Frustrated with tenants?

[thankunextex]

I’m trying to view a house and the tenants have refused to let me view it both times. Appointments been booked in advance and then they say it’s not a good time an hour before.

I get it if you don’t want to actually leave the property (not sure if that’s the situation or not) but I’m just being messed around now.

some landlord expect the tenant to change carpets and the house to look as if no one had lived in it which isn't a fair expectation

Exactly, that’s what the law covers. It wouldn’t matter who lived there, owner or a tenant, general wear and tear is inevitable!

I fully expect the house to be trashed and am amazed when it isn’t

I don't know why I keep being drawn in but I find comments like that just staggering. What kind of people do you possibly rent to that you would expect a house to be trashed.

It is no wonder renters are seen as such second-class scum, if comments like that are truly representative.

JessicaWakefieldSVH - it’s 4 weeks deposit not 8 for a start. So just in my particular case, £850. £4,000 it cost after 4 years of literally not touching the garden and parking his work vans and skips on the driveway so that it sank. We had to get a bob cat digger in it was that bad. And that’s aside of the just general dirt, holes from shelving left infilled etc etc.

The third time this happened I didn’t even bother raising it with the agent as previously I’d been told, they pay mostly on time and they are going to leave voluntarily - consider yourself lucky basically.

I disagree, wear and tear is a joke. The deposit never covers the actual damage nevermind wear and tear so there would be bugger to cover new carpets etc.

Why is wear and tear a joke? If people are living in a house then wear and tear is inevitable.

I fully expect the house to be trashed and am amazed when it isn’t.

Who on earth do you let too with that kind of attitude?

Only once had my rental been trashed (ironically by the best ever tenant on paper - single highly paid professional male with no pets). I do think part of that is that tenants view it as their home while they are there, as do I.

But what you're saying isn't wear and tear, is it.

Wear and tear is stuff like the carpet getting threadbare or the walls and doors looking a bit yellow from sunlight or simply aging.

lyralalala - ironically the two separate tenants that did the most damage are people/mums I actually see every day at the kids school. The cheek is mind blowing, I’d have to leave the country if I’d done what they did

CheshireChat - that’s what I’m saying, there’s nothing left that could be taken as wear and tear, you couldn’t if you tried in my experience you’re too busy paying for actual damage.

There are landlords that don’t help themselves. There’s one I know who whinges every time his tenants leave about the carpets - if you have a family size home that you rent to a family then perhaps quite putting pale beige carpets everywhere because they will get grubby quickly.

Same with another who rents a place with a huge garden. When he lived there, or when he has a void, he has a maintenance guy that cut the grass every 3 weeks for £20. Instead of keeping that up he stops it (& doesn’t even offer to introduce the guy to his tenant as it’s “their responsibility”) - for the twice he’s had tenants who’ve let the garden go to shit it’s cost him more than it would have to keep the guy on.

But then they both go fully managed by a letting agent and don’t meet their tenants themselves which I think is a mistake. If you meet the tenant you get a sense of them and they you. Take away the faceless landlord and you have less hassles I find.

Wear and tear is very subjective and the deposit agencies and courts have much lower standards than the average home owner. If you move in and all the carpets are new. You move out 3 years later and the carpets are all aged a bit (normal W&T) so that it wouldn't require changing for new tenants but there are burn marks that make them look used and un-aesthetic, the deposit protection agency will make a small deduction to take into account the damage but also will take out quite a lot for W&T. So whereas the LL could have left the carpet for a few more years for the next tenants, they have no choice but to replace as most prospective tenants wouldn't want to move in a place with such carpets, so it ends up costing the LL a lot of money with the tenant penalised only slightly.

It is right that W&T should be discounted, but when the carpet or other item needs replacing due to damage, a higher cost should be attributed to it rather than assuming that because of W&T, the carpet is worth very little.

I'm quite amazed that carpets in rental properties are expected to have a life of no longer than 6 or 7 years at the most. Most owners I know keep their carpets for 10 years at least and they still look OK, but then people tend to take better care of things they own and will have to replace with their own money, so replacing of carpets and wall painting every few years is a cost that LL have to factor, hence monthly rental costs being significantly higher than the cost of a mortgage for that same property.

it’s 4 weeks deposit not 8 for a start

I’ve always paid 8, that ranges from small flats to large homes. Did you reference check or not?

JessicaWakefieldSVH - not only did I reference check, I actually took the contracts around to their previous rental for them to sign which was perfectly nice, immaculate even. She had two more kids whilst living in my house and obviously life became busier is the only conclusion I can draw. But equally I gave a glowing reference to get them out of mine so it’s not exactly an infallible system is it.

No it isn’t, and there are bad tenants for sure. But you’re talking of one experience. I would suggest asking for 2 months deposit, and I assume you have landlords insurance too.

I’m done with renting this house out, it’s a family home not a rental property where as the other one if they trashed it from top to bottom it would only cost a couple of grand to fix, so that was my harsh lesson learnt.

Landlord insurance - well there’s a story there, friend rented his flat out, tenant stopped paying rent, agent told the tenant as long as she paid £50 a month he couldn’t kick her out or claim in the insurance so that’s what she did for 5 months.

I’m done with renting this house out, it’s a family home

Probably wise since it’s a family home!
If a tenant does not pay all owing, they can definitely be kicked out. See our points about agents are true!

Landlord insurance - well there’s a story there, friend rented his flat out, tenant stopped paying rent, agent told the tenant as long as she paid £50 a month he couldn’t kick her out or claim in the insurance so that’s what she did for 5 months.

As soon as they were the equivalent of two full months behind they could have started eviction proceedings. That’s just another example of a LL blindly trusting an agent. LL’s need to educate themselves on what they can and can’t evict for, when and how.

Agents are a nightmare.

I'm quite amazed that carpets in rental properties are expected to have a life of no longer than 6 or 7 years at the most.

That’s probably the guideline because so many landlords use the cheapest possible carpet. It becomes a viscious circle of carpet wears quickly, ll gets pissed off so puts in cheaper carpet, so it wears quickly etc etc.

4 years of literally not touching the garden

So no inspections then?

@swingofthings

I agree re the wear and tear. I'd fitted new mid range carpets in my property, it than sat empty for a few years (my choice) and was then rented out for 3 years to a family.

There was general wear i.e minor marks etc but on the largest bedroom carpet there was a burn from an iron, the carpet was ruined so had to be replaced, I got £40 from the tenants as they argued it had been down for years. It had but it was in brand new condition when they moved in.

In my own home I don't expect to replace carpets or redecorate every 2/3 years.

I've never had tenants trash a house but have also never had tenants look after it as well as I think they might if they actually owned it. I don't bother taking a deposit as it's not worth the bother.

It also pisses me off when people choose to rent houses with gardens, sign the tenancy agreement which clearly states it is their responsibility to maintain the gardens, then don't

The whole system just makes no sense whatsoever.... the time I had to rent I was required to pay 6 months up front as I had no credit record, still had to jump through the being employed and earning 3 x the rent despite going here there’s £6000 🤷‍♀️
And yet this nonsense still goes on. It’s a strange strange world. I’d literally sell kidneys before I’d rent again.

In my own home I don't expect to replace carpets or redecorate every 2/3 years.

It’s not your home, it’s a tenanted property, a business. You cannot have the same expectations. You’re not expected to redecorate every 2-3 years, it’s every 6. You won’t get thefukl cost of a carpet replacement because of one mark, you’ll get a contribution. Really, as a LL you should know the laws and guidelines when you decide to become one and accept that’s how it works.

@JessicaWakefieldSVH

But it is the tenants home (as a few people have pointed out on here) so I expect (or wish) they'd treat it the way I treat my own home.

I'm fully aware of the laws and guidelines. My point is it's shit that as a landlord I fully expect the property to need redecorating and possibly new flooring when tenants leave whether they've been in for 2 years or 5.

My dad has a wonderful tenant who looks after the property as if it was her own, is never late paying rent and is just generally a dream tenant. I know not all tenants are terrible but ime more are than aren't.

But it is the tenants home (as a few people have pointed out on here) so I expect (or wish) they'd treat it the way I treat my own home.

That’s not what I’m talking about.

This is the main problem with LL, the way they view the property and the way the law views it are often different. What LL would live with, if they were living there, is often different from what the law says you must provide. A tenant feeling settled enough to view it as their home, is not the same thing as you saying you’d not redecorate your own home as regularly. You redecorate and get it into the same condition with each new let, because you want to get the top price for a business property. It is also a requirement every 6 years, so is easier to do between tenancies. New flooring because of a few marks many tenants would live with, is because again, you want best price. I’ve moved into places with stains or marks on the carpets, it’s noted on the inventory and if the general condition is less than perfect, the LL will get slightly less than top price in the area.

I know lots of renters and have done over my life, apart from students who can be terrible, most people do treat their rentals with respect and I personally have only ever had £50 taken off our (large) deposits, for a broken tile which we did not dispute!

I know not all tenants are terrible but ime more are than aren't

I don't think that's quantifiable at all. Or remotely true.

I think the number of landlords not knowing their responsibilities and not knowing their tenant's rights probably far exceeds the number of 'bad' tenants.

Good tenants can turn into problematic ones when communication fails or they feel let down by their LL.

Letting is a business, with legislation, but LL should remember they are morally and legally responsible for the safety and comfort of the people living in their properties.

I don't agree with LL's getting super petty over carpets and paint. If a tenant has paid regularly on time, allowed access for inspections, reported repairs and not burnt the house down, they should receive 100 percent of their deposit back.

I really don't care if the lawn isn't mowed and the toilet seat is broken.

I think the number of landlords not knowing their responsibilities and not knowing their tenant's rights probably far exceeds the number of 'bad' tenants.

Yes, I agree. The problem is not that LL are bad people, most aren’t bad at all, they just go into it not knowing their responsibilities. If you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to rent a LL former home, they are emotionally attached as well and more unreasonable.

@JessicaWakefieldSVH, so when it comes to carpets and walls, tenants should be expected to be treated as differently as homeowners. When it comes to entering the property, they should however be treated just v the cssne. That's what really annoys me about these thread, the attitude that tenants should be treated the same when it suits but different when it doesn't.

Personally I don't care. If tenants want new carpets every year, they can have it, but don't call me greedy when I charge you higher rent to take these costs into account because one sure thing, it is not coming out of my disposable income when my own carpet is 12 years old (and still in a very good condition).