Trouble with rented accomodation

LegacyUser

Hi,

Will keep as short and sweet as possible, not a major issue, just good to get peoples advice some times. Basically been in a house share for just over 3 years. Housemate number 6 just moved in as people come and go quite a bit. I would consider myself an excellent tenant and my landlady is generally helpful most of the time and I get on well with her. She is a little hard to contact some times I will admit. I keep the place spotless, will try and help out with arranging someone if things need to be fixed. I've waited in on numerous occassions when someone wants to view the place / someone coming to fix something etc. I even bought a good few bits and pieces for the place. Anyways there's been an ongoing problem with some household items one temporarily was resolved (I fix it). There's been someone supposed to be coming out to fix it the last few days but waiting for them to phone. So we've had the inconvenience of these appliances going and we arrived home to see our channels have gone. The rent I pay was inclusive of the channels. I contacted the landlady and she said that the direct debit probably didn't go out as it was from her old account and that she honestly can't justify paying it after lowering the rent and we'd need to discuss it ourselves. The channels cost €30 each a month and my rent was lowered by €35. Anyways i've been contemplating moving out for some time now, nearer to work/college/friends/family, and i've reached the decision that I would. I'm dreading phoning my landlady to tell her, nervous almost as she's always like oh please don't move out let me know if you're unhappy. So i've a couple of issues:

Should I be annoyed about the channels just being allowed to be cut off and should I say something?

How do I go about telling her i'm moving without her thinking i'm doing it to be spiteful about the above?

Should I be feeling bad about moving and dreading phoning her?

Distorted

If you're saving 35 after having the rent reduced, why not just pay for the extra channels yourself? Seems strange not to have discussed it though.

If you want to move out without hurting her feelings, tell her you've had an offer to move into a friend's place that you can't refuse.

The other issues are pretty par for the course unless you're living in ultra luxury serviced apartments. Its the same when you want to get things fixed in your own home - often tradesmen don't turn up and you have to wait a few days or weeks just to get things fixed. I don't think theres any magic wand that someone can wave to get things fixed with no inconvenience - its just a fact of life that things sometimes break.

LegacyUser

Distorted wrote: »

If you're saving 35 after having the rent reduced, why not just pay for the extra channels yourself? Seems strange not to have discussed it though.

If you want to move out without hurting her feelings, tell her you've had an offer to move into a friend's place that you can't refuse.

The other issues are pretty par for the course unless you're living in ultra luxury serviced apartments. Its the same when you want to get things fixed in your own home - often tradesmen don't turn up and you have to wait a few days or weeks just to get things fixed. I don't think theres any magic wand that someone can wave to get things fixed with no inconvenience - its just a fact of life that things sometimes break.

The 35 is off the rent which includes SKY the landlady is not obliged to have reduced my rent but she did, she can't just blackmail her tenants to put the rent back up by getting the channels cut off. It was pointless reducing it in the first place.

Magicmatilda

In my opinion this is a business relationship. You pay her rent and she provides you with accomadation. In your case a TV service was included. She should not have cut the TV service without discussing it. If that was her intention when she reduced the rent she should have made it clear.

If you want to move out over it then do so. I would call her and tell her that on reflection you feel she was unfair in cutting TV service with no notice (what account it goes from is not your concern, obviousely she has no intention of reinstating it, so she cut it without notice) and on that basis you will be leaving.

However it sounds like you were ready to move out anyway, living with 6 people can be tough especially if you want your house to be a "home" which I assume you do as you are buying things for the place. Maybe its time to find a place with only 1 or 2 other people or even alone. If this is the case then call her and explain that to her.

You shouldn't feel bad about leaving or about calling her. She didn't seem to feel bad about leaving you with no TV. That said I can understand your issue about making the call. I would be a bit like that myself. I hate having difficult conversations. All I can say is that thinking about it is worse than doing it. You will feel better once its done. So the sooner the better. Just call her and explain honestly your reasons for wanting to leave.

LegacyUser

Magicmatilda wrote: »

In my opinion this is a business relationship. You pay her rent and she provides you with accomadation. In your case a TV service was included. She should not have cut the TV service without discussing it. If that was her intention when she reduced the rent she should have made it clear.

If you want to move out over it then do so. I would call her and tell her that on reflection you feel she was unfair in cutting TV service with no notice (what account it goes from is not your concern, obviousely she has no intention of reinstating it, so she cut it without notice) and on that basis you will be leaving.

However it sounds like you were ready to move out anyway, living with 6 people can be tough especially if you want your house to be a "home" which I assume you do as you are buying things for the place. Maybe its time to find a place with only 1 or 2 other people or even alone. If this is the case then call her and explain that to her.

You shouldn't feel bad about leaving or about calling her. She didn't seem to feel bad about leaving you with no TV. That said I can understand your issue about making the call. I would be a bit like that myself. I hate having difficult conversations. All I can say is that thinking about it is worse than doing it. You will feel better once its done. So the sooner the better. Just call her and explain honestly your reasons for wanting to leave.

I live with 1 person this will be the 6th person that's moved in in the 3 years. We have also had no freezer for a couple of weeks at a time and had to throw food out.

tbh

Stressedgirl wrote: »

Should I be feeling bad about moving and dreading phoning her?

yes and no. It's natural to be sad that the relationship, such as it is, is coming to an end, and natural to feel awkward about doing something you've never done before - but don't let it stop you. Being honest, I'm sure she'll forget you as soon as she has the room re-rented, so you do what's right for you and leave her sort herself out.

Victor

You originally agreed a certain level of service - including TV and freezer. These are now not being provided to suit the landlord. This is unfair on you and in breach of your agreement. You need to tell her that these things need to be rectified.

Bagheera

I wouldn't feel guilty about moving out. Sounds like you have been a good tenant so it's your landlady's loss. If she offered to get the Sky connected again would you stay or are you determined to move?

There's no reason to feel bad about moving out.

Even if your landlady was perfect and was leaving presents at your door every morning, there's no reason to feel bad for moving out. People rent somewhere to live and they move on if they want to, there doesn't have to be a reason. As long as you give your landlady the appropriate amount of notice, you can move out whenever you want and for whatever reason you want. If she makes out like you're "hurting her feelings" or being offensive by wanting to leave, she's just trying to manipulate you because she knows you're an easy going tenant and she wants your money.