Uncontactable landlord and broken major appliance

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Boyd

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Ive lived in my current rental accomodation for two years now without ever seeing or talking to landlord. I live with two guys and one has a standing order
for the rent, and we pay him, he pays LL i.e. single point of rent to landlord. I dont mind not seeing/hearing from LL, I/we dont need anything really.

However, a major applicance has now stopped working and we need it fixed. Ive tried texting (no response), calling (no answer), and leaving voicemail (no callback). Ive had a look at the lease and his address is listed on it.....but I dont know if he still lives there.

What do people think I/we should do? Should I call over and demand he fix it? Should I write a letter to him demanding same? Should I stop paying rent until he does, and then deduct a large chunk from the rent to cover the inconvenience? If doing that should I leave a voicemaill indicating same? Any other ideas?

thanks
 
Get the appliance fixed, and then deduct it from the rent, sending him a registered letter explaining what you've done, with the receipt.
 
Why do you have to demand anything, If he is in your vicinity then call over and inform him of the problem. You could get it fixed and deduct from the rent, but if it's a major appliance it might need to be replaced. Your one point of contact has failed, he may have lost his phone, or dropped it, or changed his number.
 
If he is not within calling distance than you should send him a letter. It's not good enough that he is uncontactable. A landlord has an obligation to be prompt with repairs. Put your phone number/ and email in the letter and tell him it's urgent and you need to know he will deal with it asap and if he doesn't ring you back within 2 days of the letter that you will organise the repair yourself and deduct it from the rent.

Send your letter by recorded delivery and request a contact phone numbeer for the future.
 
username123 said:
What do people think I/we should do? Should I call over and demand he fix it? Should I write a letter to him demanding same? Should I stop paying rent until he does, and then deduct a large chunk from the rent to cover the inconvenience? If doing that should I leave a voicemaill indicating same?
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You should always formally request - never demand.

Similarly you should never withold rent as a way of getting a problem sorted, this is a case of two wrongs not making a right. Your lease commits you to paying a certain amount of rent and that gives you certain rights. Witholding rent diminishes your standing. Ditto your suggestion that you deduct a "large chunk to cover the inconvenience".

Without the "major appliance" being identified, it's hard to give your rights or an assessment as to what may be reasonable for repair or replacement. It could be something vital like a boiler...or something like a dishwasher that some people would consider major, and others would consider a luxury, why are you being vague OP?

You should contact the landlord at the address you have been given, informing them of the problem and setting a time frame for resolving the situation. It may also be worth contacting Threshold for advice.
 
Its the cooker, fairly fundamental I would say. He texted back after I posted this today and is supposedly calling around in the morning to investigate, will see how it goes. Thanks for the advice!
 
Yeah he didnt show up. Rang him last night, no answer, texted also no reply. I rechecked the lease, seems I went to the wrong address the first time (its one of those addresses with loads of estates like XYZ Lane, Mews, Park, Square, Way, Drive etc.). Anyway, on going to the right address, it doesnt exist! Its number 24 but the properties end at 23! I checked the parking spaces as they are numbered per apartment, no 24 to be found.

He also owns this apartment block as I was talking to another rentor there while looking for number 24, who confirmed he is also their LL. She gave me a second number for him, no answer (I know both are correct as his voicemail says "You have reached....").

Im raging at this stage, and there is no way im fixing anything out of my pocket for this cowboy. Im absolutely not paying rent at end of this month if he doesnt fix this soon.

Should I just cut my losses and move out as its seriously stressing me out.
 
They are but TBH they dont cook as much as I do and seem more blaise about the situation.
 
The behaviour of this landlord is not on. He said he'd meet you on the 17th and didn't have the manners to text you when he didn't show up. I would inform him that you are going to do the repairs out of the rent money. You should not withhold the full rent. Just the amount of the repairs.

A cooker is most certainly something one can not do without for a prolonged period.

Very strange about the address. How many apartments in the block?
 
IMO thats what is the most annoying, he has no manners to text back or return calls. If he rang back to say he couldnt get someone for day or two that'd be fine but he's treating us like we have no rights.

In our block? About 20 i'd say.

I dont want to pay anything for this, plus the hassle of getting someone in to do the work. Why should I have to do that? Thats just letting him get away with doing nothing!
 
username123 said:
plus the hassle of getting someone in to do the work. Why should I have to do that?
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Oh to be an Irish tenant. I once had a tenant ask me to change a lightbulb.

If that landlord has 20 apartments he would surely have to be there weekly for something or other. Amazing that you've never seen him in two years, I'm not disputing you. But 20 apratments take a heck of a lot of minding unless they are the most perfectly build and supplied place ever.
 
username123 said:
I dont want to pay anything for this, plus the hassle of getting someone in to do the work. Why should I have to do that? Thats just letting him get away with doing nothing!
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eh, because you like to eat perhaps?

I dont get it, why not just sort it out, withhold the amount from the rent and be done with it. If my cooker breaks I have to sort it out, thats what you do when something breaks. Fair enough, its the landlords responsibility to pay for it, but I dont see why you cant organise it seeing as the landlord is not being helpful, its you who is affected after all - no offence, but the amount of time you have spent posting and complaining you would have sourced and phoned a repair man.
 
Lucky you Bronte - only once asked to change a light bulb you obviously don’t have students as tenants! This is an intolerable situation no wonder Landlords in this country get a bad name and also no wonder people want to own their own property for this reason alone I cant see Ireland moving the way of other European countries where they are happy to live in rented property when there is no proper regulations for both landlords and tenants. When I visit my sister and friends in Germany they live happily in their rented properties for years and intend to retire and die in them knowing they are protected and know what is expected of them. Even though I never had dealings with PRTB I have yet to read good things about them so I wonder do we need to review this sector and appoint a relevant body.
 
But even if he was about i'd never recognise him! If taking our place as an example he's done literally nothing with it since I moved in.

About a month ago I was talking to a guy who said he was a property manager or something similar, he was inspecting the gas. I shouldve asked him for contact details :mad:
 
truthseeker said:
eh, because you like to eat perhaps?

I dont get it, why not just sort it out, withhold the amount from the rent and be done with it. If my cooker breaks I have to sort it out, thats what you do when something breaks. Fair enough, its the landlords responsibility to pay for it, but I dont see why you cant organise it seeing as the landlord is not being helpful, its you who is affected after all - no offence, but the amount of time you have spent posting and complaining you would have sourced and phoned a repair man.
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I dont agree with that at all. Its stated in the lease the LL shall repair all appliances. Doing (major) repairs as tenant and is a no-no for me.

Its also the principle of the thing, if I let him away with this then we will never get anything from him again.
 
username123 said:
I dont agree with that at all. Its stated in the lease the LL shall repair all appliances. Doing (major) repairs as tenant and is a no-no for me.

Its also the principle of the thing, if I let him away with this then we will never get anything from him again.
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Fair enough, enjoy your take aways!
 
OP is getting too agitated over this. He states that in two years he has had no complaint, has not had reason to contact the LL and the LL has not bothered him. Great!

So, the cooker is broken the last few days and the LL has been difficult to contact and slow to respond. Yes, annoying, but after two years of no complaint from either side, the LL is now a "cowboy" and OP is foaming at the mouth.

In the many years of letting several properties to all sorts of different people -by sex,age,nationality and social background - I've had a few cookers/ovens fail.
The usual repair /replacement time was three days from learning about it -which is probably no different from someone living in their own property.

I never had the reaction from these disparate cookerless-tenants that OP is displaying. Mind you, my properties also have microwaves. Evidently OP's does not, or else surely he would not be quite so annoyed about not using the cooker for a few days.

Now, OP's LL was really stupid and negligent in not providing back-up details and providing a policy for such events in case he is not contactable. This was quite wrong of OP and it will and should cost him for tiem and trouble incurred by OP. I give everyone three different phone numbers for my own tradesmen who know to go round asap. And I tell tenants if there is no immediate response from me or those guys then they can use their own contacts or use Golden Pgses and buy/pay for anything that needs replacing and deduct it from the rent, with no arguments from me.

So, I do agree that OP's LL is silly , inefficient and annoying. But OP's reaction is a bit OTT . OP should follow the advice inTruthseekers post 13 . And calm down like his more blase fellow-tenants.
 
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Are you a registered tenant at this address.? You say you give your rent to your flat mate who makes a single payment to LL. Just wondered if this may be a reason for not communicating with you, or is it the flat-mate who should be dealing with this
 
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