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HELP! How to act towards a land lord that doesn't live up to his duties?
We are renting a flat in Schaerbeek (of 800€/month).
We recently had a burglary, and the locks/doors are very easy to break up, because they are thin and week and old. We had it immediately changed to same low quality lock and do not feel safe at home no more. But this is only some of our concern:
- Land lord promised to change the door handle and lock to better quality. But he still hasn't done it after 4 weeks.
- Also, the dishwasher (which belongs to the flat) has stopped working for 4 months
- Two lamps (attached to wall by landlord) have stopped working
- There is no longer hot water in the kitchen sink, even though we have had a gaz heater cleaner maintain it
- The phone connecting the street with our flat has stopped working
- We have e-mailed, sms’ed and called the land lords several times per week for months
We are very tired of this situation. What can we legally to do force land lord to repair stuff, or to get a substantial reduction of monthly rent? What proof do we need to get to have our rights?
- Land lord promised to change the door handle and lock to better quality.
Do it yourself, now, send landlord bill.
Keep the old one, and if he's not coghed up by the end of the tenancy, leave him the old one.
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- Also, the dishwasher (which belongs to the flat) has stopped working for 4 months
May be your problem. If it just needs a part fixing, it probably is. If it's beyond economic repair, it's for the landlord.
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- Two lamps (attached to wall by landlord) have stopped working
Put a new bulb in. Definitely not the landlord's problem.
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- There is no longer hot water in the kitchen sink, even though we have had a gaz heater cleaner maintain it
Get the engineer out again to fix it.
Responsibility as per dishwasher - you for maintenance and minor repairs, landlord if it's broken.
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- The phone connecting the street with our flat has stopped working
Bug the phone company.
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- We have e-mailed, sms’ed and called the land lords several times per week for months
I hope I've made it clear to you that there's a lot you should and can be doing now to get on with your lives without needing to wait for the landlord.
Get on with it.
