Why do houses need so much work to let/re-let in the first place? It appears they are being completely gutted and then renovated. Why?
You want me to answer that? Here's my take on it
- LA houses are not respected
- Especially when the tenant is leaving
- Might be a tenant has been there for years and has let the place go
- Might be a tenant who died
- Might be a LA issue about whether the tenant's children want to take over the tenancy that delays things
Costs
- It's the state, everything costs more
- Because it's the state everything takes longer, a private landlord is ready to go immediately to get the place in ship shape condition
- As an example, it took me 2 weeks to do the following in a 3 bed, repaint it, tiled kitchen and hall floor, re-tile entire bathroom, then there's the cleaning, curtains (no idea what tenant's do to curtains), some new furniture. And don't get me started on cookers and fridges. About 7K I think it was about 10 years ago. I hired Polish painters from a small ad and they did it I think in three days. They were so fast my husband was in bed (it was xmas and I thought it would be a good idea to stay there) and they didn't care he was in bed, he hopped into the bathroom and they followed him in there, he will never agree again to stay in any of the rentals.
- For 20K your're maybe talking old electrics or plumbing, or else gutting it
- The state always gets screwed for costs by tradesmen, it's impossible for a guy in an office to invest their time and effort into getting the best costs, they just want Johnnie the registered electrician to go in and sort it out and send in the bill