Lightbulbs - rented house

mel123

Hi
Im just wondering what the story is with the lightbulbs in a rented house and who is responsible for replacing them?
I rent, never bother the landlord with anything, and have replaced many bulbs, fuses, got carpets cleaned myself etc etc.
Over the summer, not needing many bulbs, if they went I just left them. On Saturday I went and had to spend €45 on bulbs. I wasn't going to bother the LL but then when I told a friend they said I was mad not to get it back from the LL. Its 45 quid after all, so if the LL is obliged to pay I will send him a copy of the receipt.
Anyone know for sure who should rightfully replace bulbs?

Uriel.

It is your responsibility to replace the lightbulbs, unless your tenancy agreement says different (which I highly doubt).

Would you ask the LL to replace the toilet paper in the dwelling?

Gatling

Never heard of a landlord paying for replacing light bulbs

jsd1004

mel123 wrote: »

Hi
Im just wondering what the story is with the lightbulbs in a rented house and who is responsible for replacing them?
I rent, never bother the landlord with anything, and have replaced many bulbs, fuses, got carpets cleaned myself etc etc.
Over the summer, not needing many bulbs, if they went I just left them. On Saturday I went and had to spend €45 on bulbs. I wasn't going to bother the LL but then when I told a friend they said I was mad not to get it back from the LL. Its 45 quid after all, so if the LL is obliged to pay I will send him a copy of the receipt.
Anyone know for sure who should rightfully replace bulbs?

FFS. If he left you bog roll and it ran out would you bill him for that too?

handlemaster

The bulbs are your expense.

Mrs OBumble

mel123 wrote: »

t then when I told a friend they said I was mad not to get it back from the LL.

Dude .. upgrade your friend-list.

Idbatterim

what kind of bulbs would you spend E45 on? I have led downlighters, cost about E10 each, they last for years though, when I leave, I will simply replace them with normal bulbs...

Gatling

Idbatterim wrote: »

what kind of bulbs would you spend E45 on? I have led downlighters, cost about E10 each, they last for years though, when I leave, I will simply replace them with normal bulbs...

Mine are €13-19 depnding on brand for led light bulbs x 16 if i replace all mine

Tarzana

Tenant's responsibility. You're using them up. And even if it was the landlord's responsibility, I honestly don't think I could bring myself to ask them for the money for them. It's just one of those things.

Fingers!

mel123 wrote: »

Hi
Anyone know for sure who should rightfully replace bulbs?

You should.

handlemaster

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Dude .. upgrade your friend-list.

Im going to put my neck out there and say his friend is on social welfare assisting his housing. The entitlement some feel is unreal.

Gatling

handlemaster wrote: »

Im going to put my neck out there and say his friend is on social welfare assisting his housing. The entitlement some feel is unreal.

A bit uncalled for

red dave

Definitely tenants responsibility imo. If about to move into a new place and notice a few are gone I'd mention to LL, but after the keys and deposit handed over it's up to the tenants.

handlemaster

Gatling wrote: »

A bit uncalled for

Lets see what OP says. As I said I put my neck out with that one , but I have experienced it first and second hand.

Autonomous

You should ask the LL to top up your home heating oil too.

Idbatterim

Mine are €13-19 depnding on brand for led light bulbs x 16 if i replace all mine

yeah my point was, why would someone who is worried about the cost of bulbs, spend E45 on them, when they can be bought for a euro if not less each, including 50w halogens...

Tarzana

handlemaster wrote: »

Im going to put my neck out there and say his friend is on social welfare assisting his housing. The entitlement some feel is unreal.

Actually, no, this lightbulb thing is pretty common, I've found. Nothing to do with social welfare, I've lived with employed people who thought the LL should cover lightbulbs.

OP, it's a shame you had to spend so much in one go, but if you had bought them all spaced out, you wouldn't have given it two thoughts, most likely. Just because you had to buy a good few altogether doesn't mean the LL should pony up.

Now, I once lived in a place where the lightbulbs in two lighting fixtures were blowing ridiculously fast (like after a couple of weeks of normal winter usage). In that case, I did contact the LL to get the wiring checked out, and there was indeed a problem. But that's different and could be a safety issue. And I still didn't ask for money towards all the many lightbulbs we bought for those fixutres. Just couldn't do it. Asking for money towards something so small would have not have engendered good relations with our landlady.

ted1

Idbatterim wrote: »

yeah my point was, why would someone who is worried about the cost of bulbs, spend E45 on them, when they can be bought for a euro if not less each, including 50w halogens...

If they plan to stay for more than a few months the buying cheap halogen or incandescent lamps is more expensive because the payback time is really good on LEDs

danger_mouse_tm

We have philips master dimmable gu10 LED bulbs in every room in our own house which we plan to rent out soon. They don't blow that often but I've replaced three first generation ones at a cost of €12 each. When we move out I have no intention of taking them with me (we are going to the states where voltage is 110v). I'm not sure however, if I should or can insist that tenants must replace the bulbs with the same type. I've been told that there may be an issue with mixing the two types of bulbs. I would also be a little bit annoyed if any outgoing tenant decided to pull all the bulbs and replace them with cheap halogen bulbs.

evolving_doors

Put all the 'cheapo bulbs' to one side
Replace with best energy savers,
When youMove out bring the good ones with ya and put back in the cheapees that were there when you first moved in.

I bet no landlord buys energy savers unless they are paying the electricity bills! Why would they?

Gatling

Idbatterim wrote: »

yeah my point was, why would someone who is worried about the cost of bulbs, spend E45 on them, when they can be bought for a euro if not less each, including 50w halogens...

Fully understand .

From a previous discussion on this when we moved in 1 bulb that wasn't blown in 3 ×4 bulb fixtures .
Finally picked up several Phillips led bulbs recently won't be leaving them when the lease is up .
But have to agree if you are worried about the cost cheap and cheerful is probably the way to go

ted1

Gatling wrote: »

Fully understand .

From a previous discussion on this when we moved in 1 bulb that wasn't blown in 3 ×4 bulb fixtures .
Finally picked up several Phillips led bulbs recently won't be leaving them when the lease is up .
But have to agree if you are worried about the cost cheap and cheerful is probably the way to go

No because cheap and cheerful result in higher bills

Wabbit Ears

This would be an awesome way of ensuring a rent increase. I mean seriously, what landlord would just just be completely fine with such a unbelievably annoying request

Victor

handlemaster wrote: »

Im going to put my neck out there and say his friend is on social welfare assisting his housing. The entitlement some feel is unreal.

Trolling / random invention of ideas not welcome.

Moderator

Victor

danger_mouse_tm wrote: »

I'm not sure however, if I should or can insist that tenants must replace the bulbs with the same type.

If you include it in the lease, then there can be no arguing.

I've been told that there may be an issue with mixing the two types of bulbs.

Feel free to discuss on Electrical.

Mrs OBumble

Tarzana wrote: »

Actually, no, this lightbulb thing is pretty common, I've found. Nothing to do with social welfare, I've lived with employed people who thought the LL should cover lightbulbs.

Indeed. Mr O'Bumble does maintenance work for some property managers, and sometimes gets calls from people who want him to replace their blown light bulbs.

It happens across the spectrum (students, unemployed, working) - but in general the ones who ask do then to be ... umm, not the brightest of sparks.

Suffice to say that if the property manager agrees to pay, he will go and fix anything. But he's never yet been authorised to change a light bulb.

cerastes

ted1 wrote: »

If they plan to stay for more than a few months the buying cheap halogen or incandescent lamps is more expensive because the payback time is really good on LEDs

To help save a bit, no need to put energy efficient bulbs into all the rooms, just the ones you use the most, for a start. If a filament bulb blows replace it with an energy efficient one.

danger_mouse_tm wrote: »

We have philips master dimmable gu10 LED bulbs in every room in our own house which we plan to rent out soon. They don't blow that often but I've replaced three first generation ones at a cost of €12 each. When we move out I have no intention of taking them with me (we are going to the states where voltage is 110v). I'm not sure however, if I should or can insist that tenants must replace the bulbs with the same type. I've been told that there may be an issue with mixing the two types of bulbs. I would also be a little bit annoyed if any outgoing tenant decided to pull all the bulbs and replace them with cheap halogen bulbs.

Put it in the lease, dont think there would be an issue with mixing bulbs, anyway as long as you state what they are and even take a picture and signed from the tenant understands and accepts they replace like with like, or you will be out of pocket by €12*X amount of bulbs you have, if any are replaced with cheap bulbs or if they decided to liberate them.

Armelodie wrote: »

Put all the 'cheapo bulbs' to one side
Replace with best energy savers,
When youMove out bring the good ones with ya and put back in the cheapees that were there when you first moved in.

I bet no landlord buys energy savers unless they are paying the electricity bills! Why would they?

1, good idea
2, why not if you bought them
3, see above
4, why would they? why should they really, they are not paying that bill

in fact, if you wanted, you could do a calculation, see does €45 stack up to the usage of filament bulbs over their expected usage and wattage.
I did a calculation, for a tenant who had to replace some bulbs, say 5 in a house 13.
It would cost over a year €82 using filaments and €22 using energy savers, by the time you add in spending 45 euro on energy savers thats down to €67, or only a €15 saving in year one, €19 if a few filament bulbs had been purchased instead, assuming the energy saver bulbs last.

ted1

cerastes wrote: »

It would cost over a year €82 using filaments and €22 using energy savers, by the time you add in spending 45 euro on energy savers thats down to €67, or only a €15 saving in year one, €19 if a few filament bulbs had been purchased instead, assuming the energy saver bulbs last.

The calculations are slightly off.


A 50W haolgen can be replaced by a 4w LED so if you spent €82 euro before you'd only spend €6.56
as for incandescent lamps a 5W LED can replace a 60W so you could €82 euro there would now cost €10.93

its a very bad idea to mix lamps on the same circuit especially if you are using a dimmer.


Good LEDS (e.g Philips) will last and will be replaced bu a shop if there's an issue.

cerastes

ted1 wrote: »

The calculations are slightly off.


A 50W haolgen can be replaced by a 4w LED so if you spent €82 euro before you'd only spend €6.56
as for incandescent lamps a 5W LED can replace a 60W so you could €82 euro there would now cost €10.93

its a very bad idea to mix lamps on the same circuit especially if you are using a dimmer.


Good LEDS (e.g Philips) will last and will be replaced bu a shop if there's an issue.

For what I used to calculate, replacing 40 watt filament bulbs with 11 watt energy savers, the calculation is spot on, plus I put in a figure for hours usage that may not suit everyone, its probably more than I use but, others may not switch off bulbs if they have left the room, which I do, unless Im going back shortly.

Plus, the cost of replacing standard bulbs with LED's would cost more, I was going on one year of useage comparing kwhs but including purchase. In a house share, the cost per individual goes down and the saving up.

For returns of faulty bulbs manufactered by major manufacturers, eg phillips, Ive found retailers will do or say anything to get out of refunding where possible, for a start you'd require to keep the receipt, they still might say you could have damaged it, and they might could claim if you had something faulty in your wiring that its not their fault. Worth a try, and you could even try contact the manufacturer. I havent kept bulb receipts, I probably should have, but some cheap ones have gone in a very short time, so no saving on those.

I havent come across anything that suggests it would be a bad idea to mix bulb types, if you can come up with something that suggests this is correct fine, each bulb should just draw the current its respective circuit requires, maybe there are issues with dimmers or energy savers useable on dimmers.

Of course in any subsequent years or however long the bulbs last, the savings will be continuous, so you could add the usage cost of yr 2 to yr1 and divide that by 2 to see what the annual cost is per year.
Still the more expensive the replacement energy saver bulb, the longer it lasts but the longer it takes to recoup the cost.

In a tenants case, they could bring their energy saver bulbs with them and refit any standard incandescant bulbs fitted, after all they should be paying the bill and make the saving.
The landlord gains little or no benefit from fitting anything but standard bulbs, as they dont recoup any of that cost and add to the problem in case they are broken and not replaced or taken,

brings me back to believing a bare bones letting, no white goods, no bulbs would be a good idea for all involved, let the tenant furnish/maybe even decorate it all to their taste within reason, so long as its back to all white walls/ceilings/undamaged when they leave.

NickD

mel123 wrote: »

Hi
Im just wondering what the story is with the lightbulbs in a rented house and who is responsible for replacing them?
Anyone know for sure who should rightfully replace bulbs?

Really? Do you ask him to stock your fridge and hoover the carpets too?

you buy them

Fiskar

I think OP has got the message, has not posted since, close thread!