What is your part in all this?
Whether you are single tenant in a bedsit or self contained flat or through to a student sharing a house with others, you have responsibilities.
A landlord has to provide you with decent clean and dry accommodation and maintain the services to the property. However, you must also aid the landlord by making sure that the property is kept clean and tidy and that you do not impede any means of escape in case of fire or misuse fire fighting equipment.
In a historic case (Warren v Keen 1953) Lord Denning judged that a tenant must occupy a property in a “Tenant-Like Manner”, so what is a Tenant-Like Manner?
The tenant should clean the windows when needed, replace tap washers in taps when they start to leak, clean out sink wastes, when they become blocked with hair or food matter, also clean outside gully pots of leaves and other debris that occurs from time to time.
Replacing light bulbs and fuses, as you can see these are common tasks that one comes across in normal daily life, so think before you ring the landlord or the managing agent ask yourself the question – Is it my responsibility? It will save a lot of time and in some instances also hassle and grief.
Health and Safety requirements that landlords have to adhere to are for your safety and those of your family, guests or other occupiers, so don’t have play fights with the extinguishers, or tamper with door springs, they may one day save your life, if they have been misused, then one day they may not – a chilling thought!
Remember to test the alarm system at least once a week, for full automatic systems, test once a month with a fire drill with the other occupants.
Remember, tenants who are students, you are ambassadors for your University or College and as such you have a responsibility to your university or college to conduct yourselves in an appropriate manner.
No one wants to see traffic cones planted on chimney pots, or persons at work signs in the garden. This will not only cause you costs to remove them, but this action could be construed as Anti-Social Behaviour.
Noise is also a problem, raves and discos are fine in the right place, but not in a residential neighbourhood. A landlord can seek to obtain a court order for eviction in cases where noise issues are unchecked
