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Are these reasonable requests to my LL?

10 replies

WordsAreNoUseAtAll · 25/03/2012 21:05

We have nearly been here a year and we love it. Landlords leave us alone - the last time we heard from them was six montgs ago when they took over from the letting agency in managing the house, when they rang to sort things out, mentioned that they had been past and loved what we had done with the garden and made sure we were ok. We don't bother them - our rent is always on time, we do repairs ourselves and have never asked them for anything. They are a young couple with a son of about 3, we have 2 daughters aged 2 and 5. They have moved in with his parents as the woman is starting up her accountancy business and they hope to rent out more houses in the future. Rent is £595 pcm, house is worth about £100,000, so they are covering their mortgage, unless they have an unusual one, but she is an accountant, so I would guess tgey have budgeted well.

We really, really don't want to piss them off. They are, by far, the best landlords we have had. We do have some relatively minor wishes, but hopefully they are reasonable, what do you think?

A longer contract - a year or even two
Minor repairs that we can't do, or permission to get a man in - ignition has gone on the hob, the upstairs toilet only flushes if you take the top of tge cistern off and pull the lever, one light keeps blowing so tge wiring might be dodgy
Permission to get a cat
Something to be done with the front room carpet - it is light cream, we have most of it covered with rugs, and I get the rug doctor every now and again, but it is so hard to keep clean. Cheap laminate, a darker carpet, anything. If they will sign us up for a 2 year contract, I'll happily pay either for a cheap solution or towards a more expensive one.

Are those ok? How do I broach the subject? Tbh, it is just tge repairs that really are needed, the other things are wishes. They would be great if we could have them though.

OP posts:
emsyj · 25/03/2012 21:11

We have a house that we rent out and would bite our tenant's hand off if she wanted a 2 or even 5 year contract - we have no plans to sell the house and are very unlikely to live in it again. Totally reasonable to ask, although they may not want that commitment - they won't be offended to be asked!

We would send FIL round to do the repairs you refer to (although not sure what he could do about the hob - you might need a new one, or one of those ignition wand things that you can use instead of a match). It's not unreasonable to ask for those things to be put right.

We had a cat in that house so we wouldn't care about that, but some people are funny about pets so that's 50/50 as to whether it's reasonable - it's fine to ask though.

They might not want to pay to replace the carpet if they have moved in with parents to try and save money - they might not be able to afford it. We happily gave our last tenant (who lived there for 5 years) permission to decorate wherever/however she wanted, and if she had asked us to carpet the wood floor in the living room we would have done until I finished for mat leave with DD as we could afford it no problem - things are tighter now so we'd probably say no to that if asked today, but happy for you to replace with a cheap alternative. No harm in asking, especially if you're willing to contribute.

oreocrumbs · 25/03/2012 22:11

I would agree to all apart from replacing the carpet. I would allow you to change it at your own cost, but if the carpet that is down is sound and not faulty then I wouldn't want to replace it.

I would happily give any proven tenant as long a lease as they want, and I'm not bothered about pets.

I prefer my tenants to get me to do repairs, that way I can keep track of whats what, and also I know that they are repaired well (I'm sure you do repair things well, I'm just giving my view Smile ).

I have no problem in replacing/repairing anything in the house - I am paid for those things.

Ask away though, nothing you have mentioned is unreasonable.

oreocrumbs · 25/03/2012 22:13

And to broach it, just give them a ring, or send an email asking them to ring you when they have a chance to discuss extending your lease and a few minor repairs.

WordsAreNoUseAtAll · 26/03/2012 12:45

Brill :)

OP posts:
typicalvirgo · 26/03/2012 14:47

can i just hijack this thread and ask a question myself please ?

we moved out of our rented property recently but still pay the rent until the contract expires (long story)

I have just painted all the minor scuffs and marks (its all magnolia) that we must have inadvertently made so the house looks perfect again. It was painted top to bottom just before we moved in.

Should i not have done this - or asked for permission from the LL first ?

oreocrumbs · 26/03/2012 20:11

Thats fine typicalvirgo. You should ask if you want to re decorate because thats up to your LL, I have no problem with it as long as I'm consulted - I don't like people to wall paper as the walls are all good, and I want easy maintenence, I'm not up for stripping walls etc, and from past experience I will no longer allow tenants to paint the bedroom navy blue Grin. I can't tell you how many coats of magnolia that took to cover!!

Touching up the paint work is fine, thats just property maintenence, and your LL will be pleased that they don't have to redecorate!

I wish my tenants did that Smile

deviladvocate · 26/03/2012 20:38

I'm a LL (only one property which i manage myself) Agree with oreocrumbs I prefer to do the repairs myself - it's my job! That's what you pay rent for, the freedom to not have to worry about all that stuff. Also can keep track of what's been done and by whom, then if problem recurs can revert to person who did the work. We used to have some tenants who didn't let us know quickly enough when problems occurred, they'd wait and not want to bother us, but by then the problem had typically got much worse and cost a fortune to fix at short notice. Any reasonable landlord expects routine maintenance to be necessary from time to time.

I would expect the problem with the hob to be fixed without any quibble, thye could also fix the toilet at the same time - check when was your last boiler service and gas safety check done? I would ask our plumber to do it all in one hit to save paying multiple call out charges.

I'd be thrilled to be asked for a longer contract from a good tenant Grin

WordsAreNoUseAtAll · 26/03/2012 23:40

I think we are due gas checks too, as we moved in a year ago and they are yearly, aren't they?

OP posts:
deviladvocate · 26/03/2012 23:55

Yes, it's mandatory to carry out annual gas safety checks in rented accomodation. You should have a copy of the certificate (it's pink) so check the date.

typicalvirgo · 27/03/2012 10:28

Thanks oreo ( its self interest really - protecting my deposit really, she is a very picky LL IMO Grin

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