Anyone else dread asking their landlord for repairs?

[NotMeItsYou]

I’ve lived in my private rented house for about 7 years now. Zero maintenance has been done by the landlords apart from annual boiler service and the odd repair needing doing which I’ve let them know about.

For some reason I dread telling them about anything that needs repairing, I feel like I am being a nuisance, or that they’ll put my rent up massively to compensate for costs. I’ve got a couple of plumbing issues which need to be looked at but I hate sending that text to them and awaiting the response.

I am saving to buy a house, and cannot wait to be in charge of my own maintenance and repairs

I was the same.... I did report stuff to the letting agent and they sent people round with the promise of repairs that never happened. I never chased it up though. So for over a year, I had no central heating in several rooms, and a leaky roof. I was scared of a Section 21 being issued for pushing for repairs.

if its something that needs fixing i would rather my tenant told me and allowed me access rather than ignoring it - it will then get worse and potentially cost more/damage other things. Obviously i'm not keen on fixing things that tenant has damaged due to stupidity/negligence or sorting things they should be able to do themselves, eg changing lightbulb - but i'm sure you arent thinking along these lines

We both rent and are landlords (accidentally - had to move countries during pandemic and will sell as soon as they're ready to move on) and I'm not afraid at all as our letting agent is really good at sending round a handyman and doesn't fuss about it. We manage our property directly. Our tenants were quite quiet but after a few emails from me saying "is everything ok? Please do tell me if you need anything as it's in our interests to maintain the property too" they're no longer backwards in coming forward (which I'm glad of...I don't want a leak left)

You're paying their mortgage, they pay for the plumber, that's the deal. It's a sorry state of affairs that people need to fear for their security if they demand adequate living conditions.

A friend of mine is renting and she has put up with things not working even though her landlord sounds very reasonable.
I think she doesn't want to be a nuisance, which I totally understand, but is a bit bonkers too as it's effectively his home too and these small jobs may escalate to much bigger problems. I can imagine it's difficult if they don't use a letting agency as at least that is a 'middle man' to go through.
My parents didn't mind ringing the local council for repairs !
My son rented a place and his LL was brilliant , always fixing things and sending people round if he couldn't fix it himself. He was very good.
I guess it's how the owners come across and I know I'd feel bad if I had to ring them up etc especially if they make you feel awkward about it or it's somehow your fault when it's not.

I always reported everything straight away. Nuosance is to kerp quiet until the damage is big.

I did however have to brutally annoy two to get stuff sorted because they were doing that "I will get someone around" thing🙄

I'm a landlord. I hate it when I tenant doesn't tell me about repairs that actually need doing.

One didn't tell me the kitchen sink was leaking. She concealed a bowl behind a panel in the kitchen. When a new tenant moved in there was a huge leak into the flat underneath. The new tenant thought I had concealed the bowl and moved out the earliest opportunity.

Another tenant had a leaky window. Instead of telling me they sealed it up with bin bags causing a mould problem.

These are the kind of things I want to know about so I can sort them!

On the other hand I don't want to be bothered when a tenant cant change a lightbulb and won't learn how ( that's not my job to do for her) or doesn't like the colour of the carpet.....

It's in my tenancy agreement that I have to report problems as soon as I find them to stop them getting any worse and causing further damage (which I'd probably be liable for).

That doesnt make it any easier getting in touch with the agent though. Last thing was a leak in the bathroom. It wasnt huge but it was constant and damaged some things of mine. They sent a handyman over 7 times. Only once did he actually enter my flat (when it was finally fixed) as despite my own investigations and process of elimination, he was insistent it was coming from the flat upstairs and wouldn't listen to me. God forbid a woman would have any common sense and it clearly wasnt worth just looking to see if she was right, the man knows best after all

I just, I suspect he liked being able to charge for 7 call outs rather than one.

Jest not just!

I'm a landlord and I'd rather know about repairs sooner rather than later. I expect some maintenance to be needed from time to time.

I had tenants that didn't tell me about a leak. They carried on using a shower that was causing a wet patch on the wall in the adjoining room. Obviously it ended up in being a much bigger repair job than it would have been if they'd just let me know about it when it started. That annoyed me a lot more than being told when a problem has started.