Who should pay? Tenant or landlord

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Windy here yesterday, not a storm but enough to be noisy and see the trees really moving around.

Tennant opened a fairly high up flat window while cooking.
Window blew open hard, hinges are bent and now it can’t be closed properly.
Window is about 2 metres, opens from the bottom, upvc and otherwise has no issues.

The tenant will have contents insurance, not building insurance. It's not a tenant's responsbility to insure property they don't own.

Everything that is wrong with the current rental system in this country in one sentence, throwing someone out of their home over a bent hinge

See my previous reply - as a student our insurance had to cover things like this and when the property was broken into we had to claim on our individual insurance for damage to doors etc as well as for our stolen property.

As a Landlord I'd want to pay for that so I could control who repaired it and therefore know that the building is secure.

Would the damage have been caused had the house been unoccupied? No. So it’s the tenant who caused the damage. And should at least pay towards the costs.

This isn't how it works.
As a landlord you have to cover basic wear and tear.

I would get irritated by a tenant who caused a steady stream of west and tear issues by being more careless or clumsy than I am.
But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be my responsibility though.

I am a landlord and tenants, in my experience, don't think or worry about damage to the property as they expect the landlord to pay. However, opening a window to let smoke out was a stupid thing to do whilst there's a storm but the tenant won't pay so I would just take it on the chin and sort and make them aware in writing, any future storms... don't open the effing windows so they get damaged 🤣 I have had nothing but issues with my rental properties so I'm perhaps a little bitter 🫣

Definitely landlord, no ambiguity.

Landlord, the damage wasn’t malicious by the tennant.

Landlord but if I were them I would be looking to get the tenants out given they seem to be causing damage on multiple occasions. And the tenants shouldn't be complaining about condensation when they are the ones causing it by constantly hanging lots of washing over radiators.

Technically landlord should pay but the tenant was a bit of an idiot!

It isn’t wear and tear.

No, they sound like people who don’t like throwing their money away because of somebody else’s stupidity and thoughtlessness.

Are tenants ever responsible for their actions?

Opening a window wide in bad weather sounds bizarre to me.

What storm? The storm that OP says didn't happen, in the first line of the OP?

Landlord pays, and files it under Shit Happens

I think if they’d paid for their own windows, they wouldn’t have opened them in a high wind. In the storm this weekend, I had to open my bedroom window at night to see if a tree had fallen. I opened it a crack, and then used my other hand to grip the edge and keep the opening gap small, so the wind wouldn’t catch it and blow it open and cause damage. ‘Cos I know what it would cost me. (And I’d say it would have to be a strong wind, noisy and seeing the trees moving, to damage the hinges like that.)

It sounds to me like the landlord is getting sick of them, to be quite honest.

The tenants should be insured against accidental damage really - we had insurance like that when we rented to cover things like this.

This isn't at all how tenancy contracts work!

They sound right pain in the arse tenants.

Landlord, but I’d be then putting limiters on the windows to stop them not being opened too far. I probably wouldn’t renew the tenancy or put the rent up when able for such a careless tenant.

Tenant. Totally irresponsible to open a window during a storm. Must have been opened wide to catch like that too. I only open the vents in bad weather.

My window smashed as a child during a storm. Because I had propped it open as far as it would go. My dad put a new one in and told me not to open the window so wide again!

Given the tenant's insurance would not cover the building, it is only for the Tenant's possessions and is not mandatory anyway, that would be impossible.

The landlord should claim on their insurance, which does cover the building and is mandatory!

The landlord can also take further step, like limiters on the windows to prevent a recurrence or a Section 21 notice.

Unless the landlord has installed a tumble drier, how else should the tenant dry washing in the UK in winter? Drying on a radiator would be quicker than elsewhere in a room?

Heated airers, clothes horse etc.