Land Lord Problem

can someone please tell me what to do?


here is what happened..


we suffered 4 days of fixing the termites problem in our flat, until i decided to report in to the agency. then the agency said that they will fix it and we need to be oout of our house for 2 hours after doing some stuffs inside our flat.


saturday morning the sifu went to our house and saw thta there are a lot of termites , he could not speak english thats why we contact the agency as our interpreter. then the agency said that the sifu will come back on monday to fix the problem,.


comes monday the agency called again that the sifu could not make it and asked me when do i want to have it fix. i called my mom first because i have a baby to ask when is her off so that i can left my baby to her. then my mom said thursday, so i called the agency and said thursday morning.


thursday morning the sifu together with another young man went in our house and asked us to leave first and come back after at least 1 hour. that was 10 am, so we went out first (me and my husband) and we eat outside. then 1pm we come back and the sifu and the young man was not there. we opened our flat and saw that everything was a mess. they removed all the wooden walls. and didnt even called us to say the condition. to cut the long story short, they finished fixing our house sunday afternoon. they didnt even provide us some room for the 3 nights and 4 days that we stayed out of our flat because they said that we cannot sleep in our flat since its obvious that it was really a mess.


we spend almost 700 hkd for the hotel because we dont have any room to sleep.


i told the agency about my concern and until now they dont contact me. i am asking to deduct the one we spend in the hotel in our house rent.


can anyone tell me what to do??


thanks..

the termite problem has been solved now..


its a total of 750 for the 3 nights adn 4 days..


no, we are not offered any kind of service and the land lord doesnt even inform us thta it will take them 4 days to fix it.. no one seems to care..


we went to our house during the morning 930 am to let them in the house, then they left i dont know what time then they eill come back 1:30 pm then will leave again 7:30 pm..they did that for 4 days..


i dont know who will i call to have this problem fix.


its ok to ignore this money problem but since i am not working yet because i just gave birth thats why money is an issue.. thanks..

700 bucks is not worth the trouble.

The time & energy that you'll spend plus the unpleasant experience of going through small claims court for such a minor amount, simply does not worth it.

I'm not a lawyer, but you might try this:


+ Pay the rent next month, less HKD 750,

+ Attach an explanation, and a copy of the hotel invoice


Make sure the Tone of the Note is not accusative, just lay out the story in a factual manner, and end it by saying: "We were not sure what to do. Have you a better suggestion?"


Many landlords might just shrug off the small drop in rent, and be glad that the termite problem has been resolved.


I repeat, I am not a lawyer, so there may be some legal risks in pursuing this "common sense solution."

It's actually not really the landlord's problem as you rented the flat. Not a lawyer but I would bet money you would lose in court.

I would think termites is a landlord's problem. I think otp's solution is good.

thanks for all the concerns..


actually i am just asking if the cost of the hotel fee will be paid by the landlord. or will they deduct the number of days that we are not in the flat in our monthly bill..


i know that 750 will not worth the trouble, but i just want to know if they are liable to pay or not. but since now, i think that they dont really care about us , i will probably look for another flat, and end my contract with them.

Usually at law a tenant cannot offset his costs against rent, though practically, this is frequently done. This is not something we would recommend before speaking to your landlord, as the landlord may turn around and say that you have breached the terms of the agreement. We would suggest you approach your landlord to ask whether he or she is willing to offset.


In the meantime, if you have any receipts of the hotels and expenses remember to keep a copy at hand. Your tenancy agreement should have your landlord’s contact details, try to contact your landlord directly and do not use the agency, as your contract is with the landlord. If the dispute cannot be resolved between the respective parties you may wish to apply to the Lands Tribunal to resolve the dispute or seek a legal advisor to review the tenancy agreement.


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