8 Amazing "Urgent" Repairs That are Reported to Clapham Landlords

Naturally as an investor/estate agent/property professional I speak to a lot of people in the trade. I thought I'd share some of the most outrageous repairs we've been called out to - and when I say "repairs" I actually mean a massive non-emergency! Needless to say there were no emergencies and most can be solved with common sense.

So here we go, hopefully you'll find the tales as entertaining as I have!

1. Daniel White, local estate agent recants his tale - "...recently had a tenant kick off because his boiler was not working, I popped around before considering getting a plumber. When I arrived he was angry and was acting if it was my fault his boiler broken down but after 2 minutes minutes investigating, we found his gas pre-paid meter had run out of funds!!!! Apology, of course not.
   
   
   
   
2. Mandy Wilshaw, landlord recants she "had a call out to a property because there was no electric - the whole area had a power cut!"
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Tradesman - Ally Menzies shared how he is called out to properties and "...the geezer was wondering why every time someone had a shower it rained downstairs!!!"
   
   
   He was kind enough to send in this picture which explains how badly fitted the shower screen was.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. My very own - I was told about a "puddle appearing in the kitchen." When I asked the tenants whether they were a bit lazy with mopping up after they got out of the shower they insisted the floor was bone dry. I inspected, told them it was likely that the water is finding a way down, so mop up. It took them a month to come back to me to say that the issue hadn't gone away. A MONTH! Ultimately it was down to a leaky seal in the shower screen like Ally's example.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Pip Abbott told me about his sensitive tenant: "The blinking light on the smoke alarm in the landing keeps me up all night and I need to sleep!" I asked Pip whether the beeping bothered him in the end and he assures me the tenant took out the battery to stop it from doing that!
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Rick Player had a less than positive experience letting to someone with a dog:
   "How on earth did the water overflow on to the wall and floor from the shower? Didn't you close the door when you showered?"
   
   
   Tenant "Well, it's difficult to shower the dog with the door closed, so we shower him on the bathroom floor!"
   
   
   To be fair they've done well not flooding the entire house, think of how bad that could have been!
   
   
   
   
7. Nearing the end of the list now - Dylan Stephens told me about his story about the blocked toilet. Every landlord's nightmare of course!
   
   
   Tenant: "The drains are blocked and water keeps running out from under the washing machine and into the basement room."
   
   
   DS: Have you put kitchen towel down the toilet. 
   
   
   Tenant "No"
   
   
   DS: "Why is there 9 inch cardboard tubes in the bathroom under the sign telling you not to put kitchen roll in toilet."
   
   
   Tenant: "We clean bathroom with it."
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. And finally - this has got to be today's winner!
   Jemma Bath  - "I was on my summer holiday when I wake up to a number of calls from a tenant in our Battersea flat asking me to call her back ASAP. So I call and she proceeds to tell me how there's an invasion of spiders and we need to call pest control. So here's me picturing hundreds of spiders coming through the window. I ask her "OK how many are there?" And she said "Well so far there's been three....!"

I hope you've enjoyed a light-hearted article. Do follow me on all the usual social media platforms if you want to stay abreast of the latest property investment news, trends and more. Looking to invest in property and don't know where to start? Start the conversation by email: jeroen@claphampropertyblog.com or join me at the Clapham Property Meet, the go-to networking meeting for new and experienced investors alike.