Tenant wants rent reduction - but is he entitled?

bigbananas

I was contacted by our letting agents that our tenant noticed a leaking bathroom towel rail. He checked the boiler pressure and apparantly it was low, so he took it upon himself to refill it. To fill this boiler you have to take the front panel off and connect up the filling pipe. This is when he noticed the boiler was leaking.
So basically it took 2 weeks to fix, and the Tenant was without heating and hot water for that period. Apparantly he went to stay in his mums house.
We are already making a loss on the rent as it doesn't cover our mortgage and the repair cost us £600. But he wants 2 weeks rent reduction. We have tried to negotiate by saying he already has a rent much lower than market value (which he knows) and he shouldn't have attempted to fill the system as he may have overfilled it. But I don't think our letting agents are on our side and fighting our corner, they simply state how the boiler could have been fixed quicker and he wants 2 weeks reduction

Pixie5740

There's no law saying that you have to give your T a rent reduction for being without heating and hot water for a couple of weeks if that's what you mean.

If he was a good T paying full market rent then I'd say give him a few quid back but since he's not paying the going rate I wouldn't bother. Why is he paying below the market rate? Can you get shot of him and get in a T who will pay the going rate, or sell if you're not making any money from this venture?

owitemisermusa

As above.

If you want to compensate him for his inconvenience caused by your delay in repairs then fine but you are not under any obligation. I would never dream of asking my LL for something like that but hey, people are different.

fishpond

2 weeks to fix?
Who fixed it?
If he was cold, wear jumpers.
Hot water = kettle.
Tell him to go away!

On another note, What has the leaking towel rail got to do with a leaking boiler?

bigbananas

Yea we're putting it on the market this month. We were having trouble getting anyone in last year and it was costing us an arm and a leg being empty so we reduced the rent just to reduce our losses!
I've read providing a warm/comfortable environment for the tenant is law. So I assumed if this ended up in court then I'd lose based on it being winter and he "had to move out".

fairy_lights

The weather has been very cold so I don't blame him for going to stay at his mums. Did you offer to provide an alternative form of heating like fan heaters while the boiler was being fixed?
The fact that the rent doesn't cover the mortgage and that the repair has cost you money is completely irrelevant.

bigbananas

fishpond wrote: »

2 weeks to fix?
Who fixed it?
If he was cold, wear jumpers.
Hot water = kettle.
Tell him to go away!

On another note, What has the leaking towel rail got to do with a leaking boiler?

Like your style.
Leaking towel rail led him to check the water pressure on the boiler.

questionss

Did you provide any alternative heating, even fan heaters?

January with no source of heat or hot water for two weeks would seriously annoy me. Would it take 2weeks in your own home? As a landlord I try to repair things as quickly as I would at home so aim to have it looked at within 48hrs. So yes I'd probably offer some compensation.

questionss

If you couldn't get tenants at the advertised rate and had to lower the rate then the rate you are getting is the market rate it just isn't as high as you hoped!

Pixie5740

bigbananas wrote: »

Yea we're putting it on the market this month. We were having trouble getting anyone in last year and it was costing us an arm and a leg being empty so we reduced the rent just to reduce our losses!

Ah, that could change things then. If you're putting the place on the market then you'll want his cooperation with viewings. Your seller is likely to want vacant possession as well so you will need him to leave at some point. Maybe just give him a rent reduction to keep him sweet.

bigbananas wrote: »

I've read providing a warm/comfortable environment for the tenant is law. So I assumed if this ended up in court then I'd lose based on it being winter and he "had to move out".

It doesn't have to be central heating though. It could be a couple of convection heaters until the central heating is fixed. Not that it matters now.

bigbananas

No we didn't provide any alternative heating as we were told he had some already and that he wasn't staying at the house anyway.

Although the rent we are getting and the cost of the repair should be irrelevant they are real world issues that make giving him 2 weeks compensation difficult. Obviously we aren't monsters and we try to put ourselves in his situation where we would probably want compensation also. But if it's not written in law that we have to give him the equivilant of the exact number of days he was not comfortable at the property then it falls to a negotiation. And we cannot afford to hand over 2 weeks rent due to the for-mentioned financial facts. So, we would offer 1 weeks rent because it is a fair amount based on assuming he suffered no financial loss by staying at his mums house.

But! It's a real pain that we'll need him to play ball with regards to viewings and moving out if we sell! So this whole discussion is probably a waste of time as I'll no doubt just have to give the greedy git what he wants!