Tenant has asked us to fit carpets.

[fatnfrumpy]

We are new to being LL,s and our first ever tenant has been in for ten months now.
They always pay on time and seem to be a nice young couple.
However we seem to have several texts from them asking us to fix this and that.
so far month one, say shower is leaking. We have a new electric shower fitted.
month three, they report a smell in the bathroom. we unblock the drain that is filled with cooked onion from the kitchen sink.
Month five, they use the brand new fitted intregated dishwasher for the first time ever! (£7,000 brand new fitted kitchen when they moved in) they report that it leaks. The reason it leaked is the door was too tight against the cupboards. Had they used it before we could of got the kitchen fitters to rectify the problem but after five months we pay a carpenter to do it. BTW the tenant is a qualified carpenter but wanted us to pay some one to do it. It meant planeing the side of the intregated door!!!
Month eight, reports that the spare unused bedroom radiator is not getting hot and needs bleeding.
Month nine, their bedroom radiator is now also not getting hot, we call a plumber this time who bleeds the whole system and puts in chemicals.
Month ten, tonight I receive a text as follows,
Hi fatnfrumpy,wonder if it is possible to get some carpet,it,s so cold here even with the heating on. I would be willing to put some money towards it?
We have the original floorboards downstairs that we had varnished before they moved in. We also installed a wood burner inthe front room as he is a carpenter he access to wood to burn!
We rented the house to him at approx £150 pcm under the going rate for the road as we didn,t use an agent. We also saved him agents fees.
AIBU to think he is starting to take the mike or is this normal.
Thx in advance to a virgin LL.

it isn't actually that easy to get rid of tenants that don't want to leave. Anything other than the proper process (which takes months) and it is the landlord that commits the offence.

most landlords will want to keep good tenants, unless they need the property back because they want to live in it.

also most landlords have a property to rent out because they worked hard, saved money and bought the property. So the person who makes the boneheaded crack about 'real jobs' needs to grow up.

Yes, I have been and will be a landlord. And a tenant.

I wouldn't have done most of those jobs as a tenant although I would have stuck a bottle of drain cleaner down the sink. Planing a door? No way. Bleeding a radiator? Ditto. What if it went wrong?
Tbh I'm not sure this tenant can win with you. When I rented I always imagined the landlord would want to know about things that affected the house - so a leaking dishwasher would be the kind of thing I would report. Other people might not bother, and just mop up the floor afterwards. A year later - rotten floorboards and wrecked vinyl. But not the tenants problem.
I'm also not sure it was a good idea to spend so much on a kitchen - is it a high end rental? It's going to be upsetting if they or the next tenants don't take good care of it

OP how about providing your tenant with a list of approved tradesmen who they can contact in case of any repairs needing done and they can forward the bill onto you/reduce it from the next rent payment. although i think you'd probably want to ok all repair work beforehand? in that case maybe you just hire the tradesmen yourself if it's a 2 hour trip for your DH to do it. there will be repairs involved in letting a property. it doesn't matter that your tenant is capable of doing them, it isn't worth the risk to them that you may withhold their deposit at the end of the term due to work not done to your satisfaction. and really, after spending so much on the house at the start of the tenancy, you want to be making sure repairs are done properly dont you? as i said you wouldn't really want me taking a saw to your kitchen drawer just because i know how to wave a saw about do you?

Well fat if you were my LL I'd be very happy in deed! We're in a big, old, draughty and damp house which we knew obviously when we took it on so were prepared for that. However our LL who bought the house to renovate and live in but for various reasons can't atm, has never lived here and it had been empty for a year so a fair number of problems have popped up along the way. We have it for a year as he probably wants to do it up, or sell on.

Several of the windows (mostly bedroom) were jammed and we couldn't open them so asked the agency whether it was up to us or them to arrange. They said they would ask the LL - who took 5 weeks to come back and say no, he didn't want them unjammed.....We finally managed to get him to agree after another 2 weeks. We didn't dare do it ourselves as they are huge sash windows and we were terrified of damaging them. (The irony of this is that we had a letter about condensation and one of the points was "open the bedroom window every night" Ha, bloody ha!) The gas fire was condemned and despite being assured it would be replaced it hasn't been and we were offered a measly £5 month off for the inconvenience - we have renegotiated but god it was a battle. An under unit light in the kitchen has broken - the plastic is so old it snapped when I changed a bulb, we have replaced the broken bit, but been told to replace the whole unit... Extractor fan broke 2 weeks ago, no sign of being fixed yet, loo handle broke 3 months ago, not fixed yet. Oil boiler should have been serviced 4 months ago, not done yet..... A bedroom light blows the bulb and fuses the lot every time it goes on - not fixed yet. And the list goes on.

It is our first experience of renting a family house and I can't wait to be out of here in April to find a house with a landlord who is a little more amenable. The letting agents have been rubbish too - the whole business has made for a really difficult year.

It's a two-hour round trip though - not two hours each way. Ie pretty much normal commuting distance for many working people.

Wallison do you consider a tenant giving notice on a rental property as "making themselves homeless" ? Normally a tenant leaves a property because they have found somewhere nicer or more convienient for them, not to live on the street. Likewise if I give notice on a tenant (touch wood I have never needed to.) I think they would probably go on Rightmove and find somewhere else in the 8 week notice period !

I'm a tenant.

I think they are being a bit demanding, but perhaps if you've always been saying yes, it's natural they will ask. I'd just say no, sorry.

I think they should be unplugging their own sink, but perhaps they didn't realize it was them who blocked it? It's not always easy to work out if you've never had to deal with it before (though, ewwww at cooked onions).

I would bleed my own radiators, but I'd always check first as occasionally they can spurt black stuff if you get it slightly wrong and I wouldn't want the LL to blame me.

The thing about them not using the dishwasher - you really should have run it yourself to check. They cannot be expected to know you didn't do this.

You could give them notice, but if it were me I'd be a bit fed up as you've not (so far as I understand it) given them much indication that you were getting fed up, you've just done what they've asked.

That's like trying to compare a home-owner who decides to move house with one whose mortgage company re-possesses the house.

I think all their requests are reasonable, and the LL's responsibility, with the exception of carpet. If they don't like wood floors they need to rent somewhere that has carpet already or buy their own rugs. I'm a LL btw, and would carry out all those repairs without query.

With respect to the ventilation issue, many contracts specify that the tenant is responsible for condensation damage as this is a big problem in rental properties. Tenants don't open windows, then blame the LL for the resulting mould. OP - check your contract, and speak to the tenant.

Frostyfingers - I'd move if I were you. Unless you are renting at way below market to reflect the poor state of the property I don't think your LL is being fair to you.

i do think the travelling time should have been taken into account when you decided to let the house. whether it was 10 minutes or 3 hours away, it is up to you to make sure repairs are done and if 2 hours is too much for you to travel then you need to have an arrangement in place that someone else can do it. whether that be someone you have approved and will pay for or whether you permit the tenant to source someone themselves and send you the bill.

i'll be honest and say the list you have given in your OP is not excessive for a 10 month period during the first year of letting. if you had been living in the house yourself you wouldn't have realised how often you were doing repairs as tehy would just be done as you found them but as you are having to go out of your way to do it you notice it more. if i showed you the list of repairs for my house you might have a shock.

Did you tell them why the sink was blocked so that it doesn't happen again. Cos if it did I would want them to sort it if it happened in future.

As a LL I wouldn't get carpets because of the ongoing maintenance of them.

Not sure why you think he should fix the dishwasher door just cos he's a carpenter. Presumably if he's fixing your kitchen he's not out bringing in money to pay the rent. Also it's really not the place of a tenant to start planing or otherwise DIYing/ fixing your property. That is exactly the sort of thing that annoys landlords.

I think they're quite reasonable requests.

frostyfingers that is shocking behaviour from your LL, a condemned gas fire and boiler that have not been serviced, he is breaking the law ! Even if you knew the house was alittle run down, it should be maintained to the same standard.
All our properties are maintained as if they were our own home, if not better, it's better than having 10 things to fix when a tenant moves out.
All our appliance etc are safety checked, I would never forgive myself if anything happened to our tenants.
Come rent a house of me in April .....

Not really Wallison, as person whose home is repossed is in Financial difficulties a tenant that is given notice still has £xxx to rent another property ! If you rent you have to expect to have to move at some point. From my experience, less affulant areas the tenant stays years and it is their home, we have tenants that have been in houses for 5-8 years, richer areas renters move on with 12-18 months. But even if we gave notice on a tenant after 8 years she could find another house, she would not be "homeless".
I think there is sometimes a difference between LL's with investment properties and those who have become a LL because they can't sell. Why a investment LL would want to give notice to a tenant who is being reasonable and paying the rent is beyond me, and even if they have missed rent and informed us we have worked with the tenant to resolve this, not simply kicked them out.

haveto am i right in thinking that if Op were to agree a long term 5 year let, part of the agreement would be that the tenant was responsible for minor repairs?

Haveto - would love to but it's too far away! We are going to start looking in January as we have to be out in April - moving early is just too complicated, and I wouldn't put it past him to be sueing us for something. The boiler is oil not gas so I don't think he's broken the law (although I wouldn't mind if he had!).

fat you've gone above and beyond in certain areas. I wouldn't have expected a new washer, for example. We've always owned our own. Or the new kitchen, but perhaps the old one really needed updating.

I think the reason you've had some critical responses is that despite the annoyance of having the little problems reported to you, they are pretty standard complaints. As many of us have said, we wouldn't want to undertake even certain small repairs, as if we made a mistake and/or broke something/ leaked black fluid from radiators etc, we'd be liable for the damage caused. You have a carpenter living there now but if you had me living there next, I certainly wouldn't have the first idea how to do many of those things, or if I tried I could potentially make them worse.

The rent is meant to be enough to cover these sort of things. If it isn't, then you'll have to re-visit that with your tenant, or with your future tenants. You could figure in the cost of having a local handyman who could pop by to sort small things, for example.

IMO, you would really have to have a tenant you knew and trusted to be sure they would keep up with minor repairs, if you were to put that into a contract.

"a tenant that is given notice still has £xxx to rent another"

Not sure I'd agree with that heels.

What makes you so sure? I think this assumes a tenant has funds readily available for another deposit and payments in advance, moving costs etc.
And what about the upheaval?

"If you rent you have to expect to move at some point"

True. But I agree with the point made that this is one of the problems with the rental system in this country. This decision can be made by ll too easily IMO.

Tenants are very often held by the short and curlys around signing 6 month lets, and have few options available in terms of interviewing prospective lls to check out their credentials and attitudes towards maintenance, plans for the future etc. In my 20 yrs experience of being a tenant, it is dog-eat-dog in the letting world, though I appreciate there are some considerate lls out there.

There is certainly a distinction to be made between tenants who are advantaged and have choices about their progression into buying, and those who are disadvantaged with few choices.

A person whose home is repossessed can just as easily get themselves into a rented property as a tenant can find a six-week deposit before their old one is paid back, plus a month's rent in advance, plus moving fees, plus probably paying two lots of rent if the dates overlap, plus find a school/nursery/childminder for their children. After all, it's a piece of piss, isn't it? They haven't actually lost their home at all.

I do think letting agents have a responsibility regarding some of the animosity that exists between tenants and lls. The law is very much in the favour of lls, inspite of some improvements over the years. Agents can easily be in a position to play tenants off against others and lls too, to get the best deals for themselves.

There's room for a more socially responsible system imo.

Santa as far as I am aware you can right anything into a tenancy agreement so that is a possibilty I suppose. So far we have only let on "Agreed Shorthold Tenancy" however. We have met all our tenants and let them know the properties are investment properties and providing they comply to the terms of the tenancy they can stay as long as they like.

One tenant has completely redecorated and even undertakes some repairs herself, or gets someone in she knows and we deduct from her rent. We have had problems with her being unable to meet her rent on 3 occassions over eight years. The first time was a pain because she ignored all calls and we had to serve notice, however we managed to sort things out and now if she has a problem she contacts us straight away. We undestand she is a single Mum in casual work and work with her. Infact we now have an agreement where she pays £10 per week over her rent which allows for blips and this year she doesn't need to pay for Decembers rent, which makes things a little easier for her and her kids.

Lurking I see what you are saying and that is a difficult one as I understand that people have to pay rent and also save for the deposit, not sure what can be done there ?
Maybe landlords should get references from tenants, as I understand that there are some shocking ones out there and sadly there is always tenants that don't meet certain criteria and have to resort to less than agreeable living conditions. I hope any or our tenants would give us a good reference.

Wallison you obviously have an issue with LL's so I will not rise to you. However a person whose house is repossesed would not pass a credit check therefore would not be able to rent through a reputatble agency however a person who has been served notice could.

have you sound brilliant. i have never met my LL but i think this is an investment property. it has been let by them for at least 8 years anyway so i hope they are planning on keeping it a good bit longer and let me stay. i would love to redecorate and as i said am happy to do small repairs but at this point i just dont know how secure i am. i've told the agent i would be interested in a long term let.

Have It sounds like you have a good relationship with your tenants. As a tenant, I like to have that with my LL, makes things so much easier in the long run.

OP, I think they're normal tenant issues tbh. Some people aren't well versed in general maintenance.

Ll references are a fab idea, letting agents too!

OP I think you are lucky to have tennants that tell you about problems when they first occur and are still "trivial" rather than let things deteriorate with you clueless till you took back possession - which would cost more TBH

you should be budgetting for regular minor maintenance. I own and have about 3 "trivial" things to repair this month that will cost more if I let them slide, why would a rented property be different?