Tenant broke my shower

Gorgeous_George

Hi all

My tenant called this morning to say that the shower had blown up. I live 350 miles away so I called an electrician to deal with the problem. The shower is, in his words, knackered. He will fit a new shower unit this week (possibly Tuesday).

Should I compensate my tenant for the hardship she will suffer in not having a shower for two days? Or should I make her wait 6 months before I have it fixed?

I wouldn't want to spoil people's views of BTL LLs.



GG

wecanhelpu

The electrician (and maybe tenant) could be pulling a fast one.

You'd better get round there sharpish.

HugoSP

I wouldn't want to spoil people's views of BTL LLs.

Ha Ha Ha Ha!

Leave it for several weeks at least, making sure she has to stay in for appointments that never happen - after all us BTL investors have a reputation to uphold

Seriously, my take would be to do what you can to effect a replacement as soon as you reasonably can. If you're seen to be acting responsibly and as quickly as possible, she cannot ask for more than that.

If on the other hand you did not do anything about it for weeks then she may have a grievence, unless you could present a convincing reason for the delay - and I don't mean shortage of funds.

For example, my tenant phoned me up to say her HW had stopped working. As it happened I live in the same village and I sorted it out within a few hours. Had I needed to get my plumber in this ma have taken a couple of days. Provided I did everything possible I wouldn't have seen a problem. However if I had not called him for several days then that may be different.

Guy_Montag

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

Hi all

My tenant called this morning to say that the shower had blown up. I live 350 miles away so I called an electrician to deal with the problem. The shower is, in his words, knackered. He will fit a new shower unit this week (possibly Tuesday).

Should I compensate my tenant for the hardship she will suffer in not having a shower for two days? Or should I make her wait 6 months before I have it fixed?

I wouldn't want to spoil people's views of BTL LLs.



GG

The only decent thing to do is to keep putting her off for six months, then take the costs of repair out of her deposit!

thelawnet

blimey this place is snide and fractious. Perhaps some kind of reorganisation is in order. Not much money-saving going on, just divisive debate.

Gold_Shogun

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

Hi all

My tenant called this morning to say that the shower had blown up.

I wouldn't want to spoil people's views of BTL LLs.

Shower ?? ... SHOWER !!!! .... Spare the Rod, and Spoil the Tenant, I say !!! .... How DARE you be so generous !

If a tin bath & a kettle is good enough for my Tenants, it should damn well be good enough for yours ! :rolleyes:

Cheers
Bobbejaan Rachmann

realwildone

BTL investors

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Guy_Montag

This tenant sounds like a trouble maker, I'd serve them an S21 & get rid of them sharpish.

RibAd

It's nice that people are taking this so light and funny, but I've been in the situation quite recently...
Am in a rented house and shower stopped working. We informed the LL asap as we love our showers. Turned out to be dodgy wiring from when the house was built - when the electricians came to check it out it caught fire after they turned it on. (not the hose, the whole "box") On inspection, it's found that the house would have actually caught fire.

It may be lighthearted a post, but 2 weeks without a proper shower, and resorting to having to heat water for ages and using the kettle and pots........
Not very fun. Plus having to use my days off to wait an electrician to arrive, with the plumber (luckliy both are friends with the LL's brother) quite tiring too.

Even in this circumstance I wouldn't expect compensation. It's just one of those things that happen.

roses

By law, you do not have to compensate them if you are doing your best and they are not inconvenienced more than if they owned the house and had to fix the fault themselves.

whether you compensate them financially out of good will, it depends on how much you like them. are they good tenants, keep the house clean & mould free, don't call you up for every single little thing (eg a door knob falling off & they don't know how to fix it themselves etc

franklee

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

Or should I make her wait 6 months before I have it fixed?

Surely that's not the best you can do? Especially as you live 350 miles away.

You should try this technique:

Engage a letting agent. This agent should have two charming ladies on on the front desk each working part time such that messages are never passed between them and the tenant has to relate the whole problem in total each time she phones.

Eventually the agent's preferred plumber should be booked in only to cancel due to having fallen down the stairs.

After a suitable recovery time the plumber should turn up only to find the repair cost is above the threshold where the agent can OK the repair without checking with the landlord. It this point it's vital that the landlord is now on holiday well beyond the reach of all civilisation.

On arriving home weeks later the landlord thinks the repair should be covered by his insurance. There is another delay till the insurers plumber arrives. It isn't covered.

The landlord now OKs the repair and the parts are ordered by the agent's plumber. They are naturally out of stock. The plumber assures the agent they are on order to arrive a week on Wednesday. They don't.

At this point it should now be extremely hot in the middle of summer and the tenant having been without a shower for months threatens to withhold the rent. The agent issues notice.

The tenant leaves, the cost of shower repair isn't deduced from the deposit as the agent didn't mention it to the checkout clerk.

After a short void the landlord decides to sell up. The property doesn't sell and one year later is put up for rent again.

The new tenant discovers the shower isn't working. He phones the letting agent. The lady at the front desk promises to pass his message on...