Majority of landlords cover property damage caused by tenants

We do have effective inventories but the realistic position is that very few tenants accept responsibility for the damage they caused.
It was never the case that children climbing on a garden wall caused it to have bricks missing, or windows broken by a football in the garden, It must have been “storm damage”
The bath overflowed and flooded the kitchen below?
Oh no it was a leaky tap- we didn't let the bath run and forget?

Reply to the comment left by Pete David at 21/10/2024 - 11:33
I have had similar experiences. "Storm damage" for damage done by tenants attaching washing lines to bits of the property and then their children swinging on the lines. "The light just fell off" (=my child was swing on it). "The door just fell off" (=my child was swinging on it).

Even when it's something pretty obvious with the tenant in the property. I have the drains inspected with a camera before the tenants move in. A year or so into the tenancy the drain is blocked and sewage is flowing out into the neighbours' garden. I pay for the same drainage engineer to come out and inspect and ask him to tell me if the problem is the drain, or misuse. The drainage engineer finds a "wad of material" in the drain, but won't say it's misuse. I pay. A year later the same thing happens...same problem with sewage, same engineer, "...no there's no problem with the drains, they are quite good, there was a wad of material up there." But the engineer won't say the damage is due to misuse.

So I do nothing at all to the drains because I don't need to as there's nothing wrong with them. Then when the tenants' teenage daughters move out the problem stops happening. But I ended up paying.

And yes, I have of course encountered the same problems with tenants trying to hide things from an inventory inspection.

I have noticed that, the engineer or any workmen never find faults with the tenants on any issues if misuse or abuse. The inventory clerk, I use always wants tenants out of the house. The tenants get an opportunity to say what they want before or after the inspection. The house has to empty, when the check in or check out is carried out. She misses some issues, like mattresses pictures. The previous one did everything, walls, doors, locks. This one also missed the key missing from the conservatory door leading outside, because the door was open.
She also puts lot of issues, like broken furniture, extractor fans not working on maintenance, when tenants have not notified and it has caused mould in the bathrooms.