Kostandia
2 Thanks
31 Posts
Good wishes for this weekend. I have a perplexing situation with a tenant and hoping to get advice from you all.
My main question is: if my tenant has broken a clothes rail for a third time, am I legally obliged to still ensure he has a clothes rail or am I legally allowed to leave him without one? (... if he doesn't reply to my email that I'll get it fixed but this third time he has to pay the cost)
Background: The 3 tenants (HMO) have been living in my rental for 4 years now. All three bedrooms have a sturdy Ikea steel clothes rail drilled into a brick wall alcove, because these are small cottage bedrooms, there isn't space to fit normal wardrobes so I used this clever Ikea idea. It is now the third time in 4 years that one tenant has somehow broken his clothes rail that is fitted into his bedroom alcove. The first two times I paid for a local builder to re-drill the hanging rail into the brick alcove using proper long steel screws and appropriate wall plugs - I always oversee all house fixes so I am 100% sure a fix is done well. Last week the tenant has now broken the clothes rail a third time. Of the four sturdy screws, one is severely bent at an angle, and one has entirely broken (snapped) in half with one half still in the wall. So I have written to the tenant saying that excess weight must have caused a screw to bend and one to snap, that no clothes rail can take infinite weight, therefore as this is breakage from tenant usage, I am happy to arrange the rail to be refitted but this time he will have to pay the cost. I clearly gave a deadline of this Friday to tell me if he agrees and wants to proceed. He hasn't replied. So my question is...must I legally provide the tenant with a clothes rail and should I still proceed to have it fitted? Or if he doesn't reply, will I get into legal trouble if I just leave him without one? This is such a petty silly maintanance issue which is why normally I just pay myself to fix such things. But it's now the third time and I take being a good landlord seriously - I don't want to get into any legal trouble no matter how small! But it irks me that these tenants think a landlord is responsible for everything.
Much thanks!
