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Uncommunicative Landlord, Lack of repairs

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  1. #1

    Uncommunicative Landlord, Lack of repairs

    Here’s the deal. We’ve been with the same landlord for 6 years in two different flats. Nice people.

    The last east six months repairs have be lengthy in coming as they want to DIY and not pay someone. This I can understand, but the last two weeks we have had no power to the washroom as the circuit kept blowing. After an initial assessment by an electrician we were told to wait two weeks until they returned from China - and use a candle to shower if we needed light.

    The electrical issue may be water leaking from the flat above which I’m going to guess will lead to messy repairs.

    Ive been asking for a couple of months what the rent increase will be when the contract finishes. No answer. Yesterday after the bombshell about leaking water came “do you want to continue the contract?” How much is the rent? Radio silence.

    1. Am am I best to jump ship and find somewhere else or is the devil I know the better option?

    2. Can I file any sort of grievance with a government agency for two weeks sans power?

    Thanks for reading and your input.


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    992
    Quote Originally Posted by KowloonRun:
    1. Am am I best to jump ship and find somewhere else or is the devil I know the better option?

    2. Can I file any sort of grievance with a government agency for two weeks sans power?

    Thanks for reading and your input.
    1. Have a look around, you might find something else you like. Plus having water leaks is a big headache if they spread to other parts of the house. 2 weeks without power seems unreasonable. Tell them to send someone to fix it, or you will arrange repair yourself and seek reimbursement.

    2. No, but you can make a complaint about the leaking water of the flat upstairs to the Joint Office of the Food & Hygience Dept/Building Dept.
    shri likes this.

  3. #3

    Thanks for your suggestions. I’ll started looking at flats.

    I can't understand why they can’t give us a number regarding future rent. Waiting for another peak to Max their dollars?


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Manchester, UK
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    7,790
    Quote Originally Posted by KowloonRun:
    1. Am am I best to jump ship and find somewhere else or is the devil I know the better option?

    2. Can I file any sort of grievance with a government agency for two weeks sans power?

    Thanks for reading and your input.
    1. Its best to jump ship cause leaky water from above means a very big big fix to the point you might have to move out for a week or so to get it fixed and thats only after they really find out it water from above and the above owners will have to pay for the fix so it can drag out a long long time. we are going through this right now, we've had the environmental dept come take a look, pictures, they injected some dye in the above flats to see where the leak is coming from, they then took water samples to send to a govt lab and will take weeks for a result to come out blah blah while every day we have to soak up the water from the floor.

    2. You are out of luck as no one cares about you not having power for 2 weeks, you have to suck it up as bad luck and get the hell out of that place and find a better one.

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
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    薄扶林
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    They'll wait till the last minute - hoping you have no time to find another apartment and will be "more negotiable".

    jgl, chuckster007, kimwy66 and 3 others like this.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
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    11,884
    Quote Originally Posted by KowloonRun:
    1. Am am I best to jump ship and find somewhere else or is the devil I know the better option?
    When the devil you know tells you to shower by candlelight for two weeks, I think it's best to jump ship.

    What is this, Victorian England?

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
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    Posts
    7,790

    Good luck getting your deposit back

    MandM! likes this.

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Hong Kong
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    6,317

    Circuit keeps blowing? Maybe it's a defective circuit breaker. Take a photo and go get a new one. If you don't know what you're doing you'll have to pay an electrician about HK$1000 to change it. I had that problem before and had an electrician come the first time. Later on I just added my own as I saw how easy it was. Of course I did not touch any wires or plates so an extended level of common sense is needed. Usually there is also a backup circuit breaker already in your box.

    Now if water is leaking into your electrical that is a fire hazard and I hope you have insurance and an easy way out of your flat from your bedroom to exit door without passing the toilet. Have had a home in the US burst into flames due to water + electricity. In retrospect the fire department responded too quickly. No fun.


  9. #9

    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Hong Kong
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    2,260

    They sound like they are getting a bit cheap and trying to save money. Perhaps they have some financial pressures.

    The fact they brought it up if you wanted to extend the contract and the very casual way they put it sounds like they want you to just find somewhere else.

    It would be easier for them to do repairs (without having to compensate you for moving out for a week) and then increase the rent. Not sure if you are paying market price, but i'd assume a new tenant will be happier to pay close to the asking price, whereas you will compare to the current price.


  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by UK/HKboy:
    The fact they brought it up if you wanted to extend the contract and the very casual way they put it sounds like they want you to just find somewhere else.
    This is par for the course. They have asked every year if we will stay before they give the rent increase. This year they want a contract, as opposed to previous years when verbal acceptance was okay.