Who pays dryer installation?
Question from Kate updated on 20th July 2012:
My tenants want to install a dryer above the washing machine. Tenants have done this in the past although I'm not entirely sure what fixing method they've used (although there are some more holes the wall). The current tenants have asked me to arrange a builder to put a piece of timber between the studs as they feel it would be unsafe otherwise. It is their decision to install the dryer (not part of the chattels) so whose responsibility is it to ensure that it is installed safely and correctly?
Our expert Juliet Robinson responded:
The tenancy agreement you have with your tenants may contain a condition preventing the tenant from hanging anything on the wall without the landlord’s permission. The reasoning behind this requirement is that it gives the landlord a chance to say what can be attached to a wall and how. You say you’re not sure how previous tenants have fixed their dryers to the wall. Didn’t you worry how they did it? On the one hand, the current tenants are showing due concern in referring the matter to you. On the other hand, you say that the dryer is theirs. They cannot require you to install their dryer for them. Any cost involved in mounting it on the wall (provided that meets with your approval) belongs to the tenants, whether it be done by their builder or by yours. They are responsible also for making good the wall when the dryer is removed (although you don’t seem to have required that of previous tenants). Alternatively, you may take the longer term view and install the mounting bracket on condition that it is left behind at end of tenancy for use by subsequent tenants.
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