Hi all,
I'm currently renting and have a very personally present landlord. He likes to attend all installations, repairs, etc in person (often with his wife).
He is a nice man, conversational and polite. We like where we live, and have thus tried to make sure we look after his property and his interests.
My question stems from the fact that at every occasion when he visits he sends through a lists of critical requests for my wife and I to correct regarding the cleanliness or maintenance of the home.
Things like:
1) When a segment of fence blew down in the wind he visited, repaired the fence, and requested we keep the front gate and front wire door closed at all times lest we weaken the fence further (implying it was out fault for not having the gate permanently closed). He was unhappy with our pruning of the bushes and trees and requested we prune them back further in keeping with his standards.
2) When he came by to check our stovetop (we think it's broken) he sent an email a few days later via agent requesting we clean the stovetop, oven and mow the back lawn and send through picture evidence of completion of such.
These are not isolated occasions. Again, for the record, we would like to remain on good terms with this man. I recognise it is his investment, and that he has a vested interest in its proper care and cleanliness. However, I feel like demands for correction of perceived cleanliness issues shouldn't be routine outside of planned inspection periods. Sometimes I feel like emailing back asking them to send me a picture of their stovetop at any given moment to prove it is immaculate…
Please note that we are a young family, with small children (and associated mess), but live well within what could be termed 'reasonable' cleanliness the majority of the time.
I've tried to find guidelines on the Vic gov website or otherwise, but there's not much on the subject.
Can he make demands like those above outside of inspection dates? Are we being overly sensitive and should just suck it up and do as asked?
Hoping that someone from the brains trust might know more about the subject than I.
Thanks in advance.
Well he is entitled to attend the periodic inspections, and also to attend any maintenance call outs that you initiate…
These should be the only times you see him though.
If you want to see less of him then I would try and undertake most small maintenance issues yourself (I do this anyway at my place). - ie If the fence is easy to fix, then just fix it, no need for the landlord to attend. 15 mins and a couple of screws.
Also consider doing a little bit of a tidy up when you know he will be attending. - ie If you know he's coming to check the stove today, then give the stove a bit of a wipe before he arrives.