Over the past few months, I’ve been approached by a number of production companies wanting to make documentaries about landlords. I’m really keen to help, but they always seem drawn to disputes and crises…. so eventually the programme becomes yet another remake of tenants or landlords from hell. Is the day in the life of an average landlord so mundane? This is what happened to me today…..
We’re in the middle of a heatwave in London, so I was in Brighton yesterday having fun with my friends. I woke up with a bit of a hangover. Kath from NLA mortgages got the brunt of it – sorry Kath. I started my day doing a bit of admin from my home office. I am trying to remortgage one of my properties. It is currently on SVR at 5.19% and I’m hoping to move it to 3.49%. Now I have no adverse credit, I have never missed a payment for anything in my life, I fulfill all of the lender’s criteria, but they are so peculiarly idiosyncratic. Can you believe that they want accounts signed by my accountant? Which century are they in? Like most people I receive pdfs from my accountant and every other lender has accepted this. If we ever complete, my mortgage will go down from £1107 per month to £785. I’ve made payments without fail to this (and all my other mortgages) for nearly three years, the rent is £1600 – why is there any doubt that I can afford it? Are there any sane underwriters out there – I think they’ve completely lost touch with reality.
So I start the day very frustrated and it’s really hot. I head over to my house in Stratford. I’m replacing the bay window curtains upstairs and downstairs as I’m not happy with the current ones. They are IKEA thin stuff and aren’t blackout. I’ve got some new blackout linen style made-to-measure curtains from BlindsUK. The tenant also reported last night that the washing machine isn’t working. I didn’t reply as I don’t want to encourage non urgent communication at weekends.
The curtain poles were a bit of a nightmare to remove and I got very hot and irritated. As usual “should I have paid someone else to do this” goes through my mind. I have a look at the washing machine. As I suspect my builder had forgotten to open the washing machine valves when he fitted an outside tap last week. I pull the washing machine out, open them and it works – hurray! It was out of warranty so if it didn’t work I would probably have replaced it. A note from the tenant – she has broken the dishwasher. She pushed the on button too hard when trying to work out how it operated and it has pushed right through into the machine. I am annoyed, how stupid, why didn’t she read the instructions. I’ll call the warranty people later and see if they repair this kind of thing.
The tenants here are new and I rebuilt the garden a couple of weeks ago just before they moved in. There’s a new lawn and it has dried out a bit with the hot weather. So I leave the hose on it whilst I work. Back to the curtain poles, I manage to sort one out – the new curtains look fine, I’m pleased, but damn I will need a step ladder for the others. I have one at home, it is a bit knackered, so I might as well go to Wickes and buy a new one. Of course a day of landlording would not be complete without one visit to a DIY chain. I actually start out at Selco in Barking – I love it, so down to earth. Then I try Wickes, a bit pricey but I buy a nice enough ladder and grab an ice cream from the van in the carpark. I’m starving, it’s way past lunchtime but I’m determined to get my job done before I eat.
Back to Stratford and I wrestle with the second bay window curtain pole. Once done, I decide to mow the lawn because I want to encourage the new grass to grow. I leave a note for the tenants. Apparently the neighbour is worried that the bamboo that we took out a couple of weeks ago is going to grow back in her garden and the tenants say they don’t want to cut it back if it grows back in their garden. I’m a little irritated but decide I need food. I head back home.
After a nice healthy, very late lunch I am energised and ready for a little more admin. I ring my builder, should I get a drain survey done before we sort out the damp in Tottenham, yes he agrees it’s probably a good idea. He’s repairing a floor, I can hear him bashing away at the joists and we hang up. I call the drain survey people, the surveyor will call me back. He calls me whilst I’m on hold to Domestic and General. They can repair the dishwasher, but they have merged all of my warranties on their database so that it seems all my appliances are at the same address. This is the third time they’ve done it. I put them on hold whilst I speak to the drain surveyor. I email the Stratford tenants to tell them the dishwasher can be repaired on Friday, can they be in? I remind them nicely but firmly they are responsible for weeding and that includes the return of the bamboo. Some emails from my accountant about the dreaded lender, he suggests persevering, I feel despair. My Ilford tenant has emailed me to say he cannot lock one of his uPVC back doors, I reply with advice about handle technique and say I’ll go round tomorrow if he can’t solve it. An email from a friend of a friend who wants advice on becoming a landlord. I reply quickly directing her to my website factsheets and say we could meet for coffee sometime.
Off to Tottenham now, circumventing a traffic jam with the iPhone GPS. One of the shops called me at the weekend with concerns about a blocked drain next door. I said I’d attend on Monday, trying to discourage non urgent weekend stuff…. When I get to Tottenham, I will try and speak to the studio flat tenant about plans for dealing with a damp wall. He’s in his doorway when I arrive so I say hi and we get chatting.
I own two flats and two shops here and it’s a lovely community, a Portuguese café, a young Portuguese couple in the studio flat, one of the café workers and his wife and young son in the flat upstairs and a Caribbean takeaway. When I bought the building at auction, it was poorly managed. Now I have refurbished both flats and got lovely tenants. I find the 6 year old son from upstairs hanging out with the guy downstairs which is very encouraging because there were tensions with the people that the previous landlord had put in the studio flat.
We discuss the damp and he says he’s having problems with Thames Water, I suggest he calls them, he asks if I can as he struggles with English. The lady upstairs tells me that her husband also needs to talk to me about Thames Water and she has a problem with her oven. This is going to be a busy visit, I feel myself going into community worker mode, which is fun. So I call Thames Water on my mobile. It takes 15 minutes to get through, I head up to see the oven problem to Thames Water music on hold. The door needs fixing – I don’t know if it can be – and the hood is a bit tatty. I sense she would like new ones. I have put a new boiler and washing machine in over the past few months. She is a lovely tenant, the flat is immaculate and I know she will stay for many years. I tell her I’ll have a think about it and get back to her. Rebecca from Thames Water answers. I realise they have muddled the accounts for both flats. They think the new tenant in the studio flat has moved into the flat above the shop. As I head down to the Portuguese café, I patiently help Rebecca disentangle the mess. The lady in the Caribbean shop wants to see me, I tell her I’ll pop in shortly. I read the water metres – all located in the café – whilst drinking a gallao and eating a pastel da nata. The café owner goes on at me about the blocked drain next door but says he doesn’t want any trouble. Thames Water problem finally resolved, I thank Rebecca, tell her I hope her hay fever abates and I head next door.
I check the drain and it is blocked, the shopkeeper is a bit stressed. We discuss who should pay for it. I paid last time but it was agreed that if it is blocked again because of fat etc, the tenant (who has sublet it) should pay for it. She says there seems to be rubble down there. I say we could negotiate once we know the cause and I call Dyno-Rod. They can come on Wednesday and we agree to liaise. I watch her serving a customer. He’s a regular and she’s really chatty, like a counsellor. It’s interesting how a takeaway can sometimes be an important point of contact for people living alone.
Back to the café to tell them the news. I check my email on my iPhone, the Stratford tenant can be in on Friday, the Ilford tenant has just got home and will persevere with the door. It’s 8.30pm and if I leave now I can make the gym, it shuts at 10pm. When I get home I’ll look at ovens and hoods – or maybe tomorrow.
