am i being an unreasonable landlord?

mirrorimage0

thanks for all your thoughts people, its appreciated. have just got back from seeing tenant, and basically he just wanted to know time scales on each room and in which order they were being done in etc,

i can see what your saying dodger but 8 weeks is a very rough estitmate, and hopefully should be a lot less ie like this week he has had a day off work so obviously we didnt go there to decorate, next week is bank holiday mon so again we wont be up there, and we leave him in peace at weekends. literally everything is being done, skirting boards, boxing in pipes, new rad covers door frames stripped and repainted, artexing being sorted etc so a lot of the initial couple of weeks is prep work. which most of is done now so shouldnt get too dusty from here on in.
we will be using a plumber and kitchen fitter when the bathroom and kitchen turns up so they will be done without to much of a delay and hassle.


lol for the ones that said about telling the girls he is decorating, (i did mention that to him today. ) he is a nice guy anyway and i think i was just getting a bit like omg. he says he still wants it done and looking nice but i have said to him at any point he has had enough just let us know and we will finish whatever room we are in and leave it at that.

thanks again for replys, i feel a lot less worried/stressed now having had a chat with him face to face,, dont know if its just me but i hate talking on the phone lol

BitterAndTwisted

You sound lovely and very considerate. If you were my landlady I'd be over the moon.

fimonkey

Hmmm I've been in your tenants situation and I understand completely where he's coming from.

Our landlady told us she was going to do up the flat and would we mind living there whilst it happened, we had a full schedule of works and timescales etc (2 weeks for new kitchen bathroom and carpets throughout). We didn't want the upgrade, everything we had worked perfectly well despite it being old. We were concerned she would put up the rent afterwards, or put it on the market (this was in 2009) but it was basically accept the works or move out.

It was HELL! For both us and the LL. It took 2 and a half months, the builders were messy and unreliable, they saw the place as belonging to the landlady not as our home. The final straw was when I was in bed and the builders dog came running in and jumped straight onto my bed, I was LIVID!! My landlady and I were (and still are) friendly but this really really tested the relationship. We had no say over what the builders did and when despite having a 'schedule' it was written in chinese for all the builders cared. We were 1 week without a kitchen when it should have just been one day. We had no control over which builder would enter the flat and when (there was a team of them). The builders would not listen to us at all in terms of when was reasonable to come in (6.30am one morning, the next day not unitl 11am). They said they were working for our LL and not us. However our LL wanted us to liaise directly with them as it was getting difficult to complain to her and for her to pass it on. One Friday I came home late from work to find half the bathroom over the hallway floor, the toilet had been taken out and the pipe not blocked, it stunk! There were tools all over the place. I flipped! I threw ALL their tools which they'd left out in teh garden for them to get wet over the weekend. I stormed round to the LL's flat wondering what we were going to do without a toilet for the weekend - then promptly burst into tears when she opened the door! Luckily after that we shared a bottle of wine and she apologised hugely and got them back over the weekend to finsih the bathroom - but from then on the builders were incredibly rude to us.

Both us tenants and the LL agree in hindsight it was a bad move to update whilst we were living there - we got through it because ultimately I liked the flat I lived in and wanted to stay there, but the whole 3 way thing (tenants, LL, builders) just doesn't work. The builders take instruction from the LL, they will always be late in finishing and it is the tenant who suffers.

Not a good idea in my opinion and given this is the tenants HOME he has every right to know who is going to enter his home and when, and to know when he has the right to peaceful enjoyment once again.

My two penneth worth.

may_fair

mirrorimage0 wrote: »

anyway new tenant wanted in asap so we didnt have time to decorate but gave him a rent reduction (£590 pm instead of the £650 mark that goes round here) and he said he will smarten up as he goes along if he wants to.

NEVER allow tenants to redecorate. If you feel somehow compelled to allow it, then never do so without agreeing everything in writing, otherwise you could end up with badly painted orange and purple walls and a T claiming you said it was okay.

And it's barmy for you to go in and redecorate mid-tenancy; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

starlight_xx

may_fair wrote: »

NEVER allow tenants to redecorate. If you feel somehow compelled to allow it, then never do so without agreeing everything in writing, otherwise you could end up with badly painted orange and purple walls and a T claiming you said it was okay.

And it's barmy for you to go in and redecorate mid-tenancy; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Why shouldnt tenants be allowed to decorate, if its a long term let its really pretty essential. I was in my last rented flat 9 years it would have been awful if I hadnt been allowed to decorate it. The flat Im in now, although modern is needing freshened up but I dont expect my landlord to do that, so Im arranging it myself. Since the apartment has gorgeous real wood floors Im getting someone in to do it so its done properly and the floors dont end up decorated too. (I know my limitations )

Its in my tenancy agreement that Im free to do as I want decor wise so long as its restored to neutral when I leave.

I might only be a tenant here but I love this place, I take a real pride in it and though its not mine its my home and its nice to be able to treat it as such.

mirrorimage0

hi, thanks for the input fimonkey, im sorry to hear you had a bad experience, but in this case my hubby who is the builder/decorater would certainly not be like that. he is there only when the tenant is out at work and leaves it alone weekends when he is off, and we both clean everything up before the end of the day. i agree it is still not ideal situation though. x

Rahven

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

You sound lovely and very considerate. If you were my landlady I'd be over the moon.

Same here!

may_fair

starlight_xx wrote: »

Why shouldnt tenants be allowed to decorate

Because bad DIY or even beautifully painted bright purple walls can be equivalent to damage, and that's why your tenancy contract says you must restore the property prior to the end of the tenancy.

starlight_xx

may_fair wrote: »

Because bad DIY or even beautifully painted bright purple walls can be equivalent to damage, and that's why your tenancy contract says you must restore the property prior to the end of the tenancy.

Which is more than reasonable in my opinion. I wouldnt expect my LL to have to redecorate to enable him to relet the place. A good compromise but to just say 'dont allow a tenant to decorate' is a bit unfair. This place is my home and will be for a long time to come I want it to be as nice a place to live as possible. Thankfully my LL is so happy to have someone he finally trusts as a tenant hes incredible flexible with things.

may_fair

starlight_xx wrote: »

Which is more than reasonable in my opinion. I wouldnt expect my LL to have to redecorate to enable him to relet the place. A good compromise but to just say 'dont allow a tenant to decorate' is a bit unfair. This place is my home and will be for a long time to come I want it to be as nice a place to live as possible. Thankfully my LL is so happy to have someone he finally trusts as a tenant hes incredible flexible with things.

It's only 'unfair' from the POV of someone like you who takes a responsible attitude but what d'you think happens if a contract doesn't prohibit redecorating and the T paints everything purple including the light switches? And thinks that's absolutely fine?

Neither LL nor T know exactly how long the tenancy will continue; it could be six months or end up being six years (at least, in England/Wales), so, the bottom line is 'no redecoration'. Then T/LL can negotiate precise terms if T wants to redecorate.