A YouGov survey has been carried out in regards to the way a tenant deals with any damage that occurs within a property. The survey shows that 27% of tenants wouldn’t tell their landlord about any significant damage to their rental property. The study has also shown that 15% of tenants would secretly hire a professional to repair the damage, with 11% relying on their own DIY skills in order to fix the problems themselves.
The Survey asked a sample size of 2088 adults to pick a course of action they were likely to use should any significant damage were to occur to their rented property. It was specified that the significant damage applied to the permanent fixings of a house such as windows, or showers. The survey was carried out for TheHouseShop.com and showed that 58% would tell their landlord and 27% said they wouldn’t.
As a further breakdown of the results, over one in ten said they would attempt to fix the damage themselves, and 1% said they would hide the damage and hope that the landlord won’t notice the damage at the end of the tenancy. As a breakdown of the figure that would report the damage it is thought that 24% would offer to pay for the repair, 7% would offer for a contribution, and 27% would wait until asked for financial contributions for the damage.
As a response to the results if the study, Nick Marr, the co-founder of TheHouseShop.com has suggested that landlords should encourage an open relationship with their tenant, as even the most reliable tenant could damage a property significantly. It has also been suggested that landlords must make sure that thorough checks are carried out to the property and to any references before any tenants move in.
Tenants are also warned against trying to fix damage, as it could lead to worse damage being caused and they could see a bigger bill than they would have if they had reported the problem in the first place.
