Lazy Landlord

ray giraffe

Hi

I'm looking for advice on a couple of things.

I share a house with 3 others, moved in about 6 months ago. The thing is that whenever anything in the house goes wrong, it takes the landlord takes ages to fix it.

Our central heating stopped working back in October, it was 3 weeks before it was fixed. The excuse was that some part needed to be ordered and because the system was so old it took three weeks for the part to arrive. Surely this means that the heating system was hopelessly outdated and needed to be replaced - you can't have tenants freezing for 3 weeks? What should I have done?

Then the oven stopped working in November. This time the excuse was the electrician kept letting the landlord down, not coming when he said he would. It was three weeks before we had a working oven. After a week of waiting, I bought a small replacement oven from argos for 30 euro so that I could still cook, and everyone else in the house used it too. I didn't even ask the landlord to pay 30 euro for the small oven. Should I have? Can I still bring this up with the landlord?

Now the electric shower has stopped working. This is very inconvenient for everyone. I got talking to the landlord Saturday morning and he says "Oh it will be Monday before anyone can come". Fair enough. I am going to call him again Monday morning to remind him. But what if nobody comes to fix it on Monday and we are left again with excuses? Maybe the landlord says "Oh the guy I called can't come till Friday" or "It needs a part that will take 2 weeks to come". What can I do?

If the landlord is messing us around, are we entitled to call him up and say "We are calling a plumber to come and fix it and the cost is coming out of our rent." ? Surely we are entitled to a plumber on Monday and a working shower certainly within another couple of days? Can the landlord get it fixed whenever it suits him, if that is weeks away?

Sorry for the length of the post, but I wanted to give you the full picture. All advice appreciated.

Victor

You are paying for a service and are entitled to receive the full service. You need to make this point clear to the landlord. Now, sometimes things take time to fix, but not 3 weeks.

ray giraffe wrote: »

Now the electric shower has stopped working. This is very inconvenient for everyone. I got talking to the landlord Saturday morning and he says "Oh it will be Monday before anyone can come". Fair enough. I am going to call him again Monday morning to remind him. But what if nobody comes to fix it on Monday and we are left again with excuses? Maybe the landlord says "Oh the guy I called can't come till Friday" or "It needs a part that will take 2 weeks to come". What can I do?

Is there any means of having a hot shower or bath?

If you don't have certainty by tomorrow and service by Tuesday, show up on the landlord's door step with your soap and towel.

ray giraffe

Victor wrote: »

You are paying for a service and are entitled to receive the full service. You need to make this point clear to the landlord. Now, sometimes things take time to fix, but not 3 weeks.

Is there any means of having a hot shower or bath?

If you don't have certainty by tomorrow and service by Tuesday, show up on the landlord's door step with your soap and towel.

Hi Victor, thanks for your reply. You've reminded me of an important point- I don't know the landlord's address! All I know is first name and mobile number!

Thankfully I've figured out since I last posted that there is an attachment I can use on the bath to allow me to have a shower, provided the heating has been on for a couple of hours. So that's a relief

I'm hoping the landlord will give me certainty by tomorrow, fingers crossed. I'll keep you updated!

John_Mc

I wouldnt pay the full months rent if I didnt have heating, hot water or facilities to cook myself hot food. I would imagine that if you told him this it would not yake 3 weeks to resolve