Tenant starts fight with management?
My rental tenant of eight years has got herself into a nasty fight with the managing agent of the development. The dispute concerns the new electronic gates of this gated development, which management says she deliberately damaged and was observed doing so.
Apparently, this happened back in January, but I was only contacted about it by email last night (2 April). They are insisting I pay up (amount unspecified as yet) for the repairs as I am her landlord and so ultimately responsible according to my lease.
I immediately forwarded the email to my tenant and asked her to explain. She replied that she has proof in her “records” that she was not at fault and will supply this to me at a future date. She also denies another vague charge from management that she deliberately “fly tipped” a bed frame on the site (the matter is “under investigation”). She even said she would take legal action against this second accusation if necessary.
I am quite shocked by all this, as my tenant works as a diplomat, and such behaviour seems out of character. She does have a boyfriend who lives with her part of the time. The management company is relatively new and does have a habit of sending out regular complaint emails to owners and tenants about everything from parking to satellite dishes to the electronic gates in question, which now require quite a complex procedure of digital key fobs and codes to gain entry to the site.
This is worrying as I am planning to sell the flat this summer (I have not told my tenant yet) and cannot afford to have an ongoing dispute with management, putting off potential buyers. I also do not want to pay what sounds like an escalating bill for this problem. My tenant gets a high salary and also benefits from diplomatic immunity, so I just want her to pay up for the damage ASAP and not cause me any more problems.
But she seems to want to fight management over this. Any advice from anyone?
Thanks,
Helen
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Member Since October 2022 - Comments: 28
10:16 AM, 8th April 2026, About 2 weeks ago
Let’s break this down
Tenant has not provided ‘proof’ she didn’t damage the gate – you can’t provide proof for that anyway. But there is video of her damaging the gate. If this is clear then she is liable.
Check your lease regarding liability of tenants damaging the property.
Whatever she has been accused of is between her and the management company. No smoke without fire. Make your position clear with both the tenant and the management and hold them liable to action from you.
Member Since October 2023 - Comments: 70
10:46 AM, 8th April 2026, About 2 weeks ago
As both a landlord and someone who manages residential blocks, this is an interesting one.
1. It is very likely that your lease makes you responsible for damage caused by your tenant and the agent can come after you. They have no contractual relationship with your tenant. YOU are the tenant of the freeholder or headlease holder so you are responsible.
2. You should ask for the evidence. Is it a video or did someone just see it. What is the nature of the deliberate damage?….did they push the gate because it wasn’t opening fast enough (we have that problem a lot!) or were they attacking it with a crowbar? Was there some explanation for the behaviour…ie were they climbing over the gate because it wouldn’t open?
3. Ask for the specification sheet for the gate opener, and a copy of the last service record (they won’t have it). If they can’t show that the opener was the correct spec for the gate and regularly serviced they are going to find it hard to show that your tenant caused the damage.
4. Gate closers have incredibly complex regs to ensure that people can’t get trapped. They include pressure sensors on the leading edges, strict control on bar spacing to prevent entrapment and climbing and emergency stop buttons within reach. If they are not 100% compliant, it is the agent who will be liable.
On the bed….that’s more tricky. Councils don’t pick up household waste for free anymore and since Grenfell anything left in a corridor is a fire risk. If your building is over 11m things like that are considered a serious breach. I would ask your tenant to be honest with you if they dumped the mattress and if they did you/they need to pay for it’s disposal. Interesting that they have gone for fly tipping (only councils and the EA can prosecute for fly tipping). I would have pushed the breach of fire regulations which could be a criminal offence.
Finally the interesting twist of your tenant being a diplomat. In reality, they should want to avoid the embarrassment and the agents should understand there is no realistic prospect of prosecution, however, purely for academic interest, a diplomat does not have absolute immunity. The supreme court has held that immunity does not extend to a civil suit for an action related to commercial activity outside of the diplomats official function (article 31,1,c of the Vienna convention). That said, the supreme court is not going to intervene in a case involving a dumped mattress 😱😂
If the tenant is reasonable, I generally find they are ok when they understand why it must be treated so seriously because of the fire risk it poses. If councils didn’t make unreasonable charges to dump waste, fly tipping would reduce
Member Since October 2022 - Comments: 28
10:59 AM, 8th April 2026, About 2 weeks ago
Reply to the comment left by Tim Peters at 08/04/2026 – 10:46
I take umbrage with your last sentence. Not the council responsibility for your waste! Councils don’t charge unreasonable fees. Fly tipping is illegal and antisocial
Member Since October 2023 - Comments: 70
11:32 AM, 8th April 2026, About 2 weeks ago
Reply to the comment left by L Bennett at 08/04/2026 – 10:59
I agree it is but it’s stupid to ban or heavily charged for something when the alternative (illegal though it may be) costs the council more. It called cutting your nose off to spite your face.
In Bradford in 2026 the council spent £837,000 cleaning up fly tipping. They charge £50 to collect any large household waste.
In neighboring Leeds, they reduced their fly tipping clean up costs by offering a free collection for large household items.
Either way the council have to deal with it, it’s just whether they want to spend a little or a lot
Member Since June 2019 - Comments: 781
12:43 PM, 8th April 2026, About 2 weeks ago
Well they may not charge unreasonable fees where you live but around here the charges would actively encourage fly tipping or simple combustion.
Member Since October 2022 - Comments: 409
10:40 AM, 9th April 2026, About 2 weeks ago
The claim is with the Poster as the lease contract is between the management company or landlord and the poster as tenant, and the leaseholder has a separate sublet contract with her tenant.
The claim appears to be on the Common Areas
which falls under a separate fixed estate service charge under a superior lease with the management company (not the managing agent which acts obh of the management company named in poster’s lease as tenant under the SL. The man co via the MA then demands contributions separate from variable sc due under the lease.
Poster should demand actual evidence of alleged damage to the gates (ie photo and witnesses as damage may have been caused by another vehicle ie delivery van, bin lorry etc) and breakdown of cost of repair.
In any case the gates will have to be repaired and as
it is likely the poster is a member of the management company then the separate repair cost apportioned between all leaseholders out of fixed estate service charge not out of variable service charge in the lease (unless clearly expressed the gates fall under the service charge terms of poster’s lease contract).
If poster’s tenant is found to have damaged the property then this is pursued with her tenant separately under their rental agreement