boiler not working, tenants wanting discount on rent

franklee

clutton wrote: »

if PaulF can get a plumber to repair an old boiler, involving the purchase of spare parts, within 48 hours then he must surely be renamed "the miracle worker" - get real here. 25% of the rent - ??????

He is NOT saying the fix needs to be done within 48 hours. The point is the tenant is PAYING RENT for a service that includes hot water. If the LL can't source a plumber and spare parts in a timely manner then that is the LL's problem not the tenants. Why should the tenant go on paying FULL PRICE for a service he is not getting?

Would you pay FULL PRICE for a holiday or meal out if some crucial bit was missing even though the missing part was not directly the fault of the person you purchased the service from? Do you say "Oh you're waiting on a supplier, of course I'll pay full price for an incomplete service." I bet you don't, so why do you expect a tenant to?

It's high time LLs realise they are running a business and treat their tenants as PAYING CUSTOMERS. If the LL chooses to save money by continuing to use an old boiler, by not having emergency repairs insurance, or simply doesn't know a good plumber then hard cheese to the LL but the tenant should not have to pay for this!

Paying FULL price for a substandard service is not money saving.

Gorgeous_George

A broken boiler is not necessarily dangerous so that argument is a red herring.

I think that it is totally reasonable for a payment to be made as a gesture of goodwill. This should be based on the rent. I'd offer 10% initially but would go up to 25% if necessary. The LL can recover this through the next rent increase

GG

yaubelle

Thank-you all for replying. It has been interesting reading. I appreciate and have taken your comments on board.

An update on what has happened: The plumber went round to the property yesterday evening (Monday). I also turned up as I wanted to speak to him. it turns out the gas switch (beneath the boiler) had been switched off so there was no gas supply to the boiler??!!! Once the plumber switched the gas on, the boiler started up no problems and was working fine!!!!!!!!

Can you believe it?? I guess things like this do happen. I have 3 tenants living at the property, 2 of them was there but the one I have been dealing with was at work. In an earlier phone call that day I agreed to refund some of the rent. I was asked for £400 but agreed to £300. When I was round the property I did not bother to negotiate on the amount and still gave them a cheque for £300. Like I said before, they have been good tenants and I wanted to buy a degree of "good will" from them as they will be staying on and I feel if they feel well disposed towards me, then they are more likely to continue being good tenants and treat my property with respect. So even though I feel £300 was on the generous side, I think in looking at the wider picture, it's worth it. I hope they feel a bit silly that the boiler not working was probably down to them mucking about with it and ending up turning the gas supply off.

I was a little take aback by some comments about dodgy boilers and CO2. I am not a cheap-skate LL. I would like to say that I have always regarded myself as a responsible LL. Before renting the property out I had the electrics and gas checked and got certificates for them. I get a annual gas safety check done every year, and the last one was done about 4-5 months before the boiler broke down.

Whenever things have gone wrong at the flat I have got them sorted out straight away. Eg; the toilet got blocked twice and I got someone out the unblock it on the same day. I have always endeavor to be reliable. No, I too certainly would not like to live without hot water or heating but I cannot understand why the tenant did not get in contact with me sooner when the boiler was "playing up" the second time. Unfortunately I'm not psychic so wouldn't have know this.

I have however learnt a few lessons from this, ie, never "assume" anything I guess. The plumber went round the 1st time, looked at the boiler and came back the next day with some parts and fixed it. I think, he then received another call from my tenant saying the boiler was playing up. I on the other hand did not hear from the tenant until the problem had been going on for a week or so. It was only when I realised the problem was still on going that I started to chase the plumber up. If the tenant had got back to me sooner I would have chased the plumber up sooner. As I said before, my tenant has had dealings with my plumber in the past and I "assumed" he would arrange a time for him to come round and sort things out.

Once thing I will never do again is "assume"!! In future I shall just do it all myself.

anyway thanks to all for replying!!;)

clutton_2

glad it all worked out in the end - but £300 ???? - because the tenants turned the gas off ???? madness .....

duchy

£300 may be cheap in the long run though-if it keeps good tenants who take care of the property. Sounds to me like the tenants didn't want to "bug" the LL so maybe lessons have been learned all around about communication.
It's nice to hear of a good landlord.

Lavendyr

It could have been the plumber who turned the gas off when he first did the work, and the tenants might not have realised this. It sounds like the daftest thing in the world but it does happen! We had electricians in the other day because our oven in our new rented house wasn't working, they unplugged all sorts of things and plugged in others, and we had to hunt around the house finding out what they'd left unplugged and what they'd plugged in that we wanted unplugged. I bet your tenants felt really stupid, but at the same time if I were your tenants I would not have asked for any compensation at that point.

Generali

It sounds to me like everyone is happy. The perfect ending.

roses

yaubelle, you sound like a really great landlord

Although a lot of what is written here is complete tosh!

In the legal world, a tenant must put up with the inconvenience as if it is their own home. If they are without hot water then they must wait a reasonable amount of time for a plumber to come round to fix it which includes waiting time for parts.

A tenant can only legally claim compensation if the landlord is dragging their feet, which yaubelle you were not. However in order to clear the air between you and your unhappy tenants, you did good refunding them 1 weeks rent & they are more likely to take care of the property if they like and respect you

Incidentally, do you know who switched the gas off? Was it the tenant?