[Closed] Tenants possibly smoking in my house???

of course if a big proportion of landlords hadn't lied to fraudulently obtain mortgages from banks over the last 10 years then tenants would be able to afford to be buy houses, banks and economies wouldn't be shot to bits and thousands of people wouldn't be losing their jobs.

suspect the 'sub-prime' mortgages of more than a few americans have more to do with the current economic problems than this!

wonder how many people who are saying 'forget about it' are, or were, smokers themselves?

i was. tbh, i'd just be happy to have someone paying the mortgage off for me, and so long as they pay up and don't start ripping chunks out of the place i wouldn't worry about the smoking too much. if you spent a lot of money tarting the place up before renting then i'm sorry, but that's been wasted. people aren't that bothered so long as it's clean and dry IME.
as others have said, i'd take more seriously the talk of grief with neighbours, IF it's the reality of the situation.

Ignoring some of the debate above - the lettings agency could easily check the smoking thing (they could just be smoking outside) but how are they going to check the abuse allegation? Much more subjective and harder to verify.

I would take a look but accept that things could be worse, is the house clean and tidy (excluding the smoke) or have they (in 3 months) already damaged the carpet etc, etc. If the latter than maybe take action on the multitude of issues.

Teh only thing the landlord can do is give notice to quit and take a fair amount from the deposit to cover any damage

True but the terms are not universal & are unique to each agreement. There are basic legal guidlines that have to be adhered to but the LL can put in whatever they think is pertinent.

I've recently started renting again (after 10 years of owning my own home), and I must admit that I was surprised by the list of 'do's and don'ts that seem to be standard with the majority of rentals. A lot of these are 'lifestyle' orientated - no smoking / pets / children / parties etc etc, which seem to be a particularly unpleasant way of dictating the lifes of the group of people in society who rent houses. As Elfin said, you're almost pushed into a position of lying, as otherwise what are you supposed to do? Not have anywhere to live?

I have no problem with landlords wanting to manage the costs associated with the impacts of renting properties (for example charge a higher deposit), but there is a prevailing attitude amongst many landlords that they have a right to dictate tenants lives (to the extreme that the landlady who rents the house next door to me complained because her tenant often worked away and she therefore thought he was responsible for damp in the house as he wasn't running the heating every single day!)

For me, renting a property is a business relationship, in the same way that 'owning' a property is - which incidently is usually 'owned' by the bank who are much easier to deal with, as long as you pay your mortgage they don't try to dictate your lifestyle!

Have you ever seen what happens when a tenant decides to stop paying rent, and carry on living in a place? Do you know how long it takes to be able to legally evict them? Do you know how much it could cost to sort out the damage they may have caused?

Just saying, like...

With an attitude like that it might just be worth paying to have you sorted out illegally then

Just saying like....

And then you go to jail uponthedowns

Sure

This reminds me of that thread a while back where an STW regular let his beach cottage with a (quite reasonable) 'No Dogs' clause, and then found out that the tenants had a big, sandy, hairy dog in there, presumably louping all over the furniture / carpets etc. We all seemed to agree that that case was unreasonable, and that the STW regular had every right to go in and read the riot act.

I don't think this is very (any) different. I'm a smoker, dog owner and erstwhile tenant, only finally buying a place five years ago. Be it a holiday let or a long term rent contract, I wouldn't dream of keeping pets or smoking in a rented house, if I'd signed a contract saying I wouldn't.

That said, I do agree with Elfin on the point that as a smoker, you really do have to lie to get rented accomodation. Al fresco smoking is heaps better anyway - who wants to live in a cloud of exhaled fag smoke?

Have you ever seen what happens when a tenant decides to stop paying rent, and carry on living in a place? Do you know how long it takes to be able to legally evict them? Do you know how much it could cost to sort out the damage they may have caused?

Short answer? Yes. Ive been in property for the last 15 years & had more than my fair share of "awkward" tenants..One of the reasons why I have little time for those who wilfuflly break an Agreement & another reason why I dont do residential anymore. Business tenants are on the whole a lot more [i]respectful[/i] of a legal document & better payers too.

i dont mind them partying or whatever, at the end of the day as long as they pay the rent thats all im really bothered about.

i just dont like being lied to thats all.

if they can lie about something as petty as smoking, what else can they lie about??

if they can lie about something as petty as smoking, what else can they lie about??

Murder ?

if they can lie about something as petty as smoking, what else can they lie about??

Is it a six month contract you have them on? If so 3 months in then its time to give them notice

if they can lie about something as petty as smoking, what else can they lie about??

Staying up past the bedtime you set for them?

Marijuana farm managed by 12 year old imported Thai lad 😯

With an attitude like that it might just be worth paying to have you sorted out illegally then

Sigh. Then you'd be in loads of trouble and could end up going to jail. Satisfied? And how exactly would you have someone 'sorted out illegally'? Hmm?

Point I'm making, is that decent tenants are a precious commodity. Hence, it may be in the LLs best inertests to overlook certain 'breaches of the tenancy agreement', in favour of a quite life. To reiterate what I said at the beginning; unless there's damage being done, or substantiated complaints being made, then probbly best to allow it. Regular rent paid, mortgage paid, no hassle. Maybe a bit of redecorating after the tenants have left, but better than having to pay solicitors' fees, builders, carpenters etc, as well as potentially losing several months or more in rent.

I've had some crap landlords. Proper 'orrible some of them. My current one is one of the best, and he's not perfect. However, he leaves me alone, and in return, I reciprocate by showing his property respect and look after it.

And we all get along fine. Everyone's happy. 🙂

oh come on please, all of you that have just put the slightly silly replies put the boot on your foot and really think about what you would do in the same situation.......

what else can they lie about??

buying bikes?
car mechanical problems?

the mind boggles?

I'm sure pop will be along in a bit to add to why you shouldn't try and take the moral high ground regarding porky pies renton

I made a serious reply before my silly one - is that alright?

i just dont like being lied to thats all.

Ah come on mate; we all lie to get things in our favour now and then. Part of life, innit?

if they can lie about something as petty as smoking, what else can they lie about??

Kinky sex games involving rubber, leather and chains? 😯

put the boot on your foot and really think about what you would do in the same situation

Seriously?

Ok then.

I'd have a quiet word, and say 'listen, if you're gonna smoke, please do it outside if possible, and look after the carpets/floor/furniture etc'. That way, they might then think 'you know what, he's ok, we should respect him and not take the pee too much'.

Talking to people in an honest, human manner, is often the best way to sort things out and avoid trouble, I find.

As for the bothering neighbours thing, I'd have a quiet word about that, and tell them complaints have bin made, see what their side if it is.

And if the situation seems untenable, then take steps to get rid. Serve notice to quit on them.

But bear in mind that getting rid of someone over something as trivial as smoking, the next tenants you get in could be far, far worse. Better the devil you know....

Point I'm making, is that decent tenants are a precious commodity

Hence, it may be in the LLs best inertests to overlook certain 'breaches of the tenancy agreement', in favour of a quite life.

Fit sprinklers. 🙂

[url= http://www.zoklet.net/bbs/archive/index.php/t-85628.html ]Be very afraid. Partying you say?![/url] 😯

Kinky sex games involving rubber, leather and chains?

put the boot on your foot and really think about what you would do in the same situation.......

user removed ..that link makes me chuckle 😀

oh come on please, all of you that have just put the slightly silly replies put the boot on your foot and really think about what you would do in the same situation.......

What would I do in the same situation ? Well if you do find out for certain they are liars [i]and[/i] they have been smoking, then there's a fair chance that their pants will catch fire. I would ask them to leave immediately due to the potential fire risk they pose.

The best bit about that link is that it's filed under

Better Living through Chemistry

Think i might go to bed now as its nearly 2 oclock in the morning out here in Jordan

night all

Renton - my response was hopefully to also encourage you to look at it from the tenants perspective as well. So far, all that you have if heresay (and personally I would be furious if I thought my neighbours were watching me and reporting whatever they 'thought' they saw to my landlord - what a massive intrusion of my right to a private life - which is part of the law associated with tenancies).

I was also trying to say that you can be a perfectly responsible person who looks after a house and have many of the 'lifestyle' attributes that are banned by landlords. I have always owned a dog, have been known to have a party ot two etc, and frankly my home (whether owned or rented) has been of a more than suitably looked after.

If your tenants are paying their rent / bills etc, and any other information you have is through heresay, I'd suggest you proceed with care.

Thank god that not everyone is not like Elfin.
Benath contempt.

Thanks for the reply Sue.

Im not going to jump into anything by any means, I think they are due one of the quarterly check ups by the letting agent soon so my wife is going to pop in and mention it to them before they carry it out.

I dont believe anyone is spying on them as such, its just stuff they are noticing whilst walking past the house to their own houses.

Thank god that not everyone is not like Elfin.
Benath contempt.

Excellent. A balanced, well-considered point of view for a change.... 🙂

Benath's a place in Wales, in't it? I'm sure it is...

Elfinsafety all the way.fancy smoking, it`ll be eating and drinking next,i say put your foot down now, i mean what about the children 😯

I would be furious if I thought my neighbours were watching me and reporting whatever they 'thought' they saw to my landlord - what a massive intrusion of my right to a private life

One place I lived in, the LLs had lived there previously and knew several neighbours. We had to be a bit careful cos we knew the curtain-twitching NIMBY's would be straight onto the LLs to grass us up. They employed a 'cleaner', who was a friend, to come round once a week and basically act as a spy to inform on how we were keeping the place and that (she was rubbish at actual cleaning...). Just felt like we were kids being watched all the time. Not god. Plus, they seemed to think they could enter the place at any time they liked, to pick up mail, check up on something etc. I had to print out bits of tenancy law to show them they coon't just come and go as they pleased. Once had a row with a 'plumber' who'd let himself in with a key they'd given him, without any prior notification. One lass had another handyman bloke enter her bedroom while she was asleep in bed, 'looking for the boiler'. Bang out of order.

The place never felt like 'home'. Subsequently is was never respected by any of the tenants, much.

Respect works both ways. Maybe better to be a little bit flexible than your tenants think you a totalitarian...

Do people actually still smoke [b]in the house[/b]?

How quaint, I thought that practice had died out in the 90s

It's their home, though. Not yours.

It's their home, it's not their property and they agreed terms to live there. I'd just put up with it and then relieve them of the deposit when they move on.

I lived above a bunch of female students once, in a place that had been 3 bedrooms and converted to about 17, from the number of interchnageable blondes going in and out of the place.

Anyway, their way of getting around the No Smoking diktat was to open the windows up nice and wide and hang out of them, drink and fag in hand, and shout to each other (actually it was more of a bray) across the walls, and chuck their fag butts out on the back garden.

I cracked when I was out in the back garden and one of the fag butts just missed my cat.

Dobbed them in to both landlady and rental agent, photographs included.

This was the point at which I felt very old, well that and eying up a cardigan in the window of M & S and thinking it looked both warm and practical.

But anyway, get some facts at the moment you only have gossip, speak to the tenants and the neighbours. I am both a tenant and a landlord, my upstairs neighbour (owner of his house not mine thankfully) speaks to me like I am a pile of dog vomit, always has, just can't compute that some folk that rent are quite respectable individuals.

My landlord is ace, works on the rigs and leaves me well alone to get on with things. Has only come around once cos I asked him to deal with him upstairs.

It sounds like you are renting out a nicely finished property if you have gone to the expense of new carpets etc before hand (not that I am sure why you have done that?!?)

I'd be sceptical of the letting agent, they never work in your favour or the tennants, only in a way that maximises their income.

What was written in to the contract? In my tennacy agreements it was written in no smoking and no pets. The tennant I had in my property asked if he could have a small dog, which didnt bother me because he was a very good tennant. Smoking would have been a different matter though.

They know the rules before they sign up and should expect to get chucked out if they break the rules. To be honest if neighbours are starting to complain, smoking would be an ideal way to get rid.

Elfinsafety - Member
So I lied to get a place to live. As far as I'm concerned, I do what I want in my own home, I'm paying for it.

Elfinsafety - Member
decent tenants are a precious commodity

🙄

hels - Member

I cracked when I was out in the back garden and one of the fag butts just missed my cat.

There'll have been no cat shit in the garden though, your cat will have done that somewhere else. Probably in my garden. 🙂

I don't see the problem regarding repainting either as I assume that you redecorate an put the house in good order before the arrival of each new tennant and this has been factored into you costs. Clearly wear and tear is not chargeable from the deposit, is it? If they have damaged something obviously there will be a charge to put right, but decorating??
Yes, the tennant has to respect that the property is not theirs, but equally to landperson has to accept that it is a business and not treat it like a personal object nor put excessive restrictions in the contract. I also have had landpeople who've mentioned things I have or have not done or calling unannounced to sheck up on things, it is an invasion of privacy and not very professional.

Two choices. Boot them out and rent it to
Someone else, bearing in mind they could be just as much bother, no bother, drug dealers, nuns

Let them stay and keep your income

Thanks for all the replies people.

ive just re read the whole thread whilst awake and now i can see the arguments for both sides.

Im probably shouldn't listen to the rumours as much and try and get some facts.

hopefully when the letting agent goes round to do their checks they will be ably to say one way or the other.

I dont think i will do anything even if they are smoking in the house, like you say it can all be redecorated when they move out, however they did say they were looking for somewhere to rent long term so i guess the garunteed rental income would be better than having no one in the house.

We have been very accommodating with the tennants, they are only a young couple and we were aware that they were having issues with neighbours at their previous address but we thought we would give them a chance.

the house was actually redecorated as we were still living their,but i got a posting away and we moved out into a married quarter, so thats why the house had just had new carpets etc.

To be fair im not bothered about the smoking really, i do detest it and think its a filthy habit, but each to their own.

Im more concerned about the abuse towards the neighbours, how do you go about proving that though??

I was going to jump in and give you some abuse, but having got to the end of the thread that post ^ sounds about spot on.

I don't know how you would get any evidence. Maybe go and talk to all parties involved