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Original poster

Bit annoyed - what shall I say to tenants?

56 replies

loopydoo · 17/12/2011 22:58

Hi - our tenants (who are very lovely) text me to tell me about a heating prob with house. We manage the house ourselves and have a plumber who will do the work for us.

The text was early last week so I called plumber and gave tenants numbers so could arrange appointment.

So - tenants then said they had not heard so I gave them the number for plumber to arrange.

Tonight - tenant text saying they have arranged for him to come tomorrow!!! now, we'll have to pay a sunday call-out charge so I'm annoyed that they didn't arrange when they first said about it.

DH says they're nice people so don't worry but I want them to know they can't just book an emergency plumber on a whim - how do I tell them - a nicely worded letter?

OP posts:
TheSecondComing · 18/12/2011 00:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sickoffiremansam · 18/12/2011 09:18

I would not like to rent off you, sorry. If you are going to be a landlord you need to expect that people will want their heating to work when they are paying you for a service.

LIZS · 18/12/2011 09:25

If pilot light has gone out then they have no heating. If you wanted to be in control of the timing of he preair then you should have requested their availability and made the appointment yourself. Difficult to try to dictate it now.

If you are not local maybe consider employing an agent to manage day to day issues or do you have a friend/relative who would be willing to coordinate such appointments if needs be(for expenses).

Original poster
loopydoo · 18/12/2011 11:53

They didn't tell me the pilot light had gone out until yesterday.

I realise now that in the future I should arrange the apps - but thank you for your replies.

OP posts:
mylovelymonster · 18/12/2011 12:00

dear loopy - understand that you are ticked off by having to pay too much for the plumber's services when it needn't have been necessary. However, seems that better communication on all sides would have facilitated more efficient/less expensive solution.
Good to have MN to let off steam (thank God for that! what would we do without it), rather than spoil what sounds like an otherwise harmonious tenant/LL relationship.

Original poster
loopydoo · 18/12/2011 12:03

I wasn't cross with the tenants at all; I think we were rather naive to think it would be easier to havr the plumber call them but obviously that was a silly mistake and I shall arrange it all in the future.[ smile]

OP posts:
tiredfeet · 18/12/2011 12:05

If you don't want to do the management yourself you need to employing managing agents really

tiredfeet · 18/12/2011 12:05

If you don't want to do the management yourself you need to employing managing agents really

Firawla · 18/12/2011 12:58

i agree if you are not local you should get a managing agent, otherwise you have to be happy for the tenants to organise workmen etc themselves according to their own convenience. you trying to sort plumbers etc from at a distance is just going to cause delays in getting stuff fixed which is not fair on the tenants. and definitely dont send the note!!!!

Original poster
loopydoo · 18/12/2011 14:06

Not going to send the note!

OP posts:
civilfawlty · 18/12/2011 14:10

FYI- it is YOUR responsibility to wait in for the plumber, not your Tenants'.

Original poster
loopydoo · 18/12/2011 14:27

That's wrong. what I lived in Australia? No management company waits in either - it's always arranged at a time when the tenants will be there.

OP posts:
nappymaestro · 18/12/2011 15:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
loopydoo · 18/12/2011 15:21

Think you'll find that if you have a cooker upon which to heat water and electric heaters, then the LL is NOT obliged to pay back rent.

OP posts:
QED · 18/12/2011 15:23

I hope the plumber has been round to your tenants and they have heating now :)

The letting agents who I rent this house through have a key which can be given to tradesmen, so no-one needs to wait in.

nappymaestro · 18/12/2011 16:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LIZS · 18/12/2011 16:08

Agree it is common for an agent to either send someone to open up for a repairman or get them to collect and return a key rather than make a tenant take time off.

ToxicMoxie · 18/12/2011 16:15

Lopydoo, we also have tenants who are not great at letting us know when there is a problem. We arrange the workmen, and if possible we are there too. I have been to the house without the tenants there to get things fixed in emergent situations (like toilet backing up horribly!) We are local, but you may want to find a plumber that the tenants feel comfortable with and arrange times/dates for them both and let tenants know he's coming.

being a LL is a lot of work, but good tenants are absolutely worth keeping!

theyoungvisiter · 18/12/2011 16:22

"That's wrong. what I lived in Australia? No management company waits in either"

A management company doesn't wait in but they ask the repair person to come to their office and collect a key or they accompany them to the property.

I'm sorry but this is your property - it's your responsibility to ensure your tenants have basic amenities (and at this time of year, heat and hot water IS a basic amenity - you cannot seriously expect them to heat up bath water on a cooker?!) and you devolved this responsibility to the tenants to arrange. You can't really blame them for arranging it at their convenience.

Ok - you live 80 miles away but that's not your tenants problem.

Don't send the note. Just suck it up this time and arrange things yourself in future without expecting your tenants to take a day off.

cherrysodalover · 18/12/2011 16:42

Let it go....they will not have known.as tenants we are really put off when our landlord sends marky messages about stuff we feel is their responsibility.....it makes us look for other houses....trouble is we love our home so much we put up with a lot from them.
We think we have rats in the attic and to be honest feel like not telling them as they will try and get us to pay for it, even though their property may get damaged by them.
This is because we find they can be un.reasonble.
As landlords with a tenant who did not pay rent for three months, wrecked our flat we are irked by the fact we are great tenants but have a tight landlord.
Good tenants are worth hanging onto.

theyoungvisiter · 18/12/2011 16:49

Also I think you are wrong to assume they only rang the plumber yesterday (unless they specifically said they did).

At this time of year plumbers will be up to their eyeballs in burst pipes and broken boilers. You already know the plumber didn't return the first call you made, perhaps your tenants have been calling all week and only just got through.

They can't try another plumber like a house owner would - they're tied to the one you chose. Perhaps the plumber told them "I'm booked until Christmas unless it's this Sunday" - I think sending a note assuming it's their fault is a bit ungenerous.

We just had our roof repaired and had to have it done on a Sunday because it was the only day the roofer could fit us in. Luckily we didn't get charged extra - but it wasn't our choice, we just wanted a dry bedroom!

mousysantamouse · 18/12/2011 16:59

this is exactly the reason why we rent via an agency.
if you don't want to look after the property properly you either need an agent (there are good ones out there) or sell.

Ponders · 18/12/2011 17:00

Can you get British Gas service plans for rented houses?

We have one & discovered this morning that the boiler was leaking (we knew we had a leak but not where it was coming from). Service bloke was here within 30 mins, diagnosed worn-out washer & replaced it - all included in the annual charge, no extra for a Sunday call-out.

We have had equally good & prompt service from them many times in the past too.

If you can get a plan like that for the tenanted house it would be well worth it - put a sticker on the boiler with the service phone number & they can sort it out any time to suit themselves.

Original poster
loopydoo · 18/12/2011 17:15

Thanks Ponders - I will look into it. However, our plumber is a local guy who is very diligent and a great plumber and makes it his business not to rip people off. He is well known in the town and he has done a lot of great work for us in the past. As we will moving back there we really want him to carry on and he has said that we don't need a management company to manage the house as he has lots of business links so he can always find a person for electrics/odd jobs/tilers etc so really, he is being as helpful as possible.

To everyone who has commented after my posts further up, it's all now sorted. We realised that devolving responsibility to the tenants to arrange apps was wrong, I'm sending the note and I'm happy to arrange it all in future.

It wasn't that I was being lazy and didn't want to arrange the plumber; it's that I thought I was being helpful letting them arrange a convenient week day for themselves. However, if I was the tenant and couldn't get through to the plumber, I would have called the LL straight away and told them.

OP posts:
londonlottie · 18/12/2011 18:04

Am a bit surprised at all the people who say it's the LL's responsibility to wait in for appointments - er, afraid I disagree there. We have extremely good relationships with the tenants in our properties and although I bend over backwards to fix things when they go wrong, I don't think it's my responsibility to wait in for plumbers/etc. I know when you live in rented accommodation you expect broken boilers/washing machines/etc to be fixed (and fast), but I'm afraid I think it's part of living anywhere that sometimes you will be inconvenienced and have to wait in for people to come and maintain your property. I don't mind paying for the maintenance, but unless there is a good reason why the tenant can't arrange a convenient time, I wouldn't get involved. And it can't be that unreasonable, because as I say we have always had excellent relationships with our tenants and get good feedback from them!

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