My tenants have flooded my property but who’s problem is it?

My tenants have flooded my property but who’s problem is it?

9:30 AM, 24th July 2012, About 12 years ago 57

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I received a phone call a month or so ago to saying that my tenants have flooded my property and wanted me to pay to get the damage fixed. I suspect your response would have been the same as mine. Obviously I asked what had happened and they said they didn’t know. Apparently my tenants had been away and left relatives in the property when the problem occurred. I asked if anything was leaking and it wasn’t, nothing was blocked either. The scale of the damage was quite bad, the problem was a flood in the bathroom which had effected downstairs walls and ceilings. I didn’t need Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple to solve this mystery, their guests had obviously let the bath overflow.

Obviously I refused to pay for the damage and I told the tenants to claim on their insurance. They don’t have any. Not my problem I say, you’d better work out what you are going to do about it. I heard nothing more so I left it. Life is never that simple though is it! This morning I received a phone call from my tenants sister …………

Hi, I’m Cherry’s sister she says, I’m just calling to let you know that Cherry will not be paying the rent this month because she’s spent up this month because of the work she’s had to get done to put your house right.

Now if you are deciding what you would do at this point, STOP, there’s a lot more to this.

tenants have flooded my propertyHave you ever purchased a property and regretted it?

About seven years ago I had this idea that every property, no matter how bad, has a value and that all properties will increase in value over the long term. I still think there’s some truth in that argument but I still wish I’d never purchased this property. It’s the roughest house in the roughest street in the roughest area. It’s a rural council estate dominated by one very large, very rough family. If you ever come to mid Norfolk and want to find this place just follow the first set of blue flashing lights you see and there’s more than a 50/50 chance you will be lead right to it. I was warned never to buy in this particular location by my brother, who has a lot of friends in the Police force, but I just couldn’t turn down what looked at the time to be the bargain of the century.

Anyhow, to cut a long story short, I got lucky and managed to let the property to a member of “the family” and this one seems to be the most decent of the lot, i.e. no criminal record and to date she’s been a good payer too.

If I kick her out there is a very good chance the property will be vandalised as soon as it’s vacant and I will never know who did it. The chances of re-letting the property to a better tenant are zero. To make things worse, this property has plummeted even further in value. The only way I might sell this property is in this market is in an auction with no reserve. I could lose a fortune! To make matters worse, I mortgaged it to 85% LTV when I purchased it as the cashflow is awesome (15% yield on what I paid for it) so I didn’t see that as an issue at the time. Cashflow now is even better than is was as it’s on a bank base rate tracker at 1.75% over base.

So, do I bite the bullett, keep the tenant and let her off the rent this month? Do I take the cost of the damage out of her rent deposit and accept that she now has no deposit? Or do I kick her out and risk losing a small fortune on lost rent, a “short sale” and potentially a load of extra issues to deal with as soon as the property is vacant? If she gets away with not paying rent this time though, the chances of there being a next time increase – experience has taught me that one.

It’s quite a dilemma I have isn’t it?

What would you do if you were me and why? Please add comments below.


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Comments

11:07 AM, 25th July 2012, About 12 years ago

If an overflow flow pipe worked well on baths, it would not be possible to create a flood in the way, so what baths have overflow pipes that let the water out faster than the taps let in the water?

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

11:09 AM, 25th July 2012, About 12 years ago

That's a very good point Ian. My experience though is never finding a bath overflow that lets water out as fast as the taps put it in. What a simple invention that would be though!

11:18 AM, 25th July 2012, About 12 years ago

I just had a wild thought…

How many other properties are for sale in the street? If you brought enough of them, could you then
in the long term control who lived there and move them all upmarket….

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

11:27 AM, 25th July 2012, About 12 years ago

Hi Ian, it's an interesting concept, however, my buying days are over now. It's time for me to put my feet up a bit more and enjoy the rewards of 20+ years of buying. I wrote an article about this which might interest you - see >>>
http://www.property118.com/index.php/landlords-advice/29735/

Puzzler

11:28 AM, 25th July 2012, About 12 years ago

I still think that if it is covered by buildings insurance it is down to the landlord, and if you set a high excess then that isn't your tenants' fault. I think the most you can pursue them for is the lowest level of excess such a policy would have. By now you have wasted far more time on this than £575 worth so even if you win, it will be a pyrrhic victory. Be magnanimous and write it off.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

11:56 AM, 25th July 2012, About 12 years ago

You might see that as time wasted and you are entitled to your opinion. I don't though. Blogging is my hobby and I'm overjoyed to have had the opportunity to engage with so many landlords. This article now has fantastic SEO with the search engines and I'm very proud of the fact that any other landlords who search the internet for all eternity, looking for an answer to the same problem, will find this article and the various discussions. There are many forms of legacy, this is one that I'm proud to be leaving for the benefit of my fellow landlords. Thanks for your contributions.

13:26 PM, 25th July 2012, About 12 years ago

Surely your insurance covers this - I know mine does. It is accidental damage by a tenant. Have you thought to see if your building insurers will cover it?

14:42 PM, 25th July 2012, About 12 years ago

Keeping the tenants in the property should be your main priority. If the location really is as bad as you say you will lose more than a months rent trying to find more tenants. Plus finding better tenants will be unlikely in a run down area. It sounds like this is the first time they have defaulted on rent payment and they at least have an explanation for not being able to pay. As you do have a deposit you can claim your rent from the deposit at the end of the tenancy and you will have received all the money you are owed. Assuming the tenants pay on time next month nothing more needs to be said until such time that the deposit needs to be released to them. At this time you can fairly claim your rent arrears. The alternative is that you can try to claim back the rent arrears with a payment scheme that suits both you and the tenants, however, if you do not want to put pressure on tenants who have previously been good at paying this might not be a good idea.

17:29 PM, 25th July 2012, About 12 years ago

There is an invention out there already.
I think I might have seen it in a NLA magazine.

Mary Latham

0:06 AM, 26th July 2012, About 12 years ago

I am grinning from ear to ear Mark! "This article now has fantastic SEO with the search engines" Hahahahaha
Your answer is here
"If I kick her out there is a very good chance the property will be vandalised as soon as it’s vacant and I will never know who did it. The chances of re-letting the property to a better tenant are zero. To make things worse, this property has plummeted even further in value. The only way I might sell this property is in this market is in an auction with no reserve. I could lose a fortune! To make matters worse, I mortgaged it to 85% LTV when I purchased it as the cashflow is awesome (15% yield on what I paid for it) so I didn’t see that as an issue at the time. Cashflow now is even better than is was as it’s on a bank base rate tracker at 1.75% over base.

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