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Advice on damage to property by tenant

Started by denyason, June 08, 2020, 08:29:50 PM

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denyason

I rent my property to a tenant who is also the head seller for a local prominent estate agent dealing in high end homes.  The property is let through the same estate agent's lettings department. A recent visit before lockdown by a family member saw that the tenant wasn't looking after my property well.  With a large hole in wall, 2 holes in a wooden door.   The hole is the size of a fist into the plastered wall.  2 1 inch holes in the solid wooden door.  Is the tenant liable to fix the damage?  Also the door handle is gone from the same door.  Pics attached.  Should I let the lettings agency know?  Maybe they already know as the damage isn't new but have done nothing to fix it.  I've yet to ask them about it as i want some advice what to do.. This all can't surely be wear and tear?
Advice would be appreciated.

Hippogriff

You aren't implying the tenancy is coming to an end?

Is it?

If not, sit back until the end... it's nothing to do with you how the Tenant keeps the property while it's theirs. All they are expected to do is hand the property back to you - at the end of the tenancy - in the same condition it was at the start of the tenancy, minus fair wear-and-tear.

Why was your family member visiting the property? Are they friends? Or was it an inspection? You can make the Tenant aware of things arising from an inspection... and warn them that they wouldn't be considered to be fair wear-and-tear at the end of the tenancy... you can even encourage them to make repairs... especially if something was unsafe (thinking bare wiring coming out of a broken ceiling light or something like that)... but a hole in a door? Probably not. A missing door handle? Probably not.

Is the Tenant liable? Absolutely. But you add it all up at the end of the tenancy... and you let the Tenant live their life in the meantime. Why would the Letting Agent do something to fix the issues you mention? What is your arrangement here, what is your expectation?

denyason

hi Hippogriff.  Thank you for the reply, extremely helpful as I'm pretty much a novice landlord.  No the tenancy is not coming to an end.  I have been trying to sell the property in the past but the tenant has always been deliberately difficult, always cancelling viewings, clothes on floor, anything to try to scupper a sale basically.  The state may put off buyers as it is an affluent area.  My family member visited the address to oversee a buyer viewing the address with the tenant at work and in fact never done in the few years its been on sale.  Selling would mean she will need to move obviously.  What about the large hole in the wall?  Would that class as wear & tear in your opinion?  As an owner, its your property and I feel she isn't looking after my property to the standard expected of a tenant especially in her position.  Thank you again for your advice which is very helpful.  I'm not really clued up on being a landlord as this is not my main job.  Thanks Dennis

Hippogriff

No, it's not wear-and-tear... but you can't really enforce that it's repaired while the tenancy is ongoing - the point is that the Tenant can choose at the end of the tenancy to either repair things or accept Deposit deductions.

Saying that... if they're in the trade, so to speak, there's a good chance they'll try to wriggle out of it.

Selling a property while a Tenant is in situ isn't the brainiest idea ever... someone would really need to love it to believe that you could complete the sale with vacant possession, and take that risk. I wouldn't. I'd not believe the Landlord could provide me an empty property in the time I'd likely wish to complete in - not in this current climate. Selling to another Landlord - as a bundle, shall we say - implies you're willing to accept bottom Dollar - as no Landlords out there go around paying top whack.

El Porto

Quote from: denyason on June 09, 2020, 09:53:22 AM
  What about the large hole in the wall?  Would that class as wear & tear in your opinion? 


??? ??? ???

How many holes have you ever personally put in the wall like that, as "fair wear and tear"?!?!?

denyason

Hi all thanks for the replies.  the tenant is on a monthly rolling contract atm.  Its true I'm a novice in the property game and learning everyday, I'm only 39. You wouldn't expect a hole like that from an estate agent would you.  In saying that she's been trouble since day one.  Ringing me as she can't change her light bulb.  towels on frosted glass to stop peeping toms causing mould, pretending to be out to stop a viewing when i can see her car is there and saw her in........
Thank you again for the valuable replies.

Hippogriff

When the time is right - evict, repair / upgrade as necessary, and try to sell with vacant possession. Your approach right now carries the hallmarks of having a cake, and thinking you'll be able to eat it as well.

Maybe you will. Maybe the cake won't be as good as you hoped.

heavykarma

I accept in principle that tenants can live as they please,as long as they return the property in a good state.This is fair enough when it comes to issues of tidiness and cleanliness.In this case I would write to the agent along the lines of "I have noted the following issues during inspection,and draw them to the tenants attention,as they could affect the return of the deposit when the tenancy ends".
I agree that you will have to evict in order to sell the house.Even letting is less successful with a current tenant in situ,selling pretty impossible.
Hippogriff-I did have a large slice of coffee and walnut cake yesterday,I did eat it,and it  was very much as good as I hoped.

 

Hippogriff

Coffee and Walnut Cake from the Morrisons "The Best" range? Or some boutique cakery? If the former, why bother to slice it? If the latter, a large slice would be costly... and you'd have to do a take-out, right? Spoils it all.

heavykarma

Made with my own fair hands,and not from a mix..I must admit though that being served cake or desert in a café is the best thing of all, as long as they are not stingy with the portions..Can't wait,I have a plan of places to visit.If I was up north I would be doing all the Betty's Tea Rooms-yum!

Hippogriff


denyason

thank you for the replies, sorry for the delay- i'm not getting notifications?  I wish i could have the house vacated but the £1000 monthly rent is paying for my car's finance.  She is on ne month rolling contract so i want to evict her when home is sold so not losing out on income.

Simon Pambin

One or two observations:

They do a decent slab of home-made at St Nick's church (or they did before the world went strange).

There isn't really such a thing as a one month rolling contract. You'll need a minimum of two months' notice to get her out, three in the current situation and a lot more if she makes it difficult.

That must must be a pretty nice car.

heavykarma

Simon there's a rumour that the deli on the hill will be doing takeaways this week-be still my beating heart.
Hippogriff-what is "Sandy"?
Jesus,no car is worth putting such financial pressure on yourself Denyason.

Hippogriff

Quote from: denyason on June 11, 2020, 10:31:08 AMI wish i could have the house vacated but the £1000 monthly rent is paying for my car's finance.

Then it's entirely possible you are sailing too close to the wind, or flying too close to the sun.

It's been pointed out - because it's true - that it's much more difficult to arrange a sale with a Tenant in there. Not only is it less appealing to the buyer... it is almost impossible for you to guarantee vacant possession within a certain timeframe... say, a Completion Date... is this making sense to you?

So... a buyer comes around, and sees the state of the house, and the fact there's a Tenant in - they want to live there, not be a Landlord so they make a lowball offer and you accept it because you have no other offers... but, of course, they demand vacant possession. You have to agree - you have no other choice. You go and serve notice on your Tenant... and they don't agree. They don't maybe tell you - but you're sat there thinking the property will be empty in two months (or so) and it turns out it isn't... your buyer may pull out or try to extract compensation from you... your Tenant is still your Tenant, still in the property - and you are impotent - you can't do anything. All you can do is start the legal process - which will cost you £s and much time and frustration... maybe 8 weeks or 12 weeks or more you get a Possession Order but it is ignored too... more weeks pass, more £s and you eventually get a physical eviction... and your buyer is long-gone.

Just be careful.

Hippogriff


Hippogriff


heavykarma

I am laughing so much tears are running down my legs.

denyason

Quote from: Hippogriff on June 11, 2020, 01:39:57 PM
Quote from: Simon Pambin on June 11, 2020, 10:59:44 AMThat must must be a pretty nice car.

It must be a Ranger Rove.
good guess, a vogue.  i'm struggling to get email notifications to work on this site, that probably sums me up.  thanks for the advice.

Hippogriff

#19
It's to encourage you to come in each day... waste a bit of time here... don't just come for the pressing issue you have... come to socialise... talk about cake, or Ranger Roves, [try to] make others laugh... or cry.

Fine car for a Landlord, BTW... as is some kind of Porschya SUV. I would stop all this bank transfer nonsense too... go round each Friday night and collect in £20 notes. I see it happen. I observe. What else is a Ranger Rove temporarily, but regularly, doing on a Council estate, say for 30 to 40 minutes or so... oh, right... I see  :-[

I bet you can get a full-sized couch in that. You can't in my Mazda CX-5... it's my greatest disappointment. If Jeep hadn't delivered me a crap car and then treated me like crap with my Cherokee I might have even offered to buy the Grand Cherokee they loaned me for close to 5 months (while they scratched their heads over my car)... I did some sofas, boy, did I. And a bed frame. Trouble is - that knackered-up too... after 500 miles on the clock (brand new when they loaned it to me - >£50,000 car. Terrible terrible cars. Mazda is quite nice, if a bit small... has a HUD. It's like I'm in a video game.

denyason

thought landlords were all rich?  was making a lot more with some flats in newcastle city for airbnb, often £100 pn in a 3 bed, often sold out each month.  Normal rent would be 900 pm.  but that was stopped by the property maintenance co.
interesting how old other members are? 
its the range rover vogue- the one you see boris, prince william in.
jeep & mazda absolutely no good . stick with german cars.  range rover is nice but breaks down.  my bro has a tesla- awful car, road noise is horrendous, build quality too, need to motions to open a bloody door!  gimmicks like farting seats only do so much.

heavykarma

This is all very interesting boys,but can we get down to the serious stuff.What is your position on cake Denyason?

Hippogriff

#22
I'm a connoisseur of cheesecakes HeavyKarma... but, then, I guess you knew that.

Jeep and Mazda no good? Stick to German? Horror! I had 3 A4s... every one of them had pretty serious issues I needed to go to Service for... I remember standing there, in the Audi Service queue (at 08:00 one morning, as they forced you to turn up at that time and wait) and the man behind me leaned in and whispered - "they really make you feel like shit here, don't they?" - he had it. The Mazda seems to just run, which is nice. No experience of Service yet - fingers-crossed (can't carry a couch though - and lengths of wood are restricted to a mere 3 metres - I got longer than that in the Jeep - although I did crack the windscreen - or, should I say, the windscreen somehow ended up cracked).

Cheesecake cannot be super airy and fluffy, you feel cheated... best to have a serious bit of density. The base shouldn't be overwhelming... it doesn't need to support the cake - it's not getting airborne... a thin base is absolutely fine - let's focus on the main event people!

heavykarma

Agreed, cheesecake needs some heft and richness.Best ever was in New York.

denyason

Quote from: heavykarma on June 12, 2020, 12:07:41 PM
This is all very interesting boys,but can we get down to the serious stuff.What is your position on cake Denyason?
a victoria sponge perhaps but i'm more of a pie man, steak n kidney and the other one.

heavykarma

Don't get me started on Victoria sponge.An ex-boyfriend refused to eat them,his thing was apple pie.He ran off with another woman,who I later met.I had assumed it was her DD cups that attracted him,but no,she said he could not get enough of her Victoria sponge (I assumed this was not a euphamism ) This cake will for ever be associated with lying cheating scumbags for me.

Hippogriff

He wouldn't eat your Victoria Sponge, but he would eat hers? That's pretty low. Amazing how a conversation can turn to the important bits, though... I mean, unless you think she knew exactly where to aim her arrow with you?

Anyway, association like that, though, can be dangerous... it's how Landlords end up having blanket bans on Tenants with pets, innit? I'd eat your Victoria Sponge... a good one, it has to be generous, is a lovely thing to me.

heavykarma

Thank you Hippogriff, this has brought  me closure on a very distressing episode.On the subject of pets,the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes reports that so many people are now going to continue working from home to some degree,there is an unprecedented surge in people adopting rescues.I hope landlords will give fair consideration to tenants who request permission.The worst damage by far in my experience is done by humans,it is not such a big risk to allow pets. 

Hippogriff


heavykarma