Landlady demanding a brand new door, what are my rights?

neas

silk wrote: »

The voice of reason and a clear answer to my OP, thank you.

neas wrote:

Sorry but you being silly.. you want us to tell you one thing when you are blind to what you've done wrong. Its not about detail its about fact she said NO and you just did it anyways. What sort of basis of trust is that?

As i said... wanted to hear what you want to hear... wait long enough and someone will agree with you.

decsdad

I see both sides really, she did say no, you done it anyway. I agree that your panel plan was the best plan. But it is her door to make that decision.
I am sure that when you put the new panel back in, I reckon it will be the same colour, and she will be satisfied with it. However, she may now be less likely to turn a blind eye to any other minor damage, I would be.

neas

decsdad wrote: »

I see both sides really, she did say no, you done it anyway. I agree that your panel plan was the best plan. But it is her door to make that decision.
I am sure that when you put the new panel back in, I reckon it will be the same colour, and she will be satisfied with it. However, she may now be less likely to turn a blind eye to any other minor damage, I would be.

But the point stands..

if you as a landlord had a tenant who asked you to do something.. and you said no....

would you be happy with letting them remain in your property? Essentially it undermines your power to control the physical aspects of the door. What could happen next? Tenant wants to change a couple of kitchen doors to fit his/her fridge/freezer in.. but will replace them with new versions? Or they want to put a hole in a wall to get a cable through... but it doesn't matter as they will get somenoe to fill it afterwards and paint over.

Where would it stop? If i said no as the landlord and tenant disobeyed that decision then it would lead to a breakdown of trust.. and i'd want someone who i could trust with an expensive asset as a house.

Or am i the only one who sees this that way? who cares about the door its the fact tenant did what he pleased... and now cant be trusted to not do same again (which if he gets away with it one time will do as he pleases again.. while justifying it to himself)

decsdad

I agree with you, the point is, she/he should not have put the flap in to the landlords door.
I have been a landlord in the past and will be again very soon, and I wouldn't be happy. I dont think I would want them to leave the property though, taking all things into account. I would just be a bit peeved and put the rent up when I can, whereas I may not bother if I wasn't get any hassle, or be more picky about other damage when they leave.

As an outsider though, the flap into the panel is the way to go. With permission from the owner.

Clearlier

If I have got this correctly a lot of confusion is happening because many posters are assuming that the email trail posted is the sum total of the communication between the landlord and the tenant. In fact the OP states early on that they had oral permission from the landlord which was subsequently revoked in writing.

Silk - Perhaps you could confirm the above or not? Then we can move properly on to the discussion about whether or not it would be reasonable for the landlady to withold permission to do this!

As an acidental landlord myself I probably wouldn't have been too happy at the idea as I didn't have any understanding of what it entails and I would have been afraid of security etc. Given what's been explained on the thread though I'd do a little googling to confirm the process and I'd be happy to give the go ahead. One caveat would be that my insurance company wouldn't have any issues with it.