Constant repair issues with house, wanting to give up?

[Chips098]

I rent out a 1 bed house i previously lived in with my partner. We moved because it was too far from his workplace and it was a bit too small for us both, I owned the house for a year before I met him.

It's a 1960s house, I think the whole time living there I had 1 repair issue, maybe I got lucky? We've had a tenant in for 2 months and so far there have been 6 different issues. Prior to renting it out it was inspected by an agency, all safety checks completed and no issues flagged.

Not sure why but everything seems to be going wrong, there's a different emergency every week. We had a few quiet weeks and I thought things would improve now suddenly another £500 bill which is something the tenant has likely caused but we can't yet prove that.

I've also had a few issues with the agency, I'm fully managed with them and initially they were sending their own contractors without consulting so I couldn't claim insurance. Then they were refusing to be transparent about invoices and mark up fees so I've gone self managed now.

My partner is a lot more level headed about it and says it's normal, it's fine, it's just money. I don't understand how I lived there for a while and now suddenly fuses blowing every time, boiler issues despite recent maintenance, things like mould which never happened.

It's the risk I took but I'm unsure whether I'm cut out for this long term. I accept there has to be some sort of cost but I wasn't anticipating repairs every week or two. I'm just unsure whether im cut out for being a landlord, we don't make any profit on the house by the way. He thinks I'm being over the top and that it's only money, but I'd like some sort of stability and control, and not constant agency issues.

Am I in the wrong to consider selling? My mortgage interest is high and I've hardly made a dent in the capital as it is. It's just a high mental load and maybe I'm not resilient.

I just want to regain some stability, I don't think being a landlord is for everyone and that's ok, especially as we make 0 profit so repairs put us in the red every month.

I'd be selling.

My partner is happy to use his entire savings to cover whatever repairs come up. That's very generous of him but I don't want to put him in that position, that's his money he's worked for.

It is hard, being a landlord. At the moment, it’s extra work and you aren’t even seeing a long term benefit from it, as your mortgage isn’t really being paid off yet. So it’s costing you to keep it for someone else to live in, basically. It isn’t even going to help you having your own property should you need it, as someone else is living in it.

Would it be cheaper to keep it empty? Maybe do AirB&B in it?

Be aware it may be hard to remove the tenant. Look into that.

Sell up as quickly as you can.

Things are about to get much worse in May with landlords’ rights being hugely diminished.

This is why many landlords are giving up, couldn't the tenant fix a fuse themselves? They are usually just switches these days and It probably means they plugged something in that was faulty. It sounds like a tenant problem to me but you can't get them out easily so selling seems like the solution it is too much hassle these days.

My heart bleeds...

Yeah, landlords won't be able to kick people out of their homes for no reason.

Well this is part of being a landlord unfortunately. Mould could be caused by them drying clothes indoors and not opening windows though…. Fuses why can’t the tenant change the fuse? Our LL oven has blown once and we just changed the fuse ourselves.
whats happening to the boiler? Is it pressure?

I imagine with them only moving in two months ago this will be difficult unless they have a break clause?

Or even for good reason.

What was your motivation for becoming a landlord? How much equity do you have tied up in it?

Thanks for all replies
The tenants are in an AST until end of November sadly

I understand that some repairs are to be expected as a landlord but every 1 to 2 weeks is getting beyond a joke now. In all the rental properties I've lived in over the years I've probably had an issue or two in the whole tenancy.

Unsure if it's just bad luck, tenant misuse or both, but for instance the agency are passing on messages of emergencies like 'suspected burst pipe in the living room, so we need to send someone urgently' it turns out it's a leaky radiator valve that the agency 'contractor' fixed only a month prior and has a warranty on, so I refuse to pay and they're still trying to charge.

I didn't really have a motivation to be a landlord, it's just meant to be a stop gap, LTV is around 75%.

The issue is it's causing friction in our relationship as we handle it differently, my partner is whatever happens we'll be fine, we'll pay whatever it takes and it's just money. My approach is it's an unnecessary stress we can remove ourselves from and regain control and stability so why do it?

The tenant is sending messages saying they feel unsafe, want someone to come over immediately etc.
I do feel a bit embarrassed because I lived in this property for a while with zero issues and the house was rented out as fully compliant.

Forgot to mention my mortgage doesn't allow me to do holiday lets or anything, basically AST to working people or nothing.

We had a one bed flat rented out. All was fine for the first month, then the tenants started getting in touch about mould, damp, (both caused by them drying clothes on the radiators, although they denied this we found a pair of pants behind a radiator after they moved out) issues with the boiler etc. In the end I said that they were obviously unhappy & offered to release them from the tenancy. It turned out that, shortly after they moved in, they discovered that she was pregnant & they realised that they would need a bigger flat to accommodate the new baby & they were rather relieved to be released from the tenancy.

No trouble like that with the next tenants who stayed for 3 years.

I wonder if your tenants are creating problems for a similar reason & they want to move out?

I just begrudge paying for it all. My partner is saying this is 'part of being a landlord' and maybe it is, but I don't have to be a part of that surely? It's been a stressful couple of months and maybe it'll get better but I cannot predict anything.
I know life throws curveballs at us and unexpected costs but to some extent you can mitigate them.
Me wanting to sell doesn't make me weak or lacking resilience surely? I've barely made a dent in the capital and I don't know if we'll ever live in it again so what's the point, in any case if I want to buy with my partner I'll have to sell it as I couldn't afford the stamp duty to own a second home.

Would you be up for managing yourself, OP?
Trouble with fully managed is exactly what you've experienced and you get all sorts of bills with no transparency. Agents also nearly always have poor quality work done by low qualified people too. It can seem the best option especially if you are not local but the best thing I ever did was go self managed. They also tend to panic or try to make you panic every time something goes wrong, rather than take a sensible approach (as per your leaking valve experience).

For the mould, I'd buy the tenants an Ebac 4000 series dehumidifier. If you think necessary, knock some money off the rent to pay for increased electricity bills and tell them to run it on smart setting 24/7. The difference it will make is amazing and saves you a whole load of hassle as well as takes care of your property. If you need to get the mould remedied, I found Action Dry good.

They told me that it's not a common thing for agencies to show landlords contractor invoices, which I don't believe. So basically they can throw whatever price they want at me and I have to trust their word?
I also don't know who they're sending to complete the works, it could be some 16 year old for all I know.

Because I haven't done it before I don't know what's 'normal' or not for a landlord, but at the minute im living in a constant state of hypervigilance because my nervous system is expecting another repair next week, the week after and so on.

My partner is likely tired of saying that all will be ok. I wish I could think like him but I need a level of certainty and control.

I keep teetering between arranging a valuation and telling myself I just need to hang on.

I don't understand this. You say you are managed by the agency and that you've gone self managed? Also, late on you mention wanting to buy with your partner, so are you saying you are renting out your own house and now living in a rented place with your partner or does your partner own it?

One factor you haven't mentioned in reference to the costs, the mortgage, capital, equity repairs etc is whether the value of the house has gone up since you bought it. Your partner's casual attitude to shelling out money left right and centre for repairs may be explained by perhaps his thinking that the house is an asset increasing in value over time. Otherwise it's bonkers.

And bonkers too might be renting out a house that's costing a fortune in petty repairs, plus what sounds like being ripped off by a dodgy agent - are they a member of ARLA by any chance? For a start you might report the agent's antics to the local authority housing department's private rental section - they are the people responsible for landlord and tenant law and practice and enforcing standards. They do need to know about poor practice. Also report the agent to Trading Standards who can take action against rogues. You never know, this agent might already be known locally by reputation for dubious practice or have been reported by others.

As for the tenant, they might just be clueless more than anything else. It might help to give them a few simple demonstrations or written notes of how to do some ordinary things such as how to turn off the water supply in case of emergency (leaks), how to turn on and off the electric supply or restore it after a power cut, how to change a fuse on a plug, how to use the basic boiler controls and how to check and adjust the pressure if it falls too low or goes too high, how and when to bleed a radiator safely to relieve high pressure; how to ventilate rooms such as kitchens and bathrooms and to dry clothes with window open or extractor on. Perhaps even worth buying a dehumidifier. You could take the opportunity to do this every time there is a problem reported. All to build confidence in the tenant that they feel more secure and able to cope with everyday things without panicking.

Hang on for what? If you want the flat as back-up in case your relationship doesn't work out l, I get that.

Otherwise I would hate to be a landlord. Prefer to stick my money in shares and forget about it.

Self managed wasn't the right wording, I am still under the agency but they are now rent collection only and they report repairs to me but I am able to choose my own contractor, rather than them sending me any random quote without an invoice to back it up.

Online calculators suggest the property has increased by at least £10,000 but i am yet to have a valuation

We now both rent a larger house together. I've never met the tenant, I am ordering a dehumidifier and just got to hope they'll use it correctly

So you think it’s OK that someone is in the red each month due to constant ‘issues’ that are probably down to the tenant.