Landlord in Vic here. Backyard drainage and leaking pergola. Must fix?

Dear brain trust,
This might sound like a silly question but I just wanted to have your 2 cents on this.
I have a house in SE subs of Melbourne that I recently rented out following significant internal renovations. Today the RE agent emails me notifying of tenants complaining of poor backyard drainage with water pooling in grassed areas close to the pergola concrete slab and that there were few spots where the external pergola was leaking following the days of rain we had lately. Neither of the two issues are massive as I am aware of this as I lived there for 7 years, nor affect the internal living and house access. Am I compelled to fix this? Do you have any experience with this?
Thanks a lot in advance.

 

Sound a bit rich coming from the tenants.

Pooling water in the backyard following the quite massive rain in the last few days and a bit of leak in the outdoor veranda? I wouldn't fix any of those.
I'd also be very wary about renewing the contract beyond the first year. To me - that's a Red flag.

 

Thanks Ronen for your reply. I do recognize that certain things can be annoying for some people but I think it is a bit excessive too. I think the agent is pushing me as the tenant is a very good mate of hers so she wants me to fix every little imperfection...

 

It depends.

If the pergola is attached to the house with a deck or similar and is part of the extended living area, then I think a leak is an issue if it makes it unpleasant to use or creates an excessive slip hazard or damages the tenants’ alfresco furniture - e.g. soaking cushions etc or raining on the BBQ.

If water is pooling around a slab - that is a maintenance red flag to me rather than a tenant red flag. Of course you don’t have to do anything about it, but, it’s great that they have brought it to your attention.

It’s been raining on and off for the last week in Melbourne but it has not been torrential…has your place got a lot of clay soil?

 

I owned a house that used to have major issues with water deluge after rain. Being Melbourne in winter it would stay like it for months only to dry in summer. It may be a fair call on their part and mean some agg drainage is needed and is a cheap fix. Esp if the pergola has no downpipes and just dumps the runoff on the grass. You should check it to ensure the water isnt going to impact the structure, subfloor etc. Best inspected after rain. Sloshy grass or green concrete may be a sign of a issue.

 

The problem with having a PM sitting between you and the tenant is that things get lost in translation.

It's quite possible the tenant is merely informing the PM as a courtesy to you something may warrant your attention (particularly as the property sounds like you have recently put time/money into it).

By the time that courtesy gets relayed back to you it simply sounds like the the tenant is creating work for the PM and thus 'complaining'.

I would thank them for notifying you and leave it at that for now rather than sweat it as a red flag as @Ronen suggests.

 

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately the soil is mostly clay, which I know is a problem but it constitutes pretty much whats around the whole region. The pergola is attached to the house and I can understand it could be a problem for outdoor furniture which is not pleasant for the tenants. I agree with water pooling around the pergola slab which could be a problem. However is is still the pergola slab which is quite far from the section of the house slab, so I am less worried. I think my main issue at this stage is whether I should fix it because I am a nice person and want my tenants to be happy VS I am obliged to fix by law... if that makes sense...

 

In all honesty if to fix the drainage is around 400-500 bucks I would be happy to oblige, but with precious tradies nowadays the smallest things especially when it comes to digging things the price goes straight into the thousands and I just spent 30k on this property for internal renos and the tenants have basically moved in last week and I am already receiving complaints...

 

I think I will go and inspect the issue regardless to show that I am willing to hear their pleas and I will probably look into the drainage thing but it wont be an overhaul thing at least in the next few weeks

 

I don’t think you are required to fix it by law - unless the leak in the ‘pergola’ is affecting safety or the quality/amenity of the property significantly. (Sounds more like a verandah than a pergola since it has a roof and is attached to the house.)

Being a ‘nice’ person has nothing to do with it.

If you don’t want to fix it, just say ‘no’.

Clearly, you have experienced the leaking and flooding yourself when you lived there - so you are in a good position to judge.

Though if I had water pooling against a slab attached to the house - even if it’s only the verandah slab - I’d be investigating because it might be finding it’s way further underneath…

 

Hire a trenching machine, 20 m ag pipe, 2t of 25mm crushed blue metal, geotech fabric and a bit of topsoil - connect the pipe to the existing stormwater pipes.

 

I think I will look into the drainage business if it is relatively affordable, just for the sake of the structure's safety. For the "verandah" leak they will have to deal with it. You are right the leaking is an issues which gets worst with blocked gutters but usually with clean gutters it only takes very heavy rain to experience a leak through.

 

Thanks mate, I will look into it, I just watched a couple of you tube videos and it is starting to make sense...

 

I felt it's a red flag based on the OPs words: "Today the RE agent emails me notifying of tenants complaining of poor backyard drainage with water pooling in grassed areas close to the pergola concrete slab and that there were few spots where the external pergola was leaking following the days of rain we had lately"

For me there's a difference between notifying and complaining.
My tenant just told me there's a leak in the ceiling of my newly renoed property.
He didn't complain about it, he was letting me know, knowing I would want to take care of it.

As such I thank him for telling me and sent the roofy immediately.

 

Thats my point... the RE agent took it to be complaining. Thier words, not the tenants.

Maybe they were, but maybe they weren't.
The OP is checking it out anyway so will be judge.

 

So if your tenant had said - ‘the roof leaked all over my sofa’ would you have refused to send the roofer?

 

Go back and read the OPs posts - he's pretty clearly conveying a message that the tenants just moved into a newly renovated place and are already complaining. For me - that's a red flag.
I'm not the OP, his PM nor the tenants - so I will not do any interpretation to the OPs words. I'm just responding to what he wrote.

Not sure how's that have anything to do with my tenants sofa... Not even sure they have one.

 

I’ll explain:

You gave the example of your tenant telling you about a leak - directly after you commented about the OP’s tenants’ complaining and how it raises a red flag in your view (post #14).

You specifically mentioned that there is a difference between notifying and complaining - with your example seeming to infer that you immediately sent a roofer because your tenant had notified but not complained. (Otherwise, why mention it?)

If you felt your tenants had complained about your leak (rather than notified) would you have refused to send a plumber?

I think it’s perfectly fine to complain about the roof leaking - but it’s all third hand anyway, so neither we or the OP really know if the communication from the tenant was notification or complaint. Though I think the only difference between these two terms is how much the tenant is affected!

 

Oh ok. Got it.
No, I'd still send my roofy. It's my roof and I don't want leaks.
And my leak is inside the house, and not an outside veranda - so it's different.

My example was that in my view, good tenants, so good landlords, communicate by notifying rather than complaining. My tenant just moved in, newly renovated house as well (including major work on the roof) and he noticed some leak in the roof.
He didn't complain about it, he just notified me. He understands that maybe the works that he was aware of, created the leak.

Once again, I'm using only the information that the OP provided: newly renovated house, just moved in, there was massive rain, there's a "leak" (which the OP who lived there aware of and wasn't phased about it when he did) and the tenants complained about the leak and water pooling on his clay backyard.
My PPoR sits on clay and my backyard looks like rice field. Not much you can do about it. It takes week of hot weather to dry.

In my books - that's red flag.
I might be wrong, and red flags are sometimes just red flags.

You are correct that the OP has 3rd hand communication. In my case, I'm self managing so I have the full knowledge of how the information was conveyed.