Deposit refund advice?

shadej

Hi, I hope this is the right place and someone can offer me some advice.

One month ago I decide to rent out our spare room as my hubby is away and I was going away for 2 weeks and it made sense to have someone feed the cat and look after the house. I found a really lovely French girl and only charged her £50 per week for a double room. She moved in and paid a one week deposit, I had requested to but she misunderstood. Anyway I went on holiday and cleaned the house from top to bottom to make it comfortable for her, she paid rent for two weeks. I came back from holiday last week and the house was very messy, dishes over filled the sink, the floor was filthy, she had been smoking and left dirty cups everywhere. To top it all off she had left the window open in the room the whole time and the cat had jumped in and out, the cat has flees. I was bitten 4 times on the night I came home and my son once. I went out the next day and bought £34 worth of flee killer and sprayed the house, beds and carpets. Our washing machine is broken so I spent two days walking back and forth to the laundry to wash clothes. I had to wash the bedding and all the duvets and pillows plus most of our clean clothes as the had been in piles in my room and my wardrobe was part open. it cost me £30 to was everything. I cleaned the house and washed up. She came back on Thursday and I said nothing. She asked why our cat had flees as she had been bit and I explained to her and she said sorry. She saw the house clean and decided to make soup and again left all her dirty stuff for me to clean, which like a mug I did. the next day she left early leaving a note to say she would be back in two days as she was going to back to Paris. She owes two weeks rent and has said nothing of it. She is due to leave tomorrow but has decided she will now live in london for a year and wants to stay another week. I am expecting her back today but if she doesn't offer her rent and I have to ask her for it than I will insist she leaves tomorrow as agreed. My question is do I refund her £50 deposit. I don't want to as I spent a lot of time and money sorting out the flees and cleaning up after her. My sisters thinks that as she hasn't broke nothing I should refund it. My husband says do what ever just get her out. I am a fair person and don't want to con anyone so I would like honest answers and I will go with the majority.


Please if you don't have advice and only want to judge or make silly comments the I urge you to move on to the next thread. Please be friendly even if you dis-agree with me I can take it. Thanks in advance.

PugLady_2

To be honest I agree with your sister. She did'nt break anything and its not her fault the cat had fleas and your washing machines broke.
I'd give her deposit back and put it down to experience.

shadej

Thanks sue you have a point. My cat is 3y and is a house cat. He never goes out and has never cough flees. If she had not left the window open for two weeks im guessing it wouldn't have happened. The washing machine was not part of the deal. I would not had had to rewash clean clothes and the duvets if she hadn't left the window open. Her saying sorry does indicate that she accepts responsibility that it was her fault. Oh I don't know but I do know that it wasn't my fault I did my best to make the house clean and comfortable for her stay with us. But you do have a point and accidents do happen.

PugLady_2

shadej wrote: »

Thanks sue you have a point. My cat is 3y and is a house cat. He never goes out and has never cough flees. If she had not left the window open for two weeks im guessing it wouldn't have happened. The washing machine was not part of the deal. I would not had had to rewash clean clothes and the duvets if she hadn't left the window open. Her saying sorry does indicate that she accepts responsibility that it was her fault. Oh I don't know but I do know that it wasn't my fault I did my best to make the house clean and comfortable for her stay with us. But you do have a point and accidents do happen.

Hi, I did'nt realise the cat was a house cat sorry, and don't get me wrong I think she sounds really unconsiderate in regards to leaving the house a mess, but I'd still put it down to experience refund the deposit and be glad when she's gone.
Hopefully next time you rent your room out you will get someone who shows more consideration.

shadej

I think your right. It has cost me £64 but it could be worse. Hopefully I get the rent without any problem. She has said sorry so I think I will just hand it back. Thanks

redcar_2

Its not judging you and intended as helpful advice - next time draw up a list of house rules around things like, smoking, washing-up, use of the washing machine etc. Also special instructions for the cat as I expect most people would not expect to keep him indoors. If you are planning to rent to people who may not speak good English this may be particularly helpful as it gives them a written record and helps if they may have misunderstood any instructions.

On the plus side a pet/house sitter for two weeks would have cost you a lot more so she has effectively paid you to house sit for you. Great money saving!

shadej

redcar wrote: »

Its not judging you and intended as helpful advice - next time draw up a list of house rules around things like, smoking, washing-up, use of the washing machine etc. Also special instructions for the cat as I expect most people would not expect to keep him indoors. If you are planning to rent to people who may not speak good English this may be particularly helpful as it gives them a written record and helps if they may have misunderstood any instructions.

On the plus side a pet/house sitter for two weeks would have cost you a lot more so she has effectively paid you to house sit for you. Great money saving!

Wow! even though I asked only for advice re the deposit I still get others.

She specks perfect english but just misunderstood the deposit I was asking for. I had clearly stated all rules. Smoking only in the garden, common sense would tell her that I don't want to return from holiday to have to clean her dishes, the washing machine has been broken for ages and she knew there was a laundry at the end of the road. She was free to use everything in the house but just tidy up after herself. This isn't an issue as I cleaned up and said nothing of it. House cats are kept indoors all day everyday so she never had to worry about that. She feed the cat but never changed the litter, but thats not an issue as feeding him was the main thing and for that I am very greatful. It cost like £6 a day to have someone come to your house while your away and feed your cat and they would have changed the litter, kept the windows closed and my house would have been the way I left it. No one wants to come back from holiday to find flees jumping around yours and your child's bed. She was wrong full stop. She cost me money and didn't save me anything. I only charged her £50 because of the cat and it cost me that in bills while she was here. So yes she knew all the rules but chose to ignore them.

Please only offer advice on the deposit as everything else I have already taken as experience and with a pinch of salt. Thanks

silvercar

Are you more annoyed about the state she leaves the house or that she let the cat out?

It sounds to me that you really don't want her in your house. Havign a lodger is so much more personal than a tenant, clearly you trust has gone and you should give her notice to leave.

I do wonder if she will pay you the missing rent or tell you to take it out of the deposit?

Can't advise about the cat as I know nothing about house cats and didn't realise you could keep them indoors all the time. ( I also thought that they could only catch fleas from playing with other infected animals). My knowledge of cats is probably as poor as your lodgers!

clutton_2

its no good coming on here with a problem and asking folks for only part of their opinons - its a public forum - and you will get a lot of different opinions - you may learn from them.

my comment, and take it how you will,

""I would not had had to rewash clean clothes and the duvets if she hadn't left the window open"

you would not have had to rewash clothes if you had locked yoru wardrobe door and kept your bedroom door shut. It seems to me that you are partly blaming her for something that you forgot to do.

its hard having a lodger, and they need to have your "rules" spelt out in big letters - what is "comon sense" to you is utterly NOT common sense to others - especially others from a different culture.

i would mark it down to experience, read the suggestions about providing written house rules and take then on board.

you cannot force folks to live they way you want them to unless they are told what the "rules" are ....

best of luck with the next lodger

shadej

As I stated before I DID tell her the rules and she chose to ignore them. I think that many people come on here to argue and not offer advice. In my first post I said that I was open to all advice as long as it was relevant and only the first response was. Im not bothered about the clothes and in my house I do as I please. I trusted this girl and there is no lock on my bedroom door anyway. She never stole anything and she is trustworthy. The mess was a bit of a p**s take but its not the end of the world. I have cleaned it and said nothing more about it to her. This thread is only about the money that I had spent in order to clean up the mistake that she made. My cat got flees because she left the window open and he had contact with the other stray cats in the area. God forbid a burglar had entered. I stated in my op that if you were not gonna comment on the question I asked then please just move on, there are many threads on here and I am sure you can find one to argue on.
Redcar assumed I had not layed the the law which I had done via email before she even arrived. Silvercar you seem to think that i am worried about the state of the house, well yes I was angry but I'm the type of person to just get on with it and clean up as its my house and I have to live there. Her last day is tomorrow and the rent she owes is £100, her deposit was £50. I wondered if you read my post in full before commenting? Clutton Even if I had locked my bedroom door and shut my wardrobe the carpets, sofa, curtains were all contaminated , flees jump around to different surfaces. Please get real for just once, even in Paris I am almost 100% sure that no one wants to come home to clean another persons dishes, so yes it is common sense. Out of all that have responded so far only one person has given advice on the topic that needed answering. All you guys have said is maybe this and sounds like this. Thats what I kindly asked not to here, guessing. Such a simple question and only negative and unhelpful answers. I don't mind if you disagree with me Sue_hart did and thats fine but don't assume and jump to conclusions please

MYLITTLESISTERLOLA

Personally if I was you I'd check the phone bill to make sure she wasn't calling Paris while you were away. If it was me I probably wouldn't refund the deposit as she hasn't kept to the rules, but that's just my personal opinion. It's seems she has been very disrespectful and I think you'll be lucky to get your 2 weeks rent 1