pinkypink Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Hi everyone, hopefully some of you kind and knowledgeable people out there can help me..I'd really appreciate you reading the following; After an unsuccessful attempt at trying to sell our family home for the best part of a year we had no choice but to rent it out and move into rented ourselves (we needed to move for a number of reasons but mainly because my father is very ill and we lived a considerable distance away and I could not offer support to him or my mother from that distance) so we have become landlords and tenants all at the same time and are experiencing problems from both sides of the fence however we have a very pressing issue that we need some advice on. The property we own that we are renting out has been let for around 2 months now and last week the letting agent contacted us to say the tenants have reported that the cooker knob has broken unabling them to use the main oven (it is a double oven so they can still use the smaller additional oven that also doubles up as a grill). My husband went to have a look and he said its as though someone has twisted it too far and now it is 'slack' and just spins all the way round which prevents it from being able to turn it on or off. The tenants are saying it wasnt them, that they went to turn the oven off whilst cooking and it 'just happened' . They are insisting we pay for it to be repaired. The oven is 3.5 years old and we never had anything go wrong with it the whole time we used it. I think they have been too heavy handed and damaged it. We are seriously strapped for cash, we didnt let the property for investment purposes and were never in a strong position financially before, let alone now with two properties that we are financially responsible for and we certainly aren't profitting from their rental income, it just about covers costs. This obviously is having a huge impact on our view point about who should pay for repairs etc. If it was any other component of the oven, i.e the heating element or the fan etc that they have no way of physically damaging themselves then naturally we would repair it but I feel as though they are being a little unfair to make us pay for something that they probably have (accidently) broken themselves. They were not happy when we told the letting agent we did not feel it was our responsibility and have written a letter saying we should pay for it, that its our obligation to provide them with a working oven (which i guess we do because the top oven still works..?) and that if they pay for it they want the cost deducted from the following months rent. We have already reduced the price of the rent by £200 p.m to encourage them to rent it 'long term'... Please help...what's fair?? Have we got it all wrong or are we being naive to tenants trying it on?? Our letting agent is useless and if anything, seems to be on their 'side'.. Look forward to your comments...good and bad! Thanks.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 £5 for a replacement cooker knob? Tax deductable as well. Sorry, but being a landlord means sometimes your tenants need the benefit of the doubt over certain things such as broken switches etc. as I am sure this was not an act of malicious intent on their part. Mel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkypink Posted February 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Hi Mel Thanks for the comment, if only it were £5..The cooker knob itself is £45 and we think in the region of £50-£100 for call out charge / labour costs (its a fiddly job - apparently..?) anyhoo..I don't doubt for a minute that it wasn't done maliciously, accidents of course happen BUT where do you draw the line? How much will their next 'accident' cost us? If they aren't prepared to take responsibilty for any 'accidents' how much will this continually cost us. Finding ourselves in the predicament where we too are tenants we feel that there has to be clearer guidelines abouy who pays for what but cannot seem to find any hard and fast rules or regs in this area. If we break something in the property we are now living in and renting, surely we have to pay for its repair? How come that rule doesnt apply when we are the landlords..feels like we're in a lose / lose situation. Any one know who really does have to pay for what, the internet just a minefield of what appears to be one big grey area :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Are you sure its £45 ? Sounds rather expensive. I've repaired a few myself over the years and as CoR says around £5 is more par for the course.....unless you buy it direct from the cooker manufacturer who is usually much more expensive. Have you searched parts suppliers on the net ? If you've done all that and it is £45 then ignore that part of my post. If the tenants won't pay and you are 100% sure that its their fault then you pay and take action in the small claims court for recovery of your money BUT you had better be 100% sure and be able to prove it to the judge or you are likely to loose. Sometimes ###### happens, sometimes there are grey areas, sometimes you cannot provide proof and as a landlord you just have to swallow the cost. So, as Clint Eastwood famously said ......do you feel lucky ? my pos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Agree with Mel and RL. In this case best to replace a.s.a.p. at your cost and impress tenant - otherwise T may think you don't value your property much and take less care, leading to more breakages..... What make and model cooker is it? If you have serial number and can fit yourself, try sourcing parts through internet, even back to manufacturer's web. A phone call (card number at the ready) should then have the spare sent to you quickly for very reasonable cost. Manufacturers spares sent direct often cheaper than a service company, who apart from call out, usually mark up spares. If £45 is best price, so be it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickpea Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 We had nobs break on our cooker - the thread broke, causing them to spin, as you describe. Of course it depends on what make of cooker you have, but ours weren't expensive to replace and simply pushed in - we fitted them ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 I would be very surpised at the £45 costings. I have replaced Gas Hob knobs, cooker knobs etc. and never paid anywhere near to those prices. Still, convince me pinkypink of your price? Make and model of your cooker? It takes but 5 seconds to replace a cooker switch. Mel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carryon Regardless Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Your choice is to insist they have caused the problem and then you have no responsibility toward repair, you can ignore till the end of tenancy. I have seen knobs broken where the mechanism has become tight though. An oven generates heat, obviously, so this is feasible. Then sometimes we just have to 'take it on the chin'. Try RS components, you can order online and it will be posted. I did this for storage heater knobs, they don't look original but they work, for little bucks. There are plenty of pare parts suppliers on the net also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest caravanj Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Hi pinkypink, if you read through enough of the threads you'll soon realise that a landlord has virtually no rights & a tenant can get away with virtually anything. Try renting a car & taking it back with a broken part & you'll lose your deposit quicker than you can sneeze! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkypink Posted February 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 Hello everyone Thanks for all the replys. The price I got was through the oven maufacturer. I have since checked the net for the part price myself and it has come in at £14.99 much more reasonable. The problem I have is that we live too far away to simply 'pop it on ourselves' (providing its an easy enough job for my diy challenged hubby!) so if we can in fact send it to a handyman locally who would be prepared to do it but still incur labour costs etc. Aside from the money, our problem is, doesnt this set an example that they break things and we just shell out to fix it? At what point should they take a bit of responsibility for 'accidents'. Being tenants ourselves we are trying to maintain the property we now live in with as little hassle as possible to the landlord in order to maintain a good relationship but if I had in fact accidentally broke the cooker knob I wouldnt expect our landlord to fork out. Feels like we are in a bit of a lose/lose situation being tenants and landlords! I agree with someone's comments that as landlords we have very little rights- very frustrating! Really appreciate all your help and view points ...thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carryon Regardless Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 Good T's work it out and get on with it, working with the LL where needed. The poorer attitude T thinks they have moved into a 5 star hotel and can call reception, but not having to pay the rates. Welcome to being a LL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acura Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 Hi there I had the exact same problem at one of my properties. New tenants moved in and within 48 hours they had issues with numerous things .. front door lock wouldn't work, the washing machine outlet pipe overflowed, and something went wrong with the shower. Had to get all fixed ASAP, and it didn't go down very well on both sides, but as a LL you just have to suck it up sometimes. At no point were the cooker knobs mentioned, but at the 3 month property visit, the agents came back to me telling me "they'd been broken from day 1". Now, this lady was not backwards in coming forwards with her complaints about things not working, so for her to be silent for 3 months about the knobs not working from day 1 didn't ring true. They were not listed as broken on the inventory check-out for the previous tenants, not on the check-in for this family, so I instructed the agents to go back to the tenants asking them to replace the knobs. During their stay in the property they didn't mention them again, and they weren't listed as a problem on subsequent property visit reports. Fast forward to last November .. almost 2 years after the family moved in .. they moved out. A check-out report was done, but the knobs weren't listed as broken. I asked the agents to check for me, and they said they were fine. I had a gut feeling about them, so I asked the agents to check again, and lo behold, the knobs had been glued!! I ended up spending nearly £50 getting them replaced (Miele hob), and could have argued the toss and got the agents to open a dispute with their deposit, but it really wasn't worth it. Overall the tenants looked after the house really well, and the only reason they left was because he'd been made redundant and they had to find a smaller, cheaper house. I took that into account and just replaced them and dealt with it. Miele sent the knobs to my builder who put them on for me while he was there doing other maintenance work. Yes, being a Landlord does suck big ones sometimes, but no house is ever going to be maintenance free. You need to see the bigger picture sometimes and pick your fights. That might sound harsh, but that's the way it is sometimes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 If you have already purchased the part, good luck in finding local handyman to fit it! If you can't fit yourself it's better to find the local person before ordering parts in case he/she wanted opportunity to order themselves and benefit from a little mark up on wholesale spare price. That's how businesses work. At what point should they take a bit of responsibility for accidents? That judgement is up to you! And if you can't d.i.y. because you're not nearby, it's worth accepting a few costs in lieu of journeys and hassle, and know your property is looked after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prolandlord Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 For me, all you have to do is to agree with your tenants to share the expenses. If they will not agree with it the you can handle it solely since its you property and it has nothing to do with forcing them to pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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