Hard-wearing tenants

[Harimad]

Hiya,

We are first-time landlords as well as first-time tenants (in these uncertain times we decided to rent our house out and then rent in a new area).

Our tenants seem to be pretty hard-wearing on our house. In the 8 months since renting it out we've had to replace a broken door , plus replacing hanging blinds that have 'come off the track', and re-hanging curtain rails in two bedrooms, and a kitchen drawer that has already been fixed needs fixing again..
This is on top of issues that obviously are our remit (replacing washing machine, fitting extractor fan, fixing kitchen drawer ffirst time round..)

As current tenants, we've not had any of these issues in the houses we've rented, but I'm not sure if we've been exceptionally lucky or that our tenants are very heavy handed.

They have 3 kids under 5...

I s'pose my question is... do we have to just suck it up and keep paying the costs to fix everything and thank our luck that we have tenants who pay on time, or can we put our foot down and say that this is getting excessive (do we even have the right to do this? What if things that have been fixed before have to be fixed again? Do we just have to keep on fixing ad infinitum?!)

Would be greatful for the wisdom of MNetters!

Thanks!
Hari

ok - I'm a tenant - with kids - that can be destructive. I have NO idea of the "rules" on it.

BUT my first thoughts are - when you have kids, especially several young ones - they break stuff. It happens, some kids are less destructive than others. But with 3 under 5 the chances of stuff being destructed are higher (I have 3 - 10,6 and 3).

Most of these sound like "children" destruction - and if my kids break stuff here I expect to get it fixed myself!!!

I would never DREAM of ringing my LL and asking him to fix stuff my kids had broken!

kids don't just "break stuff" like the op has described, unless they are left to run wild. The most i would expect is a little bit of pencil on the wall, broken doors, curtains ect are not acceptable no matter how many kids they have, and if they break it they should fix it.

oh nancy - believe me some children do break stuff like that.

I would never have believed it when DS1 was little, he never broke anything, or even drew on anything he shouldn't have done.

Then DS2 came along, and I changed my mind

DS3 is kind of in the middle - mildly destructive in play, but not as bad as DS2 was.

And I can assure you that my kids aren't allowed to run wild. (as my neighbours how often you hear me yelling at them to settle down )

Thanks guys - however, we're just assuming that it is the kids... and we can't prove anything. We have 2 kids under 4 and they haven't broken anything yet - and yes, if they did, I would expect to pay for it!

As a LL what are our 'rights' regarding having to fix everything?

We have a lettings agency managing the property for us, and they seem to just pass every query on with 'I'll get a contractor round to quote on fixing it', so we assume we have to pay... do we??

if its something that breaks during normal use - like a washing machine just going wrong then it is up to you to replace it, if they pull the curtains down or somehow break a door, they should fix it themselves. Just because you are the landlord does not mean they can trash your house and you have to fix it.

actually I'm a little and that they couldn't re-hang a curtain pole FFS - how hard do they think it is. 2 minute job (well 4 minutes for me as I'm a short and would have to get the step ladder out the shed first).

agree with mamottat - they sound like they are taking the p i'm afraid.

Curtains and blinds coming down sounds suspiciously like a child pulling on them/wrapping themselves up in them/generally arsing about [weary, weary voice of experience].

They should be fixing damage that they cause (as opposed to stuff that is no-fault such as leaky taps etc) themselves, but I'm not sure how you enforce/prove that.

According to the agents they have tried to fill the holes and re-hang the curtain poles, but 'the problem persists'...

We're 50 miles away now or I'd be tempted to go up and check for myself!!

Maybe ask next time "oh how did that happen?" and if it's due to over-exuberance tell them that you're sorry but of course they have to organise that sort of repair themselves?

As a L&T Lawyer I would suggest that your first port of call is your agreement. Also talk to your agent and see what they recommend.

Despite what is included in your agreement you have a statutory obligation for repair - however this is generally limited to structural work and fixtures.

If this happens again I would suggest you contact them and ask them how it has broken, explain that whilst you accept that there is always an element of fair wear and tear during a tenancy there appears to have been more than this in this instance.

I would assume that there is a clause in the agreement for them to return the property to you in the same condition at the commencement of the tenancy and I would suggest that you point this out to them.

Good luck - remember that most landlords would be deducting this from the deposit not incurring the costs of repair.

Thanks everyone for your input - sounds like we need a long conversation with our letting agents in the morning!

Hari.

We are tenans with little kids and they do damage...but we don't call the landlord for all of them...litte things we just mend ourselves...such as a tile came unstuck in the loo floor...probably bcause DD (2) keeps flooding the floor...we went to B&Q and got a new pack and replaced it.

If the curtain track came down we would mend it....the only things we cal for are things like a broken cooker...leaky pipe...which is the sum total of our calls in 3 years!

We had a curtain pole in our previous house which was a nightmare. There was metal lintel in the wall which you could n't fix through securely so the screws would work out and fall under the least pressure. Have it fixed properly once (maybe the agents' preferred person isn't that good?) and then tell them they have to do so if it recurs. Can't see how they could break a door without some degree of force though

normal wear&tear is included in the rent. but this sounds like more than that.
I would tell them to fix it themselves or to claim on their contents insurance.
btw. we are tennants with two young children and would not dream of bothering our landlord with stuff like that.

The curtain rail should have been fixed by them if it was properly secured originally as should the blinds. If they were already loose then I'm afraid it is your remit to fix it.

I'm wondering how the door was damaged. If you mean they put a hole in it then definately they should have paid for it and I'm not sure why your LA hasnt explained that to them.

Normal wear and tear I take as scuffs on paintwork, wear to carpets, etc - not things that are actully damaged.

I am a tenant with 3 dc's btw and the only thing I would have called you about from the things you have mentioned is the washing machine.

This is really for your LA to sort out. You should have a chat with them.

Well, we lived in the property for 7 years before renting it, and my DH put up the curtains / blinds - he may have not been a professional, but we had no problem in all that time..

From what's said, I think we may have to repair it this time and if it happens again, we'll be a bit more investigative.

Re: the door, apparently it came off the hinges, but we were told that (although we didn't realise this in the 7 years we were there ) the door had 'obviously' been repaired before, so was faulty.

Loooong conversation with the letting agents in the morning...

Disappointed about the door thing - I remembered it as being broken in half, but when I look back, it's just off the hinges . Still... at a loss as to what happened there...

How easy is it to rent out the property? That would influence how I would deal with it. I would fix only according to the agreement. Tell them if they want a curtain poll fixed to fix it themselves or else leave it and you will deduct it from the deposit when they leave, that way they would fix it themselves.

rent and rent I think is popular at the moment but not for long due to the hassle factor and cost.

I would think a family with 3 small children are not the ideal tenants especially if you want to sell the house in the not too distant future.