Leaving a rented property-what more can I do?!?!?

emsywoo123

Thank you so much to everyone who has replied, you've all come up with some excellent tips.
My one confusion is these blinking walls. Well of course, tehy don't actually blink, that be madness.
I am relatively confident that my LL will demand a re-paint. If he does, how much is reasonable to deduct from my deposit?

Bungarm2001

Personally, and speaking as a LL here, I think your LL should expect some damage/wear and tear to the walls after 2 + years of one tenant.

If you were my tenant, and you had cleaned the rest of the place to a high standard, including the windows, carpets etc etc and all the other things I and others have mentioned, then I would be quite happy to do the walls myself IF they weren't damaged in any way. and not deduct this cost from the deposit. BUT, since we let out mainly to students and NEVER get a property back in any fit state to live in, I doubt we'd ever let you go!!

Reason for this is because believe it or not, it is far quicker for me to paint the walls than do all the cleaning.

I know not all LL's do their own decorating, but we do. If we paid someone, we'd be looking at paying around £7.50-£10.00 an hour, excluding the cost of the paint. It is reasonable to be charged per room too. We were quoted between £90-£150 per room a while ago. Don't know what the charges are now...perhaps someone else will be along in a minute who can update you on that...

sooz

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

I know not all LL's do their own decorating, but we do. If we paid someone, we'd be looking at paying around £7.50-£10.00 an hour, excluding the cost of the paint. It is reasonable to be charged per room too. We were quoted between £90-£150 per room a while ago. Don't know what the charges are now...perhaps someone else will be along in a minute who can update you on that...

How much????

Please go & find a Pole.

As for £5 per lightbulb...that is 30p per bulb and £4.70 for the health and safety report, scaffolding & expertise of the LA

50plusabit

Ems
If the landlord tries to deduct anything for the walls, remind him of the quote "fair wear and tear" after 2.5 yrs he should expect that, three years is usual time for a rental property, then it is due for redecoration.
As an agent and inventory clerk, I would be looking for, clean windows, inside and out on a house or grround floor flat. Block flats usually in service charge. All white goods clean, kitchen clean especially on top of units, and clean cupboards. Dont forget under stairs cupboard if there is one. Bathroom cleaned and smelling good !
Go round all rooms with feather duster, corners of ceiling and lights, check all lightbulbs are working.
Front door polished outside. And garden? grass cut and tidy.
Take all meter readings and contact all utilites yourself.
Go round with the inventory clerk and ask questions, use the inventory you had when going in to work too.
If the LL tries to take anything off, ask to see the receipt, you are entitled. If you feel it is fasr too much, tell him you will be taking him to small claims court, this is where the photos will come into their own.
Good luck

tbs624

50plusabit wrote: »

If the landlord tries to deduct anything for the walls, remind him of the quote "fair wear and tear" after 2.5 yrs he should expect that, three years is usual time for a rental property, then it is due for redecoration.

3 years? I think quite a few LLs would disagree with you there, and if you check back Emsy’s concerns are around stickers that her daughter has attached to the wall - not generally classed as FW&T.( Light scuffs are FW&T but not torn, marked or damaged wallpaper)

50plusabit wrote: »

As an agent and inventory clerk, I would be looking for, clean windows, inside and out on a house or grround floor flat.

You can look for clean outside windows but, as mentioned previously, the OFT has described that requirement as an unfair contract term.

50plusabit wrote: »

……All white goods clean, kitchen clean especially on top of units, and clean cupboards. Dont forget under stairs cupboard if there is one. Bathroom cleaned and smelling good !
Go round all rooms with feather duster, corners of ceiling and lights, check all lightbulbs are working.
Front door polished outside. And garden? grass cut and tidy.

Useful reminders but this all needs to be taken in context of course - a LL can only ask a tenant to return a property in the same condition as it was at the start of the tenancy, with FW&T excepted. Many tenants may also “be looking for” any of the above list at the start of the tenancy but may have found them sadly lacking.

A LL/LA who wants to make*any* deduction from a tenant’s deposit has to notify the tenant of those proposed reductions *in writing* and the tenant is then free to challenge those costs if they feel they have grounds to do so. Tenants do not have to agree or disagree with any verbal statement of intent to deduct made by the LA/LL until proper information has been provided.

Captain_Mainwaring_2

tbs624 wrote: »

Yep - had the freebies and the bogof, but other specific bulbs do still come in at a hefty whack ..I think it may have been Sooz who was highlighting this recently too on one of the "doncha just love the methodology of the EPC" threads. The point was centering around the fact that an EPC takes into account whether LELs are fitted but they can of course (a) be removed by the LL after the EPC has been done or (b) be replaced with standard ones by the tenant ...sorry, I digress into anti-EPC territory..

As I'm sure most people can deduce I am vehemently anti those LAs who overcharge tenants at every opportunity and that includes costs such as a fiver per replacement lightbulb. Outside regulation is, however, likely to be just around the corner and they only have themselves to blame.:D

Hold on, in that case how do people like CPM get away with charging £12 for doing the same thing in communal areas?

You find someone prepared to go and change one bulb for the cost of the lamp plus say £1. It is just as easy for a tenant to replace a failed bulb as it is a landlord. I reckon that gas safety certs should be limited to say £4-50 per appliance in the event of a pass, wouldn't that be fair too?

paulasplin

I remember leaving our rented house in Noosa, Australia and leaving it absolutely immaculate! My girlfriends mum was around and the place was scrubbed by all of us from top to bottom, oven, skirts, driveway, everything.

They didn't give us our deposit back and do you know why? We'd left our 'rubbish' in the house. our 'rubbish' consisted of unopened cleaning gear in the cleaning cupboard that we'd left for the next renter and a brand new vacuum cleaner as the agents didn't provide one and we were moving back. They also said that they found a fly in one of the lamp shades, one that we knew we'd cleaned out previously.

Despite lots of furious phonecalls from myself over the deposit, they wouldn't budge as they knew we were leaving the country. I still fume about it to this day as if it had been any other 'profession' unlawfully witholding money they would have been investigated but not the letting agents.

They're called laguna by the way if anyone wants to know who to avoid letting off in Queensland.

Glad to get that off my chest!

tbs624

Captain_Mainwaring wrote: »

Hold on, in that case how do people like CPM get away with charging £12 for doing the same thing in communal areas?

You find someone prepared to go and change one bulb for the cost of the lamp plus say £1. It is just as easy for a tenant to replace a failed bulb as it is a landlord. I reckon that gas safety certs should be limited to say £4-50 per appliance in the event of a pass, wouldn't that be fair too?

Much of what some LLs make heavy weather of could be done quite simply at the same time as them going around with their tick list: simply have a box of bulbs in the boot of your Merc CM.

Imagine...shock horror..the bulbs are all working when you go in but as you flick the switch..ping..one of them goes? Yes in an ideal world if the property had a full set of working bulbs on the start day then it should have the same on the end day, but in the grand scale of things in property letting having to replace the odd light bulb is so low on the scale as to barely register.

I'll take your comment on the gas safety cert as the joke it is.:D
Any plonker can replace a light bulb - gas safety checks/certifications are done only by CORGI registered gas fitters/plumbers as you're fully aware

Captain_Mainwaring_2

tbs624 wrote: »

Much of what some LLs make heavy weather of could be done quite simply at the same time as them going around with their tick list: simply have a box of bulbs in the boot of your Merc CM.

Imagine...shock horror..the bulbs are all working when you go in but as you flick the switch..ping..one of them goes? Yes in an ideal world if the property had a full set of working bulbs on the start day then it should have the same on the end day, but in the grand scale of things in property letting having to replace the odd light bulb is so low on the scale as to barely register.

I'll take your comment on the gas safety cert as the joke it is.:D
Any plonker can replace a light bulb - gas safety checks/certifications are done only by CORGI registered gas fitters/plumbers as you're fully aware

Don't talk about the bloody merc.

Sorry mate, in these days of health and safety conscious tenants, I don't consider myself adequately qualified to carry out the work, therefore a competant person should be employed.

All I hear is "landlords should be responsible or drumed out of town", well this is my way of making sure that at the very least, my luminaires are in a safe condition.
Actually I used to do gas safety tickets, which are money for old rope. If the gas fitter is entitled to earn a living, then so is the landlord.

emsywoo123

Thank you to all who have contributed on this thread.
I now have a clear plan, and a ma-hoo-sive checklist so nothing gets missed!!!
In the meantime, if anyone has any further tips, all greatfully recived! Additioanlly, head over to my other thread of nightmare proportions
Some of you may have had similar, and let me know what happens>?

Once again, thanks to you all