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.
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.
Is my Landlord in breach of contract?
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