Is my Landlord in breach of contract?

[Wylderose]

We are tenants of a housing association - secure tenancy, no housing arrears, not complainers or problem tenants but..... Please accept my apologies for the length of this post.

We transferred to our current property from another block of flats last year. When we moved in there were a lot of dead bees in the rooms which I just assumed had been blown in when the windows were open airing the flat after it was painted.

In April (bless our early summer) the bees came out in force early. My flat became inundated with bees and they were swarming in their hundreds outside the windows. I assumed at the time that there was a swarm nearby and that they would move on - and closed my windows so as not to be stung as I am severely allergic to bee stings.

Not so - It turned out that there is a large beehive within the wall cavity at the 5th floor level in this block of flats. Our landlord has been aware of the problem for over 3 years and this happens the tenants (14 affected flats) suffer every year with an infestation of bees.

I approached the managing agents for the flats and asked if something could be done about the bees and explained why but was asked to contact the housing society as it was their responsibility as our landlord to deal with it. I contacted the landlord, explained about my allergy, the huge numbers of bees and the fact that they were coming into my flat in huge numbers (20 to 50 daily). I asked if they could sort the bees out as I did not feel safe because of my allergy. I had to on many occasion leave my property because of the huge volume of bees.

They sent a workman up on a crane in a borrowed bee suit who got badly stung and was not able to sort the problem out. We went away at the end of July and when we came back I opened the windows to air the flat. The following morning I got out of bed and nearly stepped on bees crawling on the carpet. Later that day I found them on my bed. I once again contacted the housing society and asked if something could be done.

They flatly refused in writing to do anything about the situation. Instead I was told to go and collect live bees for them so that they could identify if they were actually bees (this after their botched attempt to seal them up).

I contacted our compliance team at our local council who could not do anything, pest control who would only do something about the situation if I paid them to and when they heard that the hive was at the 5th floor level in a high rise wouldn't do anything either. They did suggest I make a formal complaint.

I did this through the housing society's formal complaints system and the complaint was upheld in my favour but they still will not do anything. The notification that the complaint had been upheld was dated the 1st of the month and contained a clause in the letter that stated I had 10 days to contact them if I did not agree with their actions or if I had any further queries. The letter was then not posted out until the 9th and did not arrive until 11th - so my 10 days were well and truly up. Basically they shut my complaint down without proper resolution by posting it out in such a way that I out of time to progress it further and get a proper solution that would allow me to live here without fearing for my safety.

My landlord will not transfer me to another property and I cannot get another property through our managing agent. Council housing is out of the question - their waiting lists are so long that we would probably be waiting for years. This leaves us with no other option than to approach a private landlord to rent another property.

I will be viewing a property on Monday and if it is even halfway decent will take the tenancy - I have reached the end of my tether and my nerves are now frazzled.

Here is the million dollar question.

Is our landlord in breach of our tenancy contract - because with my allergy and the numbers of bees coming in plus their refusal to do anything about them, my property is not fit for habitation?

If so and in light of the above - can they enforce the clause requiring a 4 weeks notice period?

I would really appreciate some advice on this as I don't know where to turn anymore.

Thank you for reading this and any help you can give.

[wales01man]

Re: Is my Landlord in breach of contract?

Our HA will not deal with pests its down to the tenants its in the agreement we have

[Crazy council]

Re: Is my Landlord in breach of contract?

Hi

any breach would be to do with the fact that the problem was not sorted when indentifed in a timley mannor.

But, if your LL has made reasonable attempts to deal with it, he could class it as a natural occurance, still there responcability to sort it out, but would not breach any terms.

The specific question " would it allow you to get away without the 4 weeks notice "

Not unless the property had been classes as unlivable, for this, you would need enviro health in.

I would, in these curcs, try negotiate with teh LL to release you early from the notice, do everything in writing.

[Wylderose]

Re: Is my Landlord in breach of contract?

Thank you both. We also have a clause about tenants dealing with pests which is reasonable if they are cockroaches, ants etc but please don't get me wrong I don't hate bees - they just pose a huge threat to my health. If I could I would get them rehomed via a bee keeper but even they won't work at height on the outside of a building.

Our council classes themselves as "Cash poor" - I could not even get environmental health to come out and take a look at the problem let alone get them to class the property as uninhabitable.

I don't know if our housing association could claim to have adequately dealt with the problem as everything I have read over the past few months states that only a licensed pest controller or a registered beekeeper can deal with bee problems. The guy sent up to deal with the situation was a contracted general handyman/builder that they use for general repairs who would not seal up the areas where they were entering and exiting as he said the holes were "breathe holes" for the building - not entirely sure about what he meant.

Unfortunately they still left me in a position where I am unable to live in my own home. I feel as though I either have to put up with it or get out.

[wales01man]

Re: Is my Landlord in breach of contract?

Sorry to say this. When we had bees the LL told us to call the council who said they no longer deal with bees we needed to pay a Contractor you should ask both the HA and Council if they will do anything I would expect they don't worry about your health to much that's the way nowadays sorry to say

[Wylderose]

Re: Is my Landlord in breach of contract?

Now that is what I call being between a rock and a hard place.

Kind of explains too why my husband had to put a rocket under their rears to get the repairs done when I was laid up with pneumonia last winter and we were without hot water or heating for nearly two months.

We never had landlord problems until this new association bought the properties from Beth Johnson (our original housing association who were really good landlords).

I guess whatever it takes I will be well rid