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Cuilean
Posts: 731 Forumite
As an unintentional landlord (I've inherited a property and its tenant from my late grandfather), I'm not sure how to proceed with this.
Our tenant moved out at the end of her tenancy. We provided her with a working satellite dish and faceplate to plug in to. The rental agreement says she's not to install an aerial, satellite dish or cable equipment. A separate clause says she's not to make changes or alterations to the property without consent, and that she'll be liable to pay costs for removal or damage repair, regardless of whether she got our permission to do an installation or not.
Without telling us, our tenant (Or someone she hired) took down our existing satellite dish, put up a new one, and after running cable across the back of the house, drilled a wobbly inch square hole from the exterior to the interior, on the other side of the living room. The hole has not been sealed externally. Internally, we have a matching inch square hole about a metre up the wall with two metres of cable dangling from it, and a chunk of missing wallpaper.
She was specifically told at the start of the tenancy she was not to drill holes in the walls, simply because they have an internal concrete render which is a nightmare to drill into (I think she has discovered this, given the size of the hole
)
The letting agent did a checkout inspection and said he was happy with what he saw, but I disagree. She's damaged walls internally and externally, and since the wall was papered, it's not a simple case of polyfilla and paint.
The daft thing is, if she'd asked if she could move the satellite point, I'd have said yes, on the proviso that it was done by a professional, and with a faceplate, not a trailing cable!
My ideal solution is for the wall gap to be repaired professionally, and the trailing cable to be replaced with a faceplate to hide the torn wallpaper. It's probably easier than removing everything and reinstating things as they were, since the original satellite cables have been cut and left dangling from the bracket. The whole installation needs tidying up, and I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for her to pay for it. Could someone with landlord experience advise?
Our tenant moved out at the end of her tenancy. We provided her with a working satellite dish and faceplate to plug in to. The rental agreement says she's not to install an aerial, satellite dish or cable equipment. A separate clause says she's not to make changes or alterations to the property without consent, and that she'll be liable to pay costs for removal or damage repair, regardless of whether she got our permission to do an installation or not.
Without telling us, our tenant (Or someone she hired) took down our existing satellite dish, put up a new one, and after running cable across the back of the house, drilled a wobbly inch square hole from the exterior to the interior, on the other side of the living room. The hole has not been sealed externally. Internally, we have a matching inch square hole about a metre up the wall with two metres of cable dangling from it, and a chunk of missing wallpaper.
She was specifically told at the start of the tenancy she was not to drill holes in the walls, simply because they have an internal concrete render which is a nightmare to drill into (I think she has discovered this, given the size of the hole
)The letting agent did a checkout inspection and said he was happy with what he saw, but I disagree. She's damaged walls internally and externally, and since the wall was papered, it's not a simple case of polyfilla and paint.
The daft thing is, if she'd asked if she could move the satellite point, I'd have said yes, on the proviso that it was done by a professional, and with a faceplate, not a trailing cable!
My ideal solution is for the wall gap to be repaired professionally, and the trailing cable to be replaced with a faceplate to hide the torn wallpaper. It's probably easier than removing everything and reinstating things as they were, since the original satellite cables have been cut and left dangling from the bracket. The whole installation needs tidying up, and I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for her to pay for it. Could someone with landlord experience advise?
© Cuilean 2005. Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.
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Comments
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But you weren't the LL when it was probably done so have no comeback on the tenant.
You inherited the property in the state it was in at that time. That is your baseline to work from.0 -
unforeseen wrote: »But you weren't the LL when it was probably done so have no comeback on the tenant.
You inherited the property in the state it was in at that time. That is your baseline to work from.
My sister and I are named on the agreement as landlords, even though my grandfather owned the property. We took over my grandfather's affairs with a power of attorney when he developed dementia, and let the agent know. The tenant moved in not long after we were awarded PoA, so I guess the agent took the opportunity to re-word the contract with our names.
Naively, we never asked to see the contract, and only received a copy of it last week when the solicitor handling the estate demanded it. We'd left the agent to deal with things. If I could kick myself any harder over this, I'd need hospitalisation
© Cuilean 2005. Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.0 -
Sometimes I think the website should be renamed Money Grasping Expert.
I think if I'd been fortunate enough to inherit a property I'd be willing to let such a trivial issue go but perhaps that just me.0 -
Sometimes I think the website should be renamed Money Grasping Expert.
I think if I'd been fortunate enough to inherit a property I'd be willing to let such a trivial issue go but perhaps that just me.
Thank you, your opinion is very helpful.
It's not the financial aspect of things. It's the moral aspect of it. I wouldn't rent a property and go drilling holes in it without expecting there to be some sort of comeback. But perhaps that's just me.© Cuilean 2005. Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.0 -
I once let a Sky "engineer" drill holes in the wall of a flat I was renting because my landlord was a knob and I knew she hadn't protected my deposit. Bad Pixie.
I digress...
Has the tenant's deposit been returned to her? If not have you asked her to repair the damage or for the money to be deducted from the deposit? I'm not sure that you have a cast iron case but the scheme's adjudicator might side with you.0 -
I am slightly confused about how you know she was explicitly told not drill holes in the wall if you left everything to the agent. Who uttered these words to the tenant?0
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I once let a Sky "engineer" drill holes in the wall of a flat I was renting because my landlord was a knob and I knew she hadn't protected my deposit. Bad Pixie.
I digress...
Has the tenant's deposit been returned to her? If not have you asked her to repair the damage or for the money to be deducted from the deposit? I'm not sure that you have a cast iron case but the scheme's adjudicator might side with you.
Thank you, that gave me a laugh. I hope the tenant doesn't think I'm a knob. She made a lot of requests, and I said yes to all of them, apart from the TV bracket one.
You make an interesting point about whether the tenant was told not to drill holes. She emailed the agent to ask about wall mounting TVs, who forwarded her email to me (Minus her contact details). I replied to the agent via email, but then followed up with a phone call to him, where the agent told me he'd explained this to the tenant, and she was disappointed because she really wanted to wall mount all her TVs, but accepted my reasons. This indicated to me that she had been told by the agent, but I see now where you're coming from. Do I trust the agent to have actually told her?
My plan for Monday was indeed to ring the aforementioned agent and ask for deductions from the deposit money. However, as a relative noob to this game, I wasn't sure how to get the ball rolling. Hence the "Help me, MSE, you're my only hope" post
© Cuilean 2005. Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.0 -
I think it is reasonable to ask for the cost of the repairs to be deducted from the deposit. The tenancy agreement was very clear on the point. This is not a case where fair wear and tear is applicable. .The comments I post are my personal opinion. While I try to check everything is correct before posting, I can and do make mistakes, so always try to check official information sources before relying on my posts.0
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sounds a fair deduction to me, if nothing else the hole in the wall inside etc needs fixing which costs and she needs to payAn answer isn't spam just because you don't like it......0
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Was the deposit protected?
If yes, get a quote to have it fixed and deduct from deposit.Should've = Should HAVE (not 'of')
Would've = Would HAVE (not 'of')
No, I am not perfect, but yes I do judge people on their use of basic English language. If you didn't know the above, then learn it! (If English is your second language, then you are forgiven!)0
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