Landlord responsibilities

amaugham

I rent out a house, and had a kitchen installed 5 years ago, before the present tenant moved in.  Whilst they have been on holiday last week the kitchen cabinet fell off the wall.  It has broken the hob and things are smashed everywhere.  Bearing in mind that it has been fine for 5 years and this suddenly happens with no on in the house.  
Who is responsible?  I am saying that they should be claiming on their contents insurance, am I right?

elsien

This would probably be better in the housing section of the forum - more landlords on there. 

What’s the reason it came off? Not fitted properly? Some other reason? I’m presuming you’ve had it inspected in case any others might also not be as secure as they could be? 

Grumpy_chap

I would say it is not "contents" if it is fitted - that would be fixtures and fittings.  Therefore down to the LL to resolve, and with thanks that this happened while the property was unoccupied and therefore no injuries.

FYI - I have been a LL since 2005 and would simply get this done and apologise to the tenant for any disruption.

macman

Did it damage the tenant's property? If so, yes they could claim on their contents policy, if they have one, but their insurer could counterclaim on your buildings policy. 
Whether you want to claim on your own policy is up to you. as it will push up your premium.

user1977

Insurance doesn't change the liability.

Fixing the cupboards (and hob) is a landlord responsibility. Whether the tenants can claim against you for damage to their property, I'm not so sure about, but is it worth the argument? 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP if they are a good tenant then from a business point of view keeping them as a good tenant probably outweighs the cost of repairing the damage regardless of who is right or wrong. 

Do you know what was kept in the cupboard? If they were overloading it a polite chat about keeping heavier things in lower cupboards (or adding more storage space for them if feasible) as well as checking the condition of the other wall units might be wise as well. 

born_again

Was the cupboard over the hob?

eddddy

A fitted cupboard and hob would be covered by buildings insurance, not contents insurance.  (If any plates, glasses, in the cupboard got smashed, they would be 'contents')


But it doesn't sound like any 'insured risk' happened  - e.g. fire, explosion, flood, theft, etc - or even an accident (if you have extra cover for accidental damage).

It sounds like either "wear and tear" or "poor workmanship" by whoever fitted the cupboard. Both of those will almost certainly be excluded from any insurance policy.

Unless you think the tenants were negligent in some way - e.g. they stored ridiculously heavy things in the cupboard, or they'd been swinging on the cupboard door! In which case, you could claim the cost from them. 

pinkshoes

Cupboards don't just fall off the wall. They should be able to withstand quite a load in them e.g. lots of tins and jars. I find it highly unlikely therefore that the tenant has been negligent. 

The most likely cause is the cupboard wasn't fitted properly in the first place (insufficient fixings) so you've been lucky it has stayed up for 5 years, or the wall it is attached to has some sort of issue.

I would apologise to the tenant and pay for everything to get fixed asap.

If there are other units on the wall it might be worth checking them too!

CurlySue2017

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP if they are a good tenant then from a business point of view keeping them as a good tenant probably outweighs the cost of repairing the damage regardless of who is right or wrong. 

Do you know what was kept in the cupboard? If they were overloading it a polite chat about keeping heavier things in lower cupboards (or adding more storage space for them if feasible) as well as checking the condition of the other wall units might be wise as well. 

Really?  We (and many people we know) store tins, jars and all manner of food-stuffs in our cupboards and they have never come off the wall!  That is in fact what they are supposed to be for

silvercar

How near the hob was the cupboard. Building regs would prevent the cupboard being directly above the hob, so I would check positioning. You want to verify that the accident happened as reported rather someone attacking your kitchen.