To be really annoyed with my soon to be landlord.

[wonderstuff]

He has refused to move out his washing machine - I have a really nice washing machine - I want my washing machine in my house. I've agreed to pay his mortgage +++ for a year I don't want to have to store his bloody washing machine. Grr. Hate renting.

I rent my flat out as unfurnished but it comes with dishwasher, fridge/freezer and now thanks to my previous tenent leaving it when he moved out, a washing machine!

If you were my tenent OP I would let you have your own washing machine but I'm too nice for my own good.

We asked for a two year lease - leting agents refused - they are charging 150 to renew contract - they didnt even ask the landlord. V. frustrating.

That is shit. My lettings agents do the same. It's how they make their money.

I private rent and every house I've ever rented bar one has come with white goods, all 2 or 3 bedroom places. I bought a washing machine and tumble drier when I lived there. I just keep my washing machine and dryer in my garage if I have one (as in the place I'm in now), if not (as in the place I'm moving to i a few weeks) and if I couldn't find somewhere to store them I'd either give them away or sell them (luckily DP's mum has very kindly made some space for me to stash them in her garage, but I would have eBay-ed them otherwise). My new landlord is also abroad and I've been told there's absolutely no chance of moving anything out of the place, it's virtually completely furnished so all of my furniture is either going on freecycle or to mates (most was second hand, cheap stuff anyway so probably not worth the hassle of selling. Apart from my lovely bed which I saved up for ages for). It's a shame, but to get a nice house for a bit cheaper than they usually are in my area it's worth it.

A nice place to live is more important than a washing machine. Such things can be irritating but it's all part of private renting.

Similar situation here - our washing machine is in the garage as a result. Not a total loss though - if the one in the house breaks it will be the landlord's responsibility to mend, not mine.

No, use his washing machine! If it breaks he has to replace it! Store yours and keep it nice and new

My current house only came with a cooker. The bloody thing was useless and it took the agency 4 years to replace it (or rather, I replaced it and knocked the money off the rent). When I bought my own they took the replacement out and put it in another house. I'm moving in a month to a house which has white goods included. I'm giving my washing machine away, putting my fridge freezer in the cellar (to keep wine in ), I've no idea what to do with my cooker yet. They should all come with white goods IMO, it's either all or nothing.

Oooh there's some harsh comments on here!

OP, unless his washing machine is really manky could you not just leave it where it is and store your's elsewhere? Do you have any friends who would like a loan of yours for a while until you move again (if you do?) Could you sell it?

It really isn't all that easy to find somewhere with/without white goods when renting. We wanted somewhere without but our new place has a fridge freezer so we'll have to find somethign to do with our own one. Ebay it possibly or see if any friends/family want it. It doesn't have a washing machine though so we can bring it with us. It ticked all our other boxes WRT to close by schools, transport and enough bedrooms so white goods issue was a small one.

Honestly the rental market where we live is crappy. Some lovely places but you have to move fast as there aren't many, especially family homes. Maybe OP didn't have much time to ponder the dilemma of what to do with her washing machine as she wanted to get her application in ASAP as the property ticked all the other boxes?

Stick it in the cellar, Desperately, and use it to keep your wine in.

I'm clearly being thick here, but why is the OP paying her LL's mortgage?

We rent, but from a company and our gaff was totally unfurnished. We are planning on possibly moving this summer to a place with white goods included. If we do l will be sticking my white goods on free cycle. At the end of the day it's only a washing machine and the benefits of moving may well outweigh the white goods angst.

You have sympathy from me wonderstuff! Prior to getting our new washing machine I'd had to go through several months of hand washing everything during the winter (cue extremely cracked and bleeding hands) so suffice to say, I have a certain level of love for my washing machine (that we had to save up to get and which was a godsend). When we moved into our old house there was a very cheap, crappy washing machine left in it by the LL (we'd already pointed out we'd be bringing our own washing machine before the start of the tenancy and would want it removed, which they agreed to but didn't bother doing!). Fortunately we had use of a garage to store it in. In your situation I wouldn't want to lose my washing machine either.

Was the property advertised as furnished, unfurnished or part-? Did they advertise it as coming with white goods? (if so it does damage your argument). If they advertised it as being unfurnished and there was no mention of there being white goods when you agreed to take up the tenancy then imo it's perfectly reasonable to expect space for your own goods not to be taken up by others.

If your landlord has another property, you could suggest that he puts in into one of those?

Ooh I like that idea LadySybil it's there's no cellar but screw it, I'll still both kids in the same room after all and use the small bedroom as a bolthole just for me, complete with fridge of wine

You really do need somewhere to store your wine and chocolate. Use the largest fridge!

We have a fridge freezer and have thought that a spare fridge for wine and beer would be reasonable Though given the cost of electic that might be a bit ott?
LL has said we can store his machine, my dad has agreed to give it garage space - if ours ever gives up the ghost then we have a back-up... So that is sorted. Did speak to the current tenant today who says she has had two gas leaks in the last 3 years and is constantly replacing lightbulbs in part of the house... So be investing in a carbon monoxide alarm.

The garden is lovely though.

It's not too expensive to run an extra fridge. Mine's an AA rating one though. Great news about the washing machine. 2 gas leaks in 3 years sounds dodgy though, sounds like the gas appliances need replacing and the electrics need looking at. I fitted my own smoke alarms/co2 detector when I moved here. There was also no curtain rails so I'll be taking all of those with me!

Yes apparently the oven is very old. Useful to know that current tenant has had issues at least we can argue that there have been problems before we arrived, though how much that will help us I don't know.

Op.
Most people who rent dont drag washing machines and cookers and fridges around with them from house to house. These items are expected to be part of a rental. Your landlord cant throw out a perfectly good washing machine for the tenants, the next will most likely demand a washing machine.

The landlord pays 15% of the entire rental periods rent up front. It makes financial sense for the agency to make a 2 year lease, as 15% commission on 24 months rent is a heck of a lot more than £150. So this is not the reason you were not given a 2 year lease. What is your break clause? 6 months?

The more demanding a tenant seem in the initial negotiating process, the more likely the landlord is to stick to a 1 year lease with a 6 month break clause.

You are not paying your landlords mortgage. You are paying your rent.
The landlord is not a charity. Letting out a property costs. Agency commission (15% of lease gross yield), monthly fees (usually around £100 something per month plus vat), special landlords insurance (more expensive than normal buildings insurance), maintenance and repairs. Everytime you complain to the agency about something wrong in the house/flat landlord pays around £44 + vat per hour in call out charges, plus what it cost to fix whatever needs fixing!
Oh, and the landlord also has to pay his/her mortgage. He is not likely to be making much money out of you.

He lives overseas? He is also then liable for 20% income tax on the rent. Just to possibly keep his home while he is on an overseas work-placement or something.

I rent out a flat, and every single tenant I have had has expected all white goods to be included. That is perfectly normal. I wouldn't be able to remove them for one tenant as I am not local so would have to hire a removal firm, pay for storage and then pay for them to be put back when the tenant moved out. I would if the the tenant paid for me to do so.... but, like that would happen.

As for all those people claiming that most rental properties are horrible, my observation on that is that many are lovely until bad tenants trash them, after which landlords do not wish to spend time and money beautifying them only for the same thing to happen again. Many tenants (not all) do not treat rental homes in the same way that they would treat their own, and are happy to ruin carpets, and let kids write all over the walls. I redecorate every 2 years. I do not redecorate my own home every 2 years, but my own place is still cleaner with fewer marks up the walls.

Thats me told Quint - I'll think about how hard up he is when I'm changing lightbulbs and calling out Transco.

Our current agents charged us £40 for references and never renewed our contract - it was just assumed that either side would give 2 months notice.. So no stupidly high fees. I honestly don't know how anyone could justify £150 to renew a contract.

When I complain to the agency about something wrong its because I appreciate that if the house isn't maintained then small problems will lead to large ones.

My current house is with an oven but without all other white goods - the property we have agreed to rent is second 3 bed we have looked at - the other one didn't have white goods either, I don't believe it is unusual to have completely unfurnished two or three beds around here.

I don't LLs understand what renters mean when they say they are paying LLs mortgage - they mean their rent covers the cost of the mortgage for the house they are living in. There is longterm financial gain to the LL because of this (every mortgage payment increases the equity the LL has) but no long term benefit for the tenant.

I'm not sure why that isn't obvious.

There were no white goods here either. There was a very small fridge, a washing machine and a cooker in my last house and I was told that it was my problem if they broke down. Stupidly, I believed this and ended up replacing them all and I brought them all to my current house when I moved here.

Gomowthelawn- it's a horrible spiral. If the landlord decides that it isn't worth making the house look nice after the previous tenants have treated it badly then the nee tenants have NO incentive whatsoever to look after the house.

Landlords with attitudes like yours piss me right off. I have had to beg before for a stinking shithole of a house (that was fine when I looked around it) to be cleaned before I moved in. I was told "what do you expect, you're students" and I ended up having to get environmental health involved.

You rent out the house, you take the risk the tenants will trash it. Don't take it out on the next tenants!!!

Oh, after our first tenants destroyed the house to the tune of £20k, ran off with all the furniture (it was a fully furnished let), we still made it look nice. Spirit markers on all the walls, 3 coats of paint was required, nail varnish poured on all the carpets, the kitchen floor tiles needed ripping up and changing they were so badly damaged. It took months of refurbishments and no income to pay the mortgage with. We were naturally landed with the tenants utility bills that she had not paid either.
The next set of tenants moved into a freshly redecorated house in perfect nick, all with new furniture. It breaks my heart to see the state of the house now.

It is going to cost us a further fortune to put it right again, before moving in again after 3 years overseas (and 1 year living around the corner as they had a 2 year lease and we returned earlier than we thought).
We could not sell the house, the downturn in the property market meant we were stuck in negative equity, so rather than freeing up money and have something for a new deposit, we would owe the bank money, if we sold.

Renting is cushy compared to letting. Having rented now for a year, I know what I prefer. Changing a light bulb you need to do whether you own or rent, but if you own, you need to pay for repairs to your own items that your tenants have caused simply through lack of care.

I am not surprised to learn that most landlords these days rent totally unfurnished. I would, if I had to let property again.
I had to offer furniture to even get tenants through the door.

I think you should put that large chip on your shoulder in the bank, it could be worth a lot if you cared well for it. It might even get your deposit for your own place sorted.