Tenants getting handyman to do work. I'm just really peed off about it

[Porridgeaddiction]

I moved on with my now husband when we met into his house and I rented mine out.

I wanted to be a good landlord, so when the tenants moved in there were a few bits that they wanted doing so I asked my friend who's a handyman to do it.

There has been a couple of little things that have needed doing eg fix the guttering, and I've got my friend to do the job.

A couple of times he's messaged me to say that xyz needs fixing, is it ok for him to do the work.

Yesterday he messaged to say that he'd been to the house a few weeks ago to fix the leaking shower and a loose tile. Parts and labour £100. I didn't even realise that there was a problem with the shower and I'm p**sed off that the tenant went to the handyman and didn't tell me.

I just have a horrible gut feeling about all of this - either he's mugging me off or the tenants are getting work done which I'm not really required to do as a landlord. I know that they're very houseproud and like everything perfect, bit IMO as long as there's running water, central heating and no leaks, shouldn't that be enough?

Should your "friend" check with you, the bill payer, first? Yes. Tell the tenants to report to you.

Should you refuse to do repairs because you only need to provide "running water, central heating and no leaks"? No.

No, it's not enough. What a silly simplistic view.

You are the landlord it's your job to take of repairs. And you need an actual qualified person

Didn't quite finish......

to do the jobs not a " handyman". Zero sympathy here for landlords, been treated badly in the past.

Inexcusable to charge rent and not stick to your side of the agreement. It's a legal contract.

Just to let everyone know, I'm not saying that I wouldn't have got a leak in the shower fixed, I absolutely would have. It just feels strange to me that it didn't get mentioned to me at all- I've spoken to both tenant and my friend recently and neither mentioned a leak in the shower. I was just shocked about receiving a bill for it out of the blue and feel like something is not quite right about the situation.

I called my friend a handyman and a lot of you have remarked on this- he's actually a fully qualified plumber who has worked on other things as well such as roofing, so is quite qualified to do the jobs done. I am not saving money by using him. He charges me full rates

Since the tenants have moved in I've retiled the utility room floor because they didn't like the lino that was in it, had guttering replaced (it leaked), reinsulated and boarded the loft as they wanted to use it as storage so wanted it to be a clean space, I've done little bits of cosmetic work...

I think people are jumping on the fact that I didn't seem to be willing to fix the leak whereas I'm more upset about the tenant not going through me to get the work done

Let your tenants know that they need to come through you.

Let the handyman know the same.

Clearly state that any further unauthorised work won't be paid for.

It's very cheeky of both of them.

So just tell them both, it's that easy.
Yes they should have gone through you but maybe they though they were saving time and hassle to go direct.

Offer to sell the house at the price you paid for it to the local housing association - problem solved

I think the problem you've got is that you've blurred the line between business and pleasure/friendship, with your plumber friend.

It all sounds a bit casual.

That might be why you didn't hear about the leaking shower and tiling issues; both parties possibly assumed that the other had told you. Of course, neither did.

You need to professionalise these arrangements.

It sounds like maybe the handyman has got a bit above his station and your tenants will have noticed it's the same guy attending to these jobs (I don't know why that's an issue to some people, plenty of tradesmen are multiskilled). I doubt there was anything underhand happening, just lack of communication on their parts.

You should definitely be letting your tenants know they need to come through you, unless it's an emergency and you're unavailable. Your friend also needs to pop back in his box and stop assuming you're an open chequebook.

If after clear instruction, either party ignores that in the future then I'd look at taking further steps.

Well for a start why didn't your friendly plumber ask you before starting work if he's used to you requesting the work? And yes, you need to put your tenants straight too.

Warn them both, that in future lack of your approval means the bill lands with tenants.

Tell your tenants that they’re liable to pay for any work they organise themselves, they cannot simply book it in and pass the bill to you. If there’s a problem, they should report to you first so that it can be resolved.

So you're happy for your tenants to live with a leaking shower and dodgy guttering that could cause ££££ damage if not fixed??

No. It’s very simple. Report leaking shower/guttering to landlord. Landlord organises plumber to quote and fix. Done.

In no world is it ok for a tenant to randomly organise repairs and just hand the bill to the landlord.

Do your tenants think the handy man is the property manager? I’d be more annoyed with how they had his details and why he didn’t contact you first.

By the way everything you are describing you’ve done is standard for a landlord (minus the limo repair but if it was in a poor state of repair then it needs replacing). You aren’t coming across as a particularly amazing landlord.

Tenants shouldn’t go directly to the handyman but maybe they didn’t know that.
However, you sound like an awful landlord. You’re literally moaning that they’re house proud?? There are landlords that have tenants that don’t pay rent and then smash anything up. You’ve been blessed with tenants that look after and are proud of a property that isn’t even theirs??
Any work/maintenance you do on the house will only help keep the value for YOU not them.
Be better.

I get it OP. You're the LL, all works needs to be okayed by you. Both tenant and plumber are being very unreasonable.

Inspect the work and write an email to tenant saying all work must go via you or they will not be reimbursed.

Obviously it should be reported to the landlord to organise the repairs. But this landlord sounds like she is happy to do the absolute bare minimum she can to ensure her tenants pay rent every month.

"But IMO as long as there's running water, central heating and no leaks, shouldn't that be enough?"

I wonder if she has the same standards for the place she is living now 🤔

Are we reading the same posts?

OP says:

Since the tenants have moved in I've retiled the utility room floor because they didn't like the lino that was in it, had guttering replaced (it leaked), reinsulated and boarded the loft as they wanted to use it as storage so wanted it to be a clean space, I've done little bits of cosmetic work...

That is not the bare minimum., OP sounds like a great LL.

I don’t know why you’re getting dissed. It isn’t right for them to commission repairs without going through you first.

If the loose tile is in contact with the wet area, not only will it leak. But over time the substructure behind the tile will be permanently damaged. Then you will have a large repair bill.
A landlord should be making regular maintenance checks.

Don’t drip feed then

Perfectionist tenants can be a bit high maintenance but I really wouldn't worry about the odd bill for £100.
Tell your handyman you need to authorise any works first and then do just that.
Better to spend a hundred pounds here and there rather than filthy tenants who trash the place leaving you thousands of pounds out of pocket,

They’re taking the piss. Tell them you won’t be paying for anything that you haven’t authorised in writing in future and they will be liable for the cost of any work they instruct.

Steel yourself OP. Tenants do far, far worse than this.

She didn't drip feed. You assumed. You know what they about assuming.