SMF - Just Installed!

Please help me

Started by Leggeyuk, November 28, 2011, 12:51:57 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Leggeyuk

Hi

New to being a landlord (ish) need some advice from experience, here is my conundrum.......

Tennants allways pay on time however they last xmas caused condensation damage, we supplied de humidifiers which they turned off because of the cost, we fitted extractors in the bathroom and the kitchen and they rewired the bathroom one to not come on with the light (electrician told us they had done it as it would have never worked in the first place if they didnt and i saw it working), they have put in a water meter (arggggh) without saying anything and south west water say i have no rights as the meter is on the street.

They have ripped up the hallway wood flooring and stolen my spare flooring from the loft and used that, decided to rip up the stairs carpet and paint the stairs.

Now i am in the forces and have just come back from the middle east to all this, what would you do? On one hand they pay their rent but on another they get me sooo angry. They seem to think it is there house to do as they please, i respect that they live there but if they want a house where everything is their way then BUY one!!!!!

HELP me please as next step is going mental on their ass and i could do without a court injunction for harrassment.


Armin

Breathe deeply. It can be really really upsetting, it makes the blood boil and you're getting a really sour stomach. I know the feeling.

Don't let it get to you. The water meter thing is done and over with. Nothing which can be done now.

What I think you should do now is to find a friend or relative to rant at. That will give you great relief and relieve some of the pressure inside you. Pressure you can't afford to pass on to the tenants. What I'd do next is simply to give them the appropriate notice periods notice. If they're too stingy to properly vent the place, that problem will not go away and they'll cause more and more condensation damage and will make it out to be your fault. Give them notice under section 21 (read up how to do it properly, have knowledge folks double-check it, it's basically "i want my property back and it's not your fault, just want it back when tenancy expires)) and then find some new tenants. Better to eat a few months of the property being empty at moderate heating and "recovering", than to end up with a huge renovation bill when they decide to move out because your property has become inhabitable.

My 2p.

Leggeyuk

Thanks armin, its even harder because we were stupid enough to rent to someone my wife has known for 25 years and she is not the problem its her fella that does all this.

Jeremy

Hello Leggey,

Sorry to hear of all your troubles.  Armin is right.  Find a good friend to vent your frustrations at.  Then draw up your plan to legally evict them.  And gather all the evidence you need to retain all the deposit money (I can't beleive you took more than it will cost to remediate all their unauthorised DIY jobs).

My extra observations would be: As you're forces, they might take advantage of your being posted abroad to ensure you fail various deadline dates in the process.  It might be worth while appointing a solicitor to handle the eviction for you.  Not the best value for money you'll ever get, but you will not find the process running away from you.

Also, you'll then need to decide if you want to bounce back from this one set of wally tenants or throw in the towel.  If you stick with it, then I suggest you explore using a letting agent for fully managed service.  I'd usually say this is wasted money, as they take a large (10% to 15%) cut, but they do vet tenants (which cuts out many bad people) and if you're abroad you can hassle the agent to make sure your presence is felt by the tenant, via them.

Finally, regarding the damp itself.  What kind of a bathroom and kitchen do you have?  I do wonder if a room which can only be kept dry with extractors has some deeper problem.  I've found extractors inefficient and noisy and if I were a tenant I'd turn them off if I could (but not by fiddling with the electrics!).  I wonder if it's worth getting a builder in to see if you can increase the ventilation to these rooms.

Don't let the personal connections cloud your judgement.  You have got to do what's right for you.  If they'd have behaved properly, they would have not put you in this position.  It's not your fault.

Seeing how you're willing to risk everything to protect our interests in the UK, you just don't deserve this from people.  I hope everything works out for you.

Leggeyuk

sorry i have took long to reply as i have been enjoying some leave!!!!!!!!!

jeremy in relations to the rooms and the damp, a suveyor that specialises in rental properties says it is 100% them causing the problems and i only gave them dehumidifiers and added extractors as a goodwill gesture, the kitchen and bathroom had no damp but would help he rest of the property, i havent got round to dealing with them yet as i want to enjoy a tennant free break and they are still paying rent so it can wait for the minute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am converting it to a 3 bed from a 2 bed and basically the rent will be too much for them to afford and their lease is up soon, so effectively i will be pricing them out and thus allowing my wife not to fall out with the tennants family, wouldnt be so bad but we cut the rent by £600 a year so they could afford it in the first place!

Armin

Sounds like you have a plan which might work well for you. You will want to make sure that you do the inspection with them on the day they move out. Just after they took out all their belongings and pronounced the place ready for you to take possession back. Any mold/fungus damages due to their lifestyle will reveal themselves there and then.

One thing for you to consider is to install humidistat extractor fans, hardwired. They come on when the humidity exceeds a preset value and hopefully no tenants will be able to disable them. Frankly I don't understand how that can work with its fuse which invariably will have to be fitted, but I am just parrotting what I have read elsewhere and I'd find worthwhile to look into.

Topseyt

An interesting read for me, as I am also having a few problems of my own with a tenant causing a condensation problem and being reluctant to run the dehumidifier (which I also supplied) because of cost.

You could really almost have been describing one of my own sagas.

At least mine did not rip up flooring though.  I would have been furious if they had, as I had just had to replace all carpets following a burst pipe in the bathroom.

Jeremy

Hi Topsyet

Have you looked up the power consumption of a dehumidifier?  And worked how much it is likely to cost to run on a domestic tarrif?  Might help you persuade your tenant to press the "On" switch?!

ciaraboo

My thoughts - if they have fiddled with the electrics, make sure it was done by a qualified electrician - it's your responsibility! This means that, if a new tenant moves in, gets an electric shock from the poor wiring/electrics done previously your head is on the line. Further details here http://lovemypad.com/landlord-obligations-electricity-2/

As previously mentioned, Section 21 notice is the way to go - however it is VERY VERY VERY important to do it properly. Visit www.landlordlaw.com for more advice, and more importantly to see what can happen if you do it wrong.

Finally, they may be family friends but if they are showing such lack of respect for your property........boot them out!

Hope some of this helps!

FOOTNOTE - this could also be of interest http://lovemypad.com/damage-unfurnished-properties-costing-landlord-thousands/

Topseyt

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for the reply.  We did some time ago try to check out about how much it would cost to run the dehumidifier.  We believe that if it is run at full tilt then it would cost between £1 and £1.50 per day to run, so £46-ish per month IF run 24 hours a day.  However, once the condensation problem has come under control (happened a little while ago now) you can begin to significantly turn down the humidistat (or whatever it is called) on them so that it runs at a lower level and uses much less. 

Our tenant has his mother as his guarantor.  She has tried to insist that the dehumidifier alone is responsible for her son's exhorbitant power usage and wanted a monthly discount of £100 from the rent.  We have turned down the demand there, and reminded her of her position as guarantor.

The flat has single-glazed windows which are now in need of replacement.  They do get a fair bit of condensation on them, so we are planning in the early part of this year to replace them with proper double-glazing with the type of frame that has some vents built into it.  The dehumidifier is there as a temporary solution in the meantime, whilst we get the money together to do the windows.  We have had to spend quite a lot on the flat recently, on maintenance and replacement carpets, throughout, some new lighting and a new bathroom heater, so need to build up some money in the pot again now.  ::)

The trouble with it all can be that tenants and their families think landlords are just sitting on a fortune with no outgoings etc.  Not true.   :(