Money in pocket LL rant...

jess-the-cat_3

Bit of a rant really... feel free to read and then go about your business...

Just moved from one rented property to another. We seem to be cursed with the "money in pocket" landlords: ie those who put on a show of being concerned landlords but at the end of the day get the money in their pockets and anything we require is simply a burden on their time: or should that be pocket?

At the outset, I should highlight we are good tenants. The letting agency when we were moving here said they would be giving no less than a sterling reference. I don't think this issue is in any way related to us as tenants.

Our last LL insisted on checking out EVERYTHING before the very last resort of calling out a professional. The issues we called up with were a variety of household issues such as no hot water, the locking mechanism of the door broken, storage heaters stop working in the middle of winter, etc. Every time he insisted on coming round himself which would have been fine except:
a) he was blatantly not skilled in any of these areas and
b) we would have to wait until he could fit in coming around work.

He would tinker about with his bag of tools for ages then realise that he didn't know what to do and would have to call someone out. If it was a DIY matter he would insist on doing it himself but would take AGES: a year and a half to paint a flaky bathroom and three years to fit a new kitchen tap.

The best was when the locking mechanism of the door broke. Now, I think it's fair to say my partner is fairly skilled in this area by trade. He told the LL helpfully EXACTLY what he needed to get if he wanted to do it cheap, and where from or offered to do it himself for a sum.

But no. The LL insisted he would get the stuff himself. We were left with a non-locking door for days until we got so peed off with it we ranted and all of a sudden someone got sent round to mend it.

And in our new house... Can't get the Freeview to work. Called up the letting agency who made it clear they thought it was a non-issue. Talked to the LL. Husband came round to check. Did everything we'd already done. Came to same conclusion as us: the aerial connections didn't work. This is AFTER the patronising comment of " well the previous tenants never mentioned any problems." No: because they were using Virgin cable.

My partner called out TV engineer. We need a working aerial to get Freeview. LL absolutely not interested in doing anything about it whatsoever. So now we're stuck with paying at least £90 if we want to be able to watch TV.

I am VERY reluctant given the attitudes displayed already to install a new aerial at our own expense which will effectively in the long term be of the LL's benefit. So it's looking like if we do get an aerial, it'll be coming down when we move out...

The trouble is this attitude seeps into other stuff. I can make a conservative guess that this will be the attitude we will be met with when other issues come up. I'm pretty p*ssed off already to have gone frome one LL like that to another: and we haven't even been here a week. Great!

Rant over...

fimonkey

Wonder if you're renting from the same landlord as me? My lock broke one evening and I couldn't get into the house, this was 5pm. Landlord asked if it was urgent and could I stay somewhere else that night! - 10.30pm he finally turned up (after 3 calls from me and the last one where I threatened to call an emergency locksmith and charge it to him) hespent another hour trying to fix it - this was in December! His excuse for being so late - "I thought you'd just go to a friends house of something" (luckily am friends with my neighbour and was sat at hers).
Good landlords, good tenants, bad landlords and bad tenants - its all a mixing pot out there but I have come across far too many landlords who see the property that you rent as their investment first and foremost, and your home last of all.

phill99

Your comments and experiences are very common. They will always be this way all the time the UK allows and encourages a housing tenure system that puts private profit ahead of an occupies needs. To add insult to injury, the profits that many landlords have made which collectively run into many millions each year are done so at the expense of the public purse via housing benefit.

Many people are forced to live in substandard accommodation which is affecting tenants health, well being and financial situation. And the worst thing is that successive governments have allowed this to continue and thre is no change in site.

I run a maintenance company and work for a number of landlords who, ALL want work done as cheaply as possible using inferior materials and products, while at the same time expecting the minimum amount of time to be spent on a job.

It's nothing short of a national disgrace and scandal.

tbs624

OP - why did you not think to check the TV situation at your current property prior to taking up the tenancy?

Ensuring that Ts have Freeview access is not a statutory obligation on the LL's part.

If you want to afix an aerial you will of course need the LL's consent - get it in writing - and if you intend taking it with you when you leave then you will be obliged to "make good" wherever the aerial had been attached.

[Deleted User]

I too am a low rental tenant. But at least we have a roof over our heads.., we very nearly didn't.

When we moved in this house, we had no aerial whatsoever in the house. So we bought one from either amazon or ebay (checked the seller had a good reputation) for about £20 (weak signal area). It came with brackets etc, put it in the loft rather than on the roof and we now can access freeview. I didn't even think to talk to the landlord about it as I didn't expect him to provide for our TV transmission.

We did the same when we moved in with our door locks. Cost £12 for a new cylinder, reused the handle (and made sure I'd purchased one that could be locked/unlocked from the inside without a key which I feel safer with in case of a fire), and it meant the landlord couldn't just walk in when he wanted, and the broken lock had been repaired properly. Worth twice the money.

Maybe it isn't right that an able tenant should have to do these things themselves rather than the landlord who owns the property. But in both cases for minimal expense.., I had the situation sorted within hours/a day or two.., the reduced stress was worth it.

I also insulated the loft.., again, cost was minimal with £1 a roll insulation through a utility company..., the landlord would have made us wait til this summer. Meanwhile my children were freezing in their bedrooms. Definitely something the landlord should have done but was it worth the stress and extended time period arguing with the landlord to get it done? NO.

I put a bathroom in. Yes a complete bathroom. Good job I did too as we discovered the shower pipes were leaking and two of the bathroom walls were completely damp (I suspect mould would have been a big problem this winter). I did it for minimal expense.., shopped around, bought lovely tiles and bath in sales, and I now have the loveliest bathroom u can imagine that looks like it cost a couple of grand to do (it cost about £300). The landlord said the original bathroom was 'do-able' .., he'd never have replaced it (the bath creaked terribly as u got into it, was a huge corner bath taking up 2/3 of the space in a tiny bathroom), the tiles were incomplete, the waste pipes smelt terrible and leaked, two of the taps didn't work. He'd have done the most half hearted job if he'd have done it and as I said, I now have a bathroom that makes me sigh in contentment. Yes it does peeve me that the landlord will at some point get the benefit of my hard work.., but for as long as I am here.., I get a lot of benefit too.

Its a choice. We aren't in a high rental property, and I have very low expectations of landlords in this part of the private sector. It may not be right but it only gets worse if u waste energy railing against fate. Just decide if its worth doing it yourself or stop stressing when u have to wait and get a half hearted repair job. Unfortunately as tenants, we aren't in the most powerful position. That's not good, but it is the way it is right now.

franklee

deannatrois, I hope you got written permission to do the bathroom and that the LL is happy with what you've done. Otherwise that old bath and the tiles may become valuable antiques the landlord is missing come calculating your deposit return at the end of the tenancy.

[Deleted User]

Yes lol.., I have texts expressing his happiness with what I was proposing to do and have done. And before and after photos.

jess-the-cat_3

business_man wrote: »

How is your television experience a fault of the L? This has to be the most absurd thing I have ever heard?

Unless the L, contractually agreed to an Ariel to be erected at his expense, I don't see how can you have a moan about it.

Next you can blame him for lack of sunshine?:mad:

Well I could do but that would be just silly:D

I've been renting for years and never before have I rented a property without a working aerial connection. So for me it's a first.

The thing that gets me is that there are visibly aerials up on the roof. There is a digital aerial up there. So it is safe to say that I (wrongly) just assumed that the aerials (connections outlined in the inventory also) would be useable.

Also the fact that this property has been owned by the LL's family means they blatantly must have known whether the aerials work or not. The LL's husband made a show of coming round and plugging three of our TVs into different aerial connections in the house after saying "the previous tenants never had any problems." Right: well I hadn't thought of, well, let's see, actually TRYING the connections to see if they worked

Tbh if I am paying someone over £500 a month to pay their mortgage then I wasn't expecting an antiquated house from the dark ages that doesn't have a working aerial. To me that's just lazy and penny-pinching.

Deannatrois I totally get what you are saying, but the way I look at it is that it is the LL's responsibility to take care of certain household maintenance. The fact is my previous LL insisted on it: he was so worried we'd take care of something ourselves by hiring a professional tradesman and charge it to him that he insisted on having first dibs to ee if he could sort it. I didn't want to end up being saddled with a bill for something that wasn't our fault (the house wasn't well looked after.)

My personal experience is that the experienced LLs with a number of properties are the ones who are most amenable to reasonable requests. Some have gone out of their way to do things they didn't have to to keep us a tenants happy. I have been in situations where we have happily split costs 50/50 on certain things that weren't necessities but would benefit the LL after we moved out and made our tenancies a "better" experience. These are the tenancies where we have happily stayed for years until circumstances have pressed us to move.