A couple with young children face eviction after refusing to pay rent for their one-bedroom flat. Couple Kate and Jason claim they've encountered a number of issues since moving into the property.
The couple, who have three kids, claim they can only wash at the children's grandparents' house and that a number of serious problems with their accommodation have not been fixed after two years. Kate, 29, a full-time mum to her eight-year-old, one-year-old, and three-month-old sons, and her partner Jason, 49, a tattoo artist, moved for security reasons into their one-bedroom flat on Tamworth Road, Long Eaton, in February 2021, Derbyshire Live reports.
They claim the problems include a broken heater, ill-fitted windows, a broken shower - forcing them to wash at Jason's parents' house - broken floorboards, and a heavy cupboard that fell from the kitchen wall, which Kate claims nearly seriously injured her and one of her children.
The couple claim they have applied for a grant to fix their defective heater, as well as purchased a new kitchen sink as their current one has a blockage they cannot shift. The moved to the flat after they were burgled at their three-bedroom house in Matlock and have decided not to provide their full identities after their traumatic experience for their own protection.
Kate said: "We went from a three-bedroom house to this one-bedroom flat. We have applied for grant to fix the heater, but when people came from London to fix it, they told us we can’t touch the existing heater as heaters shouldn’t be in the bathroom and we'd be liable.
Jason said: "It’s been a nightmare. We’ve had to pads under the floor just so we can walk on it and put a bar on the front window - if that wasn’t there it would fall out. The electric here in winter will be 10 to 12 pound a day. We're having to use heat retainers on the doors and windows to keep heat in."
Kate added: "It's been two years and it's been rubbish. I can also smell burning rubber behind the shower, and the shower itself is from a caravan. We are having to go round to Jason's parents' three or four times a week and give them some money for the water, it’s not cheap.
"The fact I can’t go a run a bath for my baby, it’s those little things. The whole kitchen cupboard also just fell forward, and my stepson was cooking bacon, I was at the sink. I was just shouting 'Jay'!'"
"She's point blank refused, the landlord. We said we’d pay it because we’ve got three kids, and my partner suffers from anxiety because of the burglary. On top of that we have to go to our mum and dad’s house to bathe our children, we have to strip wash here. They're pensioners, they can't afford their energy this year. We have no gas in the flat, the water boiler overheats and gets really hot.
"The drain blockage we have, we've tried to bail it out. The smell it’s terrible like a sulphur smell. We've done everything we can do, everything that was allowed to be done domestically without shoving something down it. It's still not sorted out. We bought a new sink but they wouldn’t let us put it all in."
"There's also a pile of rubbish in the car park we had to take out ourselves when we first moved in, settees and fridge freezers from last tenant. It's causing rodents, rats and mice."
Kate and Jason have decided to withhold five rent instalments (£2,000) from their landlord as some faults with the flat remain unrectified. They were therefore issued with a Section 21 eviction notice on Tuesday, October 11 and two months' notice before the property is repossessed.
Osama Bhutta, Director of Campaigns at Shelter, said: “Renters have had a rotten deal for years. Thousands of people are putting up with damp, mouldy and dangerous conditions because they’re scared that if they complain they’ll be evicted.
“Our emergency helpline is being flooded with calls from people who are terrified about losing their homes just as the cost-of-living crisis bites. While our advisers are working tirelessly to challenge unfair evictions, if landlords have followed the process, they can currently kick people out of their homes for no reason at all.
“New laws are long overdue to make renting fairer. The government must deliver on its promise to introduce a Renters’ Reform Bill that scraps Section 21 no-fault evictions and introduces a Decent Homes Standard and a national landlord register. It’s the only way to give renters security in their home and drive-up standards by making it easier for local authorities to crack down on bad landlords.”
Derbyshire Live has contacted the landlord who did not wish to comment.
