I’m new to renting and I have a woman renting my house. The curtain poles were in perfect working order a year ago when she moved in but she’s just sent me a WA saying that the pole and curtain in one of the bedrooms belonging to her daughter (8 years old) has mysteriously just come down. I want to help but, is it my responsibility or hers? I would of course rectify anything serious but this is a grey area as I don’t know the cause of this. Welcome advice please before I get back to her.
Thanks Karl. I can’t get there till the weekend though. I’ve Googled time frame and 14 days is a rough guideline. So if she wants to do something about it before then she can, but I don’t want to be given and invoice to pay if she does get someone in to fix it.
Googling who’s responsible.It also states that it’s the tennant that should get it fixed. However to keep things as they are I’ll action it. Non urgent jobs can take 14 days if needed.
It’s a fixture and fitting you have installed. You are responsible for repairing it if it has failed during normal use due to wear and tear or improper installation. Unless you have evidence the tenant caused damage through negligence or misuse which led to it falling down, you repair it. It’s going to be hard to prove if the child pulled on it in the wrong way.
Wouldn’t do any harm to ask if they can send you photos of the damaged area and of the fittings that have come out, saying it’ll help to understand how it came out so you can make sure it doesn’t happen again, but without implying any blame (which tenant is unlikely to admit on behalf of her child). If the screws/rawlsplugs or fittings are bent /out of shape - which would need some force- then that could be evidence and you could at least then repair and then show the tenant/child how to use the curtains in future to avoid it happening again (tactfully without implyingany blame). If however the screws/rawlplugs/fittings became loose just because of normal pulling down on the curtains when opening/closing them, then they shouldn’t be out of shape I’d think, generally. Even then educating the tenant/child to pull the curtains gently from the side of the window and not down or away from the wall, to avoid future issues, may be helpful (tactfully again)
If tenant had installed it would be their responsibility.
It may say in your tenancy agreement who is responsible. Whilst some tenants would repair it needs more diy skills than say changing a light bulb (which is part of ‘behaving in a tenant like way’). Presumably either new deeper/thicker rawlplugs and screws or drilling new holes for the fittings & you’ll want new rawlplugs and to fill the old holes.
Most people would count as a non urgent repair so 14 days (I’ve seen online ‘up to 28’) sounds fair. Equally its a privacy issue for the daughter if the lack of curtains means others can look in so fair to fix in weeks and def not months…
Most people who put up curtain poles use the wall plugs and screws provided.. I sling them, use my own ,longer screws and wall plugs Same with shower screens and so on . You never know the weight of curtains going up on a rail
If I as LL put the pole up prior to move in and it’s on the inventory, I’d sort it asap myself. I’d also be cautioning them to be more careful. Curtain poles I install don’t just fall down.