Hope I'm posting this in right area! Try to be short and sweet. Had problems since moving into this studio, water damage to entire floor and lately sever damp. Landlord was informed but not that interested as he was wanting to sell property. Since at least May he was offering us other 'better' flats which never happened. I aslo think the sale didnt go through as nothing more was said about that. Anyway 2 days ago an 'expert' came and has now said that work must be carried out asap- fine. Now our landlord has decided he wants his mother to deal with everything... dont know why. Anyway she called yesterday and wanted us out in 7 days so she could get the work done. The work will seemingly take at least 8 weeks, maybe longer. She has not offered us alternative accomodation but did offer us 2 months rent free when we came back. I didnt feel this was acceptable as we have nowhere to live while the work is being done. She then came back with 3 and half months rent free and she will pay the electric, water and phone bills. We were told that under French law we could be held to blame for the damp, I dont see how and I dont know if thats true or not. Seems odd to me that if the landlord could force us to pay she wouldnt be so agreeable on the offers she is making.
Go to the Useful Links page, Amanda -- link at top of page -- and scroll right down until you get to the section headed Home Rental Law. There's a lot of info there including things like who pays for what. You might find what you need.
thanks for your reply- it was our insurance that paid out when we were flooded. They covered 2 nights in a hotel plus repainting (dont know why on that as the water didnt damage the walls). The flooring was never replaced and is warped now. The damp is the biggest problem. One of the neighbours had seemingly blocked the ventilation holes as the previous tenant in our flat made too much noise! We live on ground floor and shutters are broken which makes it difficult to leave windows open for ventilation if you are at work. landlord has known about shutters since last year when he said he would repair and hasnt.
In terms of accommodation, I’m pretty sure the landlord has an obligation to find you alternative accommodation during the works, but please do check this out.
In terms of the water damage, I had similar in Paris and the landlord insisted it was my insurance that should come into play. I thought this was strange so I asked my insurer why my insurance should pay for the landlords problem. At the time, 4 years ago, my insurer reassured me that it is quite normal for it to work like this and that they would settle it direct with the landlords insurance. Apparently the insurance companies have a tacit agreement in place for cases like this.
As Doreen says though, try and get the expert to get to the root of the reason why there is water damage.