Denied pre rental visit – update

In August I explained I was renting out a fairly top end property for the area. The agents successfully referenced some new tenants and I asked if I could visit them in their current home. This was the first time I had suggested this – read it on here somewhere. But they said they weren’t comfortable with the idea and as I hadn’t mentioned it when they first applied I backed off and he is a fairly well known local small business owner so let them move in. 

Goodness you guys laid into me and told me they would clearly be running a cannabis farm/brothel/people trafficking ring, ha ha ha. HOWEVER exactly the opposite has happened. These tenants are a total nightmare but for quite the wrong reason. They have major OCD issues I think. I was surprised on the morning they moved in. They collected the keys at 9am – they’d seen the house twice while it was occupied. Even the letting agents had commented how nicely the property was kept then. I went round at 9.30 to see them and explain heating etc and a bevy of cleaners were in!!! They said the whole place was so filthy they’d had to employ cleaners. Hum, the cleaners were obviously booked prior to them collecting the keys but I kept quiet and told them to send me the bill. Lady tenant pointed out a finger print on a glass internal door as indication of the slum landlord I clearly was. Admittedly my cleaners (and I) had missed that one.

A small water stain on the boxing in behind the loo was greeted with hysteria and no I couldn’t get someone to paint it – all the boxing needed replacing. My trusty and excellent carpenter Jim did the job, cutting ply on the drive. They seemed happy but thirty minutes later he got a really irate phone call to say there was WOOD DUST on the bumper of his car. Jim offered to go back and clean the car but tenant told him he couldn’t as he clearly didn’t know what a clean car looked like.

Up to date I’ve done everything they wanted except there are 2 blown screws on the plaster board on the staircase – quite high up and they want all the plaster board replaced and repainted and they want a light switch replaced as it has a crack in it – I checked and it’s a scratch about 1cm long. I told them if they aren’t happy they can leave!

I have never had to deal with people like this before. He even phoned me when I was in hospital having come round from an operation 45 mins earlier. I told him this and asked if it could wait – apparently not, he’d taken the cooker hood apart and it needed new filter IMMEDIATELY. I politely told him to go away or buy them himself and bill me, which he did.

They are so rude to all the good guys I’ve used for years and sent round I really want to kick them out after the six months but half of me thinks that once they are happy the place will be amazing when they eventually move out.

I wonder if any of you have ever had this problem before? To make matters worse he owns a local car repair place and he did a service on my Smart car (prior to them moving in) and it blew up 2 days later, the Smart specialist told me it was something they had done but as it’s a well known issue but it would be my word against theirs so I never pursued it! And it cost £700 to fix. Watch out for those of you who want clean and tidy tenants – you may get what you wish for!!!

Regards

Gillian

Share This Article