Give Me Strength!
Whilst the incidents of the dumping of bulky items is considerably less than it used to be, we could have still done without finding this being dumped at the front of the block when we came back from a walk.
On asking our property manager to contact the flat owner to get it removed, we were advised that she could only write to him as she didn’t have a telephone number (although she has requested it in the letter) but this is where it got really silly!
I contacted the letting agent of the flat and they told me that they didn’t actually manage the property, they only found the tenants. Despite that, they had apparently arranged for a scrap metal dealer to take it (who didn’t) and so they were going to find out if he still intended to do so.
They did say however that it was whoever the landlord got to refurbish it that was responsible for dumping the cooker.
I thought I would make life easier and get the telephone number of the landlord myself but couldn’t get it because of Data Protection. This was despite the fact I act on behalf of freehold company Directors!
So, in a flat that was recently purchased and again where permission to sublet was not sought, we have a letting agents who only finds the tenants (but is prepared to try and get rid of a dumped cooker) a refurbishment company (or individual) who emptied the flat and left the cooker, and a landlord who doesn’t feel he should volunteer a telephone number so I can get the cooker removed quicker!
The result? This delightful cooking appliance remaining on the property for over a week! Yuk!
It has prompted me to ask how many of our sublet flats do actually have landlord telephone numbers.
Health and Safety Not a Priority
One of our landlords was asked a few months back to supply us with copies of his tenant’s AST’s along with copies of all the Health and Safety Certificates and Gas Safe certificates required by law.
We hadn’t heard anything so I chased it up, only to be told that his solicitors are refusing to reply and if we want to take the situation further, we would need to instruct solicitors to act on the RMC’s behalf in the matter!
Leaking Flat Gets Fixed Through Insurance (we hope!)
We were thinking that we might have to force an entry into this flat (under the terms of the lease) to trace a leak because it wasn’t getting fixed. Thankfully it didn’t come to that and an engineer has now attended the flat when the tenant was in.
All interior pipe-work was inspected and no leaks were to be found in them. Turns out the leak was due to defective mastic seal and grout in the bathroom which he cut out and re-applied.
This information has been forwarded to the insurers.
Information Request (again!)
For some reason it is taking an extraordinary amount of time to get certain questions about our service charge arrears situation answered.
For example, why is a long-term debtor still only at the ‘letter with the solicitor’ stage? Why was a debt collector/solicitor not used for the long-term debtors? What lack of repairs being carried out led a leaseholder to withhold service charges?
I’m seriously wondering just what exactly is going on there!