Internal Maintenance

Hi John, my thoughts on your issues are that:
The tenant has to maintain the property to the same standard that it was originally entrusted to him/her at the start of the tenancy. I would instruct the tenant to decorate and if they declined or ignored the request I would state that they were in breach of the contract and I would enable a contractor to decorate the house back up to standard and bill the tenant… this generally has the desired effect of getting the dirty tenant to decorate ( I always add a number of other clauses to the STA and get them to sign it) I also state that carpets are not included in the tenancy although it’s a bit of a grey area down to the “fair wear and tear”and the tenant must replace them with same quality carpets when they exit the property.
The tenant lack of care with the cleaning of the cooker can be described as negligence in care of the Landlords equipment and should they refuse to clean it you can get a professional company in who specialise in oven cleaning the charge for this should be passed onto the tenant. I had one tenant who thought I was being unreasonable at the end of a tenancy by charging them for oven cleaning which I simply deducted from his deposit .
Sadly some tenants don’t have pride in their rented homes further fuelled by he obvious fact that it doesn’t belong to them and they abuse the contents you include in the property.
I deliberately do not supply any white-goods or indeed anything other than the boiler inside a house as it’s there for them to abuse and an argument of who’s responsibility it is to repair or replace if required.
Carpets maybe a bit negotiable and if it isn’t possible then perhaps it’s time the rent was reviewed. I would recommend the “Burber” weave of carpet as it’s very hard wearing and choose a darkish flecked pattern colour as it doesn’t easily show stain and always insist that the tenant agrees to insure the soft furnishings that you include in their tenancy along with their own items which makes replacement by accidental damage easier and no cost to you.

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Oddly I had the exact same issue with one of my tenants. Just goes to show how irresponsible some tenants can be, and it’s not a minority.

We have similar suppliers in our area, W. Yorks, at about £5 /m. I also now use this in bedrooms and some of my older properties that don’t have laminate.

Yes, dark grey with coloured flecks, always.

Before I moved overseas, I set up a penthouse apt. with expensive bespoke wool carpets for our own occupation, then subsequently decided to rent as we have no inclination to return. The second lot of tenants introduced carpet moths into a built in wardrobe, probably from market stall or charity shop clothing. Thankfully it hadn’t spread around the whole apt. by the time they left and my agent spotted it, so they paid, reluctantly, for the fumigation. Fingers crossed it doesn’t recur…

Hi Alex,

Welcome to the landlord business.

You have my sincere sympathies, as I know exactly what you are going through.

We also provide top quality properties for rent, and yes it hurts when tenants abuse them in such a manner. It’s hard to detach your feelings, even though they are business units, particularly when you’ve put so much effort and money into providing good accommodation for such ungrateful and uncaring tenants.

Deposits are no way adequate to compensate for bad tenants, and unfortunately the majority of the costs will always land on your doorstep.

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Hi Alex, Yes, it appears all you say in your mail is true, I’ve also experienced the ‘drunken damage’ situation and fully agree about the government.

It appears the situation between you and your present tenants is never going to improve so now that you’re between the inevitable rock and hard place, it might be time to cut your losses and go straight for a Section 21 Repossession of Property. It will be no good improving your tenants mode of living only to have it destroyed again. Try to keep to the exact letter of the law and get a Section 21 underway. I’m towards the end of a similar situation where tenants refuse to pay rent. You will have to wait the obligatory 8 weeks (with or without rent) and then if they haven’t moved out, go for an accelerated repossession - hopefully only a two week wait. Do this all online which will cost you less.

It’s not fair that Landlords have to go through this but at least you can then start afresh - rehash your Contract to include a few items you have learnt, and at least have peace of mind.

Section 21 - repossession with ‘no reason’ clause. DO IT, don’t let the b… win. Good Luck, Jacqui

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give them a section 21 notice to quit whilst you still can. get the carpet cleaned and maybe a spruce up decoration wise for new tenants. i to recommend tenants to hire in appliances esp where a free standing cooker. if its as bad as you say you have really let these tossers live rent free. oh and never use mydeposits for deposit they are are hopelessly biased towards tenants

Thanks Sidney, yes yourself and many other landlords agree with you that a Section 21 is the way forward. The carpets looked expensive, but were just £8 /meter, never seen carpet as cheap as £4/meter, but I’m based down south so I’m guessing I have to pay southern prices! Did see some carpet for £6/meter, but when I mentioned it was for a rental, the chap said don’t bother, “it won’t last 5 minutes”, and directed me towards their landlords favourite. The kitchen is fully fitted with built-in appliances, but with hind sight, as you and others have recommended, would have been better to have left space for free standing cooker etc, but to do that now would mean hacking a 2 year old kitchen apart.

I totally agree Jacqui, cut your losses Alex and get rid now to save yourself more heartache. I’ve never been repaid in kind for giving bad / dirty tenants the benefit of the doubt and a second chance. A leopard never changes its spots…

Remember the adage - an empty property is better than a bad tenant.

Take your time with the next ones and vet them well, and learn to read between the lines of their stories / circumstances.

DPS are the same, totally biased in favour of the tenants.

Built in ovens are cheaper than free standing cookers, and can be cleaned. Ceramic hobs also are easily cleaned.

I’m not sure about your area but Kirklees Housing Department set minimum standards for size and facilities in rental properties, and as I recall a cooking facility is a minimum requirement, maybe also a food storage facility, i.e. fridge.

This is only my personal experience in respect to flat conversions, wherein the plans have to be vetted by the housing department, I couldn’t say if the rules are applicable to single family residences, but I would have thought so.