New tenant asks for maintenance work that is financially not viable

[Amadeaa]

My tenants moved in this week. They’ve asked me to undertake maintenance work which they believe are in my responsibility as a landlord, but these works are financially not viable. The costs would exceed the yield of a whole year’s rent with no guarantee that the problem might not reoccur within 6 months. I also don’t have this kind of money available right now. What are my options? They are at the start of a 1-year contract. I don’t think I can terminate the contract without any fault at the tenants side.
Should I offer them money if they agree to terminate the contract early?

Having read your updates OP, it sounds similar to a house my daughter lived in, the previous tenant didn’t open windows, the house had condensation water running down the walls, she’d left clothes hanging in the wardrobes which were black with mould. DD bought a dehumidifier and billed the landlord for it. He got someone out to inspect the property who found ventilation outlets in the loft had been blocked off. Once these had been fixed the condensation stopped.

If you can't afford to maintain thr property then you shouldn't be a landlord. Give them 6 months notice and sell up.

Ive been a landlord for years and yes, I am afraid you will have to take out a loan to fix it. Damp causes mould which can be seriously detrimental to health.

This is partly why I am no longer a landlord. I inherited a house from my nan and rented it out and it was the costs of things like this that made it not worth my while in the end and so I fixed it and then sold it. I think if you have several properties to rent its not so bad as you have more income but for one property, it can work out ridiculously expensive. People assume as a landlord you are raking it in but it only takes one issue like this to wipe out an entire year's rental income. Agree about getting several professional opinions though as venting etc is important and could be a simple fix. Either way, if you want to continue renting or decide to sell, fixing this issue will help you in the long run.

My dd lives in a student house beset with damp; her health and her ability to study have been seriously affected. This is her final year so it matters.

It is utterly miseabke having to live with damp. Our own house had a problem with the heavy rains a few years ago and we had water running down the walls. Thank heavens we had insurance, so the fabulous NFU fixed it. Took ages though as they had to dry the walls out thoroughly before replastering etc.

See if it's something your insurance company will do. It's what they're there for, after all.

Agree. OP- really recommend you get landlords insurance. My tenant moved the fridge to clean behind it and it loosened the valve that connected the fridge to the mains water supply- it was an American style fridge that produced ice. Over time this caused a slow leak and it cost 40k to fix it. If I had not had landlords insurance I would have been utterly screwed.

It must be significant damp to be costing 15k. I had rising damp around my front door. Cost me 800 quid to fix. I don't believe that you never noticed it, you just hoped the tenants would shut up and put up with the situation.

Ridiculous. Why would you offer a substantial sum of money to the tenants to leave and not use the money towards fixing the damp. All sounds a bit suspect, bit like that post yesterday about landlord evicting the girls that got everyone so wound up 😂

I have had issues in a rented property and the landlord did very little to help. I managed to get funding for cavity wall insulation. There is no way the landlord was going to be as worried as you sound. I think you need to take one step at a time. Dehumidifier in the room etc. Dettol mould and mildew spray is amazing. I had an environmental check done on the property I rented in the end. But that didn’t help much as it wasn’t bad enough. Still was pretty bad! Look into your options and theirs first. The landlord did reinsulate the loft which helped ours.

Condensation can be a huge pain in the bum but it can be managed.
I'd purchase them a window vac to use & a dehumidifier. Advise on the importance of good ventilation ie open windows during showers untill the room is dry etc etc.
If its an older house unfortunately these issues do happen.

Stop panicking. Educate yourself about damp. Go to this website https://www.heritage-house.org/damp-and-condensation/managing-damp-in-old-buildings.html

Some ‘damp specialist’ has probably told you a load of bullshit with a large bill attached.

Tell them to air it properly.

My tenants moved in and complained of damp issues.

It turned out they were running a tumble dryer, deep fat fryer, showering etc and never opened the windows or locked them on the crack.

Then look into getting a couple of air bricks fitted. I looked into schnieder damp system or whatever it was but the issues were easily fixed by proper ventilation.

OP sorry but you can afford it.

Presumably this is a second home?

You are already living in a house you bought or are buying?

Many people are struggling to afford the home they live in.

Sorry but my sympathy is limited.

Be a decent landlord or sell.

Damp is a major problem in well insulated houses. I have a friend who has a number of tenants. The houses are well insulated and double glazed. Older houses never suffered from condensation as they were draughty and lacked double glazing. Condensation is caused by tenants refusal to open windows to air the rooms so moisture has nowhere to go so damp is drawn to cold areas of the house such as windows. Before spending huge chunks of money please ensure that you isolate the actual problem. Night vents can be retro fitted on existing double glazing. Vents can be installed in necessary places. Often the damp and condensation is caused by the tenant themselves by drying clothes on radiators or just inside the house. Good luck. Hope you get sorted

If you don't have the money then the only thing to do is evict them and sell it on.

If you offer them money and free rent the problem will still be there for the next tenant. Are you also going to offer them 5k and months of free rent? You’ll be bankrupt.

get a builder in, find out if there is a problem and what needs doing, get quotes and fix it. Your tenant does not get to dictate how you fix it. There may well be a much cheaper solution.

Just fix the damp! Get a contractor in to assess the problem and give you an estimate. Giving them £3K plus 2 months rent free - which is at least another £1500 then still having to fix the damp whilst having no rental income makes no financial sense. It might only cost you £3k to fix it!

If you’ve already had quotes for large sums and while living there had quite a big problem with this damp issue then I think it’s wishful thinking this could be remedied with a dehumidifier. I had a LL that wanted to cheaply fix these types of issues. I had to get environmental health in and she was twice issued a category 1 hazard and it ended up costing her £20,000 and half was in compensation to us and penalties. You cannot be a landlord if you don’t have reserves to pay for maintenance that comes up. I would recommend landlords get their homes well checked before they rent it out to avoid this kind of problem. It’s really unfair on the new tenants.

If your property has damp you need to fix it.

That you expect people to pay to live in a property that isn't truly dry beggars belief. What sort of a landlord are you? If you can't afford the repairs then you can't afford to be a landlord.

Sorry, didn't RTFT, but all the same, bite the bullet and get it fixed.

@CwmYoy the OP can't evict the tenant yet as the tenancy has just started. In addition evicting a tenant who has complained of disrepair would be a revenge eviction, there are laws in respect of this. The only way to evict a tenant during the term of the tenancy is to prove to a court that the tenant has broken a condition of the tenancy. It would be cheaper to carry out remedial work in many instances than evict a tenant.

Landlords like you are an absolute disgrace. You clearly can’t afford to be one and are now considering making your paying tenants live in a substandard property just to line your pockets. Damp can cause health issues. Shame on you.

Don’t make it the tenant’s problem that you can’t afford the repairs, they pay you to live there. Either pay up or sell up. Also, don’t you want to protect your asset? If you don’t deal with damp early it’ll get worse and worse and more expensive to deal with.

Not impressed OP.

Just seen your other post about condensation and how you used to live there. You need to have a conversation about ventilation. The idea about providing a dehumidifier and paying towards running costs is nice. A PiV system is useful and not that expensive.

But if they’re having issues now in May I dread to think what it’ll be like in winter. We get condensation and damp with some mould in the winter but nothing at this time of year. I have to work hard in winter to keep it to a minimum. And having the heating one degree warmer than I need it helps but is obviously a cost, especially when opening all the windows. Window vac has helped and regular dusting is essential as the mould spores grow on dust quickly. Wiping walls down.

This is your answer OP. PIV units can do wonders in old houses with condensation problems. You can get this installed for less than £1k and I think it’ll do the trick. I have an old house and managed perfectly fine with heating and ventilating. But as the cost of heating went up so much, I was willing to ventilate less this winter as I didn’t want to lose the heat I had in the house. That caused a major condensation problem. I suspect this is the situation for your tenants. Try the PIV

Another amateur landlord. There really should be better vetting and regulation of the whole industry. None of this is your tenant’s fault. Why should they have to live in damp, mouldy conditions because you can’t be bothered to fix your property? You can’t simply rake in the rental money without maintenance. It doesn’t work like that 😠

If you cannot afford to be a good landlord, you should probably sell the house.

Damp is hardly a cosmetic issue, and if you don’t deal with it, it will only get worse.