UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi, I am a new Landlord & have just rented out the ex family home. The property has had thousands spent
on it (new boilier etc) but has been lived in & therefore has many blemeshes  which would all have been
visable when viewing the property. The letting agents survey is perfectly fair & reasonable & has highlighted
a few of these issues.
However, The tenant has attatched what can only be described as a 3 page snag list to the inventory; listing
everything from dents on doors,to paint marks on sockets to poorly painted tiles & some of the double glazing panels are blown. Whilst I appreciate my DIY is not the best all this was on view when she initially viewed the property on numerous occasions.
  I think the house is very nice & the critism has been quite hurtful.
  Can I please have the opinions of other landlords on what is basically here criticism of the "décor"
& decorative state of the house which I consider to be very nice for a 40 year old,lived in ex local authority property which is reflected in the rental price.
   Am I correct in assuming that because the professional inventory shows no issues & also because she signed the tenancy agreement "as seen" that I am under no obligation  to action the snag list she has provided
which would cost me far in excess of the six months rent I am likely to receive from her.     

Mate

2 points I'd probably raise
* you're renting out a previous personal possession and any maltreatment or perceived insults will be taken personally.
      Recommendation: let go, this is now an investment.

* the tenant has probably previously been stung for damage they didn't do so wants everything detailed
     Recommendation: take it as a positive; your tenant sounds very methodical and quite possibly a super tidy person, so their zealousness is a bonus, they may treat your place with kid gloves so not to pay for any further damage. She isn't picking on you, she's covering her backside from you deducting deposit monies.

The list is simply something to say that when they leave they will not be held liable for damage that was already existing. It sounds like your problem isn't with the tenant but whomever did your check-in inventory as it sounds quite different from how the tenant describes it. Get a new company to do it in future. I would not 'ignore' what the tenant has found, sounds like they did a better job than your company.

Another tip: you may find that the home was perfect and error free when you lived there, but in the 1st 12 months a fairy will magically break something each month, after this 1st 6-12 months it'll settle, just grin and bear it for a little while. Ignore the 100-200 quid bills, long term it'll be insignificant.

Good luck.

Cheers