Now, as a company that promotes ethical housing and support, it came as a surprise to us when one of our longstanding landlords was reluctant to undertake repairs. The damage came after a burst water pipe caused damage to the ceiling.
The water pipe issue was due to old fixtures within the property and was immediately rectified. As a good letting agent, we supply our landlords with 2 quotes for any repairs. This is so they can have some comparisons to work with. It also promotes the best value for money. If the job is quite onerous and requires a lot of our time (for example, supervising tradespeople, arranging different tradespeople) then we charge a 10% charge on the quote. On most occasions, this is not charged due to most repairs being quite straightforward.
On this occasion, a plasterer was required to repair the damaged ceiling and plaster over this. So no charges were made by us.
Even though we had told the landlord this would have to be done, and we had warned them of this work. Imagine our surprise when they refused to undertake this on financial grounds! These landlords are international investors and are unaware of the rules and regulations for private renting within the UK. So we took it upon ourselves to educate them.
We quoted government websites and stressed this was not a nice-to-have but a necessity. And that this posed a health hazard to the tenants.
The landlord has refused to engage with this, so we will let them do their research on the subject and will chase them for an answer shortly.
As a letting agent, we have a duty of care to our tenants, and if landlords do not oblige, then we do need to request a termination of the contract. We do as much as we can to educate before we get to this.
And you know how much the bill for the plastering came to – it was £300!!