Worried about our young people's utter lack of initiative

[ThisDandyWriter]

I work for an English letting agent and every year I'm utterly shocked at our young people (ie students) utter lack of initiative/entitlement and lack of self resilience. A few examples of the sort of things that we encounter
My smoke alarm is bleeping, why is that?
The light in our bedroom has gone out, can you send someone out to change the bulb
What does a fuse board look like?
My washing machine is smelly, I think it needs replaced
This house has got a massive damp problem as water (ie condensation) is running down the windows in the mornings

We had to stop offering an 'emergency' line (which is not compulsory) because our staff were getting calls at 2am about seeing mice, light bulbs blowing, smoke alarms beeping, boiler not working (in Aug and has an electric shower).

Today a tenant has emailed to say that she's locked herself out and we need to open the office to get her a spare key.

When I was at Uni, Google wasn't a thing, so if there was an issue, I'd call my dad and try and sort it - I very rarely contacted the agency or landlord.

Today, we have all the information at a drop of a hat, but they can't be arsed to Google or try and sort something themselves and the first stop is to email (or get their mum or dad to email - don't get me started on that). The lack of initiative is genuinely worrying.

So please, if you have kids at uni - spend a bit of time with them explaining the basics!!!!

And encourage them to actually read the information they are sent - the amount of questions we are asked which is covered by information sent out (about important things like handing in your keys, how to claim back your deposit) is ridiculous!

But it’s not an emergency that you need to use the emergency hotline for is it?
You report it during office hours and the landlord fixes it ASAP, Same as being a homeowner. No one ( unless money is no object) calls an out of hours emergency boiler repair if they can help it.

Condensation running down windows will cause mould, that needs sorting by the landlord ie new sealant or new windows. We had awful condensation in our old rental and the mould went all over the blinds, when I reported it the lady at the letting agent told me to roll the blinds up and not use them anymore, in her words "that should sort it." Had another student rental with a broken dishwasher just sat in the kitchen for the whole tenancy, when the landlord originally showed up round he said we could either live with it sitting there or pay for it to be repaired ourselves!!

If there are mice in the property Landlord needs to get rentokil in.

In my experience a lot of landlords and letting agents will blame tenants (and yes particularly students!) till the end of time before admitting there's an issue that they need to sort.

We rented somewhere that had damp and condensation - landlord blamed us. It wasn't us, it was awhile on the roof that he wouldn't acknowledge.
We also have just had issues with our boiler. It took them 6 weeks to replace and still the whole job has not been fixed.
Why should people pay a premium amount and not have what they pay for?
Granted, they should do bulbs and know where things are but it's not always the tenants.

Condensation is not caused by damp, it's the cause of it - and condensation is caused by lack of ventilation, drying clothes inside etc etc.

And never opening windows or putting on the heating.

I get both mice and condensation in my mice - and know how to deal with it.

we give all the info in the world to our tenants about dealing with condensation.

We are so far from slum landlords.

I reported mould on my previous flat and was told it was my fault for not opening the windows. The windows I couldn't open because some idiot painted them shut the last time I complained about the windows. I was informed by a tenant who lived upstairs that (there's 2 flats above mine) "if you heard all that noise, he's moved out because of the mould in his flat"

The mould got so bad that 3 years after I reported it, they told us to move because it was so bad

Condensation would not be caused by a leak in the roof - mould might be.

And of course not having a boiler for 6 weeks is not ok, but that is not what this thread is about.

Boilers do break and they can take time to fix (days, not weeks) - and we supply heaters as necessary and make sure all our flats have electric showers.

Hopefully if any of the people referred to by the OP hold political office, they will support the long overdue regulation of estate and letting agents.

Even a simple process similar to pubs. Named individuals responsible and background checks.

When my dc were in student flats they had all sorts of issues including electricity being cut off due to previous tenant unpaid bills, leaks through the middle of the ceiling and the fire exit collapsing two stories down into the garden.

But not remotely surprised…

Condensation running down the windows will cause mould - and that is why the occupants need to stop that - and that includes me in my own house?
.
wiping it up when you see it, opening windows daily and especially when cooking, showering, drying clothes, using a dehumidifier.

Its not a matter for an emergency line though. Thats for immediate issues eg - theres been a break in and the property isnt secure, there's faulty electrics/gas appliances, a plumbing leak.

A mouse isnt an emergency, its pop a trap down & call the landlord/agency first thing monday morning.

Of course they should tell their landlord, where did I say they shouldn't?

But it's not an emergency and doesn't need to be reported at 2am in the morning. If your boiler broke at 2am (and you have an electric shower and it's August), would you call out an emergency gas engineer?

Can you point me to where I said that a tenant should't report a boiler not working?

What I said (if you bothered to read my post ), is that it isn't a reason to call THE EMERGENCY LINE - with an electric shower and in August).

If their electric was cut off due an a previous tenant's unpaid bills, this means that they hadn't set up a new account under their own name and with the readings from when they moved in.

If they had done that, then they should report to the Ombudsman.

Regardless, not the LL's fault - they don't supply electric.

This. You do not call an out of hours boilerman in order to wash up. You add a kettleful to the bowl & ring first thing in the morning. Its not an emergency!

Yes its inconvenient but its not a huge hardship.

Any parent of a young adult that can't change a lightbulb should be ashamed of themselves.

Condensation is usually the fault of tenants not letting air circulate and drying washing over the heating.
Mice are everywhere.

Tbf this isnt always true. Utility companies can be real cowboys on this and can be quite aggressive even when firmly in the wrong. They spent months trying to nag DH and I to pay the previous persons bill despite us having our own account & meter readings.

We would call out pest control immediately (during office hours) and then follow the advise given and block up holes etc.

So I do want tenants to report pest issues (just not at 3am on a Sunday morning!

But it's not the landlord's fault, is it?

When i was at uni my housemate rang me one day to ask me how she could tell if the potatoes she wanted to cook were boiling yet.
Kids who are leaving home for the first time have always been a bit useless, they’re still learning. and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask your letting agent to give you the spare key to your house anyway.

Reading some of the replies it seems mummy and daddy are raising some pretty helpless adults if they can't boil a kettle until Monday to wash up.
This must be the most unresilient generation ever born.

Smoke alarm beeping - it’s the responsibility of the landlord to ensure it’s in good working order

Lightbulbs, meh. It should all be long lasting LED by now

I had no idea what a fuse board looked like till I moved out

It should be clean when they move in.

The house should be adequately ventilated such that condensation doesn’t form on the windows, or if it isn’t, there should be dehumidifiers available

Mice in the house is disgusting

YABU to enable these slum lords

So you think that I should ask one of my staff to interrupt their Sunday and go to the office to get a spare key for a tenant who locked themselves out?

During work hours - absolutely.

It's very impressive that you took the initiative to phone your dad when you were a young adult. 😇