Over the years I thought I had seen it all but this morning's request from a tenant has to take the cake. There was a brand new Electric hot water unit installed in one of our rental properties yesterday. To replace a similar faulty one that was leaking. This morning we had a repair request come through from the tenant and it said. I know that the hot water unit is brand-new but I would like the landlord to remove it and put it in a gas hot water unit, can you tell me when she would be able to do that? I let my office staff handle the reply to that one obviously a big fat NO! But my answer would have been " yes sure would you like me to come and give you a foot massage at the same time? A brand-new car with that perhaps? What else would you like? "
I often tell my tenants: "There is nothing that you can think of that we can't have a discussion about". In this scenario, I would probably say we can definitely do that if you are willing to pay $2500-$3000 to have it replaced.
We will often discuss tenant request with the landlord, in this case our office rejected the request and I would safely assume that the landlord would also decline replacing a hot water unit that is less than 24 hours old just because the tenant said so lol
I am horrified to think that an agent would reject such a reasonable request without first consulting the licensee, the building owners, office of fair trading, all of your mates, the REI, your mum and besties. When you'd all composed yourselves go back to the tenant with a resounding "Not in this lifetime".
Perhaps it is simply an illusion of choice. To say no would be to deny their right to have a say in the matter. I like to give people options. You'll likely get the same outcome but let them be the ones who say "ok, maybe not then".
The benefits of gas hot water are far superior to archaic coal fired power . I believe a replacement should be made immediately and an apology to the tenant and mother earth for the damage caused.
In this scenario a smart tenant would ask for solar power. Powers the house AND new electric hot water system benefitting the tenant. And improves value, rental return, and tenant appeal for the Landlord. Everybody wins.
