Tenant sent the builder home!

[Ilovemychocolate]

I am a landlord, and rent a house out to a young couple.
There is some urgent work that needs doing to it, so I arranged for a builder to attend the property yesterday and today to carry out the work, at my expense obviously.
At lunchtime the tenant sent the builder home, as her cat had escaped and she said the cat wouldn’t return if the builder was in the house, he was plastering so hardly creating a huge amount of noise.
Not withstanding that her original tenancy agreement stipulated no pets, (which I overlooked as she is very pet orientated) am I being unreasonable to ask her to pay for the builder when he has to return next week to finish the work?
She didn’t phone me first to check if it was ok to send him home, I called her when I found out she had, and she swore at me, saying she didn’t give a fuck about the building work, she was more concerned about finding her cat.
I am bloody livid right now, the work should be finished by now, and now I’ve got to stump up another £250 for an extra day!
And before anyone piles on, yes I have a cat, yes I get she was upset, and yes I know the rules about pets have changed since May 1st.

Hand the property over to a letting agent they will sort out your problem, I have nothing but praise about mine.

Bad pet owners are crazy. This lady has her own private zoo. It's not hard to temporarily keep a cat shut away in a room while maintenance work goes on - it's for the cat's safety as much as anything. Good pet owners know that and some, believe it or not, have cats! Also not sure she is a 'cat' person if she also has a rabbit and dogs as well. Heck she's probably got an iguana under the bed and a crocodile in the bath at this stage...

Many letting agents do not know the law either. You can report them to their regulator for breaches. There are no qualifications for being an estate agent.

Plastering was a small part of the job, the majority of it was damp proofing/the cellar

Just sell it you probably dont need the stress.
We are moving and our landlady will then sell this flat where have lived for 10 years...she says its not worth being a landlord

However, in this situation, which is what the thread is actually about, the tenant has caused me to have to pay an additional £250 due to HER actions in sending the builder home.
Surely you can’t think her actions reasonable?

D lives in the States so law is different but she has to pay $65 a month for her two house cats to cover any damage caused during her tenancy.
Photos of landlords furniture etc were taken in great detail before she moved in. She has a complete online photo album to compare with before she moves next year. She and her h had to have permission for the animals, it wasn't automatically assumed they could have them.

If you know all the rules, why are you suggesting you can charge the tenant for the builder's costs?

She doesnt respect you at all . Totally ignored you as regards more pets . Took it upon herself to send the worker away .Then she cursed at you . Does she have a rolling tenancy ? If not I would not renew her lease and would tell her why .

I mean the rabbit died and is now buried in the back garden…and she has said she never wants to move as she can’t bare to leave him there alone…I swear I’m not making this shit up!!!!

LL generally get a bad press, and the blame for everything.

In this case this tenant has broken her contract by moving in so many pets, two of which have ruined the wooden floors.

I bet she would be quick to complain if the LL broke their side of the contract, or didn't quickly carry out any repairs needed. But she has not facilitated these urgent repairs, and cost the LL even more money.

I wouldn't blame the LL for deciding that they've had enough, and selling.

All tenancies are now rolling by law

YANBU. I would be deliberately revoking any pet ownership in the property.

I'm not saying the tenant behaved well, but as a landlord you've allowed the tenant to ignore the no pets rule, not evicted for sentimental reasons, not supervised the building work, not ensured the builder knows he takes instruction from you and suggested you can make the tenant pay.

If you've been a LL for 30 years this is all water off a ducks back and the house has presumably provided plenty of funds.

You are obviously very invested in this thread, so I’ll indulge you.
Read the OP again.
It says ASK if the tenant will pay.
It doesn’t say force her to pay.
Hope this helps.

I would send her a text saying she was well out of order. You have been more than generous overlooking her pets. It was on her to secure her cat. She had plenty of notice. She was well out of line to swear at you. Because she sent the builder away, it will cost an extra 250 to complete the job and you expect she will pay that.

This whole thing sounds like more trouble than it's worth. Your tenant sounds awful and I can't see the situation improving

I'd give whatever notice you need to give now a days and put the property up for sale.

Good grief! She should have got him cremated in that case and she can take him wherever she wants then! (Actually there are companies that exhume buried pets and then cremate them believe it or not!) She seems to have the common sense of a goldfish. Sorry, sorry, I shouldn't have said goldfish... there's probably seven of them swimming around in the toilet cistern as we speak...

Please, go and bother someone else.

Oh right.
Well you can try but given she has sworn at you I doubt she'll say yes so it would seem a waste of your energy.

You just don't seem very business like about all this.

Anyway good luck with it all.

I must admit I thought that building costs couldn't be taken from the tenant but recouped through a rent increase or if there was specifications allowing charging in in the lease.🤔
Happy to be corrected.

Oh god, mental note to check the bog on the next inspection 😁😁😁

Bless you x
You carry on with your rentals and I’ll carry on with mine.
I am sure your tenants really really appreciate you, you come across as such a kind, compassionate person!

That scenario has no relevance to this situation. At all.

Nothing op has done is wrong...other than show kindness and allow tenant to flount the rules and not immediately pull them up on it. But thats lesson learned... don't show kindness as people take the piss

I'm sure if op had gone and supervised the work all day, tenant would complain it was intrusive

And you think builder should have remained when tenant was demanding they leave the property? Because thats not a fair position to put builder in