UK Landlord Forum / Life

I'm a new landlord so your advice here would be gratefully received.   We've just let a property which is fully managed and let unfurnished.  The property was obviously inspected by both the current tenant and the managing agent at the start of the letting process.  The tenant is complaining that the hob is induction (this was made clear in the house details) and has requested that we provide saucepans as hers don't work.  The managing agent is also backing the tenant up on this after telling us they'd never heard of an induction hob(!).    Obviously it's quite a small thing - but it's one in a long list of requests/demands the tenant is making and the managing agent is passing on to us.  Do we need to provide the tenant with the pans when it was clear from the get go what the equipment in the house was?

Your thoughts most welcome!

Whats an induction hob?

why arnt the pans that can be used on it the same as any other pan?

If your T is on DSS mabe its a biger deal to them than you but im sure this not your problem to supply pans lol.

Hello Nulandlord,

You told your tenants it had an induction hob fitted.  Did you tell them what that means?  There is a world of difference between facts and their impacts.  In this case the fact is it's an induction hob.  The impact is that normal pans don't work.  If the tenant wants to move in then they will have to spend hundreds of pounds on re-buying all their pans from special metal alloy.

I did not know anything about induction hobs, so I researched it.  I found out induction hobs make up only a couple of percent of the cookers installed in modern new builds.  So as a recent invention, it probably represents under 1% of our housing stock.

If someone had told me the flat I was looking at had an "induction hob", I would have though: "Inducing a current creates resistance, which creates heat, so it's a normal hob".  And I've got science A-levels.  If someone told me that if I decided to move in I'd have to shell out a few hundred quid on pans for just the hob, I'd have chosen to move somewhere else, probably.

Your tenants are probably feeling really duped.  I think the least you could do is to buy a converter plate and provide that as something which stays in the flat as a benefit to all the tenants you have.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for replies.  Fact is induction hobs are safer (they don't get hot to the touch) and it doesn't have to cost any more to get stainless steel pans than aluminium, so cost isn't really a factor here.

If this was made clear then this is down to the tenant.

As you stated Nulandlord, they are not more expensive and are much safer as they only heat up the pans, not the surface. I would also point out to the tenant that having an induction hob is a luxury, they heat up much quicker than standard ceramic hobs, and most importantly, (if they are paying their own bills) is a lot more energy-efficient and cheaper to run, which is a good thing for them, not a bad thing. So whilst they may have to buy new pans, they will save in the long run.

So clearly stated and unfurnished, no you shouldn't have to provide anything, HOWEVER, getting off on the wrong foot is the last thing you want to do at the start of a tenancy, so why not point out the advantages above, and offer to maybe buy one set of pans to get them started, then they can buy the rest themselves.

Also, when you say this is mentioned in the house details, do you mean it actually says Induction Hob in black and white, perhaps in the inventory? If so, showing them this, and still offering to buy one set of pans... that's a good landlord in my book, and if they're somewhat decent tenants, they will appreciate this.

Good luck!

I agree, a good will gesture like providing some pots/pans (which must be added to the inventory and are expected to be returned at the end of the tenancy) is a good plan.