To be pissed off with my tenants changing plugs on my appliances

[ReallyTired]

They aren't electricians. Am I legally responsible for their stupidity if they electrocute themselves? (Gawd forbid!) They did not contact me about any maintained problem.

If there is a problem with an electrical appliance I would rather they told me so I can get someone with half a brain to fix. I have a condensing tumble dryer in the flat. They moved out the dryer and complained it has water in it. Duh! It's a condensing tumble dryer and you are expected to empty the bottle. There are instructions about all appliances. For some stupid reason they decided to change to plug and now they have tripped the electrics.

kirinm, that tone is usually far, far worse the other way round, here on MN. Vitriol is usually poured, by the gallon, on any LL who dares post.

I am sorry you have had negative experiences with LLs, there are plenty of crap ones out there, as there are plenty of crap tenants. But in almost 30 years of renting privately I never had any problems, nor caused any to any LL. So, in my experience, there are many good'uns on both sides too.

I would have no claim on the deposit for a ten year old tumble dryer.

Yes, I know. Especially when it doesn't seem that you know it was their fault it's not working. And as you're aware of that and are instead debating a rent increase to cover increased maintenance costs (rather than damages for which the tenants can take the blame), I don't really see why you're so annoyed at your tenants. A quick word saying "please don't do X, Y or Z as if something goes wrong, I'm liable" would surely clear up the problem of them doing things without checking?

My experience with landlords isn't particularly bad and even where there have been problems (where they sold) they were pretty good. One even have me my deposit back before i had moved out so I had another deposit to put down.

I'm not anti- landlord. I am anti-renting trap with zero security and very little say in what you can do in your 'home'.

I save my disdain for letting agents!

I must be extremely unlucky. I've only ever had one decent LL out of six. The one I am with now.

Previous LLs have left me with no heating or hot water for 2+ weeks, no key for windows in mid summer (I ended up ordering my own after 2 months), stairs coming unfixed and left until I fixed it myself, rotting floorboards (again replaced myself after getting sick of reporting it) and dodgy wiring in one bedroom (the light fixtures got wet when the roof leaked, he fixed the roof but left the light) unsafe windows, rotting window frames, a boiler that my own plumber deemed unsafe but his thought was fine

Along with the usual letting themselves in my property without notice, excessive inspections, moaning about me having washing on my own bed during inspections and thus arranging a further inspection 3 days later.

I really need a bigger house but daren't move. If only house prices weren't artificially inflated by people using other's need for a home as income...

Increasing the rent by £50 pcm because they've changed a plug makes you a bit of a twat.

I've had a mixed bag on the landord front.

3 fairly good
3 negligent (ignored extensive damp, did zero maintenance, let themselves in without warning and walked into my bedroom while I was sleeping).
2 excellent (including current...reactive, reasonable, doesn't need prompting for maintenance)
1 really awful (actually let their staff into my flat without permission, where they proceeded to vandalize and steal half my belongings.)

I'm sure good tenants can seem a rarity sometimes but it's very much a lottery with landlords too.

How do you cause £15k worth of damage? I'm not saying they haven't I just cannot fathom how they've managed it.

My kids and dog have trashed the flooring in this house, I expect it will cost £1k to replace throughout (which I will do myself before moving) I don't understand how you could cause more damage than that really.

I really want to buy. I had my eye on a house nearby that went up for auction. My gran loaned me a deposit and I had a mortgage in principle for the rest of it. I had up to £70k to spend, which I admit was a stretch, similar houses sell for around £80k but this one needed a lot of work. It went for £82k in the end to a bastard BTL LL.

Itwill - we are looking to buy and I've been informed several times that the BTLers will all be selling up soon. I've seen absolutely no evidence of that though. I hope it does happen but I'm not holding my breath!

Really tired, would you expect/want your tenants to contact you to arrange an electrician to change a lightbulb? After all, isn't that also 'fiddling with the electrics

"
I'm sure good tenants can seem a rarity sometimes but it's very much a lottery with landlords too."

95% of tenants are good tenants. My tenants are good tenants, but they are a bit daft at times.

"I really want to buy. I had my eye on a house nearby that went up for auction. My gran loaned me a deposit and I had a mortgage in principle for the rest of it. I had up to £70k to spend, which I admit was a stretch, similar houses sell for around £80k but this one needed a lot of work. It went for £82k in the end to a bastard BTL LL."

That is hard and the government is making it tougher for landlords with increased stamp duty and phasing out tax relief for mortgages. I am in favour of all those measures as I want my children to be able to afford somewhere to live. We need people to start buying shares again instead of property. I think the government should reduce or even scrap) stamp duty on shares to encourage companies and individuals to invest in shares instead of property.

Aside from the fact OP clearly has no idea at all of what damage has been caused in the house, any replacement plugs i have bought recently have had the instructions right there on them for how to change. Very difficult to fuck that up.

Also at OP initially temper tanrumming intending to raise rent by £50 a month to cover 'costs' that may not even exist!

I actually think she is being reasonable to replace the drier - most of the landlords I had wouldn't have.

YANBU. If an appliance stopped working, I would contact the LL or LA. No way would I attempt to fix it. I'd be worried about getting my deposit back.

Well its either replace the tumble drier or reduce the rent.

Fwiw i've just left a tenancy after 3.5 years of not one single repair having been carried out. And i mean emergency repairs that i had call tradesmen for and pay and had no right to withold the cost from my rent for. Was never reimbursed for. If a tumble drier was blowing the trip in that property i was in i'd have had to either leave it unfixed and unuseable but still pay for the pleasure of it taking up space or i'd have to fix it myself. (Which i had done on my own tumble drier and am capable of depending on the fault) informing my LL of the fault would be as useful as sending up a smoke signal. It wouldnt get fixed.

How long were they in the house toughas?

Yes I realise that more damage can be done than just flooring but for £15k you could refurb a whole house inc windows and wiring, which sounds like pretty much what you've had to do.

When you said they'd been tenants for a while I assumed it was accidental damage/wear and tear, not deliberate damage. How long have they been living like that?

Well its either replace the tumble drier or reduce the rent.

Best I ever managed when they failed to replace items was no increase in rent next contract renewal.

Best I ever managed when they failed to replace items was no increase in rent next contract renewal

I'm not surprised. Tenancy contracts arent worth the paper theyre written on. They dont protect either the LL or the tenant. I think martin lewis should take this issue on with a campaign for a change to how tenancies are written and enforced.