulty but insists it was there, I dont know what more I can say to him on this. Other than this there were no other issues, I have always recieved all my deposit back at all properties I have lived at as I am very careful with how I leave the property, this is the first time I am unsure about my chances. So to summarise, 1. Can the window be done under the building insurance? Or do I just need to accept that this was an accident, and I will have to pay? 2. How do I handle the clear difference in opinion over the flap, and garage door handle? 3. I asked yesterday whilst completing the inpsection if I should sign anything, he said no. what is my next step in getting my deposit back. Many Thanks in advance for you help.