Private Rented Accommodation - advice needed

[Davies]

Evening guys, I'm in need of a little advice....I'll try and keep it brief.

Last Friday my room was flooded by our washing machine so we told our letting agency about it and until today they have done nothing. They sent a builder around today to have a look and the reason why my room was flooded was the pipes leaving the house were all blocked up with grease,fat,food etc, which is now cleared.....yay. The problem is that they had to lift the floor to get to the pipes and my room now stinks to high heaven. They said that it smells because all of the cr@p (not literally thank goodness!!) was going under my floor (laminated wood) and this needs to dry out before a new a new one can be put down......at the end of next week. Needless to say I'm a bit narked, but is it within my rights to demand alternative accommodation until this is fixed? I have already moved all my stuff out of my room as I don't want it smelling like a toilet, and I'll be staying elsewhere tonight, but the missus can only put up with me for so long.........should I demand a hotel?

Cheers,

Paul


Mods -> Please move this to idle banter....the smell has clearly gone to my head.

[Fizzy Fish]

surely you should be glad of the excuse to go camp out with your lovely lady for a while...? ;)

[Davies]

I'm glad, not sure she is though :p

[Davies]

Anyone? :smt102

[Stu]

I doubt there is a law covering it. If anything it will be down to your contract on the off chance it mentions it, can you look at that?
Practically, is this on lanlord's buildings insurance - see if you can claim hotel on that.

[Spiderman]

"reasonable" is the answer here buddy. Personaly i think its reasonable to expect that but dobnt take it as a given.
I think the fairest way forward would be to suggest to your landlord that he does not charge you rent for those days you are out of the house.

After all its unreasonable to expect you to sleep in a room that smells like a sewer and thats nto the contract you have with him (to rent a room that smells like a sewer). However, should he be expected to pay for you to stay in the Ritz? No, clearly not.
Is the rent you pay roughly equivalent to the cost of a cheapo hotel room? Well knowing you live in Camden i doub it, even the cheapest tTravelodge room is about £30-35 per night and if you pay that much then mate i got a room you can rent off me at those rates, lol.

I'd suggest you first ask your L/L to pop by and smell things for himself and take it from there.

Feel free to PM or call me buddy, the G/F is head letting consultant at an agency up in Hampstead too so we got your back mate.

[Iansv]

Most tenancy agreements you'll be up **** creek without a paddle. You'll have to check your terms tho..

I remember reading mine and seeing that if something along those lines happens the landlord is under no obligation to provide alternative accomodation although he does have to fix the problem as soon as possible

You should at least not have to be paying rent for the days the place isn't livable though

[Spiderman]

to be honest you can pretty much ignore most of your tenancy contract tho. it depends who it was drawn up by and some landlords are under the mistaken belief that they can wirte what the hell they want in their contract and as long as you agree to it then you are held to it.
Thats not true tho.
Legislation exists to protect both the landlord and tennant however it is geared more towards the tennant. And its the laegislation that matters at the end of the day not what you agreed to in a contract.

Look at it this way. if i wrote a contract saying that i could chop your head off and you wouldnt hold me accountable for it do you think i would b let off scott free? No the law of the land is againt taking another life unlawfully and would do you for murder none the less.

The best argument to an unfair contract is that it was signed under duress. You needed a place to live and had o agree to those terms to get the place otherwise you may have become homeless.