What now?

misty-mitts

We have a flat that we rent out as an Airbnb (we don't make a profit, but we can't sell it).  Towards the end of last summer, a renter lit a portable BBQ (which was forbidden) on the wooden balcony, burning two of the decking planks.  We live in a different part of the country, and our cleaners didn't notice.  The first we knew of it was when another renter complained.  We can't get compensation through Airbnb as we don't know which renter caused the damage.

We expected it to be covered under the building's insurance policy organised by the property management company, but they say it isn't (nor was a damaged window we previously tried to get fixed).  Neither is the balcony damage covered under our landlord's insurance (same with the window).

We have, with great difficulty, managed to get a couple of quotes for fixing the damage, but the cost is well into 4 figures as the repair companies insist they need to put up scaffolding, as it is on the 4th floor.  Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you. 

grumpy_codger

4 figures for replacing two short timber decking boards?!

IMO it will take a good handyman an hour  to repair this without any scaffolding (plus finding and buying a new longish board).

WIAWSNB

I suspect they reckon the supporting joist along that wall is also burnt and may need replacing. That would theoretically require all the decking boards to be lifted = quite a significant drop to the ground. That could be their 'justification'.
Seems excessive to me - afaIcs, only these two boards need removing, and a section of new joist sistered across the scorched one - glue and screw. 
Employ a fat builder with no risk of falling through.

RAS

Looking at your photo, the beam adjacent to flat wall is comprised? 

user1977

misty-mitts said:

We expected it to be covered under the building's insurance policy organised by the property management company, but they say it isn't

Have you checked that's actually the case, rather than just take their word for it? (on what basis is it not covered?)

MysteryMe

Scaffolding to 4 floors is going to be very expensive and well into 4 figures.  No reputable tradesman is going to risk working on a compromised balcony floor without appropriate safety measures in place, regardless of how small an area that may be.  Their own insurance would be invalidated if something untoward took place. 

mlz1413

Can you re-board over the top of the existing by running the boards in the other direction?

Will depend on how much clearance the door has.

If the insurance isn't covering damage you need to find your own insurance.

Maybe you need the cleaners to send you a video each time they go to the flat.

eddddy

Have you checked your lease to see who is responsible for repairs to the balcony?


Balconies are often (or perhaps usually) not demised with a flat. In simple terms, you might not 'own' the balcony, you might just have exclusive rights to use it. 

If it the balcony isn't demised to you, it's likely to be the freeholder's / management company's responsibility to repair it. And therefore, you shouldn't really do any repairs to it.

The downside might be that a freeholder / management company is likely to use a contractor who charges premium rates, and you might be required to pay the bill.


If that's the case, I guess you could arrange a 'cheap and cheerful' repair instead, without telling the freeholder / management company - but it could get difficult if the freeholder / management company find out, and/or a future buyer notices and asks questions about it.

But if you haven't checked your lease yet, maybe do that first, before considering next steps.


(And if you're looking for a short-term, quick fix to keep the property lettable until proper repairs can be done, maybe consider nailing down a piece of exterior grade plywood with chamfered edges over the damaged area.)

grumpy_codger

MysteryMe said:

Scaffolding to 4 floors is going to be very expensive and well into 4 figures.  

And what if it's 10th floor?

No reputable tradesman is going to risk working on a compromised balcony floor without appropriate safety measures in place, regardless of how small an area that may be.  

Only a small part of it was 'compromised' and very little. And scaffolding isn't the only 'appropriate' safety measure possible in this situation (if it's really needed).

MysteryMe

The OP stated 4th floor, no one is interested in whataboutery.

The tradesmen who presumably have visited the site have stated how will undertake the work which includes scaffolding. I notice you have failed to actually give details of these other appropriate safety measures so feel free to state what they are to assist the OP. BTW your original post failed to mention any safety measures at all and just referred to a "handyman"  

MysteryMe

mlz1413 said:

Can you re-board over the top of the existing by running the boards in the other direction?

Will depend on how much clearance the door has.

If the insurance isn't covering damage you need to find your own insurance.

Maybe you need the cleaners to send you a video each time they go to the flat.

We can't tell from one image how badly the supporting structure has been compromised. The leaseholder is not going to allow an unqualified trader to work on the structure of the building. 

Asking the cleaner to video after each visit is a good idea