Issues With New Tenants - Advice?

The_Conductor

mike_ie wrote: »

It's a moot point in this case - the orientation of the house means that the line of sight from the back is just as good as from the front. It's just a longer run of cable.

If you're using good quality cable- anything up to 25m or so, should be perfectly fine. If its not so good- the sat inline boosters work perfectly fine.

Tokyo

The_Conductor wrote: »

If you're using good quality cable- anything up to 25m or so, should be perfectly fine. If its not so good- the sat inline boosters work perfectly fine.

Yep, I know. And had they asked, I've already run cable up inside the walls to the attic, and a second empty cable duct alongside it - there's a coil of co-ax sitting up there ready to be tapped into. Not going to tell them that until we've had a chat about do's and don't's first though...

foggy_lad

Is it too late for you to present them with a lease to sign with all the proper conditions etc? Basically you can ask them to leave at the moment without reason which would only encourage them to sign the lease.

athtrasna

You have two choice now, lay down the law in a lease (stating no pets and no alterations to the property without written consent), or wait and have these tenants walk all over you and leave your property in a state. Read the posts on here, plenty of horror stories. They are already taking liberties, God only know what they'll do when they get the security that Part IV brings.

Tokyo

athtrasna wrote: »

You have two choice now, lay down the law in a lease (stating no pets and no alterations to the property without written consent), or wait and have these tenants walk all over you and leave your property in a state. Read the posts on here, plenty of horror stories. They are already taking liberties, God only know what they'll do when they get the security that Part IV brings.

That's pretty much my line of thinking, to draw up a written lease with the do's and don't's on the property, and present it to them seeing as they appear to be taking a few liberties too many IMHO, and I'm glad to see that I have the backing of so many people here - i.e. I'm not being a ****ty overbearing landlord.

Part 4 isn't such a problem, as it doesn't apply in the event that I or a family member move into the property, which was always my intention once I decided to settle down and that was made that clear to the tenants from the get go.

foggy_lad

mike_ie wrote: »

That's pretty much my line of thinking, to draw up a written lease with the do's and don't's on the property, and present it to them seeing as they appear to be taking a few liberties too many IMHO, and I'm glad to see that I have the backing of so many people here - i.e. I'm not being a ****ty overbearing landlord.

Part 4 isn't such a problem, as it doesn't apply in the event that I or a family member move into the property, which was always my intention once I decided to settle down and that was made that clear to the tenants from the get go.

At the end of the day you own the property not the tenants!

You need and are entitled to protect your property as any other home/property owner would.

ABajaninCork

JOSman wrote: »

Be careful with the cats. They can leave a smell that will never leave. Personally, I wouldn't have cats in my house.

To each their own.

I have to pick you up here! I had three cats in total (in my own property in London). You would have to see the cats to know I had them. Yes, I had a tray for them which they used night times and wet days, but it was regularly cleared and regularly disinfected with bleach and Jeyes Fluid.

And NO. There was never a smell in my house. If you clean and disinfect trays, and keep the house clean in general, then there should be no smell and no issue. The only problem I had was trying to stop the little darlings shredding the house!

djimi

ABajaninCork wrote: »

I have to pick you up here! I had three cats in total (in my own property in London). You would have to see the cats to know I had them. Yes, I had a tray for them which they used night times and wet days, but it was regularly cleared and regularly disinfected with bleach and Jeyes Fluid.

And NO. There was never a smell in my house. If you clean and disinfect trays, and keep the house clean in general, then there should be no smell and no issue. The only problem I had was trying to stop the little darlings shredding the house!

Unfortunately not every cat owner is like you. I know of one house that I literally cannot set foot in because it has been destroyed by cats. Every piece of furniture is basically fit for the skip and the place stinks. As a landlord it is this house that would put me off allowing pets, no matter how many stories like yours I heard.

ABajaninCork

djimi wrote: »

Unfortunately not every cat owner is like you. I know of one house that I literally cannot set foot in because it has been destroyed by cats. Every piece of furniture is basically fit for the skip and the place stinks. As a landlord it is this house that would put me off allowing pets, no matter how many stories like yours I heard.

True. I myself have been in houses where I've literally gagged with the smell of pets. Unwashed dogs, and cat trays not cleaned. And I've just turned tail and left. There's no need for it!

We're renting and have a dog. LL did give permission, and we're very careful that the dog and the house are kept super clean (I'm a bit of a clean freak anyway), as the property is not ours. There has been no damage done with the dog, but we'd check and rectify anyway before we left in the event we had to move.

If I were a LL, I would rent to people with pets, but would ask for at least two months rent (or even ten weeks) rent upfront as a pet deposit. And I would make it very clear any damage would have to be rectified to my satisfaction BEFORE I even thought about releasing the deposit.

Might that be the way to go, OP? Or is it too late??

the_syco

mike_ie wrote: »

I don't plan on chucking them out onto the street over this, although friends of mine that also let property have told me that I should let them know that this is an option if they take it upon themselves to do whatever they want without informing me first. For me right now, I just don't like the precedent that its setting, and wonder am I going to pass the house some evening and see "oh look, they installed bay windows!!" - I'm being sarcastic but you get the point.

The family in question aren't first time renters, they have rented in the city and out in the countryside, so these aren't the "Oh-I-didn't-realise-I-had-to-ask-first" naive types. My opinion for what it's worth is that they're going down the path of better to beg forgiveness than ask permission, and I'm not happy with that. And when I rented property it's something that I wouldn't have done myself, nor any other renter that I know of.

The first bolded bit; they're taking advantage - there's no other way to put it!

The second bolded bit; the proof that they're taking advantage.

Write a strict lease, as I think these are trouble, esp if they're like this a week into their stay!

Brewie

mike_ie wrote: »

Backstory - I own a property in the West of Ireland, but as I spent most of my time abroad, I've recently rented it out to a family here. My parents invested quite a bit of money in renovations even though it's mine, and as a result we agreed that they would claim whatever rent is generated by the property until I return permanently, which is more than fine with me,

I'm presuming it is a property with your name on the deeds, you might have to be careful with tax on the revenue generated from the property's rental.

Would it be recognised as your rental income or your parents.

The_Conductor

Brewie wrote: »

I'm presuming it is a property with your name on the deeds, you might have to be careful with tax on the revenue generated from the property's rental.

Would it be recognised as your rental income or your parents.

Owner pays tax on the rental income- less allowable deductions.
Renovations are not (in general) allowable deductions.
OP's parents- if they are receiving the rent in lieu of the OP who is abroad- should be setup as 'agents' to receive the rent, and be normalising the tax on it.

This is however offtopic to the discussion currently under way.

LooksLikeRain

A lease is always the fairest way to go for all parties. It may all seem straight forward now but when they come to move out both parties will probabaly have forgotten most of what was agreed upon.
You need to ensure that the lease is mentioned in the PRTB registration as otherwise it will be not be enforcable on your behalf, you have thirty days from the commenment of the tanacy to register the tenacy with the PRTB so you should be ok.
It may appear like big demands now but once they have settled in you will hopefully have a happy rent paying tenant.

Tokyo

Time for an update.

Paid a visit to the house today, and installed a splashback for the cooker as requested on Saturday. Half days work of tiling, but it saves me trying to clean soaked in grease from the walls later, and it's a reasonable request from the tenants.

Spoke to the husband this evening regarding satellite dish, and altering the structure in general, drilling holes in window frames, walls, etc. and that these things all need to be run by me first. To the mans credit, he did apologise for not going about it the right way by running it by me first and assured me that it wouldn't happen again. He also invited me to call in tomorrow then Sky is being installed, and tell the installer myself where to put the dish and run cables, as it's not something he's familiar with himself, and would have just let the installer do whatever he wanted to. He also asked me all the right questions regarding hanging pictures etc once they have moved in properly, which is somewhat reassuring. Cats will also be living outdoors in the next few days, once they've become acclimatised to their new location.

ABajaninCork

I'm glad you got it all sorted in the end, OP. Did you ask about a pet deposit?

Tokyo

ABajaninCork wrote: »

I'm glad you got it all sorted in the end, OP. Did you ask about a pet deposit?

I wouldn't say that it is sorted per se, but now nobody is in doubt as to whats allowed and whats not, so we shall have to see. I'm also drawing this all up in contract form, which he will be signing. I will say that no alarm bells are going off in my head though, and I got the feeling yesterday that he realised that he'd pushed his luck way too far, so that's good at least.

I didn't ask for a pet deposit, as I feel that my parents were a little remiss in not explicitly banning pets, but any damage to the property by them will be repaired in full, and they will be kept outside in the next couple of days, something that I'll know to be true or not pretty quickly.

djimi

Make sure that the pet situation is clarified in the lease, and arrange for an inspection of the property after say three months to check that it is being adhered to. Something in my head says not to be too quick to believe them when they say that the cats will be going outside...

ABajaninCork

I agree. Unless your tenants are renting a smallholding or a farm, I don't believe the cats will be kept outdoors all the time. I'd be calling round for an inspection every three months or so.