furniture in private rental accommodation

edellc

Just wondering if anyone can help, my partner and I moved into a private rental house in March my partner has been complaining that the bed is horrendous and that his back is killing him as I'm six months pregnant I haven't noticed my back being sore as I cant sleep on it but do wake up with bad pains down my side, hips and knees was putting it down to being pregnant.
However on Thursday he was crippled with pain and we had to go to the hospital as he really couldn't move he is now on strong painkillers and the doctor said it was down to sleeping on a bad bed.

My question is can I request that the landlord get us a new bed? I'm on illness benefit at the moment and my partner is on jobseekers. Also am quite worried about saying anything to landlord as there has been a couple of issues since we moved in and all was okay with him fixing them until he found out we where unemployed then he demanded that I sign over the rent allowance to him or he would kick us out and there are a couple of issues outstanding but he won't do anything about them now and wont take my phone calls which i believe is down to the fact that we are both not working.

Any suggestions on what to do or who to ask for help would be much appreciated.

Graces7

You are paying him...Please don't let him walk all over you.

He sounds a pain; he is getting his rent after all.

Tell him that the bed is bad and ask for a different one. Is it the mattress or the base?

Or if it is the mattress eg on a divan base, get a sheet of hardwood or planks to put between to make a firm base.

But do not suffer like this, please

gurramok

Its a pity the situation you are in. I had similar problems with the bed before(not as extreme as yours) but I knew the LL would not change it so I put the bad bed into a friends storage and put my own comfy bed in its place.

When the lease was up, I swapped them back as if they were never swapped in the first place

If you do get nowhere and are stuck where you are, is there a spare room maybe to dump the bad bed in?

edellc

thank you for the advice
The bed is a divan one, i did put big card board boxes flattened under the mattress as the base seems to be broken but it hasnt made a difference as the mattress has too many broken springs also I think a new bed is needed in general.
There is a spare room which is why we moved in as I wanted to make it into a nursery I had agreed with the agent that the single bed in the spare room would be taken away but this hasn't happened and he now claims that this conversation never happened, when I speak to the agent he tells me to speak to the landlord and vice versa
I did ring the St Vincent De Paul today as I have been looking at bed prices and there is no way we could afford to buy one we are just keeping our heads above water at the minute - anyway SVDP said they would call out to me on Thursday to assess the situation and that I have to go to the community welfare officer on Monday to ask for assistant.
As I have never been unemployed in my life this is all new and a bit frustrating as I am so used to just sorting everything out myself quickly and have been very lucky with the rental properties I have lived in until now
I am going to get my partner to ring the landlord on Monday as he just doesn't even acknowledge my existence and see if he will listen to him.
Fingers crossed one of these options works as my blood pressure is through the roof and the stress is killing me not to mention how upsetting it is to watch a grown man cry in agony over his back and literally not able to do anything for himself and then him beating himself up feeling so guilty that i have to do everything

Graces7

Such a difficult situation..

But the landlord IS breaking the lease.

They will get away with whatever they can.

See

http://www.threshold.ie/page.asp?menu=70&page=240

The bed is a proven health hazard.

Please, contact Threshold; just call them and have a chat. They can and will act for you and that has considerable clout. Been there done that.

Cardboard will not serve; needs to be wood; and I have even slept on a mattress on a floor.

Can HSE not advise; they have facilities etc and this cannot be a new situation to them by any means?

Please, look after yourself; you and the baby matter more than the landlord.

Your dr/anti natal clinic need to know and may well be able to help. Get as much outside help as you can.

Blessings and peace.