Are you Ok with workmen in your house when you are not there?

hellokitty08

Ohh I just let anyone come in to mine! Well not literally, but if the letting agency say they need to send some one round, I dont mind at all if they let themselves in, but then thats probably because I have nothing worth stealing. I have one newish TV, apart from that, I have nice things, just not expensive things. I doubt very much anyone would want to take anything from my house. And I doubt very much they would fit in to my size 22 pants or my mahoosive bras! hehehehe
I even have keys to three of my friends houses, and my mums. I have a work man doing some work at a friends house at the moment that I am looking after whilst he is away, he has keys. Nothing seems to have gone so far. (but then he is a contact from where I work)

Owain_Moneysaver

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

I absolutely hate renting. A colleague's washing machine broke at the same time as ours, they had a new one delivered in a couple of days. We had to go without for three weeks.

On the other hand when my fridge died my former landlord went and bought me a new one the next day; I don't think Argos deliver that quickly.

But yes, renting does mean a lack of control over things.

kmmr

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

On the other hand when my fridge died my former landlord went and bought me a new one the next day; I don't think Argos deliver that quickly.

But yes, renting does mean a lack of control over things.

Lack of control - yes, but also lack of having to pay for the new fridge/washing machine!

Wee_Willy_Harris

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

On the other hand when my fridge died my former landlord went and bought me a new one the next day; I don't think Argos deliver that quickly.

But yes, renting does mean a lack of control over things.

Lack of control? If your central heating breaks down (for example) as an owner/occ.... tough. No-one's going to help you. If you're a tenant, you have reams of legislation to FORCE the LL to discharge his duty towards you.

LittleMissAspie

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

Lack of control? If your central heating breaks down (for example) as an owner/occ.... tough. No-one's going to help you. If you're a tenant, you have reams of legislation to FORCE the LL to discharge his duty towards you.

I can help myself as an owner. I can ring round, research for myself and get things done the way I want them done. For the washing machine I had no choice whether to try and repair or get a new one, I had no control over it. Paying for it is not a problem, we always have savings for emergencies and I would rather pay [for the work] and sort things out for myself than pay [for the rent] and be at the mercy of someone else's decisions.

Wee_Willy_Harris

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

I can help myself as an owner. I can ring round, research for myself and get things done the way I want them done. For the washing machine I had no choice whether to try and repair or get a new one, I had no control over it. Paying for it is not a problem, we always have savings for emergencies and I would rather pay [for the work] and sort things out for myself than pay [for the rent] and be at the mercy of someone else's decisions.

Financially, if you have the money, you have the control as you indicate. You don't HAVE to go with whatever the LL says, you can pay for it yourself. That's the choice that comes with money. If you have no money, your choices are limited unless it's someone elses legal duty/responsibility. In both cases, you have more choice if you are a tenant, and choices ARE control.

SandC

I live alone so if I was to be at home for tradesmen it means taking time off work. When I have my bathroom done I expect it to take a couple of weeks. What a waste of holiday that would be, hanging around the house!

I took time off when I had double glazing fitted. 3 wasted days and I ended up going out anyway cos guess what, when windows are being replaced it's bleddy freezing!

So when I had a new boiler which took 2 days I let the guys in on both mornings and left them a key so they could lock up after them.

You don't have much control over who is coming in when you are renting, granted, but I would never expect any relative or friend to sit around in my house just so tradesmen were never left alone. I could not return the favour for one thing. If you do have control over it, ie. you are the homeowner, then you only have tradesmen in who have been recommended to you. It would be fairly obvious who stole your stuff anyway and what bona fide business would risk their entire livlihood by nicking things from houses? Best using local small businesses too then whoever comes to your house is either the business owner or an employee of theirs.

longtimelurker_2

I didn't used to mind - in fact I saw it as a perk of renting.

However, recently we had someone in to fix the oven. I left all the doors in the house closed, no reason to go anywhere except the kitchen (and the front door opens into it). Came home to find every single door open, the loo seat up and wee all over it and over the bathroom floor. I was NOT a happy bunny.

Now we also have kittens and I don't trust a contractor not to let them get out.

We also have some expensive appliances (big iMac, KitchenAid mixer...) which we keep out of sight of windows, but are plainly visible if you're in and snooping around.

NJW69

I never used to worry about this as all of the people we have in are known to us.

However two years ago we had a company in replacing windows and doors, recommended by a friend and had worked on our extension already.

Noticed some money missing so my husband set up some CCTV cameras and we caught one of them stealing from us, money, jewellery etc.

Called the police and they were charged with burglary and went to prison.

Turned out he was already a convicted burglar and out on bail - worse than that the company knew this!

They accepted no responsibility for this, left the job unfinished and then took us to court when we refused to pay the full bill!

Has taken the last two years to reach an out of court settlement.