Private Landlord adopting Office Hours telephone calls

tbs624

The key thing is that it's up to the LL to make it clear from the start of the tenancy how calls on repairs issues etc should be dealt with and what constitutes a genuine emergency.

Once a T has received responses from the LL at all times of the evening they will probably assume that it's okay to ring late again.

A standard auto response "please give full details of the maintenance issue " with another one saying "thank you for your call/email - the issue will be dealt with within the next x hours" message" gives the LL time to check and make a decision on whether this one can wait until the morning or whenever. Obviously the LL needs to ensure that they do deal with their S11 repairing obligations in a timely manner and let the T know at the earliest opportunity what is happening with any repairs.

Ts obviously will ( rightly) feel a sense of grievance if they can never actually get to speak to their LL but in the OP's case she just needs to "train" her T

theartfullodger

clutton wrote: »

are you still on the sauce from last night ????

If that was asked of me, I have had no Alcohol since Friday... (sigh!!!...)

Yourself???

babe-ruth

clutton wrote: »

are you still on the sauce from last night ????

I know what you mean........could hardly understand a word of it;)

clutton_2

i dont drink alcohol - so no

babe-ruth

tbs624 wrote: »

but in the OP's case she just needs to "train" her T

Clicker train or treats?

clutton_2

Originally Posted by tbs624
but in the OP's case she just needs to "train" her T


if a LL had suggested "training" a tenant... all sorts of uproar would have happened.......

tbs624

clutton wrote: »

Originally Posted by tbs624
but in the OP's case she just needs to "train" her T


if a LL had suggested "training" a tenant... all sorts of uproar would have happened.......

Do you mean full scale rioting and tent encampments everywhere?

Salt and vinegar with that big chip on your shoulder Clutton?

Firstly, you need to deal with your tendency to assume that you know the status of other posters

Secondly, take my comment in its full context. Note the speech marks around the word train, the wink emoticon after the sentence
(chopped off in your quote) and note the preceding comment:

tsb624 wrote:

Once a T has received responses from the LL at all times of the evening they will probably assume that it's okay to ring late again.

If a T becomes used to their LL being available at all hours then they will probably come to see it as perfectly acceptable to continue to do so. The logic of that is not confined to the LL& T relationship.

It also applies say to those who work from home: friends or neighbours may make a habit of dropping by and disrupting your work pattern but if when they do turn up you always drop the work and switch to socialising mode then the neighbour/friend will not get the hint that it's cheesing you off & intruding on your work time. Unless the home worker clearly says, for eg, "love to see you at lunchtime or after 7pm but not now as I'm working" , and turns friend away/ignores the door bell then the home worker would effectively be reinforcing the friend's view that he or she is fine about further informal drop in sessions.

As I said in other posts in the thread Ts are not mind readers and LLs need to agree with Ts how R&R issues etc should be dealt with from the start of the tenancy.

tbs624

babe-ruth wrote: »

Clicker train or treats?

:rotfl:Treats, every time ....

ReadingTim

Whilst being a landlord is a business, adopting strict business or office hours (ie M-F, 9-5) is somewhat anachronistic at best, and counter-productive at worst.

Essentially you're in the service business, so I'd be looking at call centres etc as a model for opening hours - say Mon-Sat 8am-8pm as times when you're either available, or will call back (unless it's a clear emergency, and even then don't commit to a response). You should also have a seperate "work" phone number and e-mail address for tennants to contact you, with a voicemail and auto-reply (respectively) stating your hours of availability.