Boiler repairs as landlord - am I being unreasonable?

katepower

Hi all,

I've recently posted about a tenant constantly contacting me over issues that are out of my remit, ie her internet package and the extra cost of the router this has cost her, asking me to pay for this amongst other things.

She has recently contacted me about the intermittent hit wars in the house , which is obviously a genuine issue. As I work away I cannot always attend the property at short notice, but can usually arrange for someone to attend.

When she initially contacted me about the hot water I had my partner attend the address that evening to switch the boiler on and off again as previously there has been an issue with the pressure switch. This did not fix the problem as she contacted me again saying that nothing has changed. I then attended the next day and found that the hot water, although intermittent, was warm. Central heating was fully functional and the electric shower also. I arranged for my gas engineer to attend, although he could not go until three days later.

He attended and said he wasn't familiar with the boiler so wouldn't touch it. I then arranged for another engineer to attend two days later. He said the same thing. By this point tenant is beginning to make irate phone calls demanding reduction in rent duw to having no hot water.

I have now arranged for British gas to attend, however they only offer appointments 9 - 5 mon to fri and tenant has refused to Take time off of work to resolve the situation. I have arranged for someone to be at the property in a few days time but he tenant is still unhappy and now refusing to pay rent.

I am not sure what else I can do as all the gas services I have spoken to say that due to their being intermittent hot water and full central heating that it is not an emergency. I am unsure how to handle such a demanding tenant - again it's not what she's saying, as she has a valid point, but more the way she is saying it.

Cautious_Optimist

katepower wrote: »

Hi all,

I've recently posted about a tenant constantly contacting me over issues that are out of my remit, ie her internet package and the extra cost of the router this has cost her, asking me to pay for this amongst other things.

She has recently contacted me about the intermittent hit wars in the house , which is obviously a genuine issue. As I work away I cannot always attend the property at short notice, but can usually arrange for someone to attend.

When she initially contacted me about the hot water I had my partner attend the address that evening to switch the boiler on and off again as previously there has been an issue with the pressure switch. This did not fix the problem as she contacted me again saying that nothing has changed. I then attended the next day and found that the hot water, although intermittent, was warm. Central heating was fully functional and the electric shower also. I arranged for my gas engineer to attend, although he could not go until three days later.

He attended and said he wasn't familiar with the boiler so wouldn't touch it. I then arranged for another engineer to attend two days later. He said the same thing. By this point tenant is beginning to make irate phone calls demanding reduction in rent duw to having no hot water.

I have now arranged for British gas to attend, however they only offer appointments 9 - 5 mon to fri and tenant has refused to Take time off of work to resolve the situation. I have arranged for someone to be at the property in a few days time but he tenant is still unhappy and now refusing to pay rent.

I am not sure what else I can do as all the gas services I have spoken to say that due to their being intermittent hot water and full central heating that it is not an emergency. I am unsure how to handle such a demanding tenant - again it's not what she's saying, as she has a valid point, but more the way she is saying it.

Why did you become a LL?
Not being rude, but perhaps you are not really suited to it?

duchy

Sounds like she is getting demanding because you were a bit offhand with previous issues you considered unimportant.

Would you consider it a non emergency if you didn't have hot water at home ? The fact it is intermittent is irrelevant. She works so obviously needs reliable hot water so she can shower before going to work and can't wait a few hours for the hot water to work.

I suggest that you act in professional manner and put your personal feelings aside. She doesn't pay or not pay her rent based on whether you and she get along and are in agreement ......so by the same logic you should uphold your end of the contract and ensure the property is habitable with reliable working services. If you don't then why should she not pay rent ? She'd just be following your lead in not following accepted landlord/tenant behaviours.

katepower

Did you not read what I just wrote? I am attending to the issue as fast as I can, bearing in mind the other agencies I am working with ir British gas, are not treating it as an emergency, hence the gaps between engineers etc.

There are no issues with the shower as this is electric and working fully.

I have actually explained to her fully whether the issues she has raised previously are within her remit or mine, and there have been no real issues with these.

pmlindyloo

In general terms I would say that you have done enough to cover yourself as regards to your responsibilities as a landlord. I can never understand why tenants think they have a right to have things fixed more quickly than if they owned the house!

Reading your previous thread it seems that your tenant is somewhat 'needy' and tenants like this can be a pain in the ***.

She should not be refusing to pay rent as she has a contractual agreement to pay it. The issues of repairs is quite separate.

So what are your options?

1. Be brutal and remind her that you are doing everything you can as regards repairs and allow her to get in arrears with her rent and start the eviction process.

2. Offer her some compensation as regards the lack of hot water and then get rid asap.

3. Do a combination of 1 and 2.

Mrstickle

When we lived in rented, our landlord set up British Gas Homecare as he didn't want to/wasn't in the position for us to be contacting him about central heating repairs etc.
The service was in his name and he paid the bills, but we could call the number when we needed an engineer to come out - confirmation was sent to both us as the resident, and our landlord.
Could you not set something up similar so your tenant can arrange at her own convenience?

mrginge

Evict them as soon as possible.

katepower

pmlindyloo wrote: »

In general terms I would say that you have done enough to cover yourself as regards to your responsibilities as a landlord. I can never understand why tenants think they have a right to have things fixed more quickly than if they owned the house!

Reading your previous thread it seems that your tenant is somewhat 'needy' and tenants like this can be a pain in the ***.

She should not be refusing to pay rent as she has a contractual agreement to pay it. The issues of repairs is quite separate.

So what are your options?

1. Be brutal and remind her that you are doing everything you can as regards repairs and allow her to get in arrears with her rent and start the eviction process.

2. Offer her some compensation as regards the lack of hot water and then get rid asap.

3. Do a combination of 1 and 2.

Thankyou - this is the kind of advice I was looking for. I feel that I have done all that I can and can't see what else I could do due to it being a 'non emergency'

I have yet to meet a landlord who didn't have teething problems along the way so shy advice received is much appreciated

princeofpounds

She is needy. You have been a bit inept but made a reasonable effort to try to sort things so far.

But it's for you to arrange for someone to fix it. She does not need to take time off for your benefit.

Now personally I wouldn't complain about a week's delays in the situation you describe if I wasn't able to take time out to help access.

Just get the problem fixed and reiterate that the rent is due immediately.

fairy_lights

If your tenant has an electric shower and the heating is still working then it's not exactly an emergency situation and I think they are being pretty unreasonable to expect a rent reduction.

However this bit of your post leapt out at me:

katepower wrote: »

I have now arranged for British gas to attend, however they only offer appointments 9 - 5 mon to fri and tenant has refused to Take time off of work to resolve the situation. I have arranged for someone to be at the property in a few days time but he tenant is still unhappy and now refusing to pay rent.

If something in my flat broke and I couldn't be home when the repair man came, I would expect my Landlord to be there to sort it out. I would not be at all happy for "someone" unknown to me to be in my house when I wasn't there.

ognum

It haven't read your previous messages about this tenant but there are needy tenants who like to be in constant contact, it seems you may have one.

It always amazes me that a tenant can live in a house for a year and have little contact about issues, another tenant then moves in and they contact constantly. A tenant recently contacted me about a square foot of discoloured barge boarding that she felt was giving her asthma!

In the end I did say to this tenant that if she was unhappy in he property I would be happy for her to find another and she did not need to remain in her fixed tenancy and I would take no deductions from her deposit for anything. Since then it seems she is very happy and has decided to stay!

Maybe call your tenants bluff!