Is it worth the hassle of trying to get tenant to pay?

Reply to the comment left by rita chawla at 08/06/2018 - 13:08
Rita, most of my property is studio flats. The more the tenants have to supply for themselves the more committed they are and the longer they tend to stay. Tenants have no respect for your property and often little respect for their own, so the less you provide the better. No curtains, no curtain rails, no carpets, nothing but a bare shell for them to make their home. Some do others don't - it's their choice.

Reply to the comment left by David Price at 08/06/2018 - 14:04
David, thanks, makes sense from both tax and property management point of view.

We have always encouraged our tenants to report any fault as soon as they are noticed - telling them never to leave any problem to develop into something bigger. Attending to small problems immediately is not just cheaper, it is also part of good service.
We always check out any reported problem - first on the phone, then in person if cannot resolve on the phone. Only when we cannot deal with the problem ourselves that we call out tradesmen.
We find, like most people, tenants respond in kind - nit pickers beget nit pickers. We only ask for the tenants to be respectful of the properties, are punctual payers and, hopefully, stay forever. We in turn, give them the best service we can. The rest are mostly minor issues such as 1 walked away with our curtains, another our washing machine, yet another a door and yet another had the police kicked in the door. We have had 1 major disaster that cost us £16k in all of 30 years. Even that was mostly our own fault by trying to save a few quid and, carelessness. We did have one tenant who wanted to break her contract 3 months into the AST and not want to honour the break clause (agency fee). She wrecked havoc after we stood firm on point of principle (and her attitude). In hind sight, perhaps we shouldnt have as it would have been an easier rid and cheaper in both money and more importantly, stress and time.
I am aware that ours is not a model that suits everybody, but it worked for us and, most important, we are happy to have happy tenants. Why stress everybody out over pennies ?

Reply to the comment left by sam at 08/06/2018 - 19:08
We only ask for the tenants to be respectful of the properties, are punctual payers and, hopefully, stay forever.

I add to that:
- not to be violent or abusive to me or my representatives;
- not to annoy the neighbours.

Reply to the comment left by Michael Barnes at 08/06/2018 - 19:48
Haha !
Doubt if any of my happy tenants would want to be violent or abusive towards me or my wife (especially the wife !)
Annoy the neighbours ? That depends on the neighbours - sad to say, not all of them are angels.

Hi, I had a similar issue when my agent called out an emergency plumber after the tenant reported that the boiler was broken. Turned out that they had turned off the fuse spur.
I was charged for the call-out, but the agent agreed that the tenant should pay.
Nearly two years and many excuses later, I'm still waiting for the money.
The agent assures me that it will be taken from the deposit when the tenant leaves and, as it was onky £50, I am content to wait. I would say that to save yourself a lot of frustration and chasing, I would bide your time and forget about it for now!

I would like to thank everyone for their comments it’s always good to see different points of view. We only supply white goods in the 1/2 bed units and only oven/hobs in 3 bedders as we have found over the past 30 years that the more you supply the more there is to go wrong! We also want tenants to report problems promptly and respond to them promptly so that we have happy tenants and hopefully a smaller repair bill i.e a small leak rather than a big one plus decorating costs. This seems to be a recent phenomenon though that tenants are becoming less inclined to accept any responsibility to look after things and that the landlord is responsible for everything? We thought the first 2 examples( tv aerial and washer) were quite reasonable to ask for the tenant to pay for but were met with vehement refusal. The oven has only just happened hence the question. Might just put the rent up £5/a month instead of leaving it alone as might be less hassle than trying to get the money now or getting it out of the deposit!