paying tenants a fee to oversee building work?

[ellejay]

I have a builder who is replacing some weatherboards for me. He was supposed to do the work months ago but kept delaying. He has now started the work around 7 months later than agreed. Rain has been coming into the bathroom in that time. The tenant now tells me the builders have been doing a little bit of work each day replacing outside weatherboards. He says the bathroom inside wall is damaged by moisture though and possibly the supporting beam/joist.

I've lost faith in this builder and worry he'll just put new weatherboard on outside of the house without going into the house and putting right the problems in the bathroom which were the result of his delays most probably.

I've met the tenant, who seems responsible and pretty savvy. His parents have been waiting for this work to be done for ages and are now reporting some concerns to me about the builders.

I'm going to ring the builder tomorrow and get him to sort the bathroom. I'll also be trying to negotiate the bill as I have a 7 month email trail with him. I did think of offering tenants parents a small fee to oversee the work just to make sure its done properly. Anyone ever done this? If so what do you think would be a reasonable fee?

 

[TMNT]

almost a losing battle to be honest,

if the tenant says they will oversee and forget/cant be bothered, then you will pay a small fee, and have problems down the track,

i would recommend, just asking them nicely to check a few things when possible, as if the builder does a bad job, you will have to redo the work and inconvenience you again in the future,

that should be enough

 

[ellejay]

almost a losing battle to be honest,

if the tenant says they will oversee and forget/cant be bothered, then you will pay a small fee, and have problems down the track,

i would recommend, just asking them nicely to check a few things when possible, as if the builder does a bad job, you will have to redo the work and inconvenience you again in the future,

that should be enough

Thanks for that. They've sent some photos of the problems that need fixing in the bathroom which is really helpful. They clearly just want a nice bathroom without rotten walls so that seems to be motivation enough for them to keep an eye out. Plus they know we're overseas and the agent never helps them.

 

[Peterw]

There are companies around that do "final inspections" on building works. Engage one of them, and they will review the contract, and the works complete and advise.

 

[Salvatore1]

Why have an agent if you need to correspond with the tenants direct and builder direct from overseas?

 

[ellejay]

Why have an agent if you need to correspond with the tenants direct and builder direct from overseas?

Well the work is more than just ordinary maintenance. The agent, although pretty slack herself, has tried to get a builder in. Lack of tradesmen in the area makes it really hard, you have to be very proactive, and at the end of the day I'll be the one that loses out if my great tenant gets peed off.

Anyway, talking to the tenant whilst having the safety of the agent in the background is good. If the tenant carries on being this easy I might ditch the agent, or not if they turn out to be a right PITB.

 

[Salvatore1]

I would ditch and manage myself as it sounds you have a good relationship directly with the tenant.