A Sheffield councillor has slammed ‘exploitative’ landlords after a student was nearly crushed by a kitchen cabinet.
The tenant, who narrowly avoided serious injury in the accident, is now in a battle with his landlord about repairs and wants landlords across South Yorkshire to take more ownership of their properties.
A few weeks ago, Jamie Shipp, 21 from Sheffield was doing some meal prep before a shift at work when his kitchen unit fell off the wall and onto him.
He said: “I was bruised and wounded and in a total state of panic. Everything in the unit had smashed and my contents insurance won’t cover it. My laptop is smashed so I still have to pay to replace it unless my landlord agrees to cover the costs.
“I’m at the mercy of my landlord admitting that he was at fault, but I can’t even get through to the lettings agency at the moment.”
A housing expert from a South Yorkshire lettings agency informed that when assessing a property, there’s not a threshold for what is ‘liveable’- but instead there’s a criteria for what is classed as ‘unlivable’.
The Landlord Act of 1985 sets out those terms, including the temperature of a property, or category 1 hazards such as mould and gas leaks.
Jamie said: “Compared to other people I got off so lucky. There was a huge delay when I was moving in because they removed the flooring in the bathroom and discovered that the floorboards had completely rotted. There was a six foot drop beneath that floor, it was massively dangerous. When I moved in the shower was leaking, so I reported it, but when the agency came they told us they noticed it while redoing the floor. The landlord just had not agreed to fix it yet, so the agency couldn’t so anything”.
Jamie isn’t the only person who have had issues with renting in Sheffield.
Emi Bagshaw, 32, originally from Bristol also claims to have had multiple issues since moving to Sheffield in 2020. She said: “I rented with a private landlord near Abbeydale Road. A kitchen cabinet fell off the wall spontaneously causing a lot of damage as it was only mounted with two small screws. The landlord got a handyman to reattach the cupboard back on the original fixings, so I stopped using it. The whole thing fell on me, it was a big unit and I’m a petite girl. At first I thought it could have killed my cat, but then I realised it could have killed me.”
During lockdown, Emi claims to have had a faulty electrical metre, which resulted in the energy supplier overcharging, old storage heaters which weren’t wired correctly, damp and mould.
She said: “I was luckily able to get a mortgage for my first house at that point, as I would be afraid to rent in Sheffield after my experience. Why is there no one regulating private landlords when so many people are renting due to the cost of housing?”
Several others across Sheffield aren’t so lucky, having to live with mould and damp until their tenancy lapses or their landlord gets round to solving it.
Housing experts say that the average agency will inspect their properties a minimum of twice a year and have tenants report anything urgent that comes up.
Laura Moynahan, councillor for Manor Castle and Park Hill, said: “I live in Broomhill and there have been lots of incidents around here with poor student accommodation. Landlords have said it’s a lifestyle choice, to have mould for example, because tenants don’t have the windows open.
“There are generally exploitative landlords who get away with it because their property is in a good location. We need tighter controls for landlords, which we haven’t got.
“I don’t think this government will do it. There’s supposed to be a ban on no fault evictions but they haven’t done that because it affects too many of their own party members.”
According to one lettings agency in Sheffield, roughly 75% of landlords are part time- which creates a gray area in how attentive they should be with their properties.
When landlords appoint an agency to act on their behalf, the agency will only step up if a landlord refuses to act when it is in line with the contract held between the agency and the landlord.
Certain clauses within the contract says an agency can work on behalf on the landlord in emergencies. In other cases, agencies can sometimes act without consulting the landlord if the necessary repairs amount to £500 or less.
In 2021, the English Private Landlord Survey found that just over a third of respondents originally bought their first rental property to live in themselves, and 52% of landlords purchased their first property with the intention of renting it out.
A housing expert said: “Unfortunately, the legislation is horrifically grey and open to interpretation. It says that when an issue is reported, the landlord has a reasonable time to act. For example, gas tenants get busy in winter when leaks and boilers may fail more- so in situations like that landlord has a reasonable time to act, leaving tenants without a repair for longer than usual”.
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If you’re having issues with housing and an unresponsive landlord, contact https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/ for more personalised advice.
Shelter also have a number of resources available:
A web chat service, staffed by trained housing advisors. https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_help.
The Private housing standards team is available to issue advice to those dealing with a private tenancy by calling 0114 273 4680. They may refer you to the council, who have powers to make Landlord act if they are acting legally.
In a housing emergency, you may be able to access advice on our free helpline, 0808 800 4444. They are open every day from 8am – 8pm on weekdays and 9am – 5pm on weekends and bank holidays.
The helpline deals with urgent housing situations, such as;
- You have nowhere to sleep, or might be homeless soon
- You have somewhere to sleep, but nowhere to call home
- You are (or could be) at risk of harm
For help with anything else, you may be able to find further resources here.