Property blogger Lea Beven, of Limecastle house shares and lettings, on tackling a limescale problem and why you should always check anything reported broken…

This is a funny story for those of you that can appreciate the diverse culture in house shares.

Sometimes we take for granted that we know what things are and how they work in this country and don’t realise how alien they might seem to others.

I recently popped into a managed house share in Wolverhampton, one that is fully furnished with all bills included.

A gentleman from Taiwan is currently living there on a 6 month let whilst he does some contract work in the local area.

I was busy taking more pictures as two rooms were available and was asking him if he had everything he needed, as somehow the need for an iron and board had slipped through the net two months ago, which meant I had to rush out and get one as he had a wardrobe of creased clothes!

I’d been trying quite hard to keep him happy -  it’s never easy moving to a new country.

What he said to me next made me smile.

He told me that he needed a new kettle as the one he was using had gone milky, with chunks of white always ending up in his drink.

On closer inspection the kettle was a transparent, fish-bowl type, and it was actually just scaled up with lime scale.

I bent down under the sink, pulled out a bottle of lime scale remover and tipped a small amount into the kettle – instantly it was clear!

He was amazed and I had to explain that in this country we have hard water areas and that if he wanted to avoid lime scale, he’d have to use filtered water.

He was still unsure for a while and wanted a new kettle, but if I had bought one, next week we would have had the same problem!

Sp my tip of the week – If your tenant has reported something broken, it is well worth investigating a bit further.

Sometimes it can all just be a misunderstanding.

• Read Lea’s first property blog here