WWYD - tenant went ahead without our permission

[birdladyfromhomealone]

New tenant first month in, tells us the back door is not easy to lock.
For security we agreed to his request to call a locksmith.
He told us he had called three and gave the price.
We agreed the one who charged £65 per hour- estimated £95 to fix.
One month later our tenant has emailed to say they came out but couldnt fix the lock as the PVC door was warped.
Attached an invoice for £398 for complete new locking mechanism.
He has paid on the day and wants repayment.

You sound a bit like my last landlord, who when told that the heavy glass shower screen had fallen off the wall and landed on top of me, laughed and said 'We thought that might happen, those hinges were really flimsy!' I was not impressed

You should have sorted it out yourself, before they moved in.

Pay the receipted invoice.

You are a landlord - these repairs are your responsibility and this is what happens when you sub it out for your tenant to deal with.

I think you should go and inspect the work and come to an agreement. It's a new tenant so this behaviour needs nipping in the bud or you'll end up with bills for all sorts.

I'd probably just eat the cost for now along with giving him a warning about doing something like that again.

A warning?? like a naughty school child? How about speaking to him like another human being and asking him to speak to you in future about any repairs. This would also require OP to be quicker off the mark at replacing broken things.

I can't believe some people are suggesting not to pay!

Think about the cost of them moving out because they very well might, then having to find new tenants - financially it isn't worth it.

It was the landlords error to leave the tenant to do it all. Not their fault.

You'll have to pay OP, but you should ask for a receipt that breaks down the work so you can understand how it came to £400.

Next time you should speak to the trades person and arrange the work yourself. That way if the work is different to the original spec they know to call you to discuss. I am a landlord and always arrange things myself, I'd never ask the tennant to arrange work on the house. If the tenants are happy to be there to let the tradesperson in and work then great, but that's it. You shouldn't ask any more of them, it's not fair on them and as you've found out the hard way, doesn't work well for you.

I am not a revenge evictor how fucking rude! My property is kept in great condition I have long term very happy tenants in both and fix all issues as soon as possible. Issues rarely arise tbf if you keep a property in good condition. If this tenant is taking the piss (and I said if please note) then you best to get rid that's not revenge eviction that's protecting yourself and your property. Revenge eviction would be refusing to fix the door and evicting the tenant for asking but don't let facts get in the way of your rhetoric.

OP I can see both sides of this. I do think that given that you knew the lock was dodgy, you should have had it sorted. However this seems extortionate and I don't understand why it took a month for the tenant to tell you. Would make me slightly suspicious to be honest. I can see why you are uncomfortable with this.

I do think though that you probably have no choice but to pay, but in the future make sure you are present for any repairs. I guess you have learned the hard way here I do think though that you need to understand the seriousness of a dodgy lock, people need to be able to easily enter and exit their home.

I privately rented for 10years. I would never have agreed work that was outside of the agreed budget and definitely not that much. Tenant totally wrong in my opinion. Of course you almost certainly would have needed to pay for this anyway but you should have been the one to authorise it.

However this seems extortionate and I don't understand why it took a month for the tenant to tell you.

Or why it took the tenant to tell them in the first place? OP should have been on the phone the day the work was being done checking it had been done and getting the price. Instead they waited a month!! What sort of way is that to run a business?

I hardly think these tenants are taking the piss though tbh. I think given the circumstances they fairly reasonably assumed they were dealing with it.

I think you should reply "Well of course we'll reimburse but in future please contact us before more expensive work is done as in this situation it would have made more sense to replace the whole door."

I agree with this.

Why didnt they check doors/locks ask about it on viewing? Why didnt they tell the LL the cost when it was being fitted rather than wait a month?

Why didn't op check and replace faulty doors and locks before taking on a tenant?

Ultimately op you knew the lock wasn't fit for purpose so you should have sorted it out beforehand. What was the tenant supposed to do in this situation? Leave their home unsecured until the LL gets around to sorting it out themselves?

We had similar with an oven in a previous house, it never worked properly but the LL was insistent it was fine (it shouldn't take over an hour to cook a pizza ffs) and instead of just replacing it kept getting his handy man to to quick fix it. It was basically unusable so we bought a microwave with an oven feature in the end but we shouldn't have had to live like that for the 2 years we lived there. He even used the old "well our previous tenants never had a problem" line - so bloody what? Things break, that's life. In this case it's the LL's job so sort it.

As a landlord you have certain responsibilities. If you don't want to take on those responsibilities don't become a landlord, do everyone a favour and sell up.

I'd ask the supplier to tell me the make of the lock and the product code, check that this was the one that was actually used in the repair, and then work out the labour costs to ensure that the total cost is accounted for.
I would point out to the tenant (in an email, for the record)that you had only agreed the £195 and would have expected the tenant to let you know that the price had doubled, and so you could have considered the new door option.
Having satisfied myself that the cost was actually incurred by the tenant, I would reimburse them, and ensure that I organised any future quotes and repairs myself, with the tenant just required to be there when the work is undertaken.

Yes lesson learned!!!
We consider ourselves very good private landlords who DO repair and replace immediately which is why this has happened.
No previous complaints about the door from 2 previous tenants.
New tenant tells us door lock is being temperamental, we offer to come round but he insists he can get a locksmith to have a look as his GF is home all day anyway.
Quote is £65 per hour and approx £95 in total - we agree.
Hear o more about it for a month when we receive the invoice which he says he had to pay on the day.
We were expecting an invoice direct from the locksmith!!!! That is NORMALLY what happens.
£400 for a new lock not a new door, and it will break again!!
Coincidently in the same email by the way we have a new puppy!
previous tenants had a dog so no problem wit that but surely you as first!?

They should have asked about the dog but that's got nothing to do with the broken lock. The fact that previous tenants never complained is irrelevant. If a lock is 'temperamental' then it's not safe and should be replaced ASAP.

Seriously they are scamming you.

You could always call the locksmith and query the bill but I still think this is your oversight for not taking charge of it in the first place.

If you want to complain about the cost to the locksmith and ask for a breakdown nothing stopping you.

I can't see how this is proof they are scamming you but the locksmith might have taken advantage of the situation to bill a lot.

I'd still pay them the money back though!

If it will break again you should've got a new door. Yes the tenant should have got a thorough quote and asked if that amount was ok but you should reimburse fully. Its not their house so is in your best interest to sort this out

Perhaps you're doing your best to be "good" landlords but it sounds as if you're lacking the necessary knowledge and skill. You're accidental landlords, not professional ones and the question about the puppy illustrates this further. If you have issues like this you need to deal with them and it sounds as if you're very unsure and would do well to use a letting agent as I said upthread. Wasn't there something in the rental agreement about pets?

The door was lockable, just temperamental.

so you knew that the door was not fit for purpose. pay and file under lesson learned.

So, one month in and:
a previously fine door suddenly becomes unlockable
a quote of £95 turns into a bill of nearly £400
they get a dog

Make it clear that you will arrange all further repairs and they are not authorised to incur any expense. Don't re-new the tenancy.

Ask for the copy invoice. The large discrepancy may be because they used an out of hours / emergency service (which from the description sounds entirely unnecessary and therefore not foLL to swallow cost of particularly since GF is home all day).

What additional deposit do you take for pets? Istit usually an extra week or two because of greater potential damage / smell and hair removal at the end of term? I'd jump on that much more than the lock you should have fixed yourself

I would go around inspect the work get a copy of the invoice - try and ascertain if it was a reasonable charge or not and if not complain to the locksmith

But I'd still reimburse them because you let them deal with it and really you shouldn't have. It's irrelevant if they offered or not you can't leave them in charge then complain about the way they handled it.

You can email them and confirm you will not be paying for anything else that they pay for so it's imperative they confirm with you first.

I rent and I wouldn't have paid this amount myself I would have referred locksmith/joiner to my landlord for payment. I equally would not have rang and got quotes etc as that is the landlords responsibility.
I would say lesson learned for you and pay up as it was a fault with the property which you knew about (you knew it was temperamental). I'd take more control next time, even if tenant said they were happy to do it, it's a property problem and the property is your responsibility.

As for dog, regardless of whether prev tenant had one, what do you specify in your letting contract? Mine has a clause about pets, permission not needed for small animals (I'm guessing hamster etc) but for cat or dog I have to ask and it states request may be refused. I did ask when I got my cat and it was fine but did state only 1 would be acceptable. So out of politeness tenant should have asked but if you haven't covered it in the tenancy agreement then you've got no come back.