William
2 Thanks
35 Posts
A rented property of mine recently suffered from an attempted burglary. Front door was broken, but nothing else was damaged and nothing was stolen, because the burglars were disturbed. The insurance company has agreed to pay for the repairs,(minus excess), the door is curently temporarily boarded, its perfectly safe and access is fine, the locks work fine, its just not very pretty. Even the tenant has said that the door is ok, he said hes just "holding out " for the new one. I have ordered and paid for a new door, but the lead time on the repairs is at 7 to 8 weeks,( very busy contractors). I contacted the insurers, who said as I had already paid for the door there was nothing more they could do. ( The contractors are the ones that the insurers advised me to take). In the meantime the tenant has stopped paying rent. If this carries on for more than 2 months, and assuming the door still hasn't been replaced, should I issue a section 8, or do nothing until after the repairs are completed? If I wait until after the repairs are finished, can I then claim arrears from when the tenant stopped paying, or just from after the repairs were completed? I don't want to say he doesn't have to pay rent, because I have done everything I can to remedy the situation. Also I don't want to set a precedent. If I agree to rent reduction or non payment on this, whos to say whats next- non payment because a window latch is faulty, or the hot tap is dripping. Get the picture?
I feel the tenant is using the problems as an excuse not to pay rent. There is nothing more I can do at present- just wait for the contractors to get on with it.#
Any advice from others who have been in a similar situation very welcome.
