At last our tennant is out

baileysbattlebus

lesley1960 wrote: »

Why is it unreasonable to expect people to leave a house how they found it?

Maybe the reason some houses are rented out in a state is because the landlords are fed up with them being destroyed ( and no i'm not a landlord)

Just because people do trash houses is no reason to accept it happens

I agree with you entirely, it's not unreasonable to leave a house they way it was found - but damage/wilful damage does happen and happens a lot.

Personally I have never left a house in a mess - though we don't rent, I wouldn't dream of leaving somewhere that someone couldn't move straight into. For one thing the neighbours would talk!!!!!!!!!!

Premier_2

baileysbattlebus wrote: »

My daughter moved into an unfurnished place in a much worse state than that - kitchen drawers hanging off, absolutely disgusting oven, damp in the bedroom ceiling from a flat roof leak and the paint on the walls was appalling - filthy. And the toilet defied description...

Now you know why - it was probably left in that state by a previous tenant

Here we have a LL who quite obviously has pride in his property and business who let out a property in a good condition only to get it returned in the state it was. You can see why some LL can't be bothered to put things right if this is the way tenants leave a property.

The LL is entitled to receive back the property in the same condition as it was originally let in, fair wear & tear excepted. At least in this instance, it appears the LL is going to bering back the property to the condition it was originally let in at his own expense. Hopefully he will attract a tenant who will take care of the property as if it were their own, but judging by many of the responses already given in this thread - I suspect that will remain a hope rather than become reality

In regards to the video being libellous, well that depends on whether the content is true; if it's true, it can't be libellous!

With regards to the video & the comments I would comment as follows:

In general, the property was clearly left in a uncared for condition. What inclines a tenant to leave furniture upturned and litter lying about defies me - if that is what someone first sees when they enter a property of course they are not going to be best pleased. Having said that, it doesn't take much to correct (but why should it be left for the LL to do this?) and in isolation is not too much to worry about, but taken in the overall context - it shows the tenants had little respect for the property or their LL.

Smoke detectors - it is unclear from the video whether these were actually damaged or just opened so that the tenants could take the batteries. Again, if the tenants had bothered to close them the LL probably wouldn't have initially have been aware unless he tried to test them.

Blinds - agreed that roman blinds do have a tendency to break now and again, but the number with allegedly cut strings (as opposed to broken) and the fact that nearly every window had the bind removed from it's fixings again shows the contempt the tenants had for the property.

fireplace - the missing surface tile to the fireplace could be construed as wear & tear (it could have just come lose) but where is the missing tile? If it was left to be re-affixed, I'm sure the LL would not have been too concerned.
Radiator - what happened to that? :eek: Perhaps sold to a rag & bone man? Would probably fetch the price of a couple of bottles of white lightening for the night.

Boiler - not clear from the video as to how or why it was damaged - but best to get it checked out by the plumbing & heating engineer when the new radiator is fitted before anyone tries to use it.

Garden - if the fence was blown down, this is not the responsibility of the tenant (although the tenant should have perhaps informed the LL about this). The garden was clearly left to grow wild and assuming it was the tenants responsibility to care for the garden - this would be a clear breach of the TA. The large child's toy left behind may be more difficult to dispose of - the LL would probably need to make a special trip to the local dump to dispose of this.

General damage - the pen marks to the walls and the damage to skirting board & tiles appears wilful damage.

Toilet - unfortunately as mentioned, this is the state some people accept as to the cleanliness of the pan. But if this was not the condition it was originally let in, why should the LL have to accept it returned like this?

Cellar - The video was dark and so not everything was clear. It appeared that little was wrong other than the odd item left behind (and perhaps some general litter)

Chest of drawers - these were clearly damaged and I suspect deliberately so. A sensible tenant, if not admitting openly admitting to the damage caused, would probably have left them closed & tidy so that the damage was not immediately apparent rather than leaving them all partially open.

Walls - any general discolouration is probably due to fair wear & tear (but that doesn't include the pen marks). The marks in the main bedroom appear as though they could be caused by gentle rubbing/scuffing by a bed - again possibly fair wear & tear.


In general, this is not the way in which tenants should be returning a property. If this is the manner that many tenants do return property, or possibly in worse conditions, it's no wonder many properties are let as pig-stys if that's the way tenants are going to treat them...and it's no wonder there are so many disputes about LLs not returning deposits.

A property should be returned in the same condition as which it was originally let, fair wear & tear excepted.

PayDay

I was expecting that to be really bad and it wasn't.

"Boiler looks like it hasn't been working for a while. They have probably damaged that."

You didn't even check???

It looks like you are new to being a LL. Old items, such as fencing (especially as it looks like it hasn't been painted for years) and cheap items of furniture, do break.

You really should be repairing those slabs by the back door as you will have water collecting there. They have been badly laid.

Did you protect their deposit in one of the schemes?

You seem to have a 3 floored property, so you will also need to be aware of laws covering these, depending who you let to.

sooz

lesley1960 wrote: »

Why is it unreasonable to expect people to leave a house how they found it?

Maybe the reason some houses are rented out in a state is because the landlords are fed up with them being destroyed ( and no i'm not a landlord)

Just because people do trash houses is no reason to accept it happens

The fact is that house was not trashed.

It was not left in perfect condition, but nothing that a professional carpet clean & a handyman would not sort out. There is less than a day's work there! I don't condone how they left the house, but it's hardly 'trashed'

The OP is bitter as he choose bad tenants, who did not pay all their rent, & did not leave the house in a perfect condition.

Next time - check all references, get a 6 week deposit, forwarding addresses, next of kin details, NI numbers & if necessary, a guarantor. If he'd done all of this, he'd have no trouble finding them to get the money owed, & to present first a quote then a bill for the work necessary to bring the property back to condition.

kissingthepink

jason46 wrote: »

Hi

Our tennant has done a runner after causing lots of damage and oweing rent,

Is it possible for me to trace him so I can serve court papers

The video below show's some of there destruction, if all landlords did posted a short video like this then it could be used as an instant reference,If I had done a you search beforehand then these tennants would have never moved in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7Z8i0bIV8E


jay

Jay,

You have my sympathy. I would be gutted if my tenant handed back my flat to me in that condition. Did you collect a deposit that can go some way to paying for the repairs? If you know of their business address then pursue them for the balance. Also, how did you find these tenants and did you check their references? Good luck and don't let them get away with it. Make sure that the next tenant is fully vetted and that they tick every box. Inspect the propety on a regular basis in future.

jason46

The worst thing about this all is that the tennant is a work colleague who I still see on a daily basis,
One thing I forgot to mention in the post and video is that I had a viewing arranged on the property to try and sell it and the day before I got a call from the tennant to say the kitchen was flooded, I organised a plumber within 20 mins of the call and met him at the property, The plumbers report stated that the pipework under the sink had cleary been tampered with by the tennant

sooz

jason46 wrote: »

The worst thing about this all is that the tennant is a work colleague who I still see on a daily basis,

so why do you need help tracing him? Small claims court...now

jason46

because I dont know where he lives to serve the papers

sooz

jason46 wrote: »

because I dont know where he lives to serve the papers

Can't you serve him the papers personally at work?

http://www.lawpack.co.uk/small_claims_faq.asp

see question 'Who serves the defendant?' about half way down the link

louby_lou

when i moved into my last house it wasnt in much better nick than that to be honest, its annoying but hopefully you had some deposit to recoup? i left the dirty house we moved into shining and spotless and my landlord is trying to rip me off now with extra cleaning which was clearly not needed. im sure the family that live there now didnt have to clean EVERYWHERE and paint EVERYWHERE as well as get the carpets washed when they moved in.