One third of private tenants would not tell their landlord if they did significant damage to their rental property, fresh research shows.  A YouGov survey commissioned by TheHouseShop.com has revealed that 33% of private tenants would not inform their landlord if they caused major damage to their rental property, with 15% admitting that they would attempt to repair the damage themselves – with the landlord none the wiser.

Of the honest respondents who would own up to the damages, 24% said that they would offer to pay the full repair bill, 7% would offer a contribution to the repair bill, and 27% would wait and see if they needed to pay anything. While the vast majority of tenants will not actively try to do damage to a property, accidents do happen, and even well-meaning and reliable tenants can end up inflicting significant damage during their tenancy.

While it's clear that the majority of private tenants do report issues to their landlords, the third that are failing to do so still represents a high proportion and could have financial implication for landlords. So what can you do?

• Landlords should encourage an “open and honest” relationship with their tenants so that tenants do not feel afraid or nervous about reporting any damages as soon as they happen. Proactively warn and remind tenants to report damage issues as quickly as possible, and making sure that your your contact details are available. Issues that are left unattended for long periods could deteriorate and cost more in the long-run. So, reminding tenants of their responsibility to report problems could certainly save landlords money over the course of a tenancy
• This is a timely reminder that as a landlord, you should conduct periodic inspections throughout each tenancy, ideally quarterly, or at least bi-yearly, to ensure that the condition of your property is in a reasonable state and that your tenants are complying with the tenancy agreement.
• As well as being used as evidence in a dispute, a detailed and precise inventory completed at the start of the tenancy, and again when the tenancy ends, also underlines exactly what is expected of the tenant, while it can also help landlords avoid a disagreement in the first place.

No Comments