boiler not working, tenants wanting discount on rent

clutton_2

landlords are human - just like the rest of us - this one made a mistake in not following thru - all of us have experienced living in properties with stuff not working before now - of course no one likes living without hot water - but it happens - boilers go wrong, the plumber does not turn up, when he does he does not, understandably, have the right part, the firm sends him the wrong part, and so on and so on ....

if the tenant did not communicate with the landlord when it was not fixed the first time - he has no business moaning that it now not fixed as silvercar says.
why dont the landlord and tenant here talk to each other instead of posting here ?

nothing ever got sorted out without communicating to the relevant party

duchy

He is employing the plumber it's his responsibility to ensure he has done his job. No different to any other job-if you delegate a responsibility it's still your ultimate responsibility to ensure the task is completed.

If his tenants chose to break the contract and moved out without notice into a new place legally he wouldn't have a leg to stand on and would have to suck up the lost rent and also refund their deposit (and possibly a percentange of the rent for the hot-waterless days) as he didn't take "reasonable steps" to ensure the problem was resolved either by checking with the plumber or his tenants

coal9011

clutton wrote: »

landlords are human - just like the rest of us - this one made a mistake in not following thru - all of us have experienced living in properties with stuff not working before now - of course no one likes living without hot water - but it happens - boilers go wrong, the plumber does not turn up, when he does he does not, understandably, have the right part, the firm sends him the wrong part, and so on and so on ....

if the tenant did not communicate with the landlord when it was not fixed the first time - he has no business moaning that it now not fixed as silvercar says.
why dont the landlord and tenant here talk to each other instead of posting here ?

nothing ever got sorted out without communicating to the relevant party

clutton, you are much to understanding, tolerant and sensible ............ I used to be like you until one day - after a property that I was renting flooded for the 3rd. time - and the landlord posted 3 "empty" sand bags through my letter box! (no joke!)

If I were the LL just the safety issue alone would make me pull out all the stops to get the boiler repaired!

clutton_2

has this thread gone completely bonkers ?? - re-read the original post -

the plumber attended when asked, went back when asked, and is now waiting for the spare part - and yet some posters want to hang draw and bankrupt the landlord .......

seftonsun

This is like everything else of a similar ilk. it all boils (no pun intended) down to what's reasonable.

As the landlord you are responsible for sorting out repairs/replacements of broken/damaged/not working items including the boiler. Sometimes it is simpler, and if the tenanats are happy with doing it, for them to make the arrangements direct re access, etc. However, you need to keep contol over the progress and more importantly the extent of the work being carried out. So, always keep the dialogue going with your tradesmen and then keep your tenants informed. Often it is the not knowing that causes annoyance rather than the not getting fixed.

With reagrds a discount on the rent, as I started off by saying it's what is reasonable. They still enjoyed the use of the property, but by how much was that diminished by not having any hot water? In my view 25% would be at the top end of any discount. I would say 15% - 20% would be reasonable. But, as I say that's just my view. You then need to decide for what period that would apply for. Again, what's reasonable? Even the most conscientious landlord would not and could not be expected to get repairs done immediately. I would allow say 24 -48 hours after each “breakdown” of the boiler was notified to you and for any time after that until the problem was remedied allow the discount on the rent.

charmed-imsure

This happened to me in my last rented house. We started feeling ill all the time, headaches etc and realised it could be the boiler (carbon monoxide) and the landlords thankfully sent a plumber round next day, he inspected and there was indeed a hole in the boiler and it did need replacing. Boiler got replaced and may I add the most shoddiest workmanship I've ever seen and it went with every hitch imaginable but the illnesses stopped. Anyway, we requested a reduction in rent for the 2 days we went without heat & hot water. Our rent was £525 a month and we got a £25.00 rebate! But we thought it fair enough.

(The shower burst under the pressure of the new boiler, the floor became mouldy and so wet we were walking in puddles, it dripped through the ceiling down into the kitchen, the leak was between the partition walls so the wall had to knocked through, the shower disabled, and then the landlords gave us notice & sold the house because they saw how much it was going to cost to repair the damage after the new boiler got put in!)

silvercar

Bit of a difference between carbon monoxide leaking and no hot water and no heating to no hot water!

CYBERCIDERSAVER

I think you could get a lot of respect from the tenant here.

If I was the Landlord in this situation I would agree with a 25% reduction for the total time the boiler has been out of operation.

However I would be careful to point out that the 25% off is over what you would usually discount but they have been good tenants and as such are very sorry they have had to live without hot water and you will pester the plumber to get it sorted as soon as possible, (my friend works at a heating parts place that has access to most parts witin a day or two.)

happy tenants are long serving tenants.
As for replacing the boiler. surely a chat with the plumber to see what he thinks of the boiler might be advisable.

Vampgirl

Our boiler broke down last December (just as it started to get really cold!) and although our landlord and ourselves tried to get a plumber out to fix it asap it still took 4 days. The landlord refunded us 100% of the rent for the days we were without heating/hot water (4 days came to £100). He didn't even offer to refund the rent, he just told us he'd be doing it (it hadn't occur to us to ask!) and as we're on a tight budget we certainly didn't object! We feel very fortunate to have such a good landlord and its certainly made us consider staying here longer than we'd originally planned to - a good landlord is worth sticking with! I think you have an opportunity here to really make a good impression on your tennants.

coal9011

well said "Vampgirl"

At the end of the day landlords and Tenants need each other!

I have never been a LL although I have worked as a Letting Agent. The structure of a good relationship between LL and tenant is vital for the smooth running of a tenancy. More often then not it is the LL who breaks the "spirit" of an agreement by being to slow or even not carrying out repairs essential to the safety and comfort of the rented household.

A prompt repair by a landlord "elevates" him in the eyes of his tenant as well as being reassurring for him. In return the tenant usually will demonstrate more willingness to be a "good tenant" and treat the LL's property with the repect it deserves. "Apathy breeds contempt!"