To think that my mother is making a mistake

I don’t think who owns the door has any relevance. They are hardly going to find a place where 18 doors will exactly fit the new kitchen. Get the Agent to draw up an agreement saying the doors have to stay if you are really concerned.

In one of the rental we lived, we replaced the carpet in the large living room with laminate. We paid for it and the labour to fit it instead of rent one month. That was the landlord's decision.

When I rented out my old flat, my tenant often asked to do improvements. He was a fairly long-standing tenant and we had a good relationship. Some things I paid for eg new hob, but decorating etc I didn't and he just did the work. I just said if I wasn't happy with colour eg if he'd painted the bedroom black or something, he'd have to make good. But generally it was (for me) a sign he cared for the flat and was committed to staying there. Which he did until he'd saved up for a deposit to buy one.

ETA if mum thinks this will add value to home, personally I'd pay for it and just offset cost on profits.

We’ve got long term tenants who live in a house we own. They make changes to the house, in agreement with us, at their expense. They have updated the bathrooms, recarpeted, removed fitted wardrobes, changed floorings etc. all done to a decent standard. They are good people and it’s their home and hopefully will be for many years to come

Way too complicated.

Also get an alert set up on here.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

I think she should say no too because then the doors are the tenant’s property and it could get tricky if she wants them to leave, they could take the doors with them or ask for reimbursement.
I’d either get a proper kitchen makeover company to come in and paint the walls and cabinets at the same time, which would probably be a good investment anyway.
Or say no to doing anything structural to the kitchen.

When you give someone an inch in these kind of circumstances, they usually take more, a lot more.

Your mother is leaving herself wide open to a whole load of problems.

I’ve been a landlord and once the tenants start wanting to change things to their taste it’s a slippery slope to their doing something you don’t want or causing problems if you say no.

I would not allow them to change kitchen doors.

Then I would direct her to the letting agents and any concerns she has or the best way of going about it or any risks involved they should be able to go through it with her

The house is very likely to need to be sold at any point in the next decade. It could be next week, it could be 10 years. The tenants are taking a huge gamble investing a significant sum of money in a house they may have to move out of in a matter of months.

Changing the doors is unlikely to add significant value to the property, so I would make sure that they are not expecting their costs to be reimbursed on sale.

If they have funds to do this, why are they not putting it into a house deposit pot where they can change doors to their hearts content?

You can get replacement kitchen cabinet doors quite easily and cheaply, made to measure and with good quality wood. My concern would be, what will happen to the existing cupboard doors, will they be thrown away? I'm assuming the tenants will leave the new cupboard doors on the cabinets if they were to move out.

Perhaps your mother (or yourself) could pop round and just do a quick inspection of the works they're planning on doing, to make sure it's all done properly.

They sound like reasonable requests and, honestly, if they were planning on moving out soon they wouldn't be bothering to update the place, would they? I'd say, if your mum is happy about it all, there's no reason to stress. Sounds fine to me.

This.
The tenants rented it as it is and it should stay as it is. Tenants diy can be a nightmare if the work isn't up to scratch and as others have also said, they may want to take new doors etc with them.

I don’t think them wanting to spaff money on kitchen doors suggests good long term tenant necessarily. Not unless money is no object to these tenants. It’s not very financially sensible to pay to replace doors if you could be evicted within 18 months to 2 years. Not unless one of the tenants is a kitchen fitter! I can understand why they might want to do that, but to me it sort of suggests a lack of realism about renting and the landlord/ tenant relationship and respective responsibilities.

Anyway, maybe show your mum this thread. She might react better to strangers’ views than to yours.

If there is nowhere to store them then my advice to your Mum would be to refuse to let the tenants replace them. She doesn't want to be in a situation where they move out and she has to pay to replace the doors again because they've ditched hers and have taken theirs with them (which they would be within their rights to do). Your Mum may wish to consider replacing the doors herself or getting a professional to paint the existing ones if the kitchen is dated and this type of update could help retain good tenants. She should be able to get tax relief on that spend too.

It's tempting to be accommodating to tenants who want to replace the landlords stuff with their own, but your Mum has no idea how long they will stay for so she needs to make sure that her asset isn't degraded by the changes. Replacing a glass wall for a solid one is fine, because that work will stay and hopefully improves safety/privacy/energy efficiency. Removing things like cupboard doors, beds, sofas etc so the tenant can bring their own is more challenging because your Mum will be faced with the cost of replacing them when that tenant moves out. I've been asked in the past to remove sofas or beds before, and the options are dispose of them and replace for new tenants in future, or pay to to store them, so I've always said no.

@PineappleMelon- the landlord is in their 80s, at the risk of being horribly morbid about the OPs mother, how long term will this be ? The house may well have to be sold to pay for care or if the mother passes. They saw the property when they rented it and they’ve asked for multiple changes.

OP say no, if they don’t like it they can find another property but I would worry about them spending a lot of their own money on your mother’s house and then it being difficult if you need to sell the property in the future. Particularly if they take out a solid but dated kitchen and put in something that’s cheap and a bit shit.

Tell your mum to say no. If she wouldn’t pay to put in a new kitchen herself, then it doesn’t need doing.

I understand why you are concerned and I am sure that you have your mum’s interest at heart. That said, I am the same age and perfectly capable of making those sort of decisions. I expect that your mum has good tenants because she obviously cares about them. Many friends of mine in their 90s are living independently. Like me they appreciate the concerns of their family, but prefer not to be ‘managed’

I have sympathy for the tenants. It’s really hard renting and not being able to feel like your home is your home. They’re willing to spend their own money on improving where they live, I think it shows they’re going to be long term tenants. This is surely a good thing?

I think you should tell your mum to say no. She’s still thinking like this is a home not a business- which is why small landlords can be tricky. If she doesn’t feel the kitchen needs replacing, she should only agree to this if she’s happy that in 6 months time they move out and she finds it’s ruined the kitchen and she has to pay for an entirely new kitchen to be put in before new tenants can be found- she needs to budget for a completely new kitchen and 2 or more months with no rent while work is done.

Tell her to start thinking like a landlord. Landlords replace kitchens. Not tenants.

Yes I think she is. Maybe she should have offered to paint the kitchen cabinet doors if they are very dated. I would not allow a tenant to change anything material.

If your mum is capable and competent why are you wanting to get involved?

I don't understand why you are even thinking about getting involved.

Capable adult manages her own let property. None of your business