AIBU to want payment for fitted items left in my rental?

[Maurit]

I just left a rental and left behind three items I had fitted: an extra loo, fitted wardrobes and 4 curtain rails. I asked the landlord to message the new tenants that I was happy to leave these provided they pay a small fee for each - much less than they cost to me. They don’t want to do that and the landlord is suggesting I just leave the items as less hassle than taking them out. AIBU in thinking that the new tenants are just joy riding on this, knowing that they’ll get access to the items for no fee? .

Why on earth should the new tenants pay?

You chose to install these items and if you can't take them with you it is not the tenants' problem.

Have some common sense.

In fact the landlord could ask you to remove that stuff and put the property as it was when you signed up to rent it. So consider yourself lucky that they have not said they would take the money out of your deposit to restore the property to its initial condition.

Did your landlord agree to your installing these items? Did you make any arrangement with him/her about what would happen when you left? It looks as if you installed them at your own risk and now will have to leave them in situ or remove them and make good any damage.

Don't add fixtures and fittings to a rental unless you are happy to walk away. There is no obligation for either the landlord or new tenant to 'buy' them from you.

Either leave them and forget about what they cost, or take them with you and make good any damage caused by doing so. Lesson learnt 🤷‍♀️

Also as others have said, if these are improvements to the property and the landlord agreed to you doing them surely the landlord should be paying? At best the new tenants have a right to use them for a limited time.

I think you have to leave them as you’d need to “make good” yhe damage removing them would cause which would bb probsbly cost more thsn they are worth.

Im struggling with the extra loo though it was quite expensive when I put in a second loo. Removing it would be a faff as I extended waste pipe.

I know someone who installed a very tiny powder room in the front hallway closet when one of their relatives could no longer manage the stairs to the bathrooms. I imaginethis is a similar scenario.

You are such a CF Op. You made changes to the landlords house and want to CHARGE for that rather than removing them and putting it back to how it was, as you are supposed to do in any tenancy. Put things back to how they were or be greatful if the landlord doesn’t take the money from your deposit to do so instead.

If the landlord gave permission for OP to do these things at her expense then why would he need to pay? Her choice and her cost. Curtain rails aren’t even an improvement, they are bog standard thing that many renters bring with them anyway

This is ragebait, tight?

The tenants are under absolutely no obligation to buy your stuff. You should have taken it out when you left and put the place back to how it was when you moved in.
You cant choose not to take stuff and expect the next tenants to fork out

At most, you should have asked the landlord if they wanted to buy it.

I expect you'll find that anything you leave behind when you move out is legally abandoned and you arent owed squat.

Either take them with you and put right all the holes etc left behind, or leave them there. You're being absolutely ridiculous.

If anything, the landlord should be charging YOU for their removal.

I think the landlord is being incredibly polite in not simply telling you that you need to arrange for the property to be put back into its original condition prior to your unagreed installation of these items lest you forgo your deposit.

If you haven't understood that that is the subtext...well... that's the subtext.

I’m a landlord and your request is beyond bizarre. If you didn’t want to leave the items, you should have taken them with you and made good. The landlord isn’t likely to pay you for them either. They may have coughed up had you said you were taking everything with you, as this would have been problematic for the next tenant - presuming the property was let before you left.

This. Why should the new tenants pay for things you installed.

You should have removed it!

I fitted some made to measure blinds and curtains in the downstairs of a rental house once for £1k (with landlord’s permission). Her “curtains” were see through voile nets and it was a cold house!!

When we moved out 12 months later (when our building works were done), I asked both the landlord and new tenants if they wanted to buy them for something small like £200. They both said no, but that I was welcome to leave them up 😂 So I got a handyman to remove them and the decorator to patch it up.

When I collected post from the house a couple of weeks later, the tenants asked if I still had the blinds. Nope, I’d already taken them to the dump! The landlord was a pain in the arse and had penny pinched the whole time, no way was I leaving anything for free!

.

I left a dishwasher and a fridge freezer in my last rental. It was easier than selling and my landlord was nice. I never considered asking the new tenants to pay for them!

You are being ridiculous. Not that sensible to pay for fitted things when renting. Did the landlord even agree to an extra toilet etc.

lol @Butchyrestingface we need the emoji back

Eh? This must be a reverse. I’ve rented most of my adult life and I’ve generally made places nicer for my own benefit but in full knowledge that no one is likely to pay me for it when I leave. Why would either new tenant or landlord pay you for these things?

If you have them side by side you can have a chat with someone while you go.

if im renting a property, why would I want to pay for fixtures that when I leave im not going to take with me? I didn't choose these items and probably don't want them

That seems unnecessarily wasteful. I had same scenario and I just left for free. I hate the thought of perfectly good things being dumped.

You are being very unreasonable. Most places that are rented say the layout has to be left in the same position it was found in unless by prior agreement by the landlord and then its at your own expense.

If you decided to do work in a rented place, you do so in the full knowledge its at your loss when you leave and just be grateful you haven't been made to go to the expense of having to remove it and making good the damage,

Its nothing to do with the landlord unless he wants to charge you for the inconvenience.

You’re lucky the landlord isn’t charging you or deducting money from your security deposit for the cost of removing said items!
why on earth would you install another toilet in a rental property?
Why would you put fitted wardrobes in and then expect a future tenant to pay something for them? Remove your items or just leave them behind!!!