Hi there,

I've recently moved into a new apartment which had several issues from day 1. I have an AST and the letting agents are responsible for fixing all the problems mentioned in this post. Some problems are now resolved, but there are still some outstanding issues and I would greatly appreciate any help on how to approach this problem. I seem to have gotten a bit carried away writing out the actual events which took place, so for anyone who doesn't have enough time to read it all, or if you would just like to remind yourself of the key points after reading, here is a brief summary:

Problems:
No hot water for 23 days
Slight leak from 1 toilet for 21 days.
Leak worsened after 21 days and completely soaked bathroom carpet, resulting in the entire apartment smelling worse than the most disgusting of public toilets. Smell was unbearable for about a week, very noticeable for about 2 weeks, confined to the bathroom for a couple more weeks, and is still noticeable in the carpet after being cleaned several times by myself.
Freezer door not attached, just resting in place.
Amended inventory handed to letting agents, never returned.
Very stiff french doors. A non-issue for me, but will likely result in the lock breaking if left unattended.
Kitchen cupboards and oven dirty.
No issues resolved by agents until 23 days after move, despite calls every other day. Action finally taken as a result of formal email from me.
Rude response from agents, who proceeded to ignore me when I challenged their rude response.
Hot water has stopped working again in the last few days, but I haven't told the agents yet as I'm a bit worried about contacting them again, hence this post!

Action taken by letting agents:
Hot water, toilet, and freezer door fixed after 23 days.

Remaining problems:
No copy of inventory
French doors
Bathroom carpet could use a professional clean
Reduced rent?

Ok, so my summary didn't turn out to be especially brief... I've put the story of what happened into the spoiler box below so hopefully people don't see the big wall of text and feel too intimidated to reply! Ok so the spoiler box isn't a spoiler box at all, it just highlights the text in black! I've made the story slightly smaller and italic, so feel free to skip over this part.

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Firstly I would just like to say that I rented with the letting agent in question for 8 months prior to these events with no issues whatsoever; unfortunately the LL decided to sell. I found the agents to be very friendly and helpful whenever I had to deal with them, and the move was dealt with very quickly and professionally.

I moved into the new apartment back in April; on the evening after moving, I started to discover a few issues. Most importantly, the hot water system was not working. Other issues included the freezer door not being attached (it was just balancing in place), dirty kitchen cupboards and oven, very stiff lock on french doors and slight discrepancies on inventory. I moved on a Saturday, so had to wait and call the letting agents first thing on Monday morning. They were very friendly and helpful, and arranged for someone to come out the same day. As I have an immersion heater for my hot water, they sent an electrician out despite me informing them that it was clearly a plumbing issue. No big problem, they arranged for a plumber to come out in the next couple of days.

On a side note, it is clear that a decent inspection of the apartment was not carried out by the letting agents before I moved in. If it had, it would have been obvious that the freezer door was attached as I would expect cupboards, freezers, etc to simply be opened and closed to make sure that the door doesn't fall off and that there are no nasty surprises inside. It would also have been clear that there was a problem with one of the toilets had it simply been flushed, as i caused a very loud �vibratey’ sort of noise for over a minute after being flushed. There was also a hairy bar of soap... Yum!

When I called on Monday, they asked me to amend the inventory and also add the various issues, then drop it off in their office, which I did the following day. Unfortunately as I had never had any problems with them in the past, I happily handed my inventory over without asking for any receipt. Over the weekend, I also noticed that there was a slight leak from one of the toilets. I added this to the inventory and they said they plumber could have a look when he comes out to fix the boiler.

The plumber came out after a couple of days (Wednesday I think) and said he had to order a part which should arrive by the end of the week, then he would most likely be able to come back the following Monday to install it. For some reason he looked at the toilet, but decided to leave it until he came back. For the next couple of weeks up until 21 days since I moved in, I called the agents every other day asking when I could expect the plumber. Every time I was told that they would check, but never got back to me. I also heard nothing of the other issues.

21 days after moving in, I returned home to find that the leaking toilet had suddenly worsened and that the entire bathroom carpet was completely soaked (why oh why do people put carpets in bathrooms anyway?) and smelt absolutely disgusting. Unfortunately this was a Saturday evening so the letting agents were closed and I would not be able to contact them until Monday. I was still without internet so I was unable to send them an email over the weekend, and could not take off any time during office hours on Monday to call them. On Monday night, I wrote an email explaining what had happened, and also included everything else which I was still waiting on. This was sent to the head of the rental department.

The demeanour of said email was similar to that of this post and was generally well written, polite, and outlined the issues rather than blaming people or just outright complaining. I even apologised for complaining as it is not something I normally do! I was quite shocked however to receive what I found to be a rude, condescending and bullying response. The response had lots of snide comments and attempted to blame me for things such as not being able to operate the hot water system and not reporting the leak immediately, then went on to contradict itself by noting that I was still waiting for the plumber to fix the boiler. The response made no attempts to reassure me that any issues would be resolved; it simply either blamed me or made excuses. There wasn't even a simple apology for all of the problems I was having! An example excuse was that they were unable to have the freezer door fixed without having a home phone number for me, despite knowing that the vast majority of renters do not have landlines. I, as it happens do, but I was still waiting for it to be installed at the time. While a bit weak, it might actually stand if they had actually asked me for my home phone number!

I forwarded the email to some family members who were equally shocked by the response, especially given the way my initial email was written (they rarely see me communicate formally so were pleasantly surprised). They mirrored my thoughts that it seemed as though the agent was trying to bully me (either through defence after receiving criticism or intentionally hoping that I would drop the matter), possibly due to my age (I am 23, but most people guess that I am about 18). I promptly wrote up a response explaining that I was very unhappy with their conduct and picked out many of the snide comments and contradictions, stating that they had no place in any professional communication. I also stated that the response showed no willingness to resolve any of my issues and that the expectations of my original email still stood. Before sending this email, I sent it to the same family members who basically signed off on it and expected that it would have the desired effect.

Amazingly I received no response, but both the plumber and a freezer repair man showed up the same day (without even having my home phone number!!!) and fixed their respective problems. I never heard anything about the other outstanding issues (french doors, lack of inventory and the state of the bathroom carpet) and quite simply didn’t have time to chase the agents up if they didn't even have the courtesy to reply. I now have time to get everything sorted out and would appreciate any advice on how best to handle this. I should add that since moving in I have fulfilled my obligations and paid all rent on time.
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My current expectations are that the french doors should be looked at, my inventory returned (preferably with my amendments), and that the bathroom carpet be professionally cleaned. I would also expect some compensation in the form of reduced rent after this issue has been resolved. Trying to think as a LL, I would probably offer a 50% discount for time without hot water (if for a prolonged period). As for the dreadful living conditions due to the leaking toilet (especially since it could have been avoided!), I would probably knock the rest of the months rent off (about £250). From my perspective, 1 month free is quite less than I would truly expect given that the apartment did not have any hot water for so long from when I moved in, and became practically unliveable due to the leak. Not to mention the long term effects of the leak (the bathroom is practically unused and I have to wear shoes in there when I want to shower) and the unpleasant dealings with the letting agents. I have also spent approx. 1 working day in total cleaning the bathroom carpet. Would you consider this to be reasonable?

Before I go seeking reduced rent, does anyone have idea who is likely to be liable for it? The actual landlord had no part in this and I would not wish to cause them any harm as I appreciate the difficulties they face, but I would also hope that they appreciate what I went through as a result of their representative agents.

So basically, my question to you is how should I approach the letting agents, what should I say? I want to be careful not to leave too much negativity with the people in control of my apartment and the largest (by an enormous margin) letting agent in this town. I also don't want to be trampled on just because I need them to not hate me more than ... I can't think how to finish that sentence, but I imagine you get the idea!

Apologies for the amount of text and thanks for any help!

ps. It's 4am so please excuse anything that just doesn't make sense!

This post has been edited by CorruptioN: 30.6.2010, 3:55