Estate Agent nightmare

[phoenix2010]

I need advice will try and keep it short

my son and his girlfriend moved into new rented flat last week

im going up to Scarb for a weeks holiday and to visit them , not staying at flat

flat sounded lovely , landlady was going to put new carpets in , decorate , washing machine , cooker , fridge all provded

so they were supposed to move in 2 weeks ago , estate agent delayed them by a week , said it wasnt ready ,

they got new move in date last week

when they got the keys and started moving in , walls not painted , flat still dirty from previous tenants , carpets not changed , oven filthy , fridge mouldy , washing machine broken

the worst thing is a broken window in the bedroom , meaning they are having to sleep in the lounge as the bedroom is so cold

my son and his girlfriend are 21 , this is their first flat and they are a bit naive , they both work in a care home , my son on nights and his gf on days , 12 hour shifts , not many days off

so they have been in a few times to reed rains estate agent and asked when will the jobs be done ??

basically getting fobbed off , ie paint it yourself , then you can choose the colours , clean the oven and we will give you £50 , someone came to measure for carpets , but no further news etc

nobody been to fix the window

I new nothing of all this and just found out , sent strongly worded email to estate agent , no reply as yet but i plan to make an appointment to see them when im up there from tomoro

im assuming my son does not have in writing any of these promised works , and not really sure if we have a leg to stand on

Im hoping to get all these things in writing , when Im there and definitely get the oven cleaned and the window fixed , at their cost

they even said there was beer cans in the sink and the bathroom was filthy , clearly there had been no effort to clean the place between tenants

my son has asked for the landladys contact details , but they wont give them to him , clearly she is paying them to maintain this flat and they are failing

they kept the last tenents £550 deposit so why arent they using it to sort the problems out

I guess now they have my sons money too , they are in no rush to fix it

please help me , I have no idea really how to solve this

[AgentTink]

Here is some things I would suggest for your son as I too rented for a few years.

A) get someone from estate agents around to flat in the next few days with a printed list and photo evidence of everything that is wrong, broken, or damaged. You need the,estate agent to verify that this damage was here prior to them moving so that they don't get the blame for it later on sown the line.

B) the contract should clearly say what the estate agent is responcible for and what your son is responcible for. Check these details as this would be things like heating, plumbing etc

C) the estate agent should have given them details of what up to do in a emergency situation. I would class broken window as a emergency. They need to get the estate agency to fix it right now.

D) I would get your son to pop a letter in stating that if xx jobs are not completed by xx date then he will have no choice to get the work completed himself and give receipts to agent for them to pay.

In hindsight they should never have signed for the keys whilst jobs not completed which will make things more complicated now. Take lots of photos of evidence and be tough with the agents they have a reponcability for certain things and this will be in the contract. For all other cosmetic work you will most probably need to get a signed agreement after a meeting with them for what they are prepared to do and by when. Do not allow your son to do any decorating as I was allowed to do this once however in the small print it stated that when I left it had to be prainted back to original colour or forfeit my deposit!

[phoenix2010]

Great advice thankyou

I will be there tomoro , sadly I dont live nearby so will try to sort as much as I can in the week im there (supposed to be my holiday)

Ill take pictures and hoping to arrange a meeting although have a feeling they will try to fob me off too

Havnt seen the contract yet so need to check that

I know they shouldnt have moved in before checking but they are a bit naive I guess and were living with her parents so desperate to get out into a place of their own ,

ill take on board all the advice thankyou

[sarah707]

Go round the flat, make a full list of what needs doing and give it to RR. Ask for a meeting with a manager and agree a time scale.

It might take a bit of chasing but these things should have been done and it's not acceptable

Hugs xx

[Loushah]

My friend had problems when she moved into her rented accommodation and the landlord didn't fix the problems after her contacting him on many occasions.

She got all the problems fixed herself, sent him the receipts and deducted the cost out of the rent.

Maybe an option?

[step11]

I will ask my partner when he gets in as he's an estate agent. But I'm sure they can't do that, they must be breaking the law. The flat sounds inhabitable.

[phoenix2010]

Thankyou for all the advice

I had a long conversation with estate agent this morning

It might seem that my son has panicked and exaggerated a tiny bit , although there are definitely issues

I think my son and his gf are a bit overwhelmed with everything that needs doing and i cant really blame them , they have never had to deal with all this before

Anyway , Ive made an appointment to see agent on tuesday and she has told me that in the meantime I can do any owrks i want to and bill them , or they will deduct from rent

So , although its my holiday , starting tomoro , ill be supervising them oven cleaning and painting walls and Im going to bill the agent on tuesday anything we buy , any paid work we enlist and also our time, her suggestion and seems pretty fair to me

fingers crossed

[loocyloo]

hope you get things sorted and have a lovely time in scarborough.

xxx

[green4lynn]

I rent a house through Reeds Rains not far from Scarborough and generally they are useless! They took ages to sort out the contract, it wasn't ready when we moved in! If we have any issues they take ages to contact the landlord, yet they charge us £76 every 6 months to renew the contract! Quite how they justify that amount for a few sheets of paper I don't know! They come out and check the house every 3 months, we tell them if we have any problems, and they don't do anything about it!
Good luck with getting everything sorted! The contract is fairly straight forward as to who's responsible for what!

Lynn x

[phoenix2010]

I rent a house through Reeds Rains not far from Scarborough and generally they are useless! They took ages to sort out the contract, it wasn't ready when we moved in! If we have any issues they take ages to contact the landlord, yet they charge us £76 every 6 months to renew the contract! Quite how they justify that amount for a few sheets of paper I don't know! They come out and check the house every 3 months, we tell them if we have any problems, and they don't do anything about it!
Good luck with getting everything sorted! The contract is fairly straight forward as to who's responsible for what!

Lynn x

Ive been reading some pretty awful reviews about them today actually

wish me luck

[AgentTink]

Hi Phoenix, how did the visit down to Scarborough go? Hope you had some fun family time as well as helping your son with his flat x

[phoenix2010]

Hey just got back

well had an appointment with them tuesday

electrician came wed and sorted hall light and ensuite light

man came in last night to quote for oven , fridge , carpets cleaning , awaiting quote and date for those

new carpet being fitted next week

joiner coming in next week to replace 2 windows and fix mail box

they wont paint the walls , so I have started them off buy buying magnolia and mini rollers and did the kitchen today

took son out to buy hoover, bin , bath mat , mirrors etc and we got paint charts, trying to motivate them to take charge and start making it feel like a home

theyve done nothing so far and it quite depressing , but i gave them lots of ideas about painting feature walls and buying colour coordinated accessories , bless em

weve set up all direct debits for utilities and engineer coming in to turn on phone line and setup internet

honestly I do wonder how long all this would have taken if I didnt happen to be going on my hols there this week

I think they feel better and certainly looked alot happier when I left them , in fact they have asked me to move to Scarborough , my son says he misses me too much and would I consider it , I have always wanted to live by the sea

perhaps they just think I can solve all their problems if i live nearby

[smurfette]

Aw glad its all getting sorted well done!

[hectors house]

Glad you managed to get things sorted - is there an ombudsman for estate agents maybe a letter to them with a copy to the estate/letting agents may ease the way to a speedier solution for future issues?