A couple who lived in a flat with a broken boiler for 18 months has described their nightmare landlord experience in a bid to make other renters aware of their rights.
Nathan Murtagh, 30, and his wife were left without hot water in their Sheffield basement residence on-and-off for a year-and-a-half.
The pair reported the issue to their landlord, who instead of replacing the entire system, gave them electric heaters to keep warm.
He also hooked up the water system of the above flat, which he owned as well, to their basement flat - meaning they could only shower when the people above were in.
After “getting sick of their complaints” the landlord then gave Nathan and his wife keys to the upstairs flat so they could shower - despite the flat being still occupied by a group of students.
Nathan assumed they had been given a key because no one was living in the flat any more.
“It was the Easter break. I was showering and then I heard a knock on the bathroom door,” he said.
“When I tell people about it, they might think it’s funny that someone walked in on me in the shower, but it really isn’t.
“The landlord handed out the keys to someone’s flat to a stranger. Renters have gotten used to living in terrible conditions because we think it’s normal.
As well as the broken boiler, Nathan and his wife had to throw out clothes and books when they moved out due to mould in most rooms.
Do you have a nightmare landlord story you'd like to share? Let us know: levi.winchester@reachplc.com
The pair moved over to Sheffield in September 2017 as they needed somewhere cheap and affordable to live. The boiler broke around 18 months later and the pair were unable to move out until October 2020.
“I was doing teacher training, my wife is a midwife, so we didn’t have a lot of money at the time. Our choices were limited,” he said.
“There were no issues to begin with and the previous tenant said it was fine, but things then started to deteriorate. The landlord did try to get the boiler sorted but the whole system was wrecked.
“He hooked their water system up to yours, so all their water was coming to our flat. That would have been coming off their gas bill. If the students went home and their water wasn’t on, we couldn’t get hot water.”
Nathan now works as a call handler on the emergency helpline for homelessness charity Shelter, who today reveals how his story is far from an isolated case.
New research from Shelter shows more than one in six private renters in England - equivalent to two million people - were forced to accept dangerous living standards.
Some of the poor conditions tenants are enduring include mould (42%), broken boilers (31%), pests (14%) and electrical hazards (11%).
Even worse, when private renters raised a maintenance issue that needed fixing, 17% – equivalent to 1.9 million people – had to wait over a month for their landlord or letting agent to start dealing with the request.
Shelter is asking the government to use the Queen's Speech next week to honour its pledge to deliver a Renters Reform bill - including banning Section 21 no fault evictions and a national landlord register.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Landlords and letting agents have got away with cutting corners for far too long because renters are powerless to challenge them.
“Tenants are sick of paying through the nose for terrible rentals because they have no other choice.
“Every day our frontline services hear from renters stuck living in nightmare situations, too scared to complain for fear they’ll be kicked out.“
In a bid to ensure the government pushes ahead with its long promised rental reforms, the charity and creative agency Pablo have created a satirical video to illustrate the raw deal so many renters are getting.
While the letting agency is fictional, the properties are based on true stories reported to Shelter by private renters.
In the video, the letting agent, played by comedian Rory Marshall, relentlessly tries to rent out properties to prospective tenants.
Anyone who is worried about losing their home can contact Shelter for free advice.
