I'm curious, if you are a tenant in a rental property how much money (or on what things) are you willing to spend your own money on to improve QOL. Assume it's not something broken so the landlord has no obligation to "fix" it.
New dishwasher? Oven? Hotwater system? Home automation?
If you live in a place for long enough does it become worth it to just fork out?
Excatly, everything I do I take with me, plants, automated lights, blinds etc pretty much anything I did I take with me and leave them the bare bone house they gave me when I moved in
Beyond lightbulbs, nothing. It's not my property.
I wall mounted a TV in one of the bedrooms, I'll leave the bracket and bolts so the next tenant can use it - cost me roughly $70.
Why the negs?
As a landlord i'd want you to remove bracket and bolts and make good the wall.
And I'd tell you to go jump because I had prior written consent :D
I'm on good terms with my LL so if I want to make the place more comfortable within reason he's fully on board.
No landlord is replacing a dishwasher, oven, hotwater system in their IP unless they absolutely have to. As a landlord, I've had to replace hotwater systems at short notice because it directly impacts upon my tenant's right to enjoyment of living in my property.
If it's not broken or essential, I will usually push back depending on costs. For example, I agreed to have the bathroom ceiling repainted as the tenants noticed it was peeling off and it didn't cost me a lot. But I declined on the installation of a new wardrobe as it wasn't 'essential' and I was busy spending money on my own place.
For your second question, it's not a matter of time but of necessity. I was previously a tenant for 5 years and had a doggy door installed immediately after getting a puppy. I paid up quickly out of my own pocket for that. I also partially paid for some new blinds (the old ones were shit but not broken) so I could sleep easier and cool the place down. Otherwise, everything else was directed to my agent and passed on to the landlord to pay for completely.
"No landlord is replacing a dishwasher, oven, hotwater system in their IP unless they absolutely have to."
Yep that's the point of my question. Say you move into a place you love, everything is great and you love cooking but its got a shit oven. It might only be the cost of a couple of weeks rent to get one in, and if you're there for 3 years it might be worth it?
Say you move into a place you love, everything is great and you love cooking but its got a shit oven. It might only be the cost of a couple of weeks rent to get one in, and if you're there for 3 years it might be worth it?
Keep the old stove someplace so you can put it back when you leave. Then sell the newer one you had installed.
Even though you see it as a 'upgrade' the LL might not and want you to return it to how it was when you moved in.
I’d be willing to spend, I don’t know, anywhere from nought up to at least zero dollars…
As long as you understand anything you do even at your own cost and you see as an improvement, your landlord may not and you could be made to pay for the cost to return it to the condition it was when you moved in.
Yeah thats a good point.
My neighbor used to put feature holes in the wall.
We fixed a few nagging issues in our rental. Things that were farked when we got there.
Pretty sure if the dishwasher is there, landlord has to fix it. As with anything that is 'there' has to work, at least in Vic is my understanding.
On one of my parent's rental properties in London, the young girl (a student) whose parents rented it for her didn't like the decor. So with my parents permission, they proceeded to change all the curtains, and fully renovate the bathroom, with new marble and fixtures, completely at their expense. In central London renovations aren't cheap, it was easily a 6 figure sum, on a property they don't own. It was renovated reasonably recently before that, so it's not like it was worn out of date, they just wanted to change it. Nuts.
Snobs usually why not just buy her own property
My parents wonder the same thing. This property is in W1, so it's not exactly cheap, but when you're willing to drop that much on someone else's house surely a few million £ isn't that big a deal?
No hotwater system? Which slum are you living in?
Not sure why you got neg'd. Hot water is a necessity and would be an urgent repair if it broke. No one paying the rent should have to fork out for any issues with that.
Yeah I'd spend nothing on any of the OPs items.
If it was going to be long term maybe spend some on window tint if the sun was bad but right now I live southern facing so it's only direct for a few months of the year.
I had "films installed" on the glass door to the balcony because sunlight used to come in from there and it would bother the hell out of me.
I think they are basically cellophane films that sticks onto the glass by spraying water on the window? It was cheap enough for me to go, I will "install" these and throw them out when I leave.
Oh and few of those stick on wall hangers that are meant to be easy to remove and without damage. Though, that was more my wife wanting to hang paintings on the wall.
That's about it. I am not doing anything permanent, it's not my place.
australia has such a sad "landlord" is king culture.
I'd say that only landlords really think that.
Like everyone else said, nothing that can't be taken with me other than stuff like light bulbs
At least in Victoria, something doesn't have to be 100% broken to be considered broken enough to require repair. One burner on the stove not working is still considered an urgent repair that VCAT will force the landlord to repair
So if an oven isn't good enough to use, then ask them to repair it. If they refuse, take them to VCAT, get a repair order, then get compensation for having to order food delivery to cover costs.
Because I have a good LL I have replaced an old cracking toilet seat with a new one cost me ten from bunnings. put a thicker curtain up in bedroom to block neighbours security light that's on a beam activator, cats trigger it at silly times.
Other than that I'm not going overboard rent is high enough
Not much, I’d be happy to paint if I wanted a new colour/better finish with landlords permission, if I was staying a while. One time the chip board on the underside of the kitchen bench was crumbling in a place I was renting, so I painted it with wood glue and water and it fixed the problem. Sometimes I’ve polished things up that needed a good clean.
I’d be very unlikely to buy an appliance that I couldn’t take with me, perhaps the one exception being aircon (in QLD), eg if rent was significantly cheaper for a good place/location I might consider it but even then I’d hope the landlord would chip in for half, since they get to keep it.
Absolutely fkn zero not helping anyone else benefit just because they choose to be a slum Lord because they over extended themselves to buy a home they can't afford to maintain it
I've put in extra outdoor lighting at my cost (about $200 including sparky), probably spent about $2k in fixing the lawn and retic system to bring it up to my standard (was pretty much dead when we moved in). We've put in a heap of plants that more than likely won't come with us as there won't be anywhere for them to go but they have all been free off local FB pages. Along with numerous tap washers, outdated flexi hoses etc.
We'll probably be in this place for 3 years all up but the landlords have been great with any issues we have had or requests like mounting artwork etc.
Does your landlord self manage, or do you go through a property manager
Property manager, no complaints dealing with her either.
House is in WA, owners are in QLD. Built it about 30 years ago, been a rental the whole time.
Come to think of it, we also replaced the letterbox and shower heads when we first moved in, was going to swap them back when we moved out but won't need it at our new place so they'll stay here.
nothing as not my property.
my land lord - replaced the oven when the griller died like within a week,
also the pipes bathroom where jammed and replaced the pipe it was that jammed with stuff - bathroom sink pipes get jammed a lot -
If I can't take if with me at the end of lease, $0.