UK Landlord Forum / Life

I have a downstairs loo that has a Saniflow toilet and I have had a brand new pump fitted.  The house has a chimney and I have also had the chimney swept prior to new tenants moving in.

I would like to add a clause in the AST that the tenants ensure that the chimney is cleaned annually and, should the Saniflow pump malfunction due to misuse, that they will be liable.  Can I?  Would it be legally binding?

Your help is appreciated, as always :-)

You can add these clauses.

If I were you, I would draw their attention to it and ensure they're still happy to sign. Maybe get them to initial at the side of the specific clause on the copies oft he AST you will both have. Alternatively, you could raise the monthly rent by the price of a chimney sweeping / 12 and then change the clause to say "The Landlord will pay for the chimney to be swept once per year and the Tenant will need to be available for this to occur." or something like that.

If my attention was drawn to the presence of a Saniflo in the property, I would rather quickly be walking in the opposite direction.... breaking into a trot. Again, I would draw attention to it specifically - always best to be up front, and possibly get them to initial it. However, the toilet system is a fixture and fitting and usually the Landlord would be responsible for maintaining these... you are inviting trouble (in more ways than one) by having a 'specialist device' in your property! In the UK we don't usually need to be that careful when we're using the toilet!

Why would you sweep the chimney every twelve months?

What if its not used?

What if they use cheap coal, and it needs to be twice?

What if the Saniflow is faulty and they did nothing wrong ?

What if one of your tradesmen crept in has a crap crept out again and broke it?

I am not trying to be difficult, just understand the predicament you are in!

Personally I would think that you should hike the rent to cover these items and get it sorted yourself. Make it clear that if the Saniflow breaks it will not be repaired as it is not part of the lease. They are pretty rubbish things when abused.

Good luck mind.