2 inches of runny s**t and fungus on the front door (Private accommodation in general)

Member Name: Vast_Girth

Product:	Private accommodation in general
Date:	09/10/01 (261 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: hmm

Disadvantages: hmmm

That was the state of house when we got back after the summer holidays. Outside the back door the drains had blocked flooding the area, causing the area to be flooded in runny s**t. mmmm lovely.
But that wasn?t the only thing; the pressure on the boiler had also become dangerously high so we had to turn it off, so we had no heat or hot water.
We had fungous growing on the inside on the front door frame. And when I say fungus I mean orange and green big plate fungus growing about 3 inches from the wall.
These were only the main problem, there were other too, too many to mention here.

Anyway after having our landlords (FlatFinders of Swansea) for the previous year we knew how long it would probably take them to sort it out. I have never rented before so I don?t know if their behaviour is typical of landlords, but we have definitely found them to be far from satisfactory.
I live in a shared student house with five other students including my girlfriend. Before we moved in we looked at various houses and the one we moved into seemed by far the best, half way between Uni and town, 6 bedrooms, front room, kitchen, cellar and garden. It wasn?t in the best of conditions but we were assured by FlatFinders that it would be all sorted out by the time we moved in. All the rooms would be redone and we would get all the needed appliances like a washing machine and a vacuum cleaner. We were even promised cleaners would come in at the end of every term to clean the communal area, this seemed a bit far-fetched at the time, but we still believed.
We moved in. No washing machine. No vacuum. My flatmates shower not working. The washing machine took 3 weeks to arrive. The vacuum took longer. Some walls had been painted, some had been half painted, e.g. up the wall as far the painter could reach. Cleaner coming in have now become a fantastic myth.
Now, year after we first moved in, after many various problems (from rats to floods) and fl
atfinders taking ages to sort them out, and my flatmates shower still not working, (they are waiting for a third one to be fitted, don?t even go there). The two bottom rooms in the house are still pretty much unliveable, one too cold and the other too damp.
So when we saw the state of the house after the summer holidays and seeing all the problems we decided to take more decisive action. We gave FlatFinders a typed letters with a list of all the problems. We had of course given them list of problems before and little notice was taken. This time however we had got an independent handyman to look at the house (my flatmates dad, but they didn?t know that) and at the end of the letter we gave them a date we wanted to see action taken or we would be seeking legal advice.
Anyway it worked as we had the boys from total drain care there the same day, and the landlord there the next day. Everything is on the way to being sorted out. We currently have a team of builders digging in the garden to sort out the drainage. Its not perfect, as we still have fungous on the front door as well as a few other problems, but it?s a damn site more than would have been done if we hadn?t written the letter.

So my advice to students is, if you are having problems with your landlord, type them an official letter, making sure everyone in the house signs it, threatening whatever action you think is necessary, even if you know you wouldn?t go though with it, as the landlords don?t know that and they will be much more helpful and efficient.

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