My partner and I rent a 1-bedroom flat on a month-by-month basis, but it's now the 3rd, and, in typical fashion, we found a new flat on the 2nd. Will we now have to wait until August 1st to leave?
The circumstances are as shown below. I've just copied and pasted my letter to the letting agents; we don't even know the name of the landlord to send it to him/her.
To whom it may concern,
I am writing to make a formal complaint in regards to our property, which is no longer viably inhabitable due to the noise from the work carried out upon your property next door, which breaches our contractual right to ‘quiet enjoyment’. Living with the noise is unsustainable due to our work hours, in particular with Chris working regular night shifts.
We were informed that the work would cause ‘minimal disturbance’…but this is certainly not the case, unfortunately. The builders can begin work as early as 7-8am, and continue for twelve hours until a similar time in the evening. The work all too often includes drilling and hammering. The builders also continually shout, and the fire alarms next door are triggered multiple times a day. They have worked continually for several weeks now, seven days a week inclusive even of the bank holiday.
The noise is, regrettably, not the only problem being caused by the refurbishment next door. Repeated attempts have been made to open the fire door which adjoins our flat and the top floor of number 26. Rubble is left spread across the entire front of the building, spreading onto the pavement. Glass, wood and dust are all too often spread across our steps as well. The gap in the wall, our only entrance or exit, has been blocked on numerous occasions by their work van or truck. Despite having seen us having to climb across the wall, they did not move. This surely poses a severe fire hazard. We are unable to use the outside bin (shared between flats A to E) due to it being buried by old furniture, meaning bags of rubbish have to be kept within the property.
Many previously reported issues also been left unresolved. There have now been exposed live fuses left in the lounge and bedroom for a full year. We were told that they would need covering six months ago, but are still simply held in by electrical tape. The water damage in the corridor immediately below the shower continues to worsen, as it remains unsealed. The stairs between flats B/C and D are held together with tape, but even that has now ripped. This poses a serious tripping hazard, particularly being immediately opposite a second floor window.
As noted last time I deposited the rent, the lock and handle on the downstairs front door are both seriously loose; both are hanging out of the door. This makes it not only near impossible to open or close, but leads to serious concern for our security; the door would be very easy to break into with the lock in so poor a state of repair.
I would also like to complain about the missing post. When an individual from your agency collects the post, they take not only that for past tenants, but for us as well. This is not only old letters, either, but includes post from that day. I have seen letters in my name on the table when I left for work, but they were gone along with everything else on my return. We have received letters complaining at late phone bill payments in the past, but the original bill had never been received. We fear that this may well be the explanation; when the post is taken the hall table is always left completely empty.
We have not been informed as to the deposit protection scheme that your agency is using, as is legally required. We have, however, received notification that our previous scheme, set up by YRLA before you took over our property in September, expired on 01/04/09. Since with our income £700 is a large amount of money, this lack of information makes us very uneasy.
An advisor was consulted on 02/06/09, whose recommendation was that we issue our notice and contact the Housing Standards department within the local council. A member of the council will be visiting the property on Thursday (04/06/09) at 2pm.Our notice is also enclosed with this letter.
Yours faithfully,
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