Compensation to tenants for disruption?

marliepanda

AdrianC wrote: »

Yes, it is. But they still have one bedroom available.

OP refers to his tenants as a 'family'


Whilst this does not give an exact description of who lives there, its likely that both bedrooms are needed, perhaps for a child? So not just a case of 'moving into the guest bedroom' for a while.

AdrianC

Nobody's denying there's been inconvenience. But it's not been sufficient for them to require alternative accommodation, so they've clearly been coping.

KingS6

Claim the cost of any inconvenience from those who exacerbated it, the tradespeople who were "no shows" if I read the OP right.

What was the reason they gave your friend for failing to turn up?

DaftyDuck

Whatever financial recompense you do give, also add in a good box of chocolates, a bunch of flowers, and a quality bottle of wine. That will set you back less than £50, but I bet it will be as significantly appreciated, and remembered longer.

It is always worth pushing the boat out a little when you have good tenants. Just with presents, it's relatively easy to give a gift voucher, but significantly more appreciated when there's the personal touch.

missbiggles1

AdrianC wrote: »

Nobody's denying there's been inconvenience. But it's not been sufficient for them to require alternative accommodation, so they've clearly been coping.

Why should people have to just "cope" when living in their own home and things go wrong through no fault of their own?

G_M

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Why should people have to just "cope" when living in their own home and things go wrong through no fault of their own?

Because 'stuff happens'. To us all at times, whether we are a tenant, and owner-occupier, a driver, a holiday-maker.....

The blame culture has extended so far that nowadays people seem to expect to be able to blame, and claim off, someone for every mishap in life.

Claim the cost of any inconvenience from those who exacerbated it, the tradespeople who were "no shows" if I read the OP right.

What was the reason they gave your friend for failing to turn up?

This is an extension of my point above. Yes, it's really annoying, but quite common for contractors to fail to turn up, turn up later, whatever. Unless they've given some kind of warranty or undertaking, there's not much a home-owner, landlord, or tenant can do. You might succeed with a claim against a big company, with a customer service dept, in getting a goodwill payment or gesture (like the bottle of wine suggested for the tenant), but a local outfit or independant contractor.....?

Marvel1

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Why should people have to just "cope" when living in their own home and things go wrong through no fault of their own?

My oven is broke, I have to cope until it's fixed, it's life.

My car was wrote off back in January, I had to cope without and searching a new one.

paddyrg

I'd go with 2 months, assuming you want the relationship to be long-term with the tenants. Good long-term tenants are worth keeping, and the reason it's taken so long to sort things out isn't their fault. If you had wanted it dealing with urgently you could have paid a professional building firm a premium instead of trying to engage flakey trades directly, for instance. Not being able to use 50% of the bedrooms for 2 months plus the grief of builders and having to let strangers into the home, having to clean up, having their stuff soiled, having to empty rooms, etc., it's a big deal. Especially for a 'family'.

AdrianC

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Why should people have to just "cope" when living in their own home and things go wrong through no fault of their own?

The usual test of reasonableness is whether a situation would be dealt with significantly quicker if the owner of the property was the occupier, rather than a landlord.

In this case, I think it's safe to say that the landlord has done all he can reasonably be expected, in order to minimise the inconvenience to the tenants.

paddyrg

cjdavies wrote: »

My oven is broke, I have to cope until it's fixed, it's life.

My car was wrote off back in January, I had to cope without and searching a new one.

Renting a flat, it's someone else's x that broke, so why would the tenant be expected to cope without for longer than the barest minimum?