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!

You literally have no idea of the costs that landlords have, no idea. Most of them break even/some go many months without income (once expenses are paid).
And I'm not asking for violins for them, because their choice to invest and they will likely get capital appreciation.

But the notion that your usual one or 2 property landlord is rolling in on the tenant's back is just not correct.

And I'm not going to argue the point with you because I have the data of 500 properties at my finger tips.

You may well believe that you are not slum landlords but I don't believe there is such thing as responsible student accommodation landlord. I was a mature student when I shared a house with 5 18 year-olds and while yes, on the whole, they are clueless, the agency was awful. And so was the property. I had a room on the top floor and a massive stain appeared as soon as it started raining in October. The reaction from the agency? They gave me tin of "landlord white" paint.
We had laminate peeling off the floor in the kitchen and cupboard doors hanging off. In 8 months, the agency didn't answer a single email or phone call about this.
Leaking tap in the kitchen was fixed precisely 28 days after I reported it. They would have waited longer if they legally could. Nobody compensated is for water waste in the meantime.
As lovely as your offer of electric heaters is, it won't fix lack of hot water for washing dishes nor will you compensate for electricity use.
It gets better. In my last rented property, the landlord had a chat with the estate agent and they told him he could get 65% more rent of rented to students. So off we go on section 21 notice. We spent months trying to get him to deal with rat infestation in the garden and inside the house. Why bother when you can jack up the rent by 65% and get some clueless kids living there instead. I bet he also thought he wasn't a slum landlord... People rarely go on forums to admit that they are.

You can if you live in a normal modern house. My DD's last uni rental the ceilings were so high. No way could she reach them standing on just a chair.

Modern parenting. I don't think I was even 10 when Dad taught me how to change a light bulb/fuse/wire a plug onto something, and as he was a plumber he taught me how to unblock a shower drain/u bend under the sink. He had a real thing about hapless women! He also taught me how to change a tyre when I learned to drive and basic car mechanics.

Mind you, it's bitten me on the arse as DH is far too happy to let me crack on with all these jobs

Still interested as to the answer to this as well.

So you dont provide an out of hours service? The damp /condensation - have you heard of Awabs law?

I wonder if you or your spouse own these properties, you seem way too invested to be just paid staff. I’m glad to see landlords being held to account. No more easy money renting out low quality accommodation resulting in exploitation of vulnerable people with limited options. Haha

Oh now I see.

This is a 'it's so tough being a landlord' thread.

They can sell up if they don't enjoy charging very high rents.

When I was small, my dad's bank used to return his cheques to him when he had used up a whole book. He used to give them to me to play with. So I knew all the people he wrote cheques to, and what they were for - rates, water rates, electricity, insurance, fuel ....

The standard of our properties is really high, I have kids and would let them live in any of our flats and I turn away flats if they aren't up to standard or I feel the LL is going to be tricky.
In our Uni town, you actually can't get away with shady acccomdation anyway, otherwise you wouldn't be able to get the flats away.

But a blown light bulb, mice, condensation (due to tenants not ventilating), beeping smoke alarm - those things can happen in multi million Kensington townhouses - they are not in any way indicative of the standard of property.

Fair enough. I have a 250 year old house but I can reach the ceilings. My daughter's house has high ceilings but they use a stool, but I can see how a step ladder would make it easier.

Yes, not in place yet actually and that is for mould and not condensation which are very different things.

If a tenant reports mould, a specialist is out within 3 working days (and 9/10 times the cause is that the tenant isn't ventilating).

I think I do having worked in housing for decades.

We do own properrties yes, but the vast majority of the 500 that we let out are owned by other landlords.

I'm invested because I actually care.

And if a tenant was to have a pupe burst, which needs attendence within 24 hours under the renters right act, if your out of hours phones are turned off, who attends? What do they do?

Well if you’ve got 500 properties on the books then you are going to get a few calls!

My thoughts as a landlord:

Reporting non working boiler - expected. Bar checking the gas is in credit I wouldn’t want students trying to fix it - gas is not to be messed with

Smoke alarms - landlord’s responsibility to install and maintain. Best to be mains wired to avoid beeping and batteries running out

Mice - agree need pest control. Call does not need to be 2am though!

Condensation - just ask them if they have done everything on the checklist on the back of the door

Locked out - 100% I would go round with a spare key. Yes it’s a silly mistake but no, I wouldn’t expect them
to stay in a hotel!
Letting agents should have someone on call 24/7. It’s part of being a landlord - shit doesn’t happen only 9-5 Monday to Friday

Actually - it's a 'reasonable amount of time" for private landlords.

24 hours for social landlords.

You don't care much about either the tenants or the landlords if you'd leave a burst pipe for more than 24 hours.

Smoke alarms - Best to be mains wires? They legally HAVE to be - but they also have a battery back up in case of power failure - and it's those batteries that beep.

So they'd rather their property get damaged further than an OOH call being made about it?

Most agents I met as a student were shit. Frequently delaying anything as they had not heard from the Landlord.

I'd call my dad and try and sort it - I very rarely contacted the agency or landlord

Kind of lost your own argument there.

It's always been like this, some kids just get on with it (I didn't have any parents to call and sort out my stuff) and others like my friend at uni had parents that did everything for them.

My own child at uni sorts out their own stuff. They do sometimes message for advice but ultimately sort it out. And that at times involves contacting the letting agents when their washing machine has broken down for the fourth time that term (they eventually got the landlord to replace) and when the alarm had a dodgy sensor and kept doing off at all hours. You have 500 properties, youre going to get calls.

Does she know how to change a lightbulb in a table lamp?

We do..... a list on the kitchen door on who to call in an emergency - gas company number in case of a leak
Plumber in case of a burst pipe
Non emergency response (police AND council) for anti social behaviour
999 for emergency response (we have a lot of non UK nationals who might not know that number)

Etc etc

Again - My Dad was my Google. I'd try and fix myself (and carry out minor repairs), then Dad and then agency.

These days, they have Google /AI- and don't use it.