Random house renting question
Discussion
Renting a house for a year, first time in my life...
This place has a double garage, one of my criteria but it was full of junk when I looked. Emailed agents to agree on the let, subject to house and garage being completely empty (wording "...Please also note that garage is a really important part of the tenancy so save for shelves fixed to the walls, we'd require that to be emptied too"), it was confirmed in a reply that "House and garage will be cleared"
Moved in and found a small amount of significant junk and a safe measuring around 1m cubed in the garage. Always going to be in the way so I've asked when they'll be taking it away -- agent's initial response is it's going to be left although other junk will be removed.
I've told Agents that if it's still there (having drawn attention to email trail confirming empty garage) one month after I moved in I'll arrange for it to be removed and disposed of at landlord's expense.
So to my question: Am I right in assuming I'm legally clear to have it removed and disposed of?
This place has a double garage, one of my criteria but it was full of junk when I looked. Emailed agents to agree on the let, subject to house and garage being completely empty (wording "...Please also note that garage is a really important part of the tenancy so save for shelves fixed to the walls, we'd require that to be emptied too"), it was confirmed in a reply that "House and garage will be cleared"
Moved in and found a small amount of significant junk and a safe measuring around 1m cubed in the garage. Always going to be in the way so I've asked when they'll be taking it away -- agent's initial response is it's going to be left although other junk will be removed.
I've told Agents that if it's still there (having drawn attention to email trail confirming empty garage) one month after I moved in I'll arrange for it to be removed and disposed of at landlord's expense.
So to my question: Am I right in assuming I'm legally clear to have it removed and disposed of?
The safe could be argued as a fixture of the property and would not normally be removed.
Since you did not specifically ask about the safe in your emails I would assume the agreement they thought was property and lose items belonging to the landlord would be removed.
Is the safe fixed down? May be able to move it.
I would suggest you are stuck with the safe and need to learn to live with it. I have rented a property and ended up with some property in the garage such a spare cupboard for the kitchen should I not have a dishwasher to fill the hole, two spare doors removed from the house tec as these had been removed at the request of a previous tenant.
I would not sour the relationship now.
Since you did not specifically ask about the safe in your emails I would assume the agreement they thought was property and lose items belonging to the landlord would be removed.
Is the safe fixed down? May be able to move it.
I would suggest you are stuck with the safe and need to learn to live with it. I have rented a property and ended up with some property in the garage such a spare cupboard for the kitchen should I not have a dishwasher to fill the hole, two spare doors removed from the house tec as these had been removed at the request of a previous tenant.
I would not sour the relationship now.
supermono said:
Renting a house for a year, first time in my life...
This place has a double garage, one of my criteria but it was full of junk when I looked. Emailed agents to agree on the let, subject to house and garage being completely empty (wording "...Please also note that garage is a really important part of the tenancy so save for shelves fixed to the walls, we'd require that to be emptied too"), it was confirmed in a reply that "House and garage will be cleared"
Moved in and found a small amount of significant junk and a safe measuring around 1m cubed in the garage. Always going to be in the way so I've asked when they'll be taking it away -- agent's initial response is it's going to be left although other junk will be removed.
I've told Agents that if it's still there (having drawn attention to email trail confirming empty garage) one month after I moved in I'll arrange for it to be removed and disposed of at landlord's expense.
So to my question: Am I right in assuming I'm legally clear to have it removed and disposed of?
I had this same issue 2 months ago when I moved into a new property. This place has a double garage, one of my criteria but it was full of junk when I looked. Emailed agents to agree on the let, subject to house and garage being completely empty (wording "...Please also note that garage is a really important part of the tenancy so save for shelves fixed to the walls, we'd require that to be emptied too"), it was confirmed in a reply that "House and garage will be cleared"
Moved in and found a small amount of significant junk and a safe measuring around 1m cubed in the garage. Always going to be in the way so I've asked when they'll be taking it away -- agent's initial response is it's going to be left although other junk will be removed.
I've told Agents that if it's still there (having drawn attention to email trail confirming empty garage) one month after I moved in I'll arrange for it to be removed and disposed of at landlord's expense.
So to my question: Am I right in assuming I'm legally clear to have it removed and disposed of?
After a bit of back and forth and various excuses from L/L and agent as to why it wasn't sorted, I ended up saying I shall get it removed and send them the invoice for the costs. A few days later, the L/L popped round and cleared it all ;-) Sometimes you need to play hard ball to get these people to do what they say ;-)
the garage went from being full of junk to a small amount of junk and a safe. So the majority of the junk was removed?
How much is a small amount? a few bits of wood? any pics? Is the safe on the inventory?
May be worth while just moving the small junk and safe to the back of the garage/side of and leaving it. issue solved.
How much is a small amount? a few bits of wood? any pics? Is the safe on the inventory?
May be worth while just moving the small junk and safe to the back of the garage/side of and leaving it. issue solved.
Is the safe bolted to the floor? If so I would argue that it's a permanent fitting in the garage.
Was it visible to you on viewing or covered in junk? Was a double garage listed as a feature of the property, and does the safe render it unusable for what you needed e.g. parking two cars in it? If so, you have my sympahy, I would think a reasonable complaint.
If not, try to live with it, if you want to renew your tenancy.
Otherwise you just land up with another agency fee and set of removal expenses when the LL doesn't invite you to renew the tenancy.
Was it visible to you on viewing or covered in junk? Was a double garage listed as a feature of the property, and does the safe render it unusable for what you needed e.g. parking two cars in it? If so, you have my sympahy, I would think a reasonable complaint.
If not, try to live with it, if you want to renew your tenancy.
Otherwise you just land up with another agency fee and set of removal expenses when the LL doesn't invite you to renew the tenancy.
I wonder if the responses would be the same if a landlord was left a load of s
t by a tenant.
In your situation OP I think you are acting correctly, you were promised an empty garage, not just a reduced amount of crap in a garage. If you are already signed up for a year then stick to your guns, especially if you don't think you will need/want to rent the same place again.
t by a tenant. In your situation OP I think you are acting correctly, you were promised an empty garage, not just a reduced amount of crap in a garage. If you are already signed up for a year then stick to your guns, especially if you don't think you will need/want to rent the same place again.
Thanks for the responses. This is the agent being a knob, I believe they didn't tell the landlord what they'd agreed to -- also this isn't the first time I've asked them to sort it out. I also said I suspect they'd not told the landlord and to feel free and forward the full email trail where it was all agreed...
Bizarrely it runs on wheels and can be easily wheeled out of the garage and onto a tail lift. Definitely too heavy to lift. Invisible when I inspected among the rest of the clutter
As some have observed, it's a significant bit of gear and yes it'll be in the way. I have the car and three motorbikes plus workbench and shelving. I need to work in that garage servicing my stuff etc. But the point is the clearance was agreed before we shook on the deal.
I'm an experienced landlord of many years, and have always been scrupulously fair in regards of preparing my tenants' new homes in the way I'd expect, so feel pretty morally right to act this way, as a last resort. I don't want to upset the landlord, but he needs to be more concerned about upsetting tenants (in general) I think he's a new landlord renting his inheritance.
The point is, I'm not wanting to step outside the law and end up getting burned over it. Seems I'm probably fine but as we all know, agents will arrange for it to go now anyway most likely
Bizarrely it runs on wheels and can be easily wheeled out of the garage and onto a tail lift. Definitely too heavy to lift. Invisible when I inspected among the rest of the clutter
As some have observed, it's a significant bit of gear and yes it'll be in the way. I have the car and three motorbikes plus workbench and shelving. I need to work in that garage servicing my stuff etc. But the point is the clearance was agreed before we shook on the deal.
I'm an experienced landlord of many years, and have always been scrupulously fair in regards of preparing my tenants' new homes in the way I'd expect, so feel pretty morally right to act this way, as a last resort. I don't want to upset the landlord, but he needs to be more concerned about upsetting tenants (in general) I think he's a new landlord renting his inheritance.
The point is, I'm not wanting to step outside the law and end up getting burned over it. Seems I'm probably fine but as we all know, agents will arrange for it to go now anyway most likely
If you think the estate agent is not relaying messages to the LL then perhaps it would be best to deal with the LL directly? If the LL is not aware of the full correspondence between yourself and the agent you could forward it to them and also explain why you need the garage space. I know the garage clearance was negotiated over as part of the offer but the majority of people use a garage to store crap rather than vehicles, to the estate agent or LL they may not think the safe is a big deal so I would explain why the space is important to you.
PurpleTurtle said:
Sounds like, as is often the case, the Letting Agent is taking their fee but doing the absolute minimum work to justify it.
A friendly email to the owner if you have his details could solve this.
A (not very) safe on wheels, that's a new one on me!
or the agents told the owner that the new tenant wanted the property but the garage has to be cleared and the owner said ok ill do it and removed most of the stuff but not all?A friendly email to the owner if you have his details could solve this.
A (not very) safe on wheels, that's a new one on me!
who the fek knows.
The burying safe idea is a great one!
Actually I'm going to wheel it around to an outside passageway on the side of the house we'll never use or see, and chuck a tarp over it. They're coming to get a wardrobe at some point (another item we'd already said we didn't want), so I might be there and wheel the safe over to the truck they are going to need...
Thanks for the legal angle, I'm inclined to agree about the might win/might not.
Actually I'm going to wheel it around to an outside passageway on the side of the house we'll never use or see, and chuck a tarp over it. They're coming to get a wardrobe at some point (another item we'd already said we didn't want), so I might be there and wheel the safe over to the truck they are going to need...
Thanks for the legal angle, I'm inclined to agree about the might win/might not.
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