I am renting a fully furnished house in cambridge, and presently paying 805.  I have been renting for more than a year now.  Since we moved in we discovered that most of the furniture and appliances are old, over 15 years old.  IN fact the washing machine and oven door broke down after a few months of usage, and after a a lot of pressure on the agency, these were replaced. We can manage with the rest of the furniture, but now the sofa springs have broken down.  I am 7mnths pregnant and have started to suffer from severe pelvic and back pain, and cannot rest anywhere except sitting down on the dining room chair, which is hardly acceptable.  We cannot even invite friends over as they would have to sit  down on the floor if they don;t want to sink down into the sofa.  We have contacted the letting agency and explained the problem.  We even offered to change it ourselves, as long as they provide us with a sloution for storage.  We have first contacted then more than a month ago, and to date, and several emails later, the only response we had is that as the landlord resides abroad, he has not replied as to whether he intends to replace the sofa or not.  What should we do as the situation cannot remain thus.

It would be cheaper to buy a sofa rather than taking legal advice I suggest.  The sofa sounds like it should be dumped.  Ask your local health and safety office to support you with a letter to the agent saying that it is not safe to be used by somebody who is 7 months pregnant.  If something happened to you or your baby there is a potential claim against the landlord I would say.  I agree £850 is a high rent and you should be entitled to better than that.