Hi Everyone,
I'm really looking for some advice on whether it is time to ask a Solicitor to help get us out of a nightmare flat.
The very brief run down of a long-running story is that we effectively had a flat forced on us by a letting agent as they had promised us a house in a quiet residential area to start off with but then with a week to go, were told this was unavailable and all they had was this flat. We had to move and did not have enough time to find another property so we had to take it.
The flat and letting agents were both nightmares. The flat suffers from unreasonable noise from every angle and has had several problems, the lettings agents have let people into it without our knowledge or permission, let people work on the skylight looking into our bedroom when we were asleep (without letting us know it was going to happen
) and many, many other problems. I was advised on here that I may be able to break the contract via frustration.
I try to be a really good tenant and didn't want to be unreasonable or cause problems and both went in to see the letting agents, followed by a letter explaining all the problems. They stated that the landlord would let us go if he could rent out the property to someone else and we paid the fees. They have never addressed the problems we raised with them - we got a standard letter.
We recently moved pretty much everything out of the flat and they got a decorator in to do a "touch up" on some wall staining caused by the excessive rain. The decorator came in on the Monday last week and set up with dust, sheets, some painting and then left for well over a week. After which time we called the agency and asked what was happening. They had no knowledge of where the decorator had been but obviously chased this up as he was there yesterday.
I received a call last night from the agents stating that they had two visits and the decorator would tidy up the place. They also confirmed the decorator had their only set of keys - which would explain why there have been no visits over the last week - I suspect, although I have no proof, that they have been putting people off from seeing the property as until then there was a steady flow of viewings.
We went to the property last night and discovered the decorator has left the place in a real mess. He has taken light fittings apart and left the wiring on display in areas where there was no water staining at all. He has taken some panels covering storage areas, on the other side of the house to the water damage, off the areas they are covering and I am worried if these are damaged we will be liable. He has also been taking great chunks out of the wall and re-plastering but this seems to have done more damage than anything as the wall was fine before.
My husbands father is a professional painter and decorator and he estimated the repairs to the staining would take two days max - and he thinks he could have done it in less than a day. He has suggested there may be an insurance job going on here but again we have no proof.
We were under the assumtion that the decorator would be doing a minor paint touch up - not a major job. We are paying for the rent whilst he is doing this and all this work means that the flat cannot be shown and will not be taken.
I really need some help. I only got married three months ago and instead of being happy we are now constantly under stress. It's taken a toll on both of our health (for example I have suffered mild allopecia several years ago - this came back but has begun to clear having moved out because we are now able to sleep), we have started arguing because of the stress this week, which is very unlike us. I cannot tell you how desperate we are to get rid of this flat but the letting agent doesn't care and we don't know what to do. Should we get a Solicitor involved at this stage? We don't have tons of money but we wouldn't qualify for free help so I really need to know if honestly a Solicitor could help.
Sorry for the big long post - the thing has been going on for so long, with so much happening it is hard to condense it!!
I'm really looking for some advice on whether it is time to ask a Solicitor to help get us out of a nightmare flat.
The very brief run down of a long-running story is that we effectively had a flat forced on us by a letting agent as they had promised us a house in a quiet residential area to start off with but then with a week to go, were told this was unavailable and all they had was this flat. We had to move and did not have enough time to find another property so we had to take it.
The flat and letting agents were both nightmares. The flat suffers from unreasonable noise from every angle and has had several problems, the lettings agents have let people into it without our knowledge or permission, let people work on the skylight looking into our bedroom when we were asleep (without letting us know it was going to happen
) and many, many other problems. I was advised on here that I may be able to break the contract via frustration.I try to be a really good tenant and didn't want to be unreasonable or cause problems and both went in to see the letting agents, followed by a letter explaining all the problems. They stated that the landlord would let us go if he could rent out the property to someone else and we paid the fees. They have never addressed the problems we raised with them - we got a standard letter.
We recently moved pretty much everything out of the flat and they got a decorator in to do a "touch up" on some wall staining caused by the excessive rain. The decorator came in on the Monday last week and set up with dust, sheets, some painting and then left for well over a week. After which time we called the agency and asked what was happening. They had no knowledge of where the decorator had been but obviously chased this up as he was there yesterday.
I received a call last night from the agents stating that they had two visits and the decorator would tidy up the place. They also confirmed the decorator had their only set of keys - which would explain why there have been no visits over the last week - I suspect, although I have no proof, that they have been putting people off from seeing the property as until then there was a steady flow of viewings.
We went to the property last night and discovered the decorator has left the place in a real mess. He has taken light fittings apart and left the wiring on display in areas where there was no water staining at all. He has taken some panels covering storage areas, on the other side of the house to the water damage, off the areas they are covering and I am worried if these are damaged we will be liable. He has also been taking great chunks out of the wall and re-plastering but this seems to have done more damage than anything as the wall was fine before.
My husbands father is a professional painter and decorator and he estimated the repairs to the staining would take two days max - and he thinks he could have done it in less than a day. He has suggested there may be an insurance job going on here but again we have no proof.
We were under the assumtion that the decorator would be doing a minor paint touch up - not a major job. We are paying for the rent whilst he is doing this and all this work means that the flat cannot be shown and will not be taken.
I really need some help. I only got married three months ago and instead of being happy we are now constantly under stress. It's taken a toll on both of our health (for example I have suffered mild allopecia several years ago - this came back but has begun to clear having moved out because we are now able to sleep), we have started arguing because of the stress this week, which is very unlike us. I cannot tell you how desperate we are to get rid of this flat but the letting agent doesn't care and we don't know what to do. Should we get a Solicitor involved at this stage? We don't have tons of money but we wouldn't qualify for free help so I really need to know if honestly a Solicitor could help.
Sorry for the big long post - the thing has been going on for so long, with so much happening it is hard to condense it!!
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