Anyone requested ceiling fans be installed in the bedrooms in their rented house?
Would you expect landlords to do it?
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Anyone requested ceiling fans be installed in the bedrooms in their rented house?
Would you expect landlords to do it?
No. I wouldn't put ceiling fans in for my tenant. They rented the place as is. I will repair anything that needs repairing but I won't install anything new.
I guess it depends on the landlord! We had one great landlord who was happy to do whatever, but the others wouldn't even fix urgent repairs (leaking shower in upstairs bathroom resulting in ceiling damage in the room downstairs, shorting out rangehood that cut out the power if it was turned on).
I'd ask anyway. They can only say no.
ETA - Just a thought too, I guess it depends on how in demand the house you live in would be if you moved out. Like the house beside us is a dump. If the current tenants moved out, the landlord would have to spend a substantial amount of money to get the house to a decent standard (and it's not the tenant's fault the house is this way). All the tenant has asked for is a screen door. It's getting to the point that they're going to move out because they can't stand to live there anymore and the rent is being pushed up. It will cost the landlord far less to put in the screen door to keep the tenant happy, than the work they're going to have to do to get the house to a standard that can ask for the high rent they are expecting ITMS.
Hmm thanks for the views! I guess cos the tenants have been in the house 2 years I would have expected to them to buy fans rather than get some installed! xx
My sister has been renting from the same owner for nearly 5 years now and they have a fantastic relationship. Almost makes me want to rent again if I was to get a landlord like hers :clap:
They run a text past her saying things like the element has gone in the oven is it ok to get a new one? She will say "yes of course" then they give her the receipt and deduct the cost from their next rent. It helps that her DP is very handy and can do lots of bits and pieces around the house.
Sister wanted to paint the interior of the house so the landlord paid for the paint and my sister did all the painting herself. As she sees it, it is a win win. They cant afford to buy anytime soon and the landlord is happy to have them there as they treat the house like their own and are fantastic tenants.
She replaced the dishwasher within a day of them telling her it had died, and they are currently getting quotes to put aircon through the living areas.
So although I dont own a rental, I think if I had tenants I wanted to keep I would, if I was able do what I could to keep them. Dont you get it all back come tax time anyway??
No, you don't get it all back come tax time. On-going maintenance is tax deductible (not a rebate) so are small expenses and capital works however installing a fan would probably be neither capital works or small expenses so it would not be deductible.
Frankly installing a fan would not increase the rental value enough to pay for itself.
Yep that. If they are good tenants, keep them happy :):
Mine are great. Hello, if you are reading this :D
No. You can claim a portion of it spread out over several years (depending on what it is). Even then you only get back what your tax rate is. For most people, this would be 31.5% including medicare levy. As an example, if you outlay $2000 on 1/7/11, and you can claim depreciation at 30%, you would get back $189 in your 2012 tax return. Each year thereafter would be less. In the 2013 tax return, you'd get $132.50. Even then, you only get it as a refund if you have actually paid more tax than you needed to elsewhere. It's a common misunderstanding. A tax deduction of $x doesn't mean you get $x back, it means your income is reduced by $x and your tax is worked out on the lower amount.:
I would consider putting in ceiling fans if the tenant requested it and they were good tenants. Some things I wouldn't consider. For example, our tenant requested permission to have a cat. We said no as the property is not suitable for pets (unfenced 1bed unit) and not allowed by body corporate anyway. I won't be surprised if she doesn't renew her lease because of it but it can't be helped. We have always repaired anything that needs repairing straight away.
We have only been landlords for a few months and a request like I think we probably would put them in, particularly if the house was very hot, and there was no a/c in bedrooms etc. It also adds value to the property so for something like that yes we probably would. Cats OP?! Definitely not, as for any other requests I guess it would depend on the cost etc. and if it was worthwhile for us as an investment as well as if the tenants were being reasonable with the requests.
I wasn't keen as there is little/no return tax or otherwise and the place would rent pretty easily anyway at the current rent. My main worry was that the ceilings are pretty low and I have a bit of a fear of ceiling fans anyway! Should be interesting as I think the ball park quote was about $2000 to buy/install said fans. Will be interesting to see what it really is!
ETA - I wasn't thinking fans would add value either??!!!
That quote seems very high to me unless there is a reason that the wiring would be very complex and time consuming.
$2000!!!!!! What on earth!! Not so much add value I mean as being a selling/renting point if there was no other cooling in the house?
Wow! How many fans is that for? I know Beacon has fans at the moment for $90. With what my DH charges to install fans in Melb, that would equate to 7 fans.
TBH I don't think ceiling fans add value. I wouldn't pay extra for them or even bother looking to see if a house had them (in fact I belong to the finding them a little alarming school). A/C on the other hand might add value both for capital gain and rental income and if it's well installed it isn't high maintenance. For $2k you could look at A/C instead.
Agree, 2000 is way high. Unless they want those fancy fans that have retractable blades???
They retail for like $150. That's a lot of money for wiring and installation... unless they want like 6 fans?
ETA: Just saw some on the Beacon lighting website for less than $100.
I haven't been in this situation, though my parents have. If I were the tenent, I would be hopinng the landlord would see it as a valuable addition to the house which would increase its appeal to future tenents. As the landlord, it depends on the house and what heating/cooling mechanisms it already has, and where it's situated geographically. If it's somewhere that only gets a few uncomfortably hot nights per year, I'd say no. I believe my parents were happy to comply as the tenents were very desirable, quite long term, and offered to go halves in the cost. The tenent could choose to buy a standing fan for each room - ceiling fans are not the only option for them.
We asked for a/c to be installed when we moved in three years ago. We offered to pay half the cost as a small rental increase over our two year lease.
My Mum's tenant have asked for another A/C unit in the front bedrrom. It faces NW, so gets very hot. She's gotten quotes and has agreed to install it if they agree to an increase in rent. They're good tenants, they want to stay and she wants to keep them.
I would especially if they were good tenants and I wanted to keep them.
It's not wrong if the landlords said no, but there is no harm in asking :) They might say yes.
funny you ask I just moved yesterday to a house that stated it had fans online but it doesn't! silly me didn't even notice during the inspection! I pay $390 a week for a 4 bedroom and there is only one air con in the entire house, maybe I should ask too! my poor sons are suffering, this house was only built 3 years ago too! let me know how you go with your landlord.
it is totally your call.
we have spent $4000 on "improvements" to our house for the tenants and they are now going silly and asking for even more (im not talking fans im talking luxury items) and i think that is just being rude as a tenant!
$2000?? Er, tell em to buy a few pedestal fans from Big W - $12 a pop!!
Sheesh, that is way over quoted!
I thought that amount was a bit wierd - but I am not sure how much wiring/electrics needs to be done and how that will impact/change current lighting scenario. Would be completely better with AC at that point! Will see how the written quote comes back.
I think only you can make the call as to whether it's a reasonable request
the house we're in now has air con in the family/kitchen area, but nothing in the bedrooms - and they get ALL the afternoon sun. we've had to keep DD in our room (the coolest of the rooms) through the last two summers as her room is just too hot most of the time. the aircon kinda helps her room but not much - and does nothing for our room. in theory, we COULD put a pedestal fan in her room, but we won't - she's a shocker for touching the fan we have in our room, and i don't believe it would be safe. we contemplated asking fo fans after last summer but thought we'd see just how bad it was this summer - and probably will ask - at least for the main bedrooms we use. our study is unusable on hot days so i guess we'd request four or five (four bedrooms plus the other lounge room). i don't know if it will be approved, but we've discussed staying long term, so who knows. i know the neighbours on either side are in similar houses with no cooling at all, and they're contemplating moving out as the houses are just too hot. both have had to put shadecloth and foil over massive windows just to make the house livable. we all have blinds rather than curtains, and they just don't block out enough. and we all have massive windows - great in winter for letting light in, but also shocking for letting too much heat in during summer!! if hubby doesn't have us in lockdown (lol) all day on a hot day, the house is unlivable
in our area, four bed houses are hard to come by, so i believe they would get tenants in no time if we moved out - but i don't think may people would stay around more than one summer with the heat in the houses. we're hoping the fact we've increased the value of the property at our own expense (built garden beds etc) that it may work in our favour if we ask for fans. we've also repaired anything that has gone wrong ourselves so zero maintenance for them
i guess you need to weigh up the value of your tenants, the outlay, how it will help you get or retain tenants etc. $2000 does sound like a massive outlay but i'm assuming it would be a case of taking out lights and replacing with light/fan combo like my bro did at his place....
I would perhaps do this for good tenants. Our current tenants are WONDERFUL. We totally refurbished (read ripped out and totally replaced) the bathroom of our cottage before they rented it so we won't do much to the cottage for a while. We charge VERY low rent which has not gone up for 2 years as we want to keep the tenants. They live on our property and since all our bedrooms don't have ceiling fans I would not install them in the cottage. We are planning to fix up the kitchen in the next 12 months, just waiting for the tenants to go on holiday so we don't disturb them too much. It's a hassle for them to empty their kitchen before they go away as it is.
We have had very demanding tenants in the past who have whinged and whinged if little things aren't fixed immediately. Living where we do means there is sometimes a bit of a wait for a tradie. These current people "get" the rural thing so it works wonderfully.
Could you offer to purchase some fans for them? We recently bought some tower fans (no blades, so very safe for little ones) for the bedrooms and they are fantastic! They were about $150 each, but are good quality and very safe.
When our ducted heating wasn't working properly last year and the landlord was struggling to get someone to fix it (long story) they bought us electric panel heaters to get us through while they sorted it out.
Just a thought...
I've always wondered if requesting for air con to be put in was unreasonable. The house we rent has none and the curtains are very thin. The master bedroom is like a furnace in the mornings and by evening the back bedroom was 35 degrees the last few days (same as our weather!) Luckily the sun sets at the back of the house, so by night our bedroom is somewhat cooler.
Our Landlord seem fairly reasonable. When we moved in there was no line on the clothesline and the shower dripped constantly (which has caused the wall to go mouldy in one place) And we put in maintenance requests and it was all fixed except for the wall (which I thought in time would completely destroy the whole wall???). But the back fence is almost falling down and we have 2 dogs. Before we moved in they said the Landlord was looking into it and we still haven't heard anything.
Maybe we should ask.....
ETA: It was winter when we moved in!
They should be able to wire fans into where the light already is just means they will have to be fans with the lights in them.
Im with a PP that said depends on the tenants and if you want to feep them but if you live near the rental can you purchase the fans yourself and just get the real estate to install them.
Being a tenant I would never ask for fans. If it was a big deal for me i would make sure i moved into a house that had them already or buy pedistal fans, they are sooo cheap these days.
It can't hurt to ask Tasha. Maybe they forgot?