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What maintenance should a tenant do?
February 19th, 2010
Repairs and maintenance are the occasional subject of lively discussion between tenants on the one hand and landlords and their agents on the other. What sort of jobs can a tenant be expected to do for themselves and what is it reasonable for them to expect from the property’s owner?
The underlying principles here are as follows. Tenants can be expected to:
- Do all the day-to-day jobs which are needed to keep the house or flat in good working order.
- Look after it in a proper manner, treating it with respect and due care.
- Bear the cost of all consumable items e.g. cleaning materials; and provide the basic cleaning tools eg. a vacuum cleaner (the landlord may provide these in some furnished properties).
- Tell the landlord immediately if there is a problem which requires immediate attention if further damage to the property is to be avoided.
Broadly speaking, landlords have to do everything else!
A few examples may help to clarify things:
- The tenant should replace light bulbs or fuses at their own expense but the landlord should repair a broken lamp or socket, unless it is the tenant who (by accident or malice) has caused the breakage.
- A blocked drain will generally be the responsibility of the tenant (who has put inappropriate things down it) unless the drain has collapsed, in which case it will be the landlord’s responsibility. Of course, the cause of the blockage may not be clear until the drain has been unblocked.
- A tenant should clear the gutters, but the landlord is responsible for keeping the gutters in good order.
A Durham property owner who doesn’t want to worry about such things always has the option of choosing our fully-managed service and then relaxing while we get on with the hard stuff!
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