Horror stories please!

ManuelG

Pricivius wrote: »

Tenants burnt hole in carpet, patched it with some off cuts and put furniture over it at inspection. I accept I should have noticed but do all landlords move all furniture to check?

I do confess to having once spilled some red wine on a cream carpet, so leaving the furniture at jaunty angles when leaving. Amazingly we got our full deposit back - we rushed straight to the bank to cash the cheque ASAP.

On the other hand, I also lived somewhere that suffered from damp. Me and my then girlfriend spent two days cleaning the ceiling to make sure I got my deposit back. I did... which was all very well until I walked past the next week to find the roof had been taken off and the back roof demolished to build an extension, so wish they'd just said and given the cash back without us needing to bother cleaning for the bulldozer!

Oh yeah, also moved in somewhere where the previous tenants had left all their unwashed cutlery and crockery under the sink. I went for the approach of being sick repeatedly as I threw it away and crossed it off the inventory.

Miss_Merlot

Oh God. The temerity of some people!

Will show my OH this thread and try to persuade him to sell!

Old_Git

my tenant has asked me to make her homeless so she can get a council house .I agreed just to get rid of her .

moneyistooshorttomention

When someone openly admits to having spilt wine on a carpet on the thread and not paying for the damage :eek:- then...yep....I'd be inclined not to bother with renting a place out either, as I would certainly be wondering what my chances were of getting a tenant like myself (ie spent over 10 years in several different rented places and literally didn't do one tiny bit of damage in all that time).

So there are some conscientious tenants around....but probably not a lot of us (past tense in my case - as I finally managed to buy a house in the end).

Pixie5740

How not to be a landlord. The writing was on the wall the day I moved in. My landlady burned a smudge stick, wafting the smoke with a peacock feather as I had to follow behind ringing a bell to get rid of the bad juju left by the previous occupant.

Nightmare Landlady

I got my own back when I let the Sky engineer drill a hole in the living room wall. Naughty Pixie.

moneyistooshorttomention

Pixie5740 wrote: »

How not to be a landlord. The writing was on the wall the day I moved in. My landlady burned a smudge stick, wafting the smoke with a peacock feather as I had to follow behind ringing a bell to get rid of the bad juju left by the previous occupant.

Nightmare Landlady

I got my own back when I let the Sky engineer drill a hole in the living room wall. Naughty Pixie.

:rotfl:Ummm....I don't remember you as a tenant:rotfl::rotfl:. Thinks - nope and I did my own bell-ringing....;) - or maybe I used a drum.....

ManuelG

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

When someone openly admits to having spilt wine on a carpet on the thread and not paying for the damage :eek:- .

That, of course, doesn't take into account the landlords also being given a free fridge, freezer and washing machine, all six months old... nor the fact that the landlords kindly left us with a leak in the bathroom for a good couple of months, leading to fraught relations with the neighbours... hence us moving out.

But hey, judge away.

In fact while I'm here...

I also haven't complained about the damp in said house above, haven't complained about the landlords who'd let themselves in, make a cup of tea, and be waiting for us when we came home.

Sometimes, life is not worth the effort of making a fuss. Take the landlord who ended up knocking down his house(!) above, he was a decent bloke, added sound insulation off his own bat because underneath were... loud, would come over at a moment's notice. That's why I ended up trying to clean the damp. Ultimately, it's not my fault his house was damp(!) but he deserved the effort (it would have *still* been nice to know the reason for eviction was major building works, however!)

Treat a tenant with respect and they'll treat you with respect. Treat them like a free pay cheque and not a human being and, well... don't be surprised if they don't own up to a wine stain.

lindsloo

It's not all horror stories. I started a tenancy to a 1st time and accidental landlord and as a serial renter I have tried hard to make the relationship easy and be respectful of her experience. I carried out a lot of the minor works myself and in return when bigger jobs were needed they were carried out promptly. For instance the flat roof came through, LL repaired roof and I replaced inside, had boards replaced and plastered. With permission I have carried out many minor improvements at cost to make it feel like home which has added value to the property. It's been a nice place to live and have grown close to my neighbours, will be sad to move on soon as we are buying our own home. Every house I have rented has been left in better condition than when I took it on, I've always worked with landlords to leave the property in a condition they can continue to let out which has been over my requirements. The result is that if I ever need another rental in the future I have a list of previous landlords I can approach.

I have only had one dodgy landlord who let me rent out the house that he didn't own but knew it was about to be repossessed but assuming your MIL has paid her mortgage and this isn't relevant.

slopemaster

Old_Git wrote: »

my tenant has asked me to make her homeless so she can get a council house .I agreed just to get rid of her .

Yes, this is one to be aware of.

I had one like this but refused to play ball as I didn't see why she should jump the Q for council housing. She tried claiming disrepair, calling in environmental health (who said the house was fine) and telling her GP her health was suffering because of poor housing.

I have now got her out and am going through the dispute process over deductions from her deposit.

The one thing I did right was to get a guarantor - so, whilst the whole thing has been a hassle, the rent has at least been paid.

slopemaster

ManuelG wrote: »

That, of course, doesn't take into account the landlords also being given a free fridge, freezer and washing machine, all six months old... nor the fact that the landlords kindly left us with a leak in the bathroom for a good couple of months, leading to fraught relations with the neighbours... hence us moving out.

But hey, judge away.

2 wrongs don't make a right