Can A tenant change a hob without telling landlord?

It's hard to know what the right course of action is here considering we are only hearing one side of the story. I can't imagine there would be many people who would be hassling the landlord and facilitating two separate visits from repair technicians if the hob wasn't giving them any issues.

There's so much we don't know here, how old was the hob? What was the issue the tenant had with it? When was the problem first reported to the landlord?

It's easy for people here to say the tenant was out of order, but I've seen landlords drag their heels over repairs for months. If this was going on for a while (which it presumably was with 2 call-outs) and the tenant was being left with half-cooked dinners etc, their actions make more sense.

REXER wrote: »

Where does the assumption that the "appliance repair man" was in any way a professional? He could well have been Mick the handy man of Fly by Night Services, operating on a mobile phone for all we know!

Not saying that he is, but the assumption that he is a professional is a bit of a leap of faith.

It doesn't pay you to send these guys, a landlord wants every receipt going in order to offset some of the huge tax paid on rental income. A nixer costs you more in reality. :rolleyes:

I kept my first house to rent it out. The house was my home. As we were moving to a totally different shaped house we left some of our furniture for the rental. Not tatty worn out furniture. There were 2 large sofas that cost €1500 each and required taking the window out to get them in. They wouldn't have suited new house or fit the layout.
Visiting the house to fix a plumbing issue I notice both sofas gone. About 6 months after renting. There was a cheap small 2 seater and a 3 seater sofa bed in their place.so I asked what happened. The proceeded to say the sofas were very old and worn so they threw them out and these were their sofas. They were 2 years old and emaculate.
They then proceeded to show me the sofas in broken pieces stuffed into the shed with piles of rubbish. They couldn't see any issue with what they did. Then just said take it out of the deposit. When I explained that they pay now and the deposit is for any additional damage they cause they went mental. I had pictures of everything and priced the furniture they bought. They then tried to say I could keep their sofas as payment. They paid €600 in total. The sofa bed was because an additional person was living there.

I make it clear that any changes to furniture, fixtures and fittings go through me every time I rent to new people with a book on how everything works.

They called themselves good tenants because they paid rent on time.

Ginger83 wrote: »

Thanks, i gave her the overall view of this thread.

So she said they are ok tenants, rent is always paid. No major problems apart from an issue with a toilet she was not told about for a while. They had pulled all the workings out of the cistern and tried to fix it themselves with unsuitable parts and when it did not work told her it was her problem.

The repair guy is an appliance repair guy with 30 years experience and always gives a vat receipt. Seemingly the hob is 2nd hand and they have no receipt for the electric work. Oh and the hob that was taken out was their 2nd hob because they had broken the glass on a previous 1.

All of what you said would be alarm bells to me.
-Ask them where the original hob is as its bad enough installing a new hob without your permission, its worse again to install second hand one when you do not know the reliability of this - if they dumped the original hob, bill them for this.
-Since they have no receipt for the electric work, you will for sure need your electrician to verify the work - bill them for this - this is a must as it can void your insurance cover for dodgy workmanship.
-These tenants seems to have a reputation for doing stuff without your sisters permission - you need to be firm with them and ensure they are billed for everything so they learn their lesson or i suspect "something else" will happen in the future at some point.
-When they broke the glass of the older hob, who paid for it? please tell me you charged them.

ecoli3136 wrote: »

As a basic proposition consider visiting the property more frequently than once every six months if you really care about it/the contents, especially early in the tenancy. Naive not to unless you really know and trust your tenants.

Visiting more often will not stop a tenant from destroying a property.

ecoli3136 wrote: »

if you cared that much about your sofas you should have put them.in storage. They were wrong to do what they did. You were naive to think anyone you rent your house to would care about your sofas the way you do.

You sound like one of those landlords who can't accept that when you rent your property its not your home any more.

I've been a renter from an "accidental landlord" and I thank my gods of small things it was temporary pending purchasing my own house. Myself and my wife decided not to retain and rent out a property she owned because we did not believe we had the time available to commit to being landlords (I have a job, that's how we earn money).

That is a lot od assumption and misreading. I have acted as a landlord for over 20 years.

I fully accept it is not my home but it is my property and so is the content provided. They have absolutely no right to destroy my property.

I certainly don't expect a tenant to treat property and content as their own. They destroyed €2000 worth of sofas and claimed to owe me nothing and then offered €600 cheap furniture as a replacement after they were used by them.

Never complain why there is cheap furniture in a rented place when tenants act like this.it just doesn't make financial sense to spend money on furniture when renting. I have the same make and model of washing machine after 10 years working fine. One lasted 3 years in rental the other 2 less than 2 years. Shows the attitude of tenants and you seem to think this is to be expected. Great then you know why rents are high. It is work to rent property whether you have moral objections or not. I earn my money

The_Conductor wrote: »

You will be in breach of a tenant's right to peaceful enjoyment of their home- if you do this. Tenants have successfully argued to the RTB that an annual check should be sufficient and any landlords who decide to inspect more frequently are impinging on tenant's rights. There has to be a balance- the deck of cards are stacked in favour of tenants however.

The RTB have insisted on a 3 monthly inspections in cases I have attended and when a tenant has allowed damage to run has only allowed the landlord compensation up to the time the landlord in their opinion should have discovered it, not when the landlord actually discovered it if longer.

CoBo55 wrote: »

What make of machine is it? I can't get any more than 3 years out of any white appliances in my house, yes I buy my own before anyone asks.

Don't buy cheap rubbish. Many appliances last years longer.

Claw Hammer wrote: »

Don't buy cheap rubbish. Many appliances last years longer.

The best I've gotten from any machine was the cheap one!! I've had all the brand names at this stage, Bosch, Hoover, Phillips etc. I've a cheap n cheerful Nordmende that's into its third year, the missus loves it, no fancy programs, no fancy flashing lights blah blah blah, it just washed the clothes...

CoBo55 wrote: »

The best I've gotten from any machine was the cheap one!! I've had all the brand names at this stage, Bosch, Hoover, Phillips etc. I've a cheap n cheerful Nordmende that's into its third year, the missus loves it, no fancy programs, no fancy flashing lights blah blah blah, it just washed the clothes...

I have Beko, cheap and never let me down. 11 years I have fridge freezer, washing machine and dishwasher. As someone said, don't abuse them, and they will be as good as any brand.

Claw Hammer wrote: »

Don't buy cheap rubbish. Many appliances last years longer.

Hard water will destroy any make of dishwasher or washing machine.