Tenant wants hole in kitchen wall for a dryer

Hi Ian

In my experience these "fuss pot" tenants as i like to call them often turn out to be the best ones.

I had one just before last Xmas and you'd have thought she was a trained inventory clerk when she moved in. Going through the inventory was like a crime scene investigation! She insisted on every little job being fixed. We agreed. A month later she asked it she could change the stainless steel sink in the kitchen, which in fairness had seen better days, for a nice modern porcelain one costing nearly £500. I agreed and offered to pay £100 towards it.

Ever since she's been angelic and I reckon she will stay long term too. The property is immaculate.

Adding a dryer hole to the kitchen would improve the amenity of the property.
Also useful when the tenant leaves for the next tenant.
Quite frankly any property which has the luxury of space for a dryer should have the relevant hole to the exterior.
As for the floor being replaced; so what.
I had carpet down which had seen better days due the previous wrongun LHA tenant.
I um and arred to the new tenants about new carpet.
The said what about laminate?
I said deal.
They purchased it and installed throughout the ground floor and all it cost me was 1 month's rent; about £300 more than a new carpet would have cost.
Wooden flooring is to me far more preferable and every tenant I have has agreed.
Which is why I had the developer put wooden flooring in every flat.
Mind you every flat had a flood!; and it cost the insurance company tens of thousands!
It seems you have a motivated tenant.
I think you just need to advise her that if accidents happen to contact you so that a discussion may be had about relevant remedial works which could well be in favour of the tenant as the LL agrees with what they want.
If the LL is not paying i would certainly give the tenant the chance to do such.
Quality of workmanship is necessary; but not many tenants would pay for a rubbish job!

What about a condensing tumble dryer which won't need a hole in the wall?

Then a condensing boiler is the same issue as any condensation issue.
The tenant has to behave in a 'tenant like manner' and ensure adequate ventilation is used to prevent such damp; mould etc
Cooking etc would require a similar level of ventilation.
Tenants have a responsibility to ensure appropriate ventilation is used.
Indeed any damage caused by NOT ventilating correctly is down to the tenant.

Tim, As Mark suggests, it sounds like you have a tenant that wants to do things properly. Wait till you have one that vents the dryer into the house and it destroys all the kitchen cabinets and covers the house in black mould. You will then know what its like to have a tenant who is a pain! And as Paul says, if there is space for a dryer then it probably should have had a vent in position in the first place then you have prepared the property well. If they are going to pay for it great but frankly I would offer to do it for them, keep them happy and the provision of ventilation is your responsibility after all. Yes the tenant must ventilate however you must provide ventilation to the building in accordance with best practice. If you do this then if there is ever a claim or report to environmental health then you can demonstrate you have performed your obligations.
@Paul Barrett,
I'm not sure what your point is in respect of a condensing boiler. They are the most efficient and should be fitted wherever possible.
@Freda Blog, A condensing dryer is a good option however if the tenant already has their own dryer then this will probably not work.

If shes calling you day and night, get rid. you must establish boundries.
If the house may be empty for a month or so before new tenants move in, THEN dont get rid, drill a hole for £30 ..... your now £570 up with a happy tenant.

If she had the accident which broke the pipe , which damaged the laminate, you fixed the leak so your bits done!!
A collegue of mine, another landlord refused to fix the washing machine, it was left by a previous tennant and the current tennant had enjoyed its use for 2 years, because he claimed it was not his responsibility it became a sticking point and, she moved out!
it was empty for 2 months, He was out £1280 .
After hearing this when the same happened to me with a built in fridge i split the cost of a new one with the tennant and she lives happily ever after! fix the laminate it should only cost a hundred far less than she paid for it and it will outlast her tenancy

I have a text message templated on phone which say "the office is closed please leave a message or call back between hours of 9-5" flick this back to them a couple of time they will stop phoning.

Ray; SORRY I of course meant condensing dryer; NOT BOILER, which of course is the best to fit!

Everyone needs to be very careful when commenting on ventilation and condensation. You can have what looks like adequate vents, trickle vents, whicper windows the whole lot and still have problems that are NOT the tenant's fault.

I have recently dealt with a case where the kitchen and bathroom had nice electric vents but they shut off immediately when turned off instead of having a 15+ minutes run on. Useless

I would agree with anyone here that says cut a hole and make sure they are rear venting dryers that are always used. Better still buy one - ASDA here did a perfectly good one for £105 a few weeks ago, we bought one to replace an older unit - perfect

if its a cavity wall that has been retro insulated all the insulation could fall out depending on type used!
i would ask the tenant to buy a condensing dryer and pay the money a hole would cost towards it.

Joe

Good point fair enough if that is an issue and cannot be remedied then no hole.

Otherwise make hole and use back venting machine the ladies tend to prefer them anyway, and the hoses have less chance of falling off compared to being affixed to the opening front loading door