Landlord not doing as promised??

[Seventh]

Hi,

 

Needing a little advice on what seems to be a Landlord that forgets there are things that need doing at this house.

 

When I first came to look around the house - a letting agent showed me around and pointed out a small leak in the bathroom. He said he had mentioned this to the landlord and that it would be fixed before we moved in.

 

We moved in 2 months later and the leak was still there. It took another month and half to get it fixed but it was done eventually.

 

We were told the property had a dishwasher which it does - only problem is, it's not plumbed in! The garden when we moved in looked like a jungle and this and many other little problems were noted down at the beginning of the tenancy and sent to the landlord. He had said many times that someone will come and sort the garden but no-one ever has. We have also had people round to give us quotes and we passed these onto the landlord.

 

There is also a shed in the garden full of junk left by the previous tenant and rubbish behind the shed that could become a home for rats that we have asked to be moved - surprise - it's still there.

 

We have now been here over 9 months and still nothing has been done.

Is there anything that I can do about this?

 

We recently have aquired squirrels in the attic, as soon as I notified him about this, he was round having a look and getting someone in to sort it out. They caught a baby squirrel but then thanks to a sonar alarm - the rest have stayed away. We told the landlord this and asked him to come and seal the hole and chop down the tree they were climbing up but it's still there!! Squirrels were back this morning too and I have just about had enough!

 

Is there anything at all that we can do? I'm being told by family to withhold rent until it's done but I don't want to do this as I don't want to give the landlord any excuse to evict us.

 

All help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Seventh]

Anybody any ideas please?

[raydetinu]

Difficult one, as you say you dont want to uoset the LL to the point he thinks your a difficult tenant, but if you pay the rent on time and there are no other problems then he should sort these things out if he wants to keep you. Works both ways.

can you not plumb the DW in yourself? get rid of the rubbish?

You could withhold some of the rent but these things seem pretty minor, I would suggest you just get on and do it yourself and remind the LL at the end what you did if if thinks about deducting anything from your deposit.

[c0ldandempty]

as far as im aware, if you live in scotland (not sure about england or wales) you can by law withhold rent from your landlord. so long as you have given them written notice of the problems. if as you say the problems were documented before you entered the property, then you have every right to withhold the rent until the work is done. sometimes even bluffing and giving them the thought that you are considering withholding the rent can prompt them into action.

Good Luck =)