Can my landlord charge me a call out fee?

PasturesNew

bellrooster wrote: »

I think it's rather cheeky asking for £20, Who cares if it's between a Landlord and a tennant - I would happily pop out for a few minutes to do something to help someone in a spot of bother, I wouldn't want paying for it.

Being a landlord is a business though. This isn't popping out to help a mate out. And maybe the landlord has another business he's left to attend the callout. Time is money. £20 is a lot of money to many people, but that doesn't mean the LL should do it for free. For the service provided it's a very fair fee based on effort/time required on his behalf.

What industry do you work in that can give up its time to easily/freely?

prudryden

In the world of common sense according to the Landlords Bible: Treat your tenants as you would want them to treat you.

BitterAndTwisted

23 posts over a measly 20 quid! Not even worth starting a thread over, I reckon.

prudryden

5 min. walk to let someone in at £20 = £240/hour. Now that's not bad. I've been missing out here. It only takes me 1 min. to get to my properties. £20/min. = £1200/hr. Many thanks guys for the wakeup call. Too bad two of the flats don't lock themselves out at the same time. That would be £2400/hr.
Wow!!!

When your contract comes to an end, be sure not to give any notice. The void for even one day will cost the LL more than the £20.

clutton_2

do lets stop nannying tenants - again.... they are grown up adults and need to behave in an adult manner......

services cost money

i bet OP does not do this again - and i am sure the £20 was to ensure exactly that......

FATBALLZ

A lot of people seem to be missing the point here, yes it is cheaper than a locksmith, however for a 10 minute walk the landlord is charging an enormous fee just to make a few quid. No wonder society is going downhill if people are so quick to take advantage of each other when they need a hand and people think this is ok.

cnoelj

The OP probably wont want to ask another question in here for fear of being talked down to in a hectoring manner again.

boliston

I'd say the landlord is being very charitable agreeing to disrupt whatever he was doing to go and let a tenant in who had locked themselves out, and only charging £20.

prudryden

clutton wrote: »

do lets stop nannying tenants - again.... they are grown up adults and need to behave in an adult manner......

services cost money

i bet OP does not do this again - and i am sure the £20 was to ensure exactly that......

Clutton - What happened to you? You have done a complete turn around on your attitude to tenants. You used to be "treat them with decency and they will treat you with decency". Was it that one girl who lied and took advantage of your helpfulness? If so, I can understand.

RobertoMoir

bellrooster wrote: »

I think it's rather cheeky asking for £20, Who cares if it's between a Landlord and a tennant - I would happily pop out for a few minutes to do something to help someone in a spot of bother, I wouldn't want paying for it.

Contrived examples ahead, I know but what if the LL missed an opportunity to make £20 profit in another business venture while servicing their tenant's request. Would it still be wrong then?

What if they could have made between £20 and £40 in that time? Still wrong? Even when they charged the lower part of that fee? What if they interrupted a romantic dinner because they knew the tenant was standing out in the freezing cold, and spent the £20 on flowers to apologise to their partner? Still wrong?

See the point yet? If I was round the corner and wasn't doing anything better I probably wouldn't charge - not for the first time anyway. But I could.