Lol beans, I do think it is ideal! I'm getting a bit annoyed here that I have to adjust it with the cold tap, I've gotten used to just setting it and leaving it. But I can see from the tenants point of view, if they didn't understand how it worked it'd be frustrating. I just assumed the note would be enough, it was written so simply with examples. I basically just wrote it as the owners before us had, and we'd understood that immediately.
Hopefully DH and the plumber can sort it out, and DH can at least show the tenants how it all works if they're not getting it. I think it's going to be so much easier to speak with them directly than to go through the property manager.
As for the meeting with her, I think if we don't have a good outcome, or if we have any more troubles (because really, this is something so simple that's been made worse by her constantly calling DH when he asks her to call me every time, and by apparently not passing on info very well) I'll be asking to be transferred to another property manager. I don't really want to switch agencies because I know the owner/manager who is a great guy and we've got a really good rate. I'm not at all impressed with the other agencies in the town, this one's the best despite having this particular manager. The first one we met was great, so if there's definitely someone we can ask to be managed by - I'm just really hoping it doesn't come to that and once we're past this initial issue it should be just smooth sailing right? Have inspections, pay our fees and get the rent with nothing else to worry about I hope!
Yep, I get you on the water thing. I get fed up with having to fiddle round with the hot and cold taps in the shower to get the right temp, and with kids that would be very handy. After a demo from your DH it should clear it all up and they will probably think it is fantastic. And, yeah, if there are any more issues speak to the RE Manager and get someone new dealing with your property. Good luck x
So DH had another call from the property manager yesterday. She asked him to meet her at the house at 4, so they could 'come up with a game plan to fix this issue'. Apparently the tenants also asked to have their rent reduced until they had cold water in the shower. I was ****ed. No mention of me going, and they want reduced rent because they're trying to use the cold water in the shower after having it explained over and over? Uh uh. I went anyway, seeing as DH had to come home for a shower first. I wanted to see what this big deal is!
So we get out there, and the plumber's there too. The PM is seriously annoying, talked over us and just asked the plumber to go out the back and show us what he's going to do to fix it. So we go out and he shows us the pipe that's likely to be blocked, and explains what would need to be done to fix it (basically removing bricks from a wall and lifting a massive slab of concrete). The PM looks as if she's just going along with all this, like she's saying "Ok, go ahead!" Then he says there's an easier fix - leave the blocked pipe there and connect another before the blockage, send it through the roof and down into the bathroom. The blocked pipe will still be running, even though the water will essentially be coming through the secondary pipe. But if there are ever any problems (like the blocked pipe exploding or something, like that'll happen!) then obviously we'd have to fix it anyway. So the PM seemed to think we should fix that one now. As in remove a portion of wall and the sunroom floor. Uh, no.
So at this point I asked to see how the water in the bathroom basin was running. The PM responded "Sure, there's no water at all in there. Last time a few drops of rusty water came out". I really wasn't believing this because it was fine just a few weeks ago. So in we go, DH turns on the tap and there you go! A steady stream of cold water. Not as fast as if you turned a regular tap all the way, but plenty for anything you're going to need in a bathroom. She was shocked. Then said "well it's not enough for the shower". Here DH started getting angry, I could tell by the way he started talking and storming around. So he showed her how to use the thermostat - "Set the temperature you want - they've already got it on 42 so that's perfect for a shower - then get in the shower and turn on the hot water tap. The water will come out at 42 degrees, it'll be perfect right away and you don't need the cold tap. We might as well take it off because if they're using it they're going to get a **** shower every time." FINALLY she gets it!!! So we're all good with the shower. I did apologise here for not physically demonstrating it earlier, but honestly I can't have explained it better than I did.
So I said to her "The cold water tap works, do they really need it to be high pressure?" Apparently yes. The plumber said the tenant said to him "It's fine if you brush your teeth in the shower, you just use the shower water. But when you're trying to do it in the basin you need water there." They have water there! From both taps!! Does she need to blast the toothpaste off? The whole thing is so flipping frustrating. DH and I were getting mad at the whole thing, he ended up saying to just do whatever they had to do to get higher pressure in the tap, the PM was happy and we left.
I wasn't going to hang around in the mood he was in, but I wish we'd argued it more. They actually do have alright pressure in that tap. You can easily wash your hands and brush your teeth there. Just don't go fighting any fires with it. And if you desperately need faster water, use the hot tap. Turn off the thermostat - it shouldn't really be on permanently anyway. The most frustrating thing is my note to them is stuck to there fridge. Right there in front of them every day are my clear dot points on how to use the water
I'm so thankful she didn't bring up reducing the rent, she would have gotten a mouthful because we were already on edge after this. We're just thinking if we 'fix' it now, hopefully we won't have issues with any future tenants, and once these tenants are happy we can hopefully just forget about it all together. And it's all tax deductible, so we'll just keep thinking of July.
I would talk to the owner of the company your PM works for and let them know about her attitude and bahaviour. She sounds unpleasant and rude, not to mention silly- the relationship between owner and PM should be a good 1.
Yeah. It's just at the point now where we want to get past this and forget it. I feel like that will just drag it out more, and once this is done we shouldn't really hear from her right? Other than inspections and stuff, which should be pretty straight forward. If anything else does happen, i.e. rudeness etc, then we'll definitely go to the agency owner and ask for a new PM. I've documented everything so far so we'll definitely have a case to put forward.
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