Candles in rented property?

[RobinsAreTerritorialFuckers]

Our landlady came round the other day for our first routine inspection (we've been there six months). She seemed very happy with everything and I think we are very tidy and careful. One thing was a bit odd - she saw we had candles and told us she hoped they were decorative, and could we not burn them because candle smoke would mean that she'd have to redecorate in a few years.

I do know that candle smoke does eventually have an effect, though I think cheap tealights are the worst for it and we don't have those. But I'd assumed it would be part of wear and tear - just like anything else you might choose to do. Obviously, the tenancy agreement doesn't make any mention of candles!

What I'm wondering is: if you're a landlord, is this something you would genuinely feel worried about, and/or feel it was reasonable to ask tenants not to do?

We once had a tenancy agreement that stated no visitors after 9.30pm
Think we broke that one a few times

I have a no candle clause in the contract as my previous tenant's teenage daughters set fire to the curtains with their candles. Perhaps I should just ban teenagers instead?! (not a bad idea, even their dog did less damage than the teenagers).

robins you were a lodger, not a tenant - and lodgers do have many fewer rights. Although I'm not sure if they are that few!

I entirely agree that people need to educate themselves re rights and responsibilities. The gov. uk 'how to rent' booklet is a good start. It has to be given to all tenants, although stupidly the rules are that this must be done at start of tenancy - landlords can't do it earlier as it must be the current version at tenancy start date. Nothing to stop tenants looking at it before, of course.

We do need to make tenants much more aware of their rights. You see so many threads on here where people state, often presenting it as fact, that you HAVEto do or allow x, y and z, when the law actually says that you don't and a contract doesn't override the law.

No, I was a tenant.

A lodger is someone who lives with their landlady in the same house, not someone whose landlady decides to let themselves in! I think it's you who needs to read up on the facts here.

Fruit I agree so many tenants think they have to follow these terrible contracts written by landlords, and landlords seem to forget that tenants are actually their customers and the houses we live in are our homes.

If I want to burn a candle then I'm going to burn a candle I'm afraid, if your house is that precious to you and your not wanting to risk anyone causing an accident (they do happen to everyone not just tenants) in it then don't rent it to someone live in it yourself.

Landlords on the whole are so bloody full of themselves doing everything on the cheap and nasty, with a "I'm so much better than you" attitude not helped by estate agents who mostly refer to landlords as the client and the tenant the one actually handing over the cash each month being treated like a second class citizen. There is such a stigma in this country about renting and it drives me bonkers! Rant over! Just think it is ridiculous what I've read here

And your landlady isn't allowed to just let herself in and has to by law give you freedom to enjoy the property.

ah well, page 4 before the bile gets spewed. Quite good for MN.

Not all landlords are greedy crooks renting out dumps (although a few are), not all tenants are drug-dealing skanks (although a few are).

only fools make generalisations. It is as bad as the 'all men are bastards' crap that comes on here. We would throw our toys out the pram if someone said 'all women are silly make up obsessives'. Both are equally stupid statements but only one seems acceptable.

kittens for me it's not about my property. It's about people hurting themselves as a said in my pp. But what do I know. I'm just one of those greedy landlords, who do everything on the cheap .

I said landlords on the whole, not all landlords. I am certainly not a fool, human and a very frustrated tenant who always pays their rent on time and has done for 20 years in various property and I have just had another fight with the estate agent about an issue I've been chasing for six months with no update on a property that I pay £1,500 a month for and am frequently made to feel like I'm a second class citizen because I don't own this home. I've had relatively good landlords but I'm sorry everything has been done on the cheap when it needed doing, it's very frustrating!

Janecc it's nice your concerned about your tenants but I wouldn't want my landlord deciding I'm not capable of looking after myself! I am quite capable of lighting a candle and extinguishing it etc etc I said landlords on the whole, after a frustrating discussion :)

I rented for 10 years from my last LL and had a no candle clause in my agreement but I didnt see it! they came round a week after I moved in to find me with a candle lit and said' thats pretty. I think the agreement may have been amended at some time for another tenant and just reprinted for me (they had lots of properties)
They let me decorate how i wanted as long as i left the house magnolia when i left, however i mostly used that anyway to freshen the walls. That said when i did my sons room blue they would ask me all the time when i was changing it back.
I ended up decorating nearly every year to keep the place nice as heating in the front room was open fire. they never offered to do any maintenance to the property in the whole 10 years even when i asked for it...I ended up putting in new kitchen cupboard doors (they old ones were blown and falling off) and laminate flooring for whole downstairs as there were no other properties available and the work needed doing in my home. people thought i was mad at the time but if i had to live there i wanted it to be nice.
Now I and a home owner!!! loving the fact i can do these things just for me now!

I have just seen your pp, and I can understand why you feel like you do, that must yave been awful, but I think if your letting your house leave the tenants to have their home.

sorry if its already been said didnt read all posts (get a bit wound up by such nonsense) - landlords can write what they want in tenancy agreements BUT if it came to court for any reason only 'reasonable' terms would be lawful and I doubt its reasonable not to be allowed to light candles, especially on birthday cakes!

My BTLs are insured (I will check as now a little bemused) but Im pretty sure house is covered if it catches fire because of a candle. Id worry that such attempts at control are a sign of an amateur landlord.