To be absolutely fed up and to tell her so?

[Babycarrottt]

I honestly don't know whether I'm being unreasonable or not. My partner and I are landlords of a flat and a shop. This morning I received an email from our remaining tenant (there were three but two have moved out) complaining about some building rubble that has been left in the yard. We are currently having work completed on the shop and some rubble bags have been left in the yard in order for someone to take them away for us.

The tenant has sent me an email complaining about the building waste as she isn't due to leave the property until the 30th and she wants to have friends around and these few rubble bags is causing her an inconvenience.

I know about the building waste because it was my partner who put it there.

The yard is shared usage between the flat and shop but because the shop has been empty they've had sole usage.

The bags are in a corner out of her way and does not stop her using the yard.

I'm angry because we consider ourselves to be good landlords. Examples of such include allowing them to move in a week early without charge at the start of the their tenancy. To help them source furniture, we reduced the deposit amount so they could afford furniture.

As soon as she signed, she started with the complaints and ridiculous demands. I mentioned in passing that the flat was being decorated prior to her moving in. She then sent me links to various "artwork" (posters) that she had as she wanted us to choose complimentary colours (we painted everywhere white). In October, she complained that the house was cold when the heating wasn't on. She also complained that the drain was blocked (she'd blocked it with food waste), she complained that we'd painted incorrectly and that we'd left the paint "upset) so she had paint all over her expensive coat (it wasn't paint, it was dust). When there were mice in the shop and we put down traps (they could hear them in the flat), she complained that when we said that we would not be pulling up floorboards to get rid of any decaying mice. She complained about the boiler not working (she hadn't switched it on). When the boiler did break down, we had a new one installed within three days. She complained because again it was not switched on and she wanted the gas engineer to press the power button.

There have been so many ridiculous complaints but we were looking forward to the end of this month as they are all moving out. I received an email from her on Wednesday along with a picture of the door to the utility cupboard which the tenants have somehow managed to snap in half. The door is about 3/4 of an inch for reference.

I am currently in hospital with pancreatitis and gallstones. I'm really not well, I'm missing my seven week old and things are just generally stressful.

The email from her has really struck a nerve because I can't believe how unaware she is of her poor behaviour. I've emailed her back and told her that it's shared usage so we can put rubble bags in there. She did the same type of thing last year when we had a builder out. She claimed that he had piled rubble outside of the front door of the flat so she was struggling to get in. I called our builder and asked if he'd remove any rubbish that was in her way. He facetimed me and showed me the entrance. The closest rubble was about 8 ft away and there was no obstruction.

I also said that I'm stunned that she would send such an email considering the damage she has caused to the property. I said that I've done my best to accommodate her despite her sometimes ridiculous requests but that I don't want her to contact me again unless it's an absolute emergency.

The email is professional but I'm not sure if I was unreasonable for responding in the way I did.

I know that landlords get slated on here and it's the right call in a lot of cases but as a rule before our tenants move in, I even send a link to Shelter's page on landlord's responsibilities and I send our tenants a link to the local tenant's union so they know who to go to should we treat them badly.

I know this is long but I'm just so angry with her. It's particularly frustrating as she can be really snotty with me but when she sees my partner she's very "girly", twirls her hair etc. and tells him I exaggerate the problems or that there isn't a problem at all.

Rant over.

@Awwlookatmybabyspider I don't think (realistic) renters expect perfection? It's a rental. Yes it's not cheap, (I pay a LOT for what is effectively a shoebox), but 'perfection' is a bit much. Especially when perfection means choosing artwork in complementary colours whilst simultaneously blocking drains and not closing freezers and moaning about it.

I have handed it over to my partner now but I was cranky as in a lot of pain and feeling a bit miserable. As well as being in hospital, it's the first father's day since my grandfather's passing and it's also my dad's birthday (passed away in 2009). Plus, we should be spending today together as a family but we can't because I'm in here .

I know these aren't excuses for being snappy but they haven't helped.

She sounds insane! I rented for 20 years and wouldn’t dream of behaving like that. You’ve been more than generous.

I hope you feel better soon and can have snuggles with your baby.

@CaptainBarbossa

She's a CF but you've also not kept good professional boundaries here. Obviously she is the primary problem, but by you offering money for the fridge, reducing deposit, letting them move in early etc. you have made this situation worse. Once she is out, please have clearer boundaries with the next tenant, and make sure everything you are and are not responsible for are outlined in the tenancy agreement before they move on (and don't let them move in early or pay less!). You may have another bad tenant or a great one, either way it's important to have a proper agreement about all this stuff, even more so if you can be on the soft side IRL.

I agree with this

Try and use this as a lesson learned - it sounds to me as though you were too nice and the tenant has been riding roughshod over you

I hope you feel better soon

I don’t think what you said was disproportionate at all.

I agree that you have probably set off on the wrong foot by making too many concessions. I wouldn’t have offered money for the fridge unless it was on the inventory (never provide white goods for this exact reason)

She sounds like an entitled nightmare, tbh. If you are in the NW please pm me her name and I will add her to my personal lists of potential tenants to never touch with a barge pole.

As a tenant I would expect the boiler fixed, but Not money towards a fridge. I would expect to move in on the specified date, and if I asked for a week extra I would expect to pay an extra weeks rent. I would expect the place to be treated externally for rodents and leaks/damp from outside of property, but to cope with internal pest control issues and condensation myself (so long as the place was appropriately ventilated and the windows could be opened safely). I would expect to pay my full deposit, and source my own furniture, unless it was a furnished or part furnished property. I would expect to share a shared usage garden, even if that meant I was sharing with rubble. If I broke things, like the door to the utility cupboard, I would expect to repair the damage, pay for my landlord to do the repair or on the vacating the property to have the cost of repair deducted from my deposit (that's what the deposit is for!). I would expect a decent decorating standard, but not for it to be catered to my taste, something plain like white or magnolia being ideal so it was neutral enough to go with most things. I would expect to either immediately contact council tax myself, or have my details passed on, and this would give me the opportunity to get my bills set up, or supply information of student status so that I didn't have to pay the bill or got a deduction (I'm not sure which applies). I would, however, not lie on my application and expect the landlord to somehow know that. If the plug or toilet got blocked I would take all the steps I could to fix it, then contact the landlord. The cost of drain cleaner and plungers etc. is the tenants responsibility, but for an external drain blockage would be the landlord. I think this tenant has incredibly high expectations of their landlord and very low expectations for them self as a tenant. Is this the first time they have rented a property?

OP you have been far too nice, you haven't done anything wrong.

It shows that when you are too nice, it comes biting you in the arse.
That idiot is the reason why decent landlord take a step back and don't try to be more helpful than their contract makes them

On the plus side, It's very unlikely she'll find another landlord as friendly as you have been.

She's in for a very nasty shock. Even worst if she is buying and become responsible for all the costs and repairs.

As soon as I read that she sent you a link to 'preferred artworks' I knew which side of this argument I was coming down on . . .

She is being and has been very unreasonable. I agree that here is a certain level of service people can and should expect from their landlord but this woman is taking the piss. OP sounds like she has gone above and beyond and provided and excellent level of service.

OP - didn't you know that landlords are the devil himself on MN??

Meanwhile back in the real world, ignore her and count down the days till she's gone and deduct from her deposit the costs of the broken door and whatever else if left broken. Next time just do the basics within the contract, no favours, as it is seen by CF's that you are a soft touch. Most importantly, take care of yourself and your family x

@CaptainBarbossa

She's a CF but you've also not kept good professional boundaries here. Obviously she is the primary problem, but by you offering money for the fridge, reducing deposit, letting them move in early etc. you have made this situation worse. Once she is out, please have clearer boundaries with the next tenant, and make sure everything you are and are not responsible for are outlined in the tenancy agreement before they move on (and don't let them move in early or pay less!). You may have another bad tenant or a great one, either way it's important to have a proper agreement about all this stuff, even more so if you can be on the soft side IRL.

Absolutely agree with this.

You need to be more business like and set out better boundaries otherwise there will always be someone who will take advantage.

Sometimes it doesn't pay to be too nice.

Hope you feel better soon.

Op

We' have some properties that we let out and I like to think we're good fair landlords but over the years one thing ive learned is to start as you mean to go on. If you entertain the first unreasonable request because 'it's only small' you open the door to a multitude of additional requests.
Over the years ive seen them all from wanting the house repainted inside because the freshly painted cream walls 'were insipid' to a new electric hob as the gas one was tricky to manage to find out TVs for the bed rooms
Now I'm very clear with new potential tenants that the houses are as seen and if they are not happy with them, they are of course free to not rent them.
Finally don't get me started on the state of the houses some tenants have left them in. I wouldn't let an animal stay there but she was the one who claimed about the feng sui of the immaculate cream walls when she moved it😵‍💫

I agree. I have been far too soft but this certainly won't be happening again. In regard to the rodent situation, they were in the shop and never the flat. She did complain about mice running around under the floorboards in the kitchen however, there are no floorboards as it's a concrete floor.

We didn't tell them that we were going to offer them money for a fridge but we would have done so had the fridge been broken. We don't provide white goods because of issues like this and it's all logged in the inventory.

She was absolutely right to be annoyed that the boiler wasn't working, it's why I went round to speak to them and to reassure them that it would be fixed. If I were a tenant I'd be happy if I saw a landlord on a Wednesday lunchtime and I had a new one 48 hours later. Her complaint about Legionnaire's disease was just ridiculous.

We'd had the same tenants in the flat for two years previously and they were fantastic. Their only complaints were genuine issues and they never requested that we paint the walls to go in with their "art work". I've certainly learnt my lesson and will never repeat these mistakes.

Exactly what @CaptainBarbossa said. There is a contract in place which states duties of tenants and landlords. You decorate for all potential tenants not just for her tastes. The shared yard is just that. If it belonged to someone other than yourselves she wouldn't be complaining to you.
Not long till she is out thank goodness. I doubt she would ask for a reference but if she did the question 'would you rent to her again' is an obvious one.

@Crazycrazylady I agree. We didn't agree to these requests but the problem was the way she'd inform us of the problems. As an example, when she said that the house was cold and that we needed someone to go round and sort it out. We presumed that it was the boiler not that she was complaining that the house was cold because she hadn't switched the heating on.

Apologies if I'm drip feeding but I found them through an acquaintance who vouched for both of them. We did the relevant checks etc. but this is why we reduced the deposit etc. Certainly won't make that mistake again.

Such a nightmare having a tenant who actually has opinions about where she lives!

Oh don't be ridiculous. The tenant is a nightmare making vexatious and unfounded complaints. And then breaking a thick door.

Obviously she is the primary problem, but by you offering money for the fridge, reducing deposit, letting them move in early etc. you have made this situation worse

I think that it is really sad that the @Babycarrottt trying to be understanding, kind, and human has been exploited in this way.

It often happens: someone does someone else a good turn, a kindness, and the person receives it, not with thanks, but with a kind of ungrateful whining. I'm not saying the tenant should have gone down on her knees in gratitude, but she cold have reflected that the OP was trying to be a decent person.

It's almost as though the tenant resents the OP for trying to be kind. Weird.

If she's a full time student she doesn't have to pay council tax, but I thought you said others lived there too. Unless they are all full time students then council tax has to be paid.

Dh and myself both have several properties between us that we rent out. We have been fortunate in that tenants have been mostly ok. But some tenants complain about every little thing. Others we don't hear from. One couple in my house had a water leak, there was a wet patch appearing on the ceiling, they didn't want to bother me, so it turned into a huge wet patch that was running down the wall before they finally contacted me. I was a bit annoyed they left it so long (it was a pipe from the bath leaking) So tenants seem to be very different. I will always do my best to look after tenants as well as I can.

OP I'd definitely let your partner deal with her. Not long until she leaves.

The sooner shes gone the better! She sounds like a nightmare!

There were two tenants so she'd have to pay a portion of the CT as the max discount is 25% despite one person being a FT student.

I have no issue with being contacted over a genuine problem and would rather that than something like the above happening.

I'm not dealing with anything more to do with her as a tenant. My DP is taking care of it now and he would have done if I hadn't jumped in there first. I certainly didn't expect ridiculous displays of gratitude or anything like that but I expected that she would behave better than she has. If I had broken a door, the last thing I would do is complain about a few small bags of rubble.

She comes across as very spoilt and someone that is used to getting her own way. She's in her mid to late twenties but she doesn't seem it. She also reminds me of the sketch from the Fast Show with the detective who would change behaviour depending on whether there were men or women in the room.

YADNBU and they sound like nightmare tenants.
Wishing you better and home soon OP

Calling those who can afford live in housekeepers-Is this a thing ?

Mother in law is coming up to retirement , she is Hungarian. She is trying to save money so she can have somewhere to live when she retires. Long story short , she was a nurse in Hungary but due to low wages came to Britain 15 years ago. Anyway , she recently left a live in housekeeper job after two years. She was offered another job a couple of weeks ago , turned it down to take the position which is the subject of the post. Started in the job two weeks ago live in housekeeper , and then my husband got a call Friday saying that the job was too much for her to handle and asked if he could come and pick her up the same day !! She left last night. The more I hear about it it genuinely seems like the woman who employed her just wanted her house to be deep cleaned and had no intention on keeping her long term. The house was filthy apparently and they were preparing for a party. My mother in law worked 6 days a week , 8 hours a day for two weeks, just for 500 ! She also said they employed a gardener as their garden was in a horrendous state , he worked 10 hour days over weekend, completely over hauled garden and then never returned ( he said to MIL He would see her next week ). Also sounds like women was an alcoholic . Also she wouldn't give my MIL the code to get in and outside the house, if she intended for her to be there long term, why not. Finally , apparently before she started she was asking whether she had somewhere to stay. My question is whether this happened amongst the circles you socialise with ? Presumably it is cheaper than getting a company to come and do blast ? The woman seemed to have no comprehension of the impact on MIL.

Sorry guys , posted in wrong placw