Contractor billed full amount after tenant didn't respond.

Sokratees9

Hi,

I had a plumbing company pencilled in to flush the radiators for an apartment I own.  The tenant and the company had agreed the time to do the job (basically it's an all day job, starting at 9am).

The workmen turned up on time, but could not get hold of the tenant.  They called a couple of times on WhatsApp and sent him a message.  They left after half an hour, and the tenant finally called them at 9:37.

They didn't want to return as they had left already and said they needed the full day to do the job.  Now I've been sent a bill by the company for the work - a total of £400, which is what was agreed, but obviously nothing has been done.

Should I be asking the plumbing company for a reduction - he says that he had to schedule two people in to do the work, and he has to charge for that, hence the whole amount.  He seems quite inflexible on this...

I have said to the tenant that he is responsible, but that I would try to work something out with the plumbing company, and maybe try to get it down to £200 if possible.

Any advice welcome - I feel this could be going to the small claims court...

Thanks,
Stephen

theartfullodger

Landlord is responsible (or does tenancy state renting property and working for landlord for free?).. 

 My approach is to offer tenant inducement (eg rent reduction for maintenance and if things go wrong).

 Has worked for me . Suited me when I had properties 500+ miles away, day trip journey.  But sometimes I had to go: entirely foreseeable risk landlords take, innit 

 But others take different approach.

Best wishes to all .

teaselMay

Would you OP pay the tenant a days wages if they took a day off and contractor didn't turn up? I lost count how many times that happened to me when I was working. 

Tucosalamanca

Do you think the plumber should suffer a financial loss because of you and your tenant?

They were booked for a day's work, they attended. It's not a case of nothing's been done.

Do you think the plumber can just pick up another job with absolutely no notice?
Not only that but a job that miraculously fits in with the hours they have left in the day.

Pay them what's owed, this shouldn't even be a conversation.

thegreenone

What was the reason for your tenant not being there, as agreed?

elsien

Tucosalamanca said:

Do you think the plumber should suffer a financial loss because of you and your tenant?

They were booked for a day's work, they attended. It's not a case of nothing's been done.

Do you think the plumber can just pick up another job with absolutely no notice?
Not only that but a job that miraculously fits in with the hours they have left in the day.

Pay them what's owed, this shouldn't even be a conversation.

The OP isn’t going to be able to prove it, Most plumbers I know have a list of small jobs that are waiting and if plans change, they do try and get hold of people to see if they can fit it in it short notice. So it’s not beyond the realms of possibility they were able to do other work instead, but that’s not going to be possible to argue. 

[Deleted User]

theartfullodger said:

Landlord is responsible (or does tenancy state renting property and working for landlord for free?).. 

 My approach is to offer tenant inducement (eg rent reduction for maintenance and if things go wrong).

 Has worked for me . Suited me when I had properties 500+ miles away, day trip journey.  But sometimes I had to go: entirely foreseeable risk landlords take, innit 

 But others take different approach.

Best wishes to all .

My tenant offered to let the plumber in. I declined and did it myself. Rents could probably be lower but as tenants cannot be relied on to open a door, travel to the property and make sure rents are such to cover all costs.

AskAsk

Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do.  Tenants don't have a responsibility to wait for trades people to come and if they agree to do so, it is only by good will.  Therefore if they let you down at the last minute, there isn't much you can do and this is the risk that you take when you rely on your tenants being there.

I always double check with my tenants that they will be in as agreed the night before.  As to the plumber charging the full bill because he had scheduled the work, that is also difficult to get out of as he potentially has lost that opportunity to earn that money and it wasn't his fault.

It is a bit mean of him to charge you the full amount when he hasn't done any work though.

Sokratees9

To clarify the situation a bit further, I started the conversation with the plumbing company about the flush, as it had been recommended during the last service of the gas boiler.

To avoid trying to get a person in the middle (me) trying to co-ordinate between two others, I asked the tenant if I could pass on his details to the plumbing company and they could arrange it for a time that suited him.  I believe the tenant works from home a lot, so he didn't seem to mind.

The tenant said he was there, but that he got no phone calls to let the engineer in when he arrived.  The plumbing company sent a WhatsApp screenshot of that fact that they called him a couple of times between 9:00 and 9:30 and sent him a message.

My tenant did call them back at 9:37, which seems to indicate he noticed at a certain point that he had missed the calls.  They refused to do that job at that point.  I asked him about the intercom system and he said it is not working, something I am not aware of, and I'm following up with building management to find out if that is the case.  I'll be visiting the property next week to check.

Anyway, thanks for the replies.  This has been a bit of a pain, and I hope I can come to some sort of compromise with the plumbing company.

TheJP

Sokratees9 said:

To clarify the situation a bit further, I started the conversation with the plumbing company about the flush, as it had been recommended during the last service of the gas boiler.

To avoid trying to get a person in the middle (me) trying to co-ordinate between two others, I asked the tenant if I could pass on his details to the plumbing company and they could arrange it for a time that suited him.  I believe the tenant works from home a lot, so he didn't seem to mind.

The tenant said he was there, but that he got no phone calls to let the engineer in when he arrived.  The plumbing company sent a WhatsApp screenshot of that fact that they called him a couple of times between 9:00 and 9:30 and sent him a message.

My tenant did call them back at 9:37, which seems to indicate he noticed at a certain point that he had missed the calls.  They refused to do that job at that point.  I asked him about the intercom system and he said it is not working, something I am not aware of, and I'm following up with building management to find out if that is the case.  I'll be visiting the property next week to check.

Anyway, thanks for the replies.  This has been a bit of a pain, and I hope I can come to some sort of compromise with the plumbing company.

So they were only 7 minutes away when the tenant called, could have easily turned back and cracked on. They went to another job and are trying to charge you full whack. I would take that up with them.

AskAsk

Sokratees9 said:

To clarify the situation a bit further, I started the conversation with the plumbing company about the flush, as it had been recommended during the last service of the gas boiler.

To avoid trying to get a person in the middle (me) trying to co-ordinate between two others, I asked the tenant if I could pass on his details to the plumbing company and they could arrange it for a time that suited him.  I believe the tenant works from home a lot, so he didn't seem to mind.

The tenant said he was there, but that he got no phone calls to let the engineer in when he arrived.  The plumbing company sent a WhatsApp screenshot of that fact that they called him a couple of times between 9:00 and 9:30 and sent him a message.

My tenant did call them back at 9:37, which seems to indicate he noticed at a certain point that he had missed the calls.  They refused to do that job at that point.  I asked him about the intercom system and he said it is not working, something I am not aware of, and I'm following up with building management to find out if that is the case.  I'll be visiting the property next week to check.

Anyway, thanks for the replies.  This has been a bit of a pain, and I hope I can come to some sort of compromise with the plumbing company.

sometimes phone signal don't work.  i find this with my tenants and myself.  so it is possible that the call did not connect and so your tenant did not see the call.

i do think the plumber is having a bit of a laugh when the tenant called them 7 minutes later and they won't come back to do the job.  i would refuse to pay the full price on this new info that you have provided as they could have easily come back to do the work unless they had another job to go to, in which case they can't claim that they lost the opportunity to do other work because they had booked you in.