Richlist

You should be served with a section 20 notice. This details what needs doing & why and provides leaseholders with the opportunity of supplying the contact details of contractors who may be able to carry out the work. Search the internet for 'section 20 notice'....this will give you the info you are looking for. It seems your freeholders/ managing agents don't know or understand what their legal responsibilities are. You won't be able to escape their 2.5% fee or the additional cost of a qualified building surveyor to oversee the work.

That seems to be a strange question. Why do you think it wouldn't be ok ? * Is it functioning as intended ? * If there is glass in the door, is it toughened ? * Does it present a trip or other hazard ?

The short answer is yes......you are required to provide access to the property and ensure its secure. The real question is can you recover the money from the tenant. The answer depends on why a locksmith was required.

In my experience local Councils are some of the worst landlords around. Positives = Their tenants are guaranteed tenure, unlikely to be turfed out and their rents are very reasonable. Negatives = Councils are very, very, very slow at doing anything......repairs, maintenance, refurbishment etc. We have a council owned bungalow near to us. We know the people, they have had a roof leak & serious guttering leak. They have been waiting months for a repair......which wasn't carried out very well. There is also an empty council property, been empty for 3 months. They have a long waiting list for tenancies. Youd have thought that they would make a considerable effort to effect outstanding repairs and relet. The private sector would never sit on an empty property for 3 months.

Yes you could replace the screws with plastic ones or the switch plates with those that incorporate a small plastic cover over the screw heads.

I have paste & copy issues at the moment. Suggest you go the TLC Direct website & look at Quinetec wireless switches.

I read a piece the other day about someone with a 1960's bungalow that had failed the electrical safety certification because the light switches didn't have an earth. Something along the lines of.......if a live or neutral lead popped out and touched the switch plate mounting screw it might result in a shock. The normal work to fix i.e. rewire, channel out the walls, replaster, redecorate etc sounds expensive, messy, disruptive especially with a tenant in situ. One of the fixes suggested was ingeneous.........take a look at these Quinetec wireless switches, they might dig someone out of a hole:- https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Quinetec/index.html

Is that right ? Blimey..... A bottle of Whyte & Mackay scotch in Tesco is £12. Now I haven't smoked for a long, long time but I don't ever remember a packet of fags costing more than a bottle of scotch. It's enough to turn you to drink !

I thought it was unusually quiet everywhere the day after a budget ......so I guess people are not to dissappointed. * I had missed the 30 day extension to CGT payments. I don't understand why some have a problem paying within 30 days. I sold one end of July and managed to pay a shed load of tax within the 30 day timeframe. * I think it's inevitable, given that there are financial demands from everywhere, that CGT will eventually rise. It may be done in small increments over the coming years but anyone with a 10 year plan would do well to factor in CGT rates well above the 18% & 28%. Alternatively landlords could move permanently to any one of the approved countries which doesn't charge CGT on worldwide assets......warning, some of those countries don't look particularly attractive in other respects ! 😁😁 * I'm pleased there is a plan to tax developers to create a fund to pay for the cladding. I feel very, very sorry for anyone trapped in a property they cannot sell because of the cladding. I still think it will take 3-5 years to fully resolve the issue but today We can see a little bit more light at the end of the tunnel. I'm glad I'm not affected.......and but for the grace of God, it could be any one of us.

Budget Day. The thing I don't look forward to is the Labour Party criticising whatever the Chancellor says. I could probably write the Labour Party derisory response now, before the Tory Budget is presented. Labour, Greens, Lib Dems, SNP...Will all criticise whatever is presented. It will never be good enough, all they want to do is spend more of what we haven't got.

I thought vehicle road tax was now based on CO2 emisions. Diesel emissions are generally lower than petrol vehicles so presumably that's why the taxes are lower. However the world has moved on since the tax bands were introduced and we now know that with diesel vehicles the problem is two fold: * Its diesel particulates that cause more problems than CO2. * Some manufacturers under reported the true emissions levels of their diesel vehicles. The use of Ad Blue in modern diesels reduces NOx. In spite of all the negative press regarding diesels, where else am I going to get circa 60 mpg in a range rover without paying considerably more money for a hybrid version of the same vehicle ? The road tax is a tiny, tiny part of the overall running costs and is virtually insignificant when the increased fuel consumption is taken into account.

Don't forget Wednesday is.....Budget Day !!!!!

The Green Party haven't a hope in hell of winning an election so their agenda is somewhat irrelevant. Id be more concerned if the Labour or Tory parties had the same plans. Plenty of strange, unusual, unwanted and downright annoying things will happen in the coming months & years but this item is never going to be one of them !

I'm assuming it's a sliding patio door. Why not just fit x2 security bolts (x1 top & x1 bottom) ? You can get key operated bolts.....which sound to be considerably cheaper than replacing the whole mechanism. Then you do not have to replace the centre key operated gearbox. I'd be surprised if it's not possible to get the lock body repaired by someone, somewhere. The door will be secure, it can still be opened to access the garden but they won't be able to use it as a final exit door as the locks will be on the inside.

Paying rent doesn't excuse a tenant from carry out their responsibilities, namely lubricating a lock. It sounds as though they broke it...... * Are they expecting you to pay the cost of it's replacement ? * Did they lubricate the lock ? Sounds like they are liable for the costs of replacement ......and your contribution might be the time and effort expended in sourcing and fitting a new one.

Was it particularly old ? I have a patio door lock that's at least 32 years old and that has never snapped. I wouldn't expect a patio door lock to snap unless it was abused or not operated normally. If it was getting stiff it's a tenants job to recognise this and lubricate it.......not to carry on using it until it breaks. If it's a standard Euro lock they are inexpensive & pretty straightforward to change.

I've always made sure that there are local key holders available to cover that situation. It's best if there is more than one key holder. They just need to be people you can trust......your neighbours, family members, friends etc.

My first reaction to that question is why ? I've been a landlord of multiple properties for 20 + years and in that time I've never had to spend money on lock replacements that would otherwise be covered by insurance.

It's recommended to start all new tenancies with a 6 month tenancy agreement. The only time I can think of when it's acceptable to start a new tenancy with an agreement longer than 6 months is :-..............sometimes with leasehold property the lease allows the freeholder/ managing agents make a charge for issuing permission to let the property. Sometimes that charge is made for each new tenancy agreement or renewal or it becoming an SPT (statutory periodic tenancy). Therefore instead of having a 6 month AST & paying their charge twice in the first 12 months, it's preferable to have a 12 month AST (with a 6 month break clause) and to then only pay their charge once in the first 12 months.

There is clear legislation for notice periods, your agents will know the legal requirements. The more you fiddle with standard AST contracts the more chance of getting it wrong. Most people use standard, pre approved, tried and tested ones.

1. In my opinion that's a waste of time. You or your Agents will be carrying out regular, 3 monthly inspections when the cleanliness of anything associated with the property can be dealt with. We have a property in Spain, it's not let but we have someone who tends the garden etc. I can almost 100% guarantee that tidying up, weeding, watering, sweeping et c is carried out a day or two before we arrive. Does it matter ?....not a jot. It's tidy when we are there, that's what I pay for. Most standard ASTs already carry a clause about looking after, keeping clean and tidy in a tenant like manner so why add anything ? 2. You are aware that that could put some people off renting the property ? Some don't like anyone in the property when they are not there. 3. Why ?

Correct.....but take it from me, when the time comes to sell, any ......and I mean ANY.....opportunity to reduce your liability to pay CGT will be more than welcome. For some people (depending on personal circumstances) getting tax relief on paying CGT at 28% is preferable to income tax relief at 20%. You can always consider borrowing to fund the works......interest rates are so low it could be your best choice.

Well some of us on here are suffering from a long list of problems.....dissatisfaction, uncertainty, over taxation, excess adverse legislation, difficult trading conditions, unsatisfactory tenants, dysfunctional utility providers, nervous lenders, problem local councils, unscrupulous tradespeople, lack of support for Government and an undeserved poor reputation etc. If you think you can fix any of those I'd be happy to hear from you.😁😁

No, not until 2028 when it applies to existing tenancies. You've got 6 or 7 years before your existing tenancy requires the new EPC rating and a lot can happen in that time. Perhaps you need to view any costs required to meet the new rules as a necessary expense involved with letting......it is tax deductable. If you don't want to or cant meet the requirements you are shooting yourself in the foot. You will have to stop letting the property and most likely take a big drop in the price when you sell it. In your shoes I'd plan ahead. If you really can't meet the cost of improving the EPC rating then sell asap before the low rating has a chance to more seriously affect the sale value.

I can't help you as my business model is completely different. A firm offering to draw up an AST & collect your rent for £600 a year doesn't sound to far removed from reality, provided that's all it includes. But it's all the other stuff on the list that's likely to cost more......deposit protection, inventory, regular inspections etc. You need to decide what you are prepared to handle personally and get a price for the rest of it. Who decided on a 2 year contract ? Normally AST's are 6 or 12 months. Why tie yourself into a 2 year contract......we normally start with a 6 month and see how the tenant performs before committing to anything longer. Sometimes the best place to start is a local landlord association. If there are other landlords who let at or through the Uni surely they would be the best people for you to initially take recommendations from.