Landlord advice Re: Boiler issues.

GregDixon

Hello everyone,
I am a first time landlord and looking for some advice and guidance on a recurring issue I have with my tenant. I'm not sure how I stand with regard my responsibilities and my tenants.

I let my flat out via an agency in August last year. I had previously lived in the flat myself for 3 years prior to that. Whilst I was living there I was fortunate enough to never once need to call a plumber or electrician out.

However, since my tenant moved in, I have needed a plumber once for a water leak and someone to come and see the boiler twice.

The tenant reported a leak to the agency, who duly sent out a plumber to investigate. However he could find no source of the leak, and suggested observing, and reporting if it happened again.
I was charged for this. It hasn't recurred.

Regarding the boiler, the first time it went out, and instead of pressing the restart button my tenant called the agency, who dispatched a person who came and pressed the button and left. Again I was charged for this.

The second time, same deal again, and just today I get a call to say it's the same story. So I quickly called them and told them to cancel the plumber, I'd see for myself. When I got to the flat I noticed that on the previous visit the workman had changed something with the boiler interface, placing a cap over the dials and installing a new restart button. I wasn't informed this work had been done. What the problem now seems to be is that the tenant has pressed the button so hard it's got jammed inside.

Is this still my responsibility to pay for the repair on this ? If it is, i will gladly do so, but I don't know how I stand, I can't prove who, what or when this happened.

Any advice greatly received, thank you.

Notmyrealname

If the tenant has damaged it, they pay. However TBH you could have saved yourself a ton of money by not using an agency. Yes you've the aggro of calling out a plumber but you also have the ability to go to the flat and see if you can sort it yourself.

However ultimately you have to pay the bill and then how you recover the money is your problem. Its one of those things you just have to take on the chin. Tenants will break things and you'll have to pay to fix them. You can't just let out a place and expect to take the rent with no outlay. Tenants find a way of breaking things which seem impossible to break.

GregDixon

Thank's for the reply. The contract with the tenant and agency is up in August, and I have definitely learnt from my first year that the 6% they take every month would have been much better in my own pocket! Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I will be taking over the management myself. As a newbie I hoped having someone else manage the property would be much better, but have seen there's really not very much to it.

I guess you're right about people braking things, I was fooling myself to think that everyone treats their things as carefully as I do!

rentergirl

Have a clam word with the tenant, explain the situation and show them how to work the boiler. Things like this vary from appliance to appliance, the instructions might gone missing, and I bet they want to stay.

G_M

Have you left a 'tenant pack' at the property? This should explain
* what day the bin men come and how re-cycling operates in yor area
where the local doctor/dentist etc is
* where the fuse box is and how to re-set fuses
* how to change lightbulbs
* where the mains stopcock is and what it does
* how the boiler/central heatingworks
* copies of instruction manuals (washing machine, boiler, etc etc)
etc

It cuts out a lot of unecessary callouts, as well as being useful for tenants.

Include instructions of who to call with problems (roofing, plumbing, electrical, etc). If you simply rely on the agent as point of contact, you save yourself hassle, but will be charged accordingly. If you give your own number, you get the hassle, but can save money, cut out the time-wasting call-outs etc.

Or you can give the number of a trusted plumber, electrician etc.

GregDixon

All very good advice and yes I have done all of that. I made sure she knew where the stopcock was, fuse box, manuals all left. I didn't personally show her how to reset the boiler, but there is a big "Restart" button on the boiler so I foolishly made the assumption she'd try that first. After the first call out, I made sure both the plumber, then myself showed her how it is done, but still got stung a second time. (She didn't hold the button down long enough I think).

Your post probably sums everything up perfectly, and I will copy/paste that for the future if I ever get another tenant, once I'm managing my property myself, Thank you G_M

Kynthia

Yes letting out a property will include some outtlay, but if a callout is due to the tenant's incorrect actions you can charge them. It's best to warn them first though.

If they have a copy of the boiler instructions and don't use the boiler correctly then you shouldn't have to pay for the plumber.

GregDixon

I've now changed the instruction with the agency to call me first before doing anything, and asked her to call me before she calls them. I know this now makes them worse than pointless, but I'll have to live with that until the contract ends.

G_M

GregDixon wrote: »

I've now changed the instruction with the agency to call me first before doing anything, and asked her to call me before she calls them. I know this now makes them worse than pointless, but I'll have to live with that until the contract ends.

or until you end the contract with the agency....

GregDixon

Hmm, that's a good point. :think: