Need advice, please read

Soniclord

Vincenzo wrote: »

If any tenant of mine went about changing the blinds for curtains

You'd evict a tenant would you for changing blinds for curtains? Good luck with that as I'm sure a judge would laugh you out of court, what would you say I'm evicting my tenant because they changed the blinds for curtains!

The blinds in this house are filthy and disgusting, they don't fully close therefore they are coming down and will be put back when I move out.

Vincenzo wrote: »

Drilling holes in the walls or installing random sockets and wires I would look to evict them at the earliest opportunity. My experience is that this is never done properly. If my tenant wants to make changes I am more than happy to listen and accommodate where possible. You really should have raised these points before you took the tenancy though.

How could I have raised these points before I took the tenancy on if I didn't know! I know loads of people claim you should go over everything with a fine toothcomb but have you or anyone you know really ever looked at a house in minute detail when viewing it to check if a blind is filthy or not or checked the inside of every cupboard to check for filth/dirt with your finger?

Of course you haven't.

And this drilling your talking about would be done for example by a Sky engineer or a Virgin Media representative etc or B.T who are qualified to do such jobs and no doubt you have used them to have such services installed at your house and did they not do the job properly?? It's not random drilling at all and leaving random sockets and wires everywhere is it! They do a professional job and leave the property in good condition with all holes sealed around the devices they install.

So would you really refuse to let your tenant have a hole drilled through the wall for Sky to be installed and/or a phone line etc? If so that's just petty, and even more petty is claiming you'd evict for someone for god forbid changing the blinds for curtains!!

I mean as long as the blinds are back up when the tenant leaves in the same condition they were in when the tenancy began what exactly is the problem!!

P.S) It seems like the majority of this forum (mostly the landlord users it appears) don't like the fact people have their own mind and like to make decisions for themselves, and let's face it most landlords are so petty and pathetic it's unreal!! If we are going to look after the house and make it nice then for gods sake LET US DO IT! Or would you rather have a bad tenant that will turn the house into a !!!! hole?

N79

Soniclord wrote: »

I'm not being clever here but based on what you say if I imply they owed me £1000 for example if it wasn't in the tenancy agreement they'd still have to pay me it because I implied it surely.

An implied term is a legal term which means that a term is automatically added to every contract of a certain type by statute or common law irrespective of whether or not the term is explicitly written in the tenancy agreement.

Examples of implied terms in ASTs include LL's repairing obligations, rights of LL's to access the property, terms for issuing notice and T's rights to quite enjoyment.

I'm sure you can see that your "example" is just silly, now you understand what an implied term is.

Soniclord wrote: »

But it's their mistake not mine so if I refused to pay what could they do take me to court for paying what I thought we owed?

Exactly - its their mistake and they are allowed to correct their mistake. Taking you to court is exactly what they could do.

Soniclord wrote: »

And what would they say in court that they accidentally gave me another one of their tenants home addresses and the last 4 digits of his card number therefore breaching the data protection act. And opening themselves up to being sued by the person whose information they accidentally leaked.

Yes - they will tell the court they made a mistake - they happen every day.

Quite honestly you appear to have a very combative attitude with your LL. Could I suggest that in the first instance you try a reasoned and negotiated approach to settling any difficulties - especially where your LL may well not be aware that there are any difficulties.

BitterAndTwisted

The issue is that you will need to ASK FOR YOUR LANDLORD'S PERMISSION to make any material changes to the property and its fixtures. No reasonable landlord would decline to give their permission for the most part if it is requested in polite manner with assurances that any changes would be made good before your departure. Never forget that the property belongs to the landlord and they are entitled to make any decision they like where the effect of the tenant's proposed changes impact on their investment.

I think the point that Vincenzo was making is that once your fixed-term comes to an end the landlord could decide to end your tenancy for any reason they see fit and you are not even entitled to be given a reason. Once you start making a landlord feel that you may be more trouble than you're worth it could be difficult to disabuse them of that impression

GEEGEE8

Why don't you just ask your landlord and see what he/she says before getting your knickers in such a twist.. jeeez.. it's really not a big deal.

mlz1413

Soniclord you can change the blinds, you can move furniture about, you can run round the house naked it is your home whilst you pay rent and live there in a quiet manner BUT when you leave you need to get dressed, put the furniture back in the rooms it states on the inventory and put back the blinds.

Re the sky yes you need to ask for the dish to be installed as this is a structral change. ie many flats refuse outside objects in the lease, some LL's flatly will not agree to it out of personal choice hence you do need to ask and I'd ensure you get the response in writing.

Re the phones, if there are that many inside boxes already then I would assume you can bring in a new line via one of the exsiting holes.

I lived in a rented house that I loved, I wanted to decorate as the front room wallpaper was peeling off, I was prepared to pay for the whole decoration and have the colours approved before doing this, but the LL refused point blank. He was prepared to put an entirely different strip of wallpaper up to replace the worst bit but nothing else. It was actually what made me move on, but I got on well with the LL and still exchange xmas cards 5 yrs on.

Soniclord

mlz1413 wrote: »

Soniclord you can change the blinds

I rang up about this and they said I needed permission to do it, but I'm going to do it anyway because I don't believe I need permission to do it as long as like you say they get put back as they were before the tenancy ends.

mlz1413 wrote: »

Re the phones, if there are that many inside boxes already then I would assume you can bring in a new line via one of the existing holes.

True but we are wanting the phone in the living room (like we had in the other house we rented) and that's the place where there isn't a phone line installed, I suppose it's down to personal preference and if we want it in the living room then we should be able to have it in the living room, and if they want it removing when we leave so be it, I'd have no problem with that.

mlz1413 wrote: »

I lived in a rented house that I loved, I wanted to decorate as the front room wallpaper was peeling off, I was prepared to pay for the whole decoration and have the colours approved before doing this, but the LL refused point blank. He was prepared to put an entirely different strip of wallpaper up to replace the worst bit but nothing else. It was actually what made me move on, but I got on well with the LL and still exchange xmas cards 5 yrs on.

So the landlord wanted to put up a strip of wallpaper he chose! I would have told him where to get off (I'm assuming you did just that by leaving lol) and even though you got on with him the fact he didn't respect the fact you loved it there, his rent was being paid to him and him wanting you to decorate to his taste not yours would mean he'd instantly be off my xmas card list.

N79 wrote: »

Exactly - its their mistake and they are allowed to correct their mistake. Taking you to court is exactly what they could do.

Yes - they will tell the court they made a mistake - they happen every day.

Quite honestly you appear to have a very combative attitude with your LL. Could I suggest that in the first instance you try a reasoned and negotiated approach to settling any difficulties - especially where your LL may well not be aware that there are any difficulties.

Thank you for your post,

It's the fact we received an invoice stating we owed x amount of pounds and we paid exactly what is on the invoice so they can't ask for anymore as we have an invoice showing what they said we owed and they can't change that on a whim.

I've also spoken to citizens advice about that this afternoon on the phone and the woman I spoke to agreed that them giving out one of their other tenants addresses and partial card details and the receipt which belongs to that person most definitely IS breaking the data protection act, because whenever I ring anywhere on behalf on my girlfriend they can't give me ANY information at all without her consent. The same goes for an estate agent if I ring up and say can you give me this tenant of yours address they would have no option but to say no because of the data protection act, therefore they have broken the data protection act (you reading this BitterAndTwisted?)

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Never forget that the property belongs to the landlord and they are entitled to make any decision they like where the effect of the tenant's proposed changes impact on their investment.

Changing blinds for curtains doesn't impact on the landlords investment! And having a Sky dish installed and a Phone line installed doesn't impact on the landlords investment at all. It should boost it, because potential tenants or buyers can see they don't have to have anything installed what with it already being there would make life a bit easier for them not harder.

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I think the point that Vincenzo was making is that once your fixed-term comes to an end the landlord could decide to end your tenancy for any reason they see fit and you are not even entitled to be given a reason. Once you start making a landlord feel that you may be more trouble than you're worth it could be difficult to disabuse them of that impression

It wouldn't bother me if the landlord could decide to end the tenancy when the fixed term comes to an end or the fact they wouldn't be giving me a reason, I myself wouldn't give a reason for not renewing either. I'd simply say I wasn't renewing and that will be that.

It's not me causing trouble either, I'm simply going to be taking down the blinds and replacing them with nets and curtains, it really is that simple. The blinds will be put back up once the tenancy comes to an end.

And to be honest once the minimum term is up I'm going to rent from a private landlord again rather than stay with this agency, and had I known all about the rules and regulations (many of them petty) I would never have moved out the other house I was renting.

P.S) I suppose I should have found out about all the restrictions about renting through an agency but for gods sake this is a house NOT a prison camp.. I shouldn't have to ask permission for all the things that need doing!! That's what angers me the most because I'm independent and have never liked having to ask for things I shouldn't have to!! I'm not at school anymore I'm a grown man capable of making my own choices.

Gwhiz

Just to clarify one thing you said. This has nothing to do with renting from a LA vs LL. The LA works for the LL so all the final decisions will be from the LL.

CloudCuckooLand

Troublesome was the right word. Getting into a tizz, before even asking...

And I'm an ex-renter, not a fan of landlords.

Next time read your contract before signing.

mlz1413

Soniclord wrote: »

So the landlord wanted to put up a strip of wallpaper he chose! I would have told him where to get off (I'm assuming you did just that by leaving lol) and even though you got on with him the fact he didn't respect the fact you loved it there, his rent was being paid to him and him wanting you to decorate to his taste not yours would mean he'd instantly be off my xmas card list.
..quote]

I didn't tell him where to get off, I just said I'd rather leave it as it was than have what he offered, I stayed a good year after that.

I left because I realised that if I couldn't decorate - ever - then I wouldn't be happy there forever.

He did respect I loved the house, he didn't put the rent up in the 4 years I lived there, he allowed my old dog to live there when he normally had a no pets clause and helped out with meeting tradesman at my request.

Equally I respected his choice for the house not be decorated by me / an tenant.

I think you have to remember that it maybe your home but it is someone elses house, you pay your rent for use of the house and not so you can stamp your mark on it.

Regarding your desire to have a phone in the living room can you not have a cordless phone? You can get them with 2 extra linked bases that only need to be plugged into an electrical socket.

G_M

My god! What a thread! And what a tenant!

In post 9 Vincenzo indicated he'd evict, and I sympathise.

As a landlord, if I was aware of all this (since the OP has not spoken/written to the LL he probobly has no idea) I'd also get rid of the tenant asap. 'Troublesome' was Bitterand Twisted's description.

Since the rent is (presumably) being paid, in practice that means at the end of the fixed term (6 months?), so well before the 4 month point this tenant would have a S21 Notice and there would be no tenancy renewal.

The quicker I got rid and installed a more friendly, less combatative tenant, the happier I'd be!