Reporting Repairs

[Richlist]

One of the new legal requirements starting today (Oct' 1st)  is for landlords to supply to tenants at every new tenancy.....' a template for reporting repairs in writing to the landlord and an address on which to serve this to the landlord'.

Most of us would already have supplied tenants with our address but the template is something new. I don't really understand what or why. If I was cynical I'd attach my business card to a blank sheet of A4 for the tenant to complete as and when necessary.

What are the rest of you intending to do ?

[Melboy]

I will conform to the requirement but as we all know most tenants will pick up the phone and report any problems as one of my tenants did yesterday.

Keep it simple...... which is a word that Governments and local councils have missing from their dictionary.

[Richlist]

I agree that most tenants normal phone or if not urgent wait until the 3 monthly inspection and tell me about any problems.

The issue here though is that any request for repairs that have not been carried out can have an adverse effect on the landlords ability to issue an s21......any report by phone must now be followed up in writing.

If you don't provide a template and the address for serving AND have proof that it was supplied to your tenant a court will be unlikely to rule any case/ claim in your favour......it's not an option, it's now a mandatory requirement.

[Richlist]

That's it then.......a business card showing my address, phone nos and email together with a blank sheet of A4 white paper forming the template .

Tenant moves in on Saturday.

I'm rather proud of my template design.....the blank sheet took ages to design!!

[Melboy]

Aaaaah!   the joys of being a landlord.   Tenant reports crack in the bath. Go and look and they are right. Age related I would say but it doesn't matter what the cause was.... it's a bath change.

This is what the "knocker's of landlord's" never consider when writing their nasty replies in the The Daily Mail when a topic on landlord's comes up every now and again. The ongoing repair bills and costs!!

Changing a bath is not a five minute job as some people think, there is much more to it then that when you consider costings of all the new taps, bath wastes, tap connector's and actually fitting the bath correctly AND of course removing the old bath and disposing of it. I only fit good quality taps as well.

So I won't see any change from £500 by the time I have finished with labour charges etc.   If your thinking £500??   Yes, I do not fit cheap DIY shed baths which will last you about a year..... if your very lucky.

[Richlist]

Melboy,

A few years ago a vacating tenant left me a gift of a hole in the bath. Like you I was horrified at the cost and work involved. Then someone told me that there are people who repair such things.....plastic, acrylic, fibre glass even ceramic damage of any kind. The cost was around £80 including vat (tax deductible). So it might be worth getting someone to take a look. Check out your local phone directory or run an online check. It took the guy about an hour to repair and as it was a coloured bath I was amazed at how good the colour match was.....totally invisible.

Good luck.

 

 

 

[Melboy]

20 hours ago, Richlist said:

Melboy,

A few years ago a vacating tenant left me a gift of a hole in the bath. Like you I was horrified at the cost and work involved. Then someone told me that there are people who repair such things.....plastic, acrylic, fibre glass even ceramic damage of any kind. The cost was around £80 including vat (tax deductible). So it might be worth getting someone to take a look. Check out your local phone directory or run an online check. It took the guy about an hour to repair and as it was a coloured bath I was amazed at how good the colour match was.....totally invisible.

Good luck.

 

Quote

 

Thanks for that RL. I did consider an epoxy resin bath repair but decided against it. The bath is 26 years old from new build and I do have a brand new quality bath in my garage left over from a property renovation that it was never used on.

So it is to be replaced and it is going to be a swine of a job to do as well as the bathroom was built around the bath..... or that is what it looks like.

Still, Son who is a Plumbing & Heating tradesman will be doing the job with me assisting with lifting etc. He hates bathrooms as well and doesn't really do them sticking to gas work and boiler repairs.

Oh well..... going in today to get the job done.

 

 

[Melboy]

Just now, Melboy said:

Thanks for that RL. I did consider an epoxy resin bath repair but decided against it. The bath is 26 years old from new build and I do have a brand new quality bath in my garage left over from a property renovation that it was never used on.

So it is to be replaced and it is going to be a swine of a job to do as well as the bathroom was built around the bath..... or that is what it looks like.

Still, Son who is a Plumbing & Heating tradesman will be doing the job with me assisting with lifting etc. He hates bathrooms as well and doesn't really do them sticking to gas work and boiler repairs.

Oh well..... going in today to get the job done.

 

 

[Richlist]

The bath I had repaired was 25 years old and the original fitted when the property was built. I think in your shoes I'd choose to get a repair done.

Good luck

[Carryon Regardless]

I like the suggestion of bath repairs, there is a bath that needs this.

Now a T reports a fault in writing.

"Dear Mr LL my boiler is faulty." 1 T reported this to me when he thoiught his bills were too high.

"The lounge lights don't work." They won't until relamped.

"There is a bad smell from the kitchen." That'll be the rotting food in the bin.

"The man below makes too much noise." Well stop bouncing up and down on his willy.

Sorry for the ongoing cynicism, it's just that pretty well all reports of faults from my T's will have no value until there has been some discussion to understand properly what the fault really is.

 

 

[Melboy]

All done. Pig of a job to do in a very tight enclosed space with the old bath built in. Just pleased we didn't break any tiles getting it out.  Looks good though.