Am I suppose to go and change the bulb every time the tenant calls me… part of me thinks it is better that i do it than her messing up something… part of me is slightly fed up by parenting her… she says she does not know how to remove the cover etc… than i have to go, change it for her and bring a bulb…What do you think/do guys? Cheers
I change a bulb for an OAP tenant but not for the younger ones. or put a fitting up that does not have a cover.
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I agree with Colin3 although I think that most OAPs would change a standard bulb with a bayonet or Eddison screw fitting. I have come across some of these modern fittings which are not so straight forward. I have a spot light in my own house which is inside the shower enclosure, so has a cover to protect from possible water penetration. It is not straight forward to remove the cover.
Anyway, as far as your tenant is concerned, it is not urgent. I would do it at a time that is convenient to me and use the opportunity to also carry out an inspection.
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Is this some kind of special lightbulb?
I would never even consider changing a lightbulb. That’s certainly part of the everyday maintenance the tenant is responsible for.
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yes the bathroom lights should have a cover to protect. Depends on location. Change to L e d ?
What does your tenancy agreement say about consumables such as bulbs, batteries, toilet rolls etc?
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I hope it does not say landlord has to supply toilet rolls
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Toilet rolls Lol. Be a bit strange having the tenant call you every time they ran out f loo roll.
While your here the remote control for the TV as stopped working, could you replace the batteries for me.
well it does not … we are using standard Open rent contract… mayeb they should add somethign about it…
Its best to have something in the TA about consumables so that there is no wriggle room for a tenant attempting to claim disrepair in a s8 claim just because of a few blown lightbulbs. I think its likely that a judge would ignore a tenants protests about this, but now that they can get legal representation in an eviction hearing, a clever lawyer might be able to swing it.
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Just imagine LL standing in front of the bathroom with a pack of toilet rolls each time T does his business, just in case he ran out of it and needs more. Then passing a new one through the door. With renters’ reform act coming, that may become legal responsibility of LL, for all you know ))).
We did have a T who didn’t know how to change a lightbulb. We also had a T who wanted us to replace batteries in a smoke alarm. When we refused, she just left it without batteries. Luckily, not on our time, but when we lived in a shared house as young people, one T lost the keys and smashed the window to get it. He thought finding a locksith was too much trouble.
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From my experiance the young tenants have less of the “old” common sense… and now they are getting more protection by law … I wonder where we are going… maybe in the direction of toilet rolls … the “power” dynamics are changing… usually who holds the power holds the responsibility … but in many other aspects of life (and work) i feel that those who hold responsibilities are robbed off of their power to maintain responsibilities. For example at work i have the responsibility to deliver the projects but dont have authority to ask people to work on it… those with power confuse it with entitlement… how did we get here… anyhow i am going to tesco now to buy the rolls 
who knows maybe i will need them soon … and i want to be responsible
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If your tenant doesn’t know how to change the light bulb, I suggest that you give her the phone numbers of a couple of local electricians and make clear that should she decide to use their services she would be responsible for their fees.
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My ex tenants who I am in court with demanded lights, food, desks, mirrors, cleaning items, paint, bleach, mould remover. Begged to stay after causing mould that my electrician had never seen in his life. anyhow to the point. I finally noticed my AST stated tenants were responsible for changing light bulbs, after they charged me 16 sterling per bulb for years. When I pointed this out the the tenants. They changed them. Landlord V Nanny State - round one to landlady. Next round involved said landlady selling up completelty.
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AirBnB, maybe?
I’ve been in this country for many years. I still can’t understand this nanny state phenomenon. In Ukraine you’re on your own. Government doesn’t care about rugtug of you, you don’t give a d**n about the government. A bit like separated partners who interact only when they have to.
Is it a government’s desire to control? I’ve never seen such amount of helplessness/immaturity anywhere else.
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HI Tim, yes I am doing air B&B at present for my two HMO’s but then the spotty youth who was managing it got a windfall because I brought in a Contractor who paid 6k for the month… and he decided not to pay Me… He’s not going to know what’s hit him, professionally I mean.
Yes I’ve lived most of my adult life in a 15 min city, there are Agents who find you a flat but there are zero managing agents because we don’t need them, people pay the rent. There are no gas safety checks… well we dont have boilers! no EICRs, no PAT Tests, no Fire Smoke requirements… Its kind of if you are stupid enough to burn the flat down you shouldn’t be renting. I am totally with you on the Nanny state comment it’s mind boggling. I mean who needs fire exit pictures on each floor - if they came in through the front door - one would assume that was the fire exit… I guess not the case in UK tho. There was a fire where I live recently… maybe a gas explosion, whole district had not power for a good hour or so… but no one was up in arms suggesting a long list of expensive regulations. We were all just worried for the person.
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We had tenants like this.They were a lovely couple, perfect tenants otherwise. They moved in a month before lockdown, no quibbles about paying their rent. It appeared that they were very worried that they would cause damage and lose their deposit. Toilet seat hinge broke, as did shower rail, we replaced those. Screws came loose in a door bar, did that. Then came the text to say that there were spiders ( possibly false widows) coming through a time gap between the wall and the ceiling. That one got ignored! Young tenants may not have basic equipment such as screwdrivers, or much sense!
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My tenants needed smoke alarm battery changed, which I noticed on inspection and asked them to change it. They are 3 students and they said they did not know how to change it. I got my husband to change it and showed them in case another one needs to be changed in the house. They are very polite and pay rent on time. My tenancy does state that the bulbs and batteries is the responsibility of the tenants. At least they asked me to do so. Some tenants leave without replacing lightbulbs or any smoke alarm batteries. They are charged at the end of the tenancy.
Some light covers or bulbs (GU10s) can be tricky to remove - I would show the tenant once, then it’s up to them. Alternatively use the LED lights with no changeable parts.
The OR AST puts responsibility on tenant