Replacing cheap door but landlord charging too much

lookstraightahead

So with that in mind a tenant has their hands tied, they just have to pay for an expert to make any repairs?

I think in future I would ask for a safety certificate for every door just in case it's not been fitted by a professional.

A tenant could fit it then a landlord could check it maybe?

BarleyGB

lookstraightahead wrote: »

So with that in mind a tenant has their hands tied, they just have to pay for an expert to make any repairs?

I think in future I would ask for a safety certificate for every door just in case it's not been fitted by a professional. why would you need to I’ll ensure all works have been done by professionals and you have redress through courts/arbitration an ultimately my public liability insurance if required

A tenant could fit it then a landlord could check it maybe?

Surprised so many people are unwilling for an expert to do the work, let me know next time you need some DIY doing, ill beat any quoted from experts, ill even have a go at hanging doors. Probably ok to nail the hinges on yeah?

I might start branching out into car repairs if there's demand.

Taking my sarcastic hat off for a minute. Given the apparent war on landlords, is it any wonder we're risk adverse. Despite what's said in the media some people need to rent (I rent sometimes working away from home). Ultimately the cost of legislation, increased market risk gets passed onto tenants.

lookstraightahead

Barley I will take the example of my teen daughter. If she needs to buy something herself, she will buy what she needs. If I pay for it, she will buy what she wants. If it's not her money, she doesn't need to worry.

There have been numerous posts on here where tenants are without a boiler / heating and landlords won't pay for emergency call outs. I'm not saying that's unreasonable. But if cost is passed on to the tenant, surely it needs to be reasonable? Maybe if it's such a cheap door, it needs to be replaced with a good sturdy one, rather than another rubbish one? Even maybe a fire door if it's a kitchen door.

Op - I think you should have left it in hindsight and let it go to arbitration. Then you don't need to bother being there are all.

need_an_answer

lookstraightahead wrote: »

So with that in mind a tenant has their hands tied, they just have to pay for an expert to make any repairs?

I think in future I would ask for a safety certificate for every door just in case it's not been fitted by a professional.

To be honest you aren't that far from the truth when you say tenants hands are tied and things come with safety certifications.

If it were a leasehold property and the door was in a communal area then the chances are it would have to go through all types of certification and fire and safety checking and leaseholder do indeed need to pick up the bill for what seems an extortionate amount of paperwork and checking. Leaseholders pay huge amounts of their service charges on what some may see as paperwork...that's those who are owner occupiers and LL's alike.


In this case it was within the demise of a property so yes it was the LL's decision to appoint a trusted person to make the replacement just in the same way as if someone in your house did damage you would want to make sure that whomever repaired or replaced did the job correctly and properly and to your satisfaction.
If an engineer from BG for example put a hole in your door I would hope you would get your carpenter to rectify and then pass the bill back to BG for reimbursement,or would you just say "ok you fix" without knowing the quality of workmanship they would achieve.

Jumblebumble

lookstraightahead wrote: »

Isn't it funny that everything is so expensive when the tenant has to pay for it, yet when (some) landlords have to pay themselves they find cheap labour and cheap materials.

Our fence panel broke and our landlord replaced it no problem. He used a mate to do it.

Would any landlord pay £300 to have a £30 door replaced in their own home? Never.

No I guess not
However the landlord is not asking for £300 which was a theoretical figure in a previous post

lookstraightahead

Jumblebumble wrote: »

No I guess not
However the landlord is not asking for £300 which was a theoretical figure in a previous post

You're right. £200. Ish.

lookstraightahead

With all this in mind then, I think the HSE should regularly check all private tenancies before a tenant moves in to ensure that all doors are fitted properly (and windows/ patio slabs / decking / sheds / curtain poles etc). Thus shouldn't be left to landlords / tenants / agents as it's a job for someone with a hard hat.

BarleyGB

lookstraightahead wrote: »

Barley I will take the example of my teen daughter. If she needs to buy something herself, she will buy what she needs. If I pay for it, she will buy what she wants. If it's not her money, she doesn't need to worry. father/daughter completely different to a legal relationship between tenant and landlord. That said what if daughter came home with some cheap hair straightners she’d bought off a random person she didn’t know or could vouch for

There have been numerous posts on here where tenants are without a boiler / heating and landlords won't pay for emergency call outs. I'm not saying that's unreasonable. But if cost is passed on to the tenant, surely it needs to be reasonable? Maybe if it's such a cheap door, it needs to be replaced with a good sturdy one, rather than another rubbish one? Even maybe a fire door if it's a kitchen door. I agree some landlords are unreasonable, £200 for a tradesman to replace a door seems in the bounds of reasonable to me. I’d do the same if it was my own internal door at home

need_an_answer

lookstraightahead wrote: »

With all this in mind then, I think the HSE should regularly check all private tenancies before a tenant moves in to ensure that all doors are fitted properly (and windows/ patio slabs / decking / sheds / curtain poles etc). Thus shouldn't be left to landlords / tenants / agents as it's a job for someone with a hard hat.

great idea ...but it will put rents up and those who need rentals the most will be hardest hit.

To a degree that is what some councils are now proposing to implement a one off payment for a licence every 5 years in the area in which I live,the licence aint cheap either it runs into £1000's.

It will put rents up substantially and suddenly a whole layer of what was termed affordable will suddenly dissapear

lookstraightahead

I think there are some fab landlords, and fab tenants. I think this kind of thread proves that a tenant shouldn't report any "none essential repairs" and leave it til the end of tgevtenancy and wait for arbitration, as three or four things could be put right theoretically in the same call out. Unfortunately this will mean a void period between tenancies potentially, but that's not the tenants problem.

If landlords are really so concerned about safety, then everything mended that could cause an accident needs a safety certificate - I can think of lots of things landlords do themselves which they shouldn't do if that's the case (fence panels, curtain rails, floor tiles, bathroom tiles etc).

It's a shame as this will price landlords and tenants out of the market.