Hi

I am outraged and flabbergasted by the dastardly comments made by Matt Henson in the Grout Expectations thread:

"You get what you pay for....Suggest you go and buy a house of your own or respect the individual that is providing a property for you to rent.

Regardless of whether you like BTLers (who I agree have driven up the price the low end of the market) or not, there is a market for people who want rental property and those who buy. I rent and I let (with Ikea flooring which is no different to other laminated flooring just costs less) I say each to their own, but respect for somebody elses property is a fair request is it not? Perhaps you might earn some good will by spending a fiver on grout and fixing the problem yourself before it got too bad, it would make your house a more pleasant place to live."

In my book this makes him king of the cheesec0cks. What do you think?

Love the bit about "goodwill". Why should I spend my money on the landlord's property? If you hire a car and find a piece of trim missing, do you rush down to Halfords to replace it, at your own expense, to curry favour with the hire company? No, of course not.

Not to mention the fact that our rental agreement has a specific clause stating that we are not to contact the landlord directly - all communication is to go through the letting agent. So if out of the goodness of our hearts we fix problems in the house all that will happen is that either the landlord will never know, or the letting agents will claim all the credit.

It's a ph*ck*ng business, for God's sake, not neighbourly co-operation and watching out for one another. Sheesh. My landlord couldn't give a t*ss what happens to his tenants as long as we subsidise his mortgage.

Have your fun guys, but "Goodwill" goes a long way in this world... trust me I make the odd pound or two based on goodwill with my clients

As for the car analogy, it would more like putting oil in if it was low... basic maintenance

I'm self-employed, and I'm well aware that goodwill goes a long way. But I don't see any goodwill at all from the rental agency I'm dealing with. They wrote the contract and they are responsible for maintenance. I'm paying for a service, so why shouldn't I get what I pay for?

Sure, I'd show a little goodwill, if it wasn't for the fact that the rental agency operate like a hard-nosed business on a take-it-or-leave it basis. And you might well wonder why they have a specific clause in the rental contract, which we have to sign, stating that we will not approach the landlord independently of the rental agency.

And when I did query some of the clauses in the rental agreement, their attitude was just that - take it or leave it. Even the pages that were headed "by negotiation" proved not to be negotiable at all. When they start displaying the least indication of goodwill, then I'll consider reciprocating.

They usually do that becuase they are too stupid to understand an AST, Agents are just estate agents and we know what they are like, I am in the process of taking one to court because of their outright stupidity...

while I disagree with some points Matt has said....posting a thread like this...and the other one....is a bit out of hand, no need for Flaming posts against another member

The bit about grout is wrong - you rent so that someone else has the hassle of maintenance although that's not to say that you shouldn't fix stuff that you break beyond fair wear and tear. The rest is reasonable, why wouldn't you treat the property with respect?

You're wrong there Matt. It is the regulated responsibility of the landlord to ensure the properties they make available for rent are maintain to a basic level - if, in your capacity as a landlord, you think you can get away without doing basic maintenance, then two things are going to happen in the long run ... firstly you will be sued by one or more of your tenants, and they will quite correctly win, and secondly, you will find that the resale value of your property is considerably less than you expect it to be.

Are you seriously telling us that, in your capacity as a tenant, you are regularly repainting the outside of the places you are renting, to ensure structural integrity, regularly checking and repairing the roofs, paying for the maintenance and service of the heating systems ? - if you are, then I think you've failed to understand the basic transaction of property rental - long term tenants pay more than mortgagees, exactly because they aren't paying those costs, and the landlord is having to out of the rent. To expect the tenants to effectively pay twice, is purely and simply greed.

Good points there, but I think Matt has learnt the error of his ways