Problems with tenants - is there anything I can do to stop them costing me a fortune?

[WriggleJiggle]

A brief background - In August we visited our house and the tenants told us there was a problem with the pipes in the bathroom and water had occasionally come through the ceiling below. We offered to call out the plumber and get it fixed, or let them call him out as they would then be able to arrange a time convenient to them. We said we would obviously pay for any work that needed doing, just to let us know.

So almost 2 months later, as I still hadn't heard anything or had a bill I wrote saying (very nicely) either get the plumber in before the problem gets worse or I'd be happy to call out the plumber.

Just had a phone call from said plumber - had just been called around, the problem was cracked tiles which he had fixed, but the ceiling now had also fallen through because it had been left with water dripping onto it for months.

I know I'm responsible for repairs to the property, but I just feel if they had actually called the plumber in when we agreed, rather than wait so long, the ceiling wouldn't have collapsed and I wouldn't have a huge bill.

Is there anything I can do or say to persuade them to at least share some of the cost?

Get a written statement from the plumber.
It might be a breach of their duty of care as tenants. Difficult to enforce but if you get a definite confirmation from plumber that could be remedied 2 months ago and not just wear and tear through the years, you have a case.
Best would then be put up rent to cover expense.

Learn from experience - pay the excess and claim on your insurance (a necessity not a luxury for a landlord)and do not renew the tenancy when it comes to an end.

Sorry, forgot to mention to remember to deduct the repair bill from your rental income when you do your tax return.

hey, come on - it's not the tenants' fault. you could have called the plumber yourself. they did report the problem at least, and how many plumbers do you know who will do work on tick and get the money from the landlord later?

just claim on the insurance and chalk it up to experience. don't make people homeless over it.

ha ha ha you're joking aren't you?
They told you you did nothing, your decision!! Our central heating/hot water broke the other day, agent very apologetic about going into house without us being there. We gave permission all fixed by the time we're back from work and we didn't waste a day waiting for a plumber...!If you put rent up maybe they'll move there's an excess of rental properties most places, if you give notice I guess they'll just go and find another place up to you whether they'll be a void ot not.
Don't know whether repair is deductible or not....

good point 1dilema - perhaps they didn't call the plumber because they couldn't afford to take a day off work.

Sorry, I obviously didn't make it clear. I went up to visit them, they told me about the problem. I then gave them the choice of sorting it out for them (obviously I would have phoned the plumber, opened up the house, paid etc) or I asked if they wanted to call out the plumber themselves to give them the option of getting it fixed at a more convenient time for them.

We know the plumber quite well as he has done work for us before. Plumber is happy to get the work done and send us the bill. Our agreement with him is that he does whatever work needs doing and then sends us a bill, unless he thinks its going to be expensive in which case he phones to give an idea of cost before doing the work, so I waasn't expecting them to fork out any money.

I don't think you're being unreasonable wrigglejiggle - they agreed to call the plumber and didn't. Presumably if they only told you when you visited the house they hadn't informed you of the problem when it started? Would they have told you at all if you hadn't been to see them? If you think you can re-let it then don't renew the tenancy. Can you not take the excess from their deposit?

I own a property that I rent out and I can see myself getting into this situation. But if I did, I would kick myself for not having made a follow-up call to the tenants a few days later to check that they HAD phoned the plumber, instead of waiting 2 months.

Sorry, but I think it's unrealistic to expect tenants to take responsibility for your property - it's nice if they do, but you can't rely on it!

Your property, your problem. They dont own it, they dont care and will not take responsibility, that is how it is.

I am surprised you even left it to them. As a tenant I would have been pretty pissed off if my landlord even suggested I sort it myself.

You cant take it off the deposit, they did not cause the problem. You cant put up the rent, that would be breach of contract, most likely.

Put it down to experience. You should have landlords insurance, so I suggest you swallow the costs.

Agree with starry, we let and have a management company, they inform us if anything has gone wrong call in whoever and take the fee of the rent, if you have no management company you are responsible and if the tenants had agreed to sort it out then you should have chased them up a lot quiicker than this. Sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear.

This is my fourth time renting out a property, and the other times the tenants have all been fantastic so I guess you're right, put it down to experience, and don't be so trusting next time.

What annoys me most is that we've looked after them pretty well in the past - when they muddled up their finances we just accepted they would pay up in the end when they got themselves sorted again, and to their credit, they did. So I guess I did trust them too much and didn't keep a close enough eye on it.

Arrrghhhh, baby due in 14 days as well, so pretty bad timing to be redecorating the place, finding new tenants etc. Never mind, just have to learn from it.

Hold the money from their deposit, if they have any sense the next time you see them will be in the small claims court, they will win and costs will be awarded against you. There's more to renting than just being poor you know!

I think you should have just called the plumber in the first place. They called you to tell you about it from then on its your problem.