Tenants say decorator damaged some of their belongings - WWYD?

[ronconcoke]

I let out a flat, and recently contracted a decorator, who I've known for some years (and who has done lots of work for me over the years) to repaint the flat while the tenants were away. He warned that there was a lot of furniture to move around and not much space (it's a small flat, and they're a family of 4) but that he would do his best.

On returning, my tenants have sent me photos of a couple of small items (a storage box and shoe storage box), saying he's damaged them. I mentioned one of them to him and he said it was a flimsy box and basically fell apart when he moved it to paint behind it, but that he did his best to put it back together. They have also sent me some photos of light switches and door knobs that have been painted over - whereas he sent me the same photos after finishing the job, saying the tenants had done this previously. Who do I believe, and what do I do?! (I trust him completely and have had the same tenants for well over a decade, so am supposed to trust them too!) WWYD??

Did you ask him if he had insurance before you did the job?

IANAL but I'd assume you've transferred the risk of stuff like this to the professional. This is between them.

It should be obvious if a light switch / door knob had been painted over previously just be looking at it. The paint is bound to be a different shade, even if white, and no professionsl decorator would paint over the top.

IMaybe you can say you’ll charge them for replacement of the light switches they painted over

@ronconcoke

presumably they knew it was going to be painted, so did they want him to paint around the box? If not they should have moved it themselves.

Van you not tell by zooming in on the photos whether the paint is the one the decorators just used or not?

Do you live close enough to go & look for yourself?

Are they just the usual white switches. If they are they're as cheap as chips. Just order some to be delivered to the property & they can change them if theyre that bothered.
Far more likely tenants (them
or previous) have painted over them. Than the Decorator.

weird shit for either to lie about though.

I would be more inclined to believe the tenants because he didn’t bother telling you something fell apart in his hands.

I would just suck up the cost of getting them fixed as it’s probably a small amount of money, and you are likely to want to use him again.

Does your inventory have pictures or videos?

You "trust him completely" yet you know from this that he didn't bother to flag up that he'd damaged a flimsy item and tried to put it back together. If he were really honest, he would have mentioned that this had happened.

Ignore the light switches and door knobs. Whoever painted them, it doesn’t matter - they still work.

Knock £20-£50 off next month’s rent for the crappy storage boxes. It’s worth it not to bother arguing.

Have you never done any inspections? Surely you would have noticed if they'd painted over light switches etc? Unless you think they've done so very recently, which would be an odd thing to do if they hadn't done any decorating for the previous nine plus years. Did they ask you for the decorating or did you tell them you wanted it done? What was the reasoning for it?

If he's done work for you previously and has never painted over switches and door knobs (I presume you mean fully painted rather than just some drips that fell accidentally), then it would be very odd for him to do it now. Plus it would be a strange thing for a professional decorator to do anyway. So I'd be more inclined to believe him for that part. Particularly because he took photos of them - if he thought he was supposed to be painting them why would he do that?

You could call their bluff and say he video-called you as soon as he got there before starting any work because he noticed the door knobs and light fittings and wanted to check if he was also supposed to repaint over them because he wouldn't normally do so.

But tbh if you want to keep them on side you could just say that they've both blamed the other for the painting, there's no evidence for you to take one person's word against another so you won't deduct that from their deposit, but just to reiterate, please don't paint anything else without your permission. Maybe give them a few quid to replace the cheap storage given he has admitted to breaking that.

Again, depends who wanted the decorating done. If it was them then they've had their whole home redecorated for free, the price of a cheap shoe storage box is a bit cheeky to haggle over.
If you decided to do it and they weren't bothered, then it's a bit unfair for them to get their stuff broken on top of it so I would pay for it in that case.

Where were they supposed to move the box to? OP says it's a small and overcrowded flat. Besides which they aren't psychic, they didn't know what, if anything he was going to break before he broke it! If they'd moved that box to a safer place then he could have broken something else instead!

You could call their bluff and say he video-called you as soon as he got there before starting any work because he noticed the door knobs and light fittings and wanted to check if he was also supposed to repaint over them because he wouldn't normally do so.

This is outrageous advice. OP shouldn't lie. This video-call didn't happen and there was no communication 'before starting any work'. OP says the painter sent pictures after the job.

@easylikeasundaymorn

onto a bed, chair, in the bath, worktop...
They didn't need to know it would break, they just needed to move it away from a wall that was going to be painted

he didn't break it, it fell apart.

he shouldn't have needed to move small things like that, they should have done it

Personally I’d just suck up the tiny cost of replacing the light switches which will be something like 5 for a 20 quid at B&Q or similar. Don’t get them to replace as if they electrocute themselves you’ll no doubt get sued for that. It’s a very easy DIY job to do. As for the box, agree with above, just pay them the money to replace it. Given they’ve been there for ten years they are presumably good people, and you like your decorator so this is one of those situations where I’d just keep all on side at whatever small cost to me.

I’d knock a small amount off next months rent for the box and ignore the light switches and door knobs as they all still work. If it’s recent paint it should come off pretty easily which the tenants can do if they’re really bothered by it.