'compensation' or 'goodwill' to pay or not to pay?

mark474732

Hi Guys

We are new to renting having tried to sell without success

Four months in and the house has some central heating issues..damp...flue needed to be fitted on the woodburner...amongst some little, non-essential repairs (quite a lot to have done in that time but nevertheless in the long term for the benefit of everyone)

To cut a long story short, everything we have been informed about, we have rectified always within days of being informed. We have now completed everything that needed to be done, at considerable cost to ourselves (approx 2 grand)

We hardly make any profit on the property, it is barely covering the mortgage, so it is not as though we are ripping anyone off.

To make matters worse, The tenants are adamant that they should receive some financial recompense(approx 2 weeks rent which we just cant afford on top of everything else) but as far as i am concerned, we have fulfilled our obligations as landlords and then some!

Would appreciate any advice if you have experience anything like this...

Have checked out the net and the only recompense info i can find is related to council properties.

Look forward to hearing from you

MX5huggy

If your side of the story is really how it is don't pay. On the other hand if the T have had to buy heaters and run them etc then maybe some payment is the right thing to do. I don't think they have a case.

mark474732

MX5huggy wrote: »

If your side of the story is really how it is don't pay. On the other hand if the T have had to buy heaters and run them etc then maybe some payment is the right thing to do. I don't think they have a case.

Hi yes it really is the case! I was thinking they may have had some extra cost due to using heaters (of which i left some in the property jsut in case)
then some recompense for this might be favourable. Even 100 is not acceptable. Also im of the thinking that if the gas wasnt used then the cost of the heaters balances out not using the gas?

indianropetrick

I would almost always fall on the side of the tenants in these sorts of debates but £2000 in four months sounds beyond reasonable and they should really consider themselves lucky to have such a conscientious landlord.

They sound like a bunch of chancers TBH and I would tell them straight that you're not prepared to pay them.......

mark474732

indianropetrick wrote: »

I would almost always fall on the side of the tenants in these sorts of debates but £2000 in four months sounds beyond reasonable and they should really consider themselves lucky to have such a conscientious landlord.

They sound like a bunch of chancers TBH and I would tell them straight that you're not prepared to pay them.......

Thats my worry. I mean we didnt rent the house out as 'a perfect world where nothing ever goes wrong' and ok its annoying to have things go wrong but if i had been a different type of LL i could have left a lot of the work outstanding. They wanted / needed it done and it was done.

We are renting ourselves and we have problems which have been completed asap and thats all i epxect from our LL. They obviously are just out for what they can get.... different if we were some big LL with many many properties potentially making a fortune but for two joe bloggs guys just trying to get by....sometimes i despair in people quite frankly!

Gingernutmeg

There should be no difference between you and any other landlord, regardless of how many other properties you or they have. It's a business, there's a way you should run it and it shouldn't make any difference how big you are. It really winds me up when you get landlords who say 'oh, I've only got one house, it's not really a serious business, the tenants shouldn't expect me to behave in the same way as someone who's got a lot of houses'. If you're taking rent off someone, it is serious and should be treated as such. Landlords don't tend to like it if a tenant turns round and says 'it's only rent, it doesn't really matter if I pay on time, it's not serious'. Professionalism works both ways. Sorry if this sounds ratty, but as I said it's something that winds me up.

I can't really understand why you rented the property out knowing that there were all these problems - to me, problems with central heating, damp, flues and a number of 'little' repairs (all adding up to 2k) sound a bit more than minor and a lot for any tenant to have to put up with. A few months of intrusion on the tenant to mend all of these things isn't really for 'everyones' long term benefit is it? Untimately it's for your benefit, not the tenant. They're paying for the use of the house, whether you choose to maintain your investment (and keep your tenants) is up to you. Personally I would offer them a small sum just to keep the peace, as being without heating etc probably has cost them money - you should work out what it'd cost you to find new tenants, and deal with a void, and see if it's any cheaper.

poppysarah

Gingernutmeg wrote: »

I would offer them a small sum just to keep the peace, as being without heating etc probably has cost them money - you should work out what it'd cost you to find new tenants, and deal with a void, and see if it's any cheaper.

That's a good point. That wouldn't cost 2k. You hope.

4 months in to their rental - have these problems been outstanding from the start?

mark474732

Gingernutmeg wrote: »

There should be no difference between you and any other landlord, regardless of how many other properties you or they have. It's a business, there's a way you should run it and it shouldn't make any difference how big you are. It really winds me up when you get landlords who say 'oh, I've only got one house, it's not really a serious business'. If you're taking rent off someone, it is serious and should be treated as such. Landlords don't tend to like it if a tenant turns round and says 'it's only rent, it doesn't really matter if I pay on time, it's not serious'. Professionalism works both ways. Sorry if this sounds ratty, but as I said it's something that winds me up.

I can't really understand why you rented the property out knowing that there were all these problems - to me, problems with central heating, damp, flues and a number of 'little' repairs (all adding up to 2k) sound a bit more than minor and a lot for any tenant to have to put up with. A few months of intrusion on the tenant to mend all of these things isn't really for 'everyones' long term benefit is it? Untimately it's for your benefit, not the tenant. They're paying for the use of the house, whether you choose to maintain your investment (and keep your tenants) is up to you. Personally I would offer them a small sum just to keep the peace, as being without heating etc probably has cost them money - you should work out what it'd cost you to find new tenants, and deal with a void, and see if it's any cheaper.

Thats the problem with forums. You cant tell what people are really like! My point as you will see from previous posts is that WE HAVe been professional - thats the point!

Allow me to point out a few things -
1. this is our first time renting out our house - we didnt know the chimney wasnt lined (put in by previous owners)
2. the property had a damp proof course put thorough before we left - the damp was later found to be penetrating (so not just a neglected feature)
3. Central heating issues were down to problems developing over time and was in full working order when we left.

These were the main issues, the others also arose after we left and were most certainly NOT left for them to contend with.

Also as I have said I have already offered them a small some and this has not been met with enthusiasm.

indianropetrick

Some bizarre responses here. The situation is very simple. Things have gone wrong and repairs have been needed which have been carried out promtly. Why should the tenants be allowed to live completely rent free for two weeks because of this or be given any compensation at all?

poppysarah

Put it in writing. You might want to join landlord association for the free legal advice.

(Who found out the flue wasn't lined?)

If central heating hasn't been off for more than a week then they dont stand a chance of claiming compo -

mchale

Hi, just a bit of advice, if you are going to give them a "goodwill payment" I would advise confirm it in writing to the tenants, and only give them the payment after they have vacated the property, that way you can see how they have treated your property, if they trash it, don't pay it to them.