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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Decorator taking the piss

34 replies

LoveInTokyo · 17/05/2018 09:53

I’m working from home today because there’s a man here painting our bedroom. We live in a rented apartment so I think the landlord/agency found him. Communications about when he would be coming we’re extremely poor so my husband and I both had to rearrange our work schedules this week to accommodate him.

Today he turned up an hour late. I made him a coffee. (Because why start off on a bad note?) He arrived 20 minutes ago and has been yakking away on the phone loudly the whole time, and then I smelt cigarette smoke and had to go in and tell him to stop smoking in our bedroom otherwise our mattress and all the clothes in our wardrobe are going to smell of cigarettes. Now he has finally got off the phone and put loud music on. (It’s a two room apartment and I’m supposed to be working next door.)

AIBU or is he completely taking the piss?

OP posts:
NameChangeCuzImAHorriblePerson · 17/05/2018 09:54

YANBU complain to the lettings agency. Smoking in your house is unacceptable.

Prestonsflowers · 17/05/2018 09:54

Yes, he is taking the piss.
I’d get in touch with the Agency and complain

coconutpie · 17/05/2018 09:55

I would be telling him to leave. Smoking in your bedroom? WTF. And then loud music while you are there? I would just kick him straight out.

TacoFlavouredKisses · 17/05/2018 09:56

He'd have been hoofed out of my house so fast his head would spin after smoking in my bedroom. Disgusting behaviour.

AlmostAJillSandwich · 17/05/2018 09:56

Of course he is! He shouldn't be smoking in your home, that alone is unacceptable. Honestly, i'd tell him to turn it off, he's in YOUR home, and you're working.

blueskyinmarch · 17/05/2018 09:58

Any tradesman smoking in my house would have been shown the door no matter who arranged or was paying for it. Get on to your LL/agency immediately.

HeedMove · 17/05/2018 09:59

My dh is a decorater. Thats absolutely shocking! If hes not a sole trader and is employed id be complaining to your landlord and his employer.

I cannot believe anyone would smoke in someone elses house thats shockingly bad. Did he apologise for being late?

Original poster
LoveInTokyo · 17/05/2018 10:02

Unfortunately I will have to get my husband to call the landlord because the apartment is rented in his sole name and I have no relationship with them. I don’t even have their contact number. I’ll call him at lunch time and tell him to sort it out.

I don’t feel like I can throw the guy out because the tenancy isn’t in my name so officially I’m just someone that the landlord has given permission to live here. And even if I could, I just want the job done and him gone so we can move our stuff back into the bedroom and carry on with our lives.

OP posts:
SluttyButty · 17/05/2018 10:05

Bleurgh, smoking in a house is bad enough let alone a bedroom that's not even yours!
I smoke but never inside and no one else is allowed to either. If anyone tried to light up in my house then they'd be turfed out on their earholes.

Definitely complain, this is just nasty.

BlueBug45 · 17/05/2018 10:08

@LoveInTokyo you can definitely throw him out

If you are in England it it is illegal to smoke in the workplace. Your home is a currently a workplace.

Plus as a decorator he shouldn't be smoking on the job due to the chemicals he is using. They may be no risk of combustion as they are water based but he still shouldn't be smoking.

Original poster
LoveInTokyo · 17/05/2018 10:10

I am not in England but pretty sure the same applies here.

He has stopped doing it but I am still going to complain. WTF.

OP posts:
TomRavenscroft · 17/05/2018 10:21

Fuck what the tenancy says. It's your house and you can, and should, ask him to leave. And tell the agency exactly why.

AjasLipstick · 17/05/2018 10:23

You really should have the number for the landlord OP. What if your DH was in hospital or something unexpected happened?

astoundedgoat · 17/05/2018 10:26

I'd go back in now and ask him to leave. Tell the landlord why.

Original poster
LoveInTokyo · 17/05/2018 10:28

Yeah I know. I moved abroad to be here and there has just been so much paperwork to sort, there’s a big long list of things I ought to do and know. Getting through it as fast as I can but sometimes I just don’t have the energy, you know?

Hopefully we will buy a place together soon and then at least we will have a bit more control over our environment.

If I throw the guy out now then the job will be half done and we’ll be camping in the living room for god knows how many weeks until they can send someone else, and then having to rearrange our work schedules again. It’s just not worth it.

OP posts:
Sunnyshores · 17/05/2018 10:47

assuming the agency know you live there, then phone them. (you must know who they are and can look up a number? what would you do in an emergency if you were there alone)
Agreed, its prob not worth the hassle of throwing him out, but tell them hes a pain, loud, smoking, late.

Badbadbunny · 17/05/2018 10:51

Chances are he won't even be a qualified/time served decorator. Lettings agents are notorious for using "property management firms", i.e. odd job men who basically turn their hand to anything and usually leave a botched job. You're very unlikely to find a proper decorator willing to do work for the pittance that letting agents/landlords are willing to pay.

Vangoghsear · 17/05/2018 10:51

IME decorators always have the radio on. TBH I don't blame them because working on your own all day must be boring. Just ask him to turn it down.

TomRavenscroft · 17/05/2018 10:52

If I throw the guy out now then the job will be half done and we’ll be camping in the living room for god knows how many weeks until they can send someone else, and then having to rearrange our work schedules again. It’s just not worth it

This is why people get away with things –because people put up with it!

Not having your landlord's number is not to do with it being a massive, overwhelming 'paperwork' job for which you can make excuses; it's a case of 'DH, text me the landlord's number please.' Job done.

Call them and say the guy has wasted THEIR time and money by spending 20 minutes yakking on the phone and he has endangered you all and behaved illegally by smoking in your house. You have told him to leave and you expect them to line up another decorator to come and finish the job immediately.

BarbarianMum · 17/05/2018 11:03

Every decorator I've ever used has had the radio/music on. I guess it's a pretty boring job if done in isolation and silence. The smoking is a big no-no. But they music I think is OK (you could ask him to turn it down). The phone, again pretty typical. If you are paying by the job does it really matter if he spends 20min on the phone?

Original poster
LoveInTokyo · 17/05/2018 11:06

TomRavenscroft, that is what I would like to do.

Unfortunately, my real world reality is that my husband (who I have already texted) works in a high security environment without access to his phone, so he won’t read my text until lunchtime. And then if I call the agency I will have to explain (in a foreign language), who I am and what the problem is, and have an argument with someone I don’t know about whether it is acceptable to throw this guy out or not, and if we do end up throwing him out, the agency/landlord (not sure which), having already taken several months to line up this joker to do the work, will then take their sweet time sending out a replacement, during which time we will be living in chaos. At the moment I have to get my husband to move the bed, which is propped up sideways against the wardrobe, so I can get clothes out for the next working day. We can’t do any washing because all the other furniture from our bedroom and bathroom is currently in the living room and we are sleeping on the sofa. I really don’t want to be living like this for one day longer than necessary, which will certainly happen if I chuck this guy out today.

In an ideal world I would take great pleasure in doing exactly as you suggest. But sadly in the real world we will be better off if we just grin and bear it, and he calls the agency this afternoon to complain.

Angry
OP posts:
specialsubject · 17/05/2018 11:20

as the OP's English is so fluent, it could be that she/he isn't in the UK. So the smoking indoors may be perfectly legal.

Badbadbunny · 17/05/2018 11:27

does it really matter if he spends 20min on the phone?

Yes because it means the job takes longer, hence more disruption, etc. I'd rather tradesmen were in and out without delays so that I can get the house back to normal, clean up, get furniture back in place, etc sooner rather than later.

Badbadbunny · 17/05/2018 11:29

So the smoking indoors may be perfectly legal.

Doesn't matter whether legal or not, I don't want anyone smoking in my house, car, etc. It's basic manners not to smoke in other peoples' property - you don't need a law. When you're in someone's home you should know to treat it with respect, you shouldn't need to be told or need a law!

BarbarianMum · 17/05/2018 11:35

You may prefer it Badbad but most trademen are self-employed and will be lining up other work to follow what they are doing for you. Unless you've specified contractual terms to the contrary, you don't have a leg to stand on.

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