Tenant seeking one off rent reduction

[Pennina]

I have a one bed flat in London.

3 months ago I got a new tenant. She moved in straight after the previous one with just a break of one month for cleaning/minor repairs.

New tenant advised she'd got a problem with getting the heaters to work. My husband came out he was unable to sort the problem so we said we would get an electrician in. We could not get the electrician to attend that we normally use as he was busy. We tried several other local electricians and couldn't find anyone who was available to attend. So frustrating for us all. Tenant spoke to a neighbour who was able to recommend an electrician who attended and advised that the heaters were broken, not repairable and need replacing.

This seems strange to me as my previous tenants who were there until February must've been using the heaters! They would have said if there was a problem.

Tenant is rather fed up which I understand (as getting on for three months has gone by now with all this faffing about with electricians) and is wanting the heaters replaced ASAP. For 2 comparable wall mounted electric heaters the cost will be about £750

We would like to get a different electrician to come and have a quick look just to make sure it isn't an internal fuse in the heaters that is broken. That is something that could be fixed for a fraction of the price of new ones.

Tenant completely fed up with waiting and wants new radiators put in and a rent reduction for this month.

I totally understand why she's fed up but can't help but feel that this is life and things do sometimes go wrong and do sometimes take longer to fix.

My thought is to see if I can get my Electrician to come and doublecheck that they really need replacing. If they can be repaired that's saving me £750 and I might consider reduction of £100 in rent this month. However if I have to pay £750 for new heaters then I can't manage a rent reduction as well very easily.

I want to do the right thing here so would appreciate views.

Your tenant is also getting frustrated and has asked for a rent reduction - so she can’t be that happy with how things have worked out!

Trixie - I am, i've asked her to let me know by how much she is out of pocket by. I'm waiting for her to let me know all this sort of stuff so I can figure out how much she needs

Your defending the indefensible.
Sort it
Give an apology and reduction, I should imagine the tenant has lost faith in you,
It's all very well saying these things happen, but now you are being a shoddy LL

In your opening post you have clearly stated you found it strange that the heaters were broken because your previous tenant never mentioned it?

Again as a Landlord before any new tenant moved into your property, why were the storage heaters not checked?

@Pennina No i dont think you do,otherwise it would have been sorted by now.

And your tenant saying not to rush,is them being nice.What they actually mean is get your arse in gear and get something done.

Tenant completely fed up with waiting

My tenant has in fact said that I have been responsive and have tried to fix the issue and is appreciative of that!

Something doesn't add up

@Xmas2020 exactly

OK so based on the timeline it sounds as if your tenant is not hugely concerned, she said she wanted to deal with the electrician(s) herself and there were delays when she went away and therefore wasn't dealing with it. If I'd been in your position I would have wanted to deal with it myself (while obviously being considerate of ensuring visits were not inconvenient to her) and hopefully more quickly.

I do think you should get the heaters replaced ASAP and offer discounted rent as a goodwill gesture.

If you want to do the right thing then just do it. I'd love to be proved wrong.

Like other posters I don't think your tenant is as delighted with you as you're claiming or else they wouldn't be "fed up" and claiming a rent reduction.

ridiculous

it is a small problem with the thermostat that should be fixed easily and quicker than replacing them

But the electrician that actually looked at them said it wasn’t repairable and the heaters needed replacing?

You wouldn’t have been unreasonable to get a second electrician in for a verdict after the first, but it’s gone on too long for that now. In the future consider getting an emergency electrician out if your usual one can’t make it - they cost a lot but they will at least get there fast.

I'm off, thanks to all who have given helpful advice. New heaters will be ordered - tenant will let me know which ones she prefers. Decent rent reduction will be given and reimbursement for extra heating costs.

If you know you're so in the right and haven't done anything wrong and your tenant thinks you're great, why bother posting? The answer is very simple and you've been told over and over again - get it sorted and give her a reduction. Not rocket science.

Xmas yup and they were working. Agent checked too

3 months without heating is unacceptable.

Minty tenant very happy has just told me so. She just wants reduction!

Cross posted. That was hard work.

I don't offer rent reductions. I assume if I do once, will be asked another time. I might put a rent increase back 12 months. Get it fixed ASAP, and apologise. Perhaps offer her some money towards oil.

Reduction in rent is fair enough. It is still unacceptable though.. 3 months, especially during winter! Or maybe you could pay her electric bill so she can use electric heaters whilst waiting for the actual heaters to be repaired.

The tenant was ‘rather fed up’ at the start of the thread, that’s a quick turnaround.

Chune. I thought she was but she said she's not!

While she is choosing which replacement devices she likes best, I am getting yet another electrician to come along and see if they are repairable. I will be attending so she doesn't have to take time from work.

Sounds like you resent her having the 'luxury' of 'choosing which replacement devices she likes best' whilst poor old you is slogging away at finding 'yet another' electrician (that's your responsibility so the martyr attitude is ridiculous). And making out that you will be doing your tenant a massive favour because you 'will be attending so she doesn't have to take time from work' - it's your property of course you should be there when the electrician is there! I'd be thoroughly pissed off if I were a tenant paying good money to rent and supposedly not have the headache of household maintenance to then find I'd be expected to take time off work to get heating fixed that's your/the landlord's responsibility.

Oh and if a landlord three months down the line discussed with me about finally getting the heating fixed i think i too would reply with a sarcastic 'yeah, take your time, no rush'

Thatwould. Nope. Only sarky miserable sounding one is you.

She's fine about this but it needs sorting out as we all said above and further down the thread I have notified you of my plan so that you can slag that off as well

Yes your tenant is so fine about being without heating for 3 months (and counting) that she's wanting a rent reduction and you started this thread to complain about it. 👍

Thatwould. Nooooo, I came on here to ask what the right thing to do was. Read it! In 22 years nobody has ever asked me for a rent reduction.