My tenant left a ground floor window on the latch & went away for a few days, the window bracket was forced open & property burgled. They expect me to pay for the window repairs but this wouldn’t have happened if the window had been properly closed. I can’t see anywhere in the tenancy agreement where it states this is necessary to quote them. Any advice please ?
Its your obligation to maintain the structure of the buiuding.
This would ordinarily be an ‘insured event’, on your buildings policy. However, the tenants actions of leaving the property insecure possibly will result in that claim being declined. hence, on the OR AST is says
“9.36. Not to do anything to or on the Premises that has the effect of invalidating the insurance that the Landlord has taken out in accordance with clause 11.6. The Landlord shall provide the Tenant with a summary of the relevant insurance requirements if requested to do so.”
This may or may not apply to you, as you haven’t stated which agreement your tenancy is covered by or what it says.
This said, if the claim were approved the repair would likely cost less than an excess (or premium increase), so you would probably not claim anyway, in which case, just get it repaired at your cost.
Who is 'they expect ’ - insurance Co or tenants? Yes as LL you get repaired your responsibility to do repairs if windows or doors damaged. You don’t want someone else doing a bodge it’s the security of your property.
It’s damage caused by tenant’s actions. The fact the actual damage was done by a third party (burglars) is irrelevant. Get repaired then charge tenants the cost, exactly the same as if a guest of theirs caused damage, or if they left property empty during winter without heating thermostat set at 10c min and pipes froze and burst.
TA will say that they are responsible for damage they cause - quote them the relevant clause. It’s not wear n tear not an external event like storm damage.
If needed claim from deposit when they leave.
Good luck
Keep all details and make a claim from their deposit if they refuse to pay.
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I would say the tenants are correct to be honest.
There’s no guarantee that whoever broke in wouldn’t have forced this or another window if this window was fully closed. Being on the latch is, as far as I would expect, secure. A crowbar and an appropriate set of tools can get through a window on the latch or fully closed. In some ways, you might expect the damage done would be less because the window was on the latch.
You’re legally required to maintain the structure of the property, including repairing this window. You can request the tenants repay you, but it seems they’re unlikely to just pay up. Fundamentally, they didn’t damage it, nor permit someone else to damage it.
I always imagine trying to convince a judge that it was the tenant’s fault (that may be your only option to get the money anyway). If I can’t imagine that going well, I just pay for the repairs.
Maybe an example I had. Tenants phoned up late evening, the front door lock had broken, and they’d left a key inside the back door. Maybe someone could argue that the tenants could have some level of blame because if they hadn’t left a key in the other door they would still have been able to get in. But in reality, it was my broken door lock that caused the issue, so I paid for an emergency locksmith call out.
In your case, you could argue there was some minor contribution by the tenant, but fundamentally the issue was caused by a burglar, out of control of the tenant.
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Erm if it was left on the latch and partially open (eg as if to ventilate following ckeaning) it wouldn’t have been secure and then it would them be tenant 's fault just as if they had left a front door open.
We don’t know exactly but implication of OP is tenants left unsecured (“not properly closed”).otherwise there obviously wouldn’t be any issue about who is to pay
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I disagree. I often leave windows on the latch to allow ventilation. I presume when the OP says this, she means on the setting where the window is slightly open, but the handle is locked down, so the window can’t be opened from the outside unless someone uses a crowbar or something.
If I were the tenant, I might also argue that’s secure. Otherwise, why does the landlord provide windows with that setting? What else is it for other than to provide a secure means of ventilation?
But in the end, the OP can’t force payment as she has a legal duty to repair it. She either has to convince the tenant to pay her back (which they seem unwilling to do, maybe asking for partial payment might work), wait until the end of the tenancy and try to deduct it from the deposit, take the tenant to court over it, or just accept that a burglary is one of those things and pay up.
Personally, I can’t imagine either a judge or the deposit dispute people siding with the landlord on this.
It sucks, but it’s part of owning property.
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We just don’t know but if it was not secure (eg more than slightly open) the landlord has a bit of a case. If it was secure I agree the LL certainly shouldn’t try asking tenant to pay, but OP suggests LL thinks it wasn’t left fully secure (“not properly closed”).
If I was in LL’s position I would get advice from my insurance company based on how it was actually left not your or my guesses. If an insurance Co consider that how it was left was secure then of course the insurance should cover. If not then it’s the tenant 's responsibility. Tenant has a responsibility to properly close windows and leave secure when going on holiday so if they did that to the standard expected by an insurance company, fair enough. And any tribunal/deposit scheme and the LL should accept their view.as should the tenant.
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