UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi Everyone

This is my first post so sorry if I do anything wrong!

Me and my partner are first time renters and we moved in to what we thought was the nicest flat we have ever seen (for our budget) and we still believe it is, but... We came for a viewing in July 2018 and got on really well with the agent, we moved in on 1st August 2018. Maybe it was excitement or naivety but we just nodded our heads in agreement with the information we got, but a lot of it was completely wrong.

For example we have 2 cars and when we asked about parking we were told we get 1 bay and a permit to park there, the other car can just go up on a curb 'because that's That everyone does'... our second day being moved in I got a ticket for parking in a controlled area without a permit. When I told the agents about it I got a very sarcastic response, in fact they laughed! I didn't blame them at any point even thought they told me to park there.

When I asked how to get the meter readings as they are under the stairs on the ground floor I was told that we weren't allowed a key  I had to wait for someone to be in the area so they can let me in... after 2 weeks of asking I went to the office and they all sat there looking at me like i was crazy and said 'no that's not right, here you go' and gave me a key!?

Anyway, those are minor points to give you an idea of where it started spiraling.

On moving in day (1/8/18), we were told by the agent that she hasn't completed the inventory/ check-in report yet and that it will be with us soon. Fine, we will go and take photos of our own and then compare when we get the report. Two weeks passed and I asked if we could have the report... 'There's a lot of photos that I need to crop and edit  it's a very long process, I'll have it over to you next week'. After a lot of asking and chasing the report I went down to their office again to ask for the report in person. When I got there I was told that the lady we initially dealt with had left the business and that the report HAD been completed. The manager printed it out for me and asked me to sign and date it there and then... I don't think so. We had our check-in report 4 months after we moved in (is that fair? or normal?).

Here's the crazy part... every single photo in the report is dated 8th August 2018 - as I've mentioned a couple of times now, we moved in on 1st August 2018, so did they take the photos a week after we moved in and hide all our furniture? I don't think so. Is that what the 'editing' was? In addition to this, the front cover says: Tenancy from 28/12/2016. Did they even take new photos or have they just used the original check in document and manually gone and edited the date on each photo!?

It's also worth mentioning that the photos in the report are very poor quality and suggests everything is in 'excellent' condition but it's impossible to see anything. We kept finding things like broken toilet seat and cracks in the fridge tray that aren't mentioned and definitely can't be made out in the photos.

What makes the situation worse is our heating hasn't been fully working since we moved in. This is where the relationship really goes wrong... at first they were apologetic and sent someone out within a week to look at the boiler. What happens is, the boiler is in a constant state of error and to get it to work we have to go and reset it then turn the thermostat up and wait, after a few mintues the error code will flash up again, we reset it and wait... this is a cycle we might have to repeat up to 8 times before the boiler will stay lit. We can't get hot water unless the heating is on, if we reset the boiler without turning the heating on then we may get hot water for 5 minuets but it will go back into error and the water goes freezing cold. In other words, if we want to wash up, have a bath or shower then we have to have the heating on... that's if we can get it to work.

The first time we told the engineer the exact process mentioned above and what was wrong but he said it looked fine when he was here so he wont touch it, despite us telling him the error code he didn't know what it meant. We told the agents and they arranged for him to come out again a week later, this time he saw the error code but said he would have to take the boiler apart to fix it and he's not authorised to do that, he said something like 'well at least you can get some hot water' and left. I started getting tired of the situation so I asked them again, the same person came out, yet amazingly he seemed to know exactly what to do this time... it worked for 5 minutes and he left. So 5 months in to our tenancy we have a heating system that still doesn't work the way it should. The lettings manager makes me feel like I'm complaining about nothing and like I'm doing it because I have nothing better to do. I sent them a stronger email than usual quoting part of the tenancy agreement and the director emailed me back saying I'm out of line and that they 'aren't gas engineers, they are letting agents, all they can do is instruct some one to come and fix it and they trust that they do their job in good faith' along with a whole load of other sarcasm.

I have been nothing but polite and probably too friendly and fair with them from the start, the relationship has soured between us and the letting agent, and it's becoming very uncomfortable. When I call they won't take it and email me instead days later. I've had instances where I've been told they will put me through to the person I ask for, put me on hold and then come back and say 'oh sorry he's not in today', then I go to the office and he's the only person in there?

I don't know if this is the typical behavior of letting agents or not but we really don't know where we stand with anything and if we are in the wrong with the heating situation and the check in report. I have to be honest, I haven't amended the check in report, I don't really want to do anything for them. I know it should cover me as the tenant but with the incorrect dates anyway does it even matter? We want to be out of this place but now its quite obvious that the agents dislike us I'm concerned about how we will be treated when it comes to ending the tenancy and the inevitable poor reference we will get from them even though we pay full rent on time every month.

Please let me know if I am being unreasonable asking for the heating to be fixed, and what you think of the check in report dates being wrong etc?

Thanks very much

Adam

You're not unreasonable asking for the heating to be fixed. No-one would be. However, there's a world of difference between a kaput boiler in winter and a boiler that fires up but one that, say, requires manual control. Any kind of flaw with a heating system I would expect would be noted on the Gas Safety Certificate - they do test for certain things as they go through their procedures, although probably not things like timing controls... but you would think error codes would've been noted. So - does the property have a valid (current) GSC, first of all, and have you seen it, or have access to it?

Photos in Inventory Reports usually are quite fuzzy, to be fair... otherwise they'd be A4 in size and the document would be simply massive. Usually full size photos would be retained digitally for comparison, if required. However, if you noticed anything within the first day, or days, of your tenancy then you should have been formally bringing these to the attention of the Agent / Landlord... even more so if they're not mentioned in the Inventory. That approach is to protect you. Now that you've been in for around 5 months it is perfectly reasonable for them to say that you have caused all of these issues if they decide to get sneaky about it... and you really have nothing to back you up, do you? Because you don't seem to have made a note of this at the outset, a shared note, so there's a common understanding - that's what an Inventory is for - it's not designed to catch one party out over the other - it's to provide a solid baseline that both parties agreed was the state of the property... then it reduces the need for disputes at the end because there is this agreed record.

You amending the Check-In Report / Inventory is not you doing something for them... it feels like a missed opportunity to do something for yourself, sadly.

Yes, this behaviour could be described as typical of Letting Agents... please remember - the Agent does not work for you, you do not pay their fees - the Landlord is their customer.

If you play the longer game... this is probably what I would be thinking of... look for somewhere else, start now, take your time if you can, go into it with your eyes open this time... do what you can to get a good reference if you believe that is important to your next step. The alternative is to just live with it and let is wash over you... it's possible... it's a mindset... it is your first time renting - you'll do nothing but laugh about this in years to come. It won't affect your life materially. It won't make you depressed or bring you down. It's all a big game.