Renting, pregnant and heat broken!

A

Alli

Registered User
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78
Hi there,

I hope I am in the right area - if not please advise.

I'm pregnant - due to have baby any day. Husband and I rent a house in Dublin. Quite expensive - paying 1500 per month but we have tried to negotiate since last summer and not happening - they will review it when our contract is coming up for renewal. Anyway, it's a great house and we can afford it for now. Thats not the issue. (But it annoys me when you read further).

Early this week our gas boiler stopped working. Alerted the agency. They never came back to me. I got a friend who is a registered gas boiler engineer to take a look - completely bust - old age. He very kindly wrote out everything that was wrong with the boiler - from approx xost to replace to re-fit the bits not working - and I relayed to the agency. I figured this would save time on them sending someone to diagnose the fault and then have to go back to the agency and then the landlord etc etc. agency very happy we did this and guaranteed they would speak to landlord ASAP and get heating fixed, expecially as I'm pregnant and due any day.

We have had no word back from the agency as yet (48 hours since report submitted) and I'm really annoyed. They are not returning my calls. while I understand they have to contact the landlord and then organise a tradeperson to do work, but come on....48 hours and still nothing? And i'm about to pop anytime. And I have told them that as I'm on maternity leave I'm in the house and an engineer can come anytime!

Any advise on what I should do would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Alli
 
I assume you know the LL name and contact details? I would go to him directly as to the agency you are just another client.....

This is probably in the wrong forum also .......can someone move>?
 
Hi Alli,

I would email the agency straight away. Point out again what you have done to resolve the matter. Remind them that you are pregnant and due any day and cannot live in the house without heating. Tell them if they do not have an engineer with you in 24 hours and the heating fixed within 48 hours thereafter, you are going to arrange to do it yourselves, and that you will keep the cost of fixing it back out of next months rental payment. CC your email to the Landlord if you have his address. That's what I would do. Give their lack of action, it is reasonable and there is very little they can do to object!!

Good luck,

Kate.
 
I am having similar issue at the mo and you need to take a couple of steps:

1. You need to inform the LL and agency of the problem in writing i.e. a posted letter. Email, text or phone will not suffice. We sent a registered letter to ensure it got there!
2. You need to allow them sufficient time to respond to the letter, in this case 2 days is probably enough. We called about our problem 4 weeks ago and only after the formal letter on Monday is it being sorted!
3. If the LL/Agency fails to respond you have two choices, get it repaired yourself and invoice for the amount, you cannot take it out of the rent as you need to ensure that you are fulfilling you side of the tenancy. The other choice is to issue notice to the LL and move out after 28 days.
4. If you do repair it yourself and there are any problems getting your money from the LL, your next port of call is the PRTB.

This came from threshold who I spoke to last week. Contrary to what I thought, I cannot force my LL to do repairs! He isn't liable to provide alternative accommodation even though our property is inhabitable! Its a joke, so if you want to stay in the property (as we do), then follow the process above. Make sure all communication is recorded in writing, you will need this in case there is a dispute.
 
Hi there,

As a solicitor I can tell you that the practice is sometimes a little different from the formal rules!

First of all an email is sufficient - there is no legal requirement to send a registered letter, particularly if you have a history of communicating by email and you get a response acknowledging receipt. Without a response, you may be safer to send the registered letter as you would have proof.

Secondly, I would certainly take the cost of repairs from the rent. There is not a landlord in the country who would succeed in any action against you in these circumstances. Obviously this is not an option where the problem is minor. However where the problem is serious (e.g. no heating) and the landlord fails to do anything about it, it is a reasonable solution to the problem and I doubt there is a judge in the country who would have an issue with it. By writing first you are giving your landlord notice of your intentions, and you are giving him an opportunity to remedy the problem. Obviously you need to ensure that you are not overcharged for the solution.

It might be a very tricky call in this case, as it sounds like the boiler needs replacing outright. However, sending the letter/email in these terms means there's a very good chance you will get a meaningful response!

Good luck!

Kate.
 
The landlord could be away on holidays/business so that would be a reasonable explanation if he was, however, are you dealing with the landlord on all matters here or with the agency? The agency may be unable to contact him and are either stalling or are not responsible.. I presume also that you have no hot water and that would be the main issue? If you have always dealt thru the agency I would ring/call in to them and inform them that you are going to get someone to fix it and take the cost from the rent and just leave it at that. Put the onus on them to either put up or shut up.
 
While not directly related to your original query, my understanding is that rents are coming down in many areas due to over-supply. If your current landlord isn't willing to negotiate on your rent, have you had a look around to see if you can find somewhere nicer for your €1,500 per month?
 
Do you have any idea of the financial status of the landlord? Has he lots of other properties? Any sign that he is struggling to pay for the house?
It might be that he is not able to pay for the repairs. By with-holding rent he may go into arrears on his mortgage and you may end up having to move out.
I'd start looking for another place to live, I know this is problematic when you are about to have a baby, but you need heat.
 
Only coming back now - having baby got in way!

thanks to you all for your replies. I actually just lost the plot and shouted a lot at agency in the end and they sent an engineer over who sorted the problem. Just to clear up a matter though - I do not know my landlord - just his name. I rent from the agency and deal directly with them on everything.

thanks to you all for responding though,

Alli
 
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