Question for landlords

bex2012

If you owned a house and the tennant was basically doing nothing to maintain the house (weeds up to your knees front and back, dripping water from the overflow pipe for a year, basic stuff like that), would you want to know about it from a neighbour? The house next door is a real eye-sore, and we are all fed up with it. Its one of the first houses you see as you turn into where we live, so its not even as if you can try to avoid looking at it. I know it sounds really petty, but its nice round here, and this house is really spoiling it.

BitterAndTwisted

If I were the landlord I'd want to know about any potential damage being caused to my property. Do you think this is likely from that dripping overflow? The garden is the tenant's business. Why don't you just speak to the tenant? They might not be aware of the sorts of things that need to be reported to the landlord.

dorset_nurse

If I didn't know about it I would like to know- however I would assume most landlords do (and should!) make it their buisness to know what state their properties are in.
The LL may already be tearing their hair out about this, so it could be a wasted effort for you to inform them unless you happen to have their contact details handy?!

spidystrider

I am a landlord and would want to know if my property was falling into disrepair. I do wonder if the landlord does know though and just doesn't care, as you would think that they would keep an occasional eye on their investment.

It might be worth having a word with the tenants if they are approachable.

bex2012

I know the agency it was originally let through. They have said that they dont manage it any longer, but will forward a letter on to the owner about it. The neighbour is not someone you want to speak to. She's one of these that knows all her rights, but none of her responsibilities, if you know what I mean? We try and have as little to with her as possible, as shes just a bit, well, weird! You know during all the snow last year? She came out of her house and just got into a neighbours car, and demanded a lift up the school! We've tried dropping hints, and one of the other neighbours wrote her a letter asking that the wheelie bins be put back neatly and not left in the middle of the road (and I mean literally left in the middle of the road), but nothing! I know this is more about her than anything else, but she just doesnt care about her surroundings. I dont care what she does in her house, but we dont see why we should have to look at her mess or clear up after her.

theartfullodger

I'd want to know. Indeed I always make sure I've given the immediate neighbours my contact details.

I'd rather have the occasional false alarm at an inconvenient time than a festering problem I never hear about.

Being able to do anything about it is another matter ....

BitterAndTwisted

Being weird isn't a good enough reason to be hounded out of your house.

bex2012

Its nothing to do with hounding her out. The house is frankly a sh*t hole. What she does in the house is up to her. However when her laziness starts to impact on other people, surely the landlord has a right to know about it? After all, the house is their investment. Wouldnt you want to know early on if something was leaking so you could fix it quickly at little expense, rather than a year down the line when you have a massive damp problem to contend with?

Callie22

How do you know that she hasn't reported it? I left my last house because the lack of repair was starting to cause problems with the neighbours - we'd reported it to the LL over and over, but as a tenant there's a limit to what you can do when it comes to maintaining the fabric of the property. Might be a good idea to speak to her first before going to the LL.

G_M

Most landlords care about their properties, take time to do periodic inspections to see if maintenance work is needed, and generaly care for their properties.

However some tenants refuse them access (the tenant has the right to 'quiet enjoyment') which can make this difficult.

Some landlords are overseas, pre-occupied with other problems, lazy or whatever, and may simply not do the inspections. They may rely on the tenant (or, indeed a neighbour) to alert them when work is needed (eg to roof/guttering etc). In which case informing the LL might be helpful.

And a few LLs simply don't care. Or may be reluctant LLs forced into renting by negative equity etc, and not have financial reserves to spend on routine maintenance.

As for the tenant's lifestyle, there's little a LL can do. The LL cannot dictate how the tenant should live, what state of cleanliness /garden maintenance is required, so long as the property is returned at the end of the tenancy as it was at the start.

The one thing the LL can do if they so wish, is to end the tenancy (at the appropriate time). So if the LL IS unhappy with the way the tenant is treating the property, or upsetting the neighbours, they can decline to renew the tenancy when the fixed term is complete, and can follow the proper process to evict the tenant and look for a more 'acceptable' one. But this costs the LL money, both in lost rent and in advertising costs etc., so some LLs will only do this as a last resort.

As a LL, yes, I'd be grateful if a neighbour let me know of repair issues, OR anti-social behavior issues. Like Artful, I give the neighbours my phone number.

Eton_Rifle

Yes, the neighbours tell me everything about two of my houses, inside and out.

I immediately got rid of one family because they were offending a neighbour.

I also learned one tenant had redecorated without permission so I was able to pull the reins in on that one before it got further out of hand.

Being informed helps me to keep on top of things. Recently someone told me about ivy growing over the boiler vent so I was aware the tenant may have had a potential safety issue they needed to fix.