Vertical blinds - who is responsible for missing blinds replacement/repair

hi all

one of my tenants (been here for nearly a year) is about to be renewed. i wanted to increase the rent by 5-10 dollars. she is paying below market. she has raised that there are a few blinds missing in the kitchen and bedroom and want me to fix this before she signs.

My relatively new PM (My agency has had this for a few years but new PM) automatically proceeded to quote and stating that to replace (cant repair bc its hard to match) the whole blinds in the kitchen and bedroom would cost 440+GST. I checked June 16 condition report and there were no issues. the march 2017 report stated there was a few blinds missing but the pictures on the report had all the blinds in tact. I was a bit confused that my PM hadn't bothered to check before advising me.

My PM said this is fair wear and tear. The blinds have been there a few years (I would say five) but no other tenant which has rented my place out has had an issue with the blinds!

i am not a tight landlord and would not try to increase the rent and lose a tenant over a 5-10 increase but im not convinced this is fair wear and tear... i could just install curtains or cheapo roller blinds and move on but thoughts or advice would be really appreciated.

 

Vertical blinds are horrible and do break easily.
Replace with something different.
Marg

 

They break very easily. Was cleaning my brother's IP the other day and broke one with little effort. Just replace them with cheap roll down blinds. Would be less than $484.

 

Can anyone recommend company who does roller blinds in Melbourne and Brisbane?
Need replacement for my IP soon too

 

My thoughts after many years of IP and house owning observations....
+1 for eyelet curtains. Easy, low maintenance, can be washed.

* Verticals break easily. (2 IPs with verticals, the verticals in both locations both have broken with tenants).

* Roller blinds generally require looped pull cords which is a strangulation hazard for little kids. They also will look dirty when people continually touch them at the bottom and they won't usually get cleaned.

* Curtains can be washed. And eyelets are the easiest to put up and take down and no need for fussy metal devices to hang the curtain on special rods. I would try to stay away from thermal lined variety of curtains though, because when the the thermal lining is exposed to a lot of sun or maybe moisture, the "rubber" can stick together and come off, leaving a patchy looking curtain with light streaming through where the backing has come off, and it looks bad from the street or yard.

My 2 cents.

 

I agree they break easily, but the missing bit seems somewhat confusing.

Does the tenant mean perhaps that the little hooks that hold each of the blinds up are broken, so that some of the individual blinds fall down? (Has she put the dropped blinds away somewhere? Surely she doesn't mean the actual blinds that have fallen down are missing or that she's thrown them out.)

If she still has them (you would assume so), you can just get more little hooks at Bunnings on the cheap, or on ebay. That's the part that normally snaps.

I'm talking about these things: VERTICAL BLIND PLASTIC INSERT HANGER LOUVRE FOR FABRIC VARIOUS AMOUNTS AVAILABLE | eBay Notoriously easy to break. New ones should hook right into the clips you can still see in the picture, but obviously you need the blinds that fell. You take out the old plastic hook and slide in a new one.

Verticals really do break easily, and they tend to look really shoddy too as a lot of opening and closing them eventually leads to creases and bends. Curtains or rollers look much better.

 

4. Windows XP - no messy cords, doesn't get dirty, doesn't break very easily. Unfortunately it's no longer supported by the manufacturer.

 

If you've got a handy person in Melbourne and Brisbane get them to measure up for you and then order online from Veneta Quality Custom Made Blinds Online and then get your handy person to install. Much cheaper than Kresta or similar.

 

In Melbourne, you need thermal curtains. If installed with pull cords (using a tensioner for safety) they will not get dirty so hardly ever need washing.

Coated curtains can stick together and peel if the coated sides are left to touch when wet.

So, if you do need to wash them, just dry them on the line with the coated side to the outside so two coated sections can't touch. Also, use cold water unless the label says otherwise.

 

Brisbane - Signature Blinds do a very good job but a little pricey. As a Brisbane agenct I have often replaced verticals (with owner permission) with eyelet curtains/rods or roller blinds, they wear well and there is no further breakage problems.

 

As an agent myself I would question the fair wear & tear, yes the clips do break very easily as they are plastic, however they can be purchased in packs of 10 from Bunnings. Where are the blinds gone they don't just disappear. If the tenant has not kept the verticals that are missing why should you replace.

My personal preference is eyelet curtains as they are much easier to look after, low maintenance and don't have breakage problems.

If the verticals are broken/missing in less the 12 months what other damages have occurred that you are yet to find out about. My suggestion would be to attend the next inspection with your PM or have an independent person walk through prior to making a decision.

 

Sunstop blinds (Underwood). Really affordable.

 

Break easy ? What do you do, swing off them ?

If they are operated by the chords and the mechanism works, no need to even touch them.

I just took down about 8m of verticals that are over 20 years old, washed them all and replaced them, so they been around for a while and even last owner had a pretty grubby tenant, still lived through all that, then you get a new one with 2 left feet and they break everything they touch.

If the verticals had all vertical slats there before being given to tenant recently and the track operated correctly, then I would deny them, would get the 3 or so missing slats and put them back & put the rent up anyway if they are under. The 2 things are not linked, you have to decide if you will do the window coverings as it's own issue, it is not a matter of tenant ok'ing a rent increase if they get something.

 

Mould and repaint will be next, look at the moisture.

Then re grouting the tiles as all the chemicals and creme etc go to work on that ledge.

 

From a PM point of view verticals are a nightmare. Where I can I direct owners to rollerblinds as the tenants cannot do much damages to them and are easy to clean and replace if damaged.

I would ask the PM to quote for rollerblinds. Spotlight will go out and quote free of charge from memory.

 

My inlaws have them throughout their house. I have never seen a single one missing or damaged, and they have grandkids visit regularly that run wild. I don't think that is reasonable wear and tear, that is damage caused only by the tenant from misuse in my opinion. Surely if one fell out they could have put it back in or atleast kept it for you to fix and not disposed of it? I would ask where the missing pieces are- if they don't give them to you I would be saying well you caused the damage, if you want them fixed you will need to pay for the repairs.

 

If you must change them roller brings and eyelets on rods are both cheap options. You could do each window for under $70. I wouldn't be paying someone to fit them as it is easy to DIY unless you live too far or are time poor

 

It probably comes down to quality. As with most things, some vertical blinds are cheap and easier to break. But I'd definitely be concerned about missing pieces.