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New landlord's deposit scheme for tenants
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LynneA



Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 4893
Location: London N21
PostPosted: Mon Mar 05, 07 4:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I'd be interested to know more, as I suspect our landlord is trying to keep his rental revenue separate from his income. (Prefers cash, all utilities must be kept in his name despite him not paying anything etc).

Aside of the bond scheme ensuring tenants got their deposit back (I've only got my deposit back once - I've had experience of landlords inventing items that were damaged), it would also give a better idea of the number of properties in the private rental sector, and the amount of the bonds would indicate the value of the market.

gingerwelly



Joined: 08 Dec 2005
Posts: 419
Location: Wales ...in cardiff at the mo but from mid wales
PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 1:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

what sort of damage do people cause ?
(I have always rented...dont think i have caused much damage .... well not to the house ..now the garden thats another matter )

alison
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 7:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The couple who rented our house, years ago burnt the new carpet that we had put down for them, with the iron. An accident could be forgiven, but there were about 30 marks, of a whole iron imprint. I am guessing it is that kind of thing. And yes, we did leave an ironing board for them, she was just too lazy to get it out.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 7:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

When I rented I lived in a newly built block of flats that were all rented out fully furnished. One day, one of the tenants left and took all the furniture with them. Not damage as such but a few thousand pounds worth of stuff I expect.

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 8:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

gingerwelly wrote:
what sort of damage do people cause ?
(I have always rented...dont think i have caused much damage .... well not to the house ..now the garden thats another matter )


Went to have a look around a friends place recently, she's taken a job in Crete and rented her house out in Cambridge; she covers the mortgage and has pennies left over from doing so.

Her tennants got a bit behind, but she didn't really get anywhere with her housing agents. She's had them defaulirt after trashing the carpets, knocking holes in the walls, ruining the curtains, breaking what little furniture she left there (it was part furnished), putting daubs of the wrong coloured paint about the place... You'd be amazed.

Saw another (another mate was moving in to this house) where a bunch of tennants had used one room to keep birds in; whether they were wild caught or kept birds I never knew, but there were layers of filth and newspaper ingrained all over the room. Truly nasty, and that wasn't the worst of it.

Most people renting do no harm, some add value by looking after the place, but there are some right nutters out there.

Stacey



Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow
PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 9:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

cab wrote:
.

Most people renting do no harm, some add value by looking after the place, but there are some right nutters out there.


Unfortunately the same can be said for landlords.

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Stacey wrote:

Unfortunately the same can be said for landlords.



Yep, thats also certainly true. You get great landlords, you get nutjob landlords, and probably everything inbetween.

marigold



Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex
PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 9:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

cab wrote:
Most people renting do no harm, some add value by looking after the place, but there are some right nutters out there.


Yup, and the feckless people's behaviour means that even a totally responsible tenant is treated as a potential criminal .

I have had to "improve" the newly-renovated house I live in because the landlord didn't bother to fit any curtain tracks and simply ignored my requests that he do so. Not a huge expense, but I don't think it's one I should have had to bear. Few of the doors close properly, and he also ignores requests for them to be fixed, so I either have to sort them myself or put up with the inconvenience.

The house was also dirty when I moved in with builder's mess everywhere (including dirty lavatory - yuk!!!). There were two boxfuls of old circulars, free newspapers and previous tenants' mail littering the kitchen. No gas/elec either and I wasn't told it had pre-payment meters.... Great fun getting that sorted on a freezing cold Feb day.

If I was fortunate enough to own property to rent out I'd make sure it was clean and welcoming to new tenants and probably leave them tea and biscuits and a bunch of flowers. I'm a fool aren't I?

Penny Outskirts



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....
PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 9:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

marigold wrote:
If I was fortunate enough to own property to rent out I'd make sure it was clean and welcoming to new tenants and probably leave them tea and biscuits and a bunch of flowers. I'm a fool aren't I?


The nice thing is, Marigold, when we did that with our last tenants, (before we sold the house), they were the best tenants you could wish for, scrupulously clean, considerate lovely people. But the flat was really lovely too, so I think that made them take more care. Good landlords have a better chance of good tenants, where bad landlords probably often get what they deserve - although I know there are exceptions to this

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 9:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

marigold wrote:

Yup, and the feckless people's behaviour means that even a totally responsible tenant is treated as a potential criminal .


I think its a two way thing; many veterans of rented houses treat any new landlord as a potential enemy too.

Quote:

I have had to "improve" the newly-renovated house I live in because the landlord didn't bother to fit any curtain tracks and simply ignored my requests that he do so. Not a huge expense, but I don't think it's one I should have had to bear. Few of the doors close properly, and he also ignores requests for them to be fixed, so I either have to sort them myself or put up with the inconvenience.

The house was also dirty when I moved in with builder's mess everywhere (including dirty lavatory - yuk!!!). There were two boxfuls of old circulars, free newspapers and previous tenants' mail littering the kitchen. No gas/elec either and I wasn't told it had pre-payment meters.... Great fun getting that sorted on a freezing cold Feb day.


Clearly your landlord can best be described by a word beginning with 'c' and ending with 't'. There are some complete gits out there who believe that house tenants are the lowest of the low, only fit to be farmed for rent. I've seen some awful rental property. In your position I'd be off to CAB to see what they can do to advise you, and I'd be looking for somewhere else to live too.

Quote:

If I was fortunate enough to own property to rent out I'd make sure it was clean and welcoming to new tenants and probably leave them tea and biscuits and a bunch of flowers. I'm a fool aren't I?


The thing is, if you treat your tenant properly then they'll be good to you too. I've had a couple of brilliant landlords, and when that happens you stay where you are, you don't look to move, and you treat the property with a lot more care and respect. Its human nature. Then they get a steady income stream, less work to do, everyone is happy.

As a landlord now (we don't rent a property, we've only got the one we live in, and thats not ours for years, but we do have lodger) I take the same approach you would. Feed him once or twice a week (its leftovers from the plot anyway, most of our food) as its healthy to eat with people you live with, keep his room in good repair, and if for any reason the house is a state (like the week the central heating was being installed, and like this week when I'm rebuilding the kitchen) we rebate his rent. Oh, and we keep the rent on the low side because then we get to pick and choose who we want to live with; that turns an unused third bedroom into three grand a year, with little or no work. And that pays for updating our house (said central heating and kitchen).

Generally I think that if you treat people well then they'll treat you well. If someone starts out by treating you badly, like your landlord, then you need to go do something about it.

Nick



Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford
PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 9:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

cab wrote:

Generally I think that if you treat people well then they'll treat you well. If someone starts out by treating you badly, like your landlord, then you need to go do something about it.


This sounds like Thought For The Day. Hey, isn't that a great featurette?

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 9:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

nickhowe wrote:

This sounds like Thought For The Day. Hey, isn't that a great featurette?


God didn't tell me to say it. He DID tell me to burn your teepee, though.

Last edited by cab on Tue Mar 06, 07 10:01 am; edited 1 time in total

Welsh Girls Allotment



Joined: 30 Sep 2006
Posts: 237
Location: Sunny South Wales
PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 9:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've got one tennant who a complete dream and wants to stay there until she dies - her words and she's only in her forties however the other property has been dreadful it was gutted and refurbed before we rented ( both were previously our homes) the first tennant had a thing for putting pooh filled adult knickers in the airing cupboard and putting holes through solid hardword doors 4 needed to be replaced along with frames they also left owing a month and half rent, the husband works with my husband but says its nothing to do with him as it was in his wifes name and has the audacity to wave and try to speak to me in the street

alison
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 10:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

WGA

That sounds like our carpet burner. They rented our house for 3 years, but eventually got divorced, and as the house was in his name she tried to do things to cost him money.

marigold



Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex
PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 07 10:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

cab wrote:
marigold wrote:

Yup, and the feckless people's behaviour means that even a totally responsible tenant is treated as a potential criminal .


I think its a two way thing; many veterans of rented houses treat any new landlord as a potential enemy too.

Quote:

I have had to "improve" the newly-renovated house I live in because the landlord didn't bother to fit any curtain tracks and simply ignored my requests that he do so. Not a huge expense, but I don't think it's one I should have had to bear. Few of the doors close properly, and he also ignores requests for them to be fixed, so I either have to sort them myself or put up with the inconvenience.

The house was also dirty when I moved in with builder's mess everywhere (including dirty lavatory - yuk!!!). There were two boxfuls of old circulars, free newspapers and previous tenants' mail littering the kitchen. No gas/elec either and I wasn't told it had pre-payment meters.... Great fun getting that sorted on a freezing cold Feb day.


Clearly your landlord can best be described by a word beginning with 'c' and ending with 't'. There are some complete gits out there who believe that house tenants are the lowest of the low, only fit to be farmed for rent. I've seen some awful rental property. In your position I'd be off to CAB to see what they can do to advise you, and I'd be looking for somewhere else to live too.

Quote:

If I was fortunate enough to own property to rent out I'd make sure it was clean and welcoming to new tenants and probably leave them tea and biscuits and a bunch of flowers. I'm a fool aren't I?


The thing is, if you treat your tenant properly then they'll be good to you too. I've had a couple of brilliant landlords, and when that happens you stay where you are, you don't look to move, and you treat the property with a lot more care and respect. Its human nature. Then they get a steady income stream, less work to do, everyone is happy.

As a landlord now (we don't rent a property, we've only got the one we live in, and thats not ours for years, but we do have lodger) I take the same approach you would. Feed him once or twice a week (its leftovers from the plot anyway, most of our food) as its healthy to eat with people you live with, keep his room in good repair, and if for any reason the house is a state (like the week the central heating was being installed, and like this week when I'm rebuilding the kitchen) we rebate his rent. Oh, and we keep the rent on the low side because then we get to pick and choose who we want to live with; that turns an unused third bedroom into three grand a year, with little or no work. And that pays for updating our house (said central heating and kitchen).

Generally I think that if you treat people well then they'll treat you well. If someone starts out by treating you badly, like your landlord, then you need to go do something about it.


I've probably made it sound worse than it is - just wanted to make the point that not all tenants are crap.

On balance there are lots of good reasons for staying here and just shrugging off the irritations. I've got fantastic neighbours (who absolutely love me after a string of crap noisy tenants ). I KNOW I'm a great tenant, as does the letting agency (and probably the landlord too) and I'd rather keep the peace until/unless I really need to let rip (e.g. he tries to raise the rent...) than constantly niggle. He is quick to sort out certain things (blocked sink outlet, loose tile on the roof), but clearly isn't interested in doing anything non-essential that is merely for my convenience/comfort.

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