Landlord trying to charge £506 out of deposit - but no inventory

neas

reading into this it looks like you guys are students lol.

Who leaves a rental and doesnt have the dignity to clean/vacuumn and even clear out their old junk?.

Not sure how 500 relates to actual damage, i'd ask for a breakdown. But anyone with an ounce of common sense would view it that the original inventory continued, as its implausible to conduct an inventory while 2 of you were still living in this 'cess pit' of living.

i've lived with a few people that matches your 'idealogies'. They generally were lazy and left unclean items all over the place.

I'd say negotiate him down to 350 then split it 3 ways... then next time you live in a rental clean and tidy it after you leave. I mean wasnt it realy that hard to through out the 'food stuffs' and duvets.. give the windows a quite clean, clean the bath, vacuumn or hire a carpet clearner?

I got full deposit back from my previous property, just because my wife cleaned it so it was as we moved in, if not better.

neas

oh come on its taking the mick leaving old dirty duvets... that probably h if avent been washed for months... leaving food that could start rotting....

And if you leave these things, then quite clearly you didnt care to vacuumn or clean windows, worksurfaces, oven, oven extractor etc?

Am a tenant and if i did this i know i'd be openeing myself up for a world of pain,... its just respect.

If you rented that property would you be happy moving in as you left it? no you'd progb come on here complaining about it and how dirty it was.

schnide

Some people seem to be missing the point that I made clear in the very beginning that we left the property giving it a surface clean as we had agreed to contribute towards professional cleaners.

Quite why we would thoroughly clean the place and then additionally agree to pay cleaners to do it I don't know.

That might be something vital I'm missing and needed to come on here to find - but if so I've not found it yet!

neas

schnide wrote: »

Some people seem to be missing the point that I made clear in the very beginning that we left the property giving it a surface clean as we had agreed to contribute towards professional cleaners.

Quite why we would thoroughly clean the place and then additionally agree to pay cleaners to do it I don't know.

That might be something vital I'm missing and needed to come on here to find - but if so I've not found it yet!

I work in the contract world... from your post you offered X amount prior to landlord checking place out, this would be an unconditional offer even if the place was trashed. Landlord didnt agree from what i read?

Landlord declined the offer (rightly so, its his 'contract').

Either wa when he gives you a break down enlighten us all, and when you try to take him to court or dispute it, tell us the resulkt. Will be useful to know.

tbs624

schnide wrote: »

... I also left items in the property which increase the value such as a hardly used food processor and a stereo.

Agree with Sooz's comments on this one.

schnide wrote: »

... To clarify, there was no inventory from this current tenancy. I'm not quite sure morally or legally how justified it is for the landlord to claim against at least the one new tenant, as well as the previous two, on any other inventory.

Think about what you are saying Schnide - you get just over 4 months into a fixed term tenancy (with joint & several liability) and the LL agrees to a new T taking the place of one of the original three,ie he's helping you out. You now want to effectively try to stitch him up because he didn't check you all out and check you back in again with a new inventory? Other LLs would have assigned the tenancy rather than go for an entirely new one, and it's usual for a T comng in under these circumstances to take on the state of the property as is. If you feel it's unfair to your newest co-housemate then you and the other original one should perhaps have tried a bit harder with the clearing up. You said you had a fairly good relationship with the LL - maybe he feels like you lot have not played fair when he expected you to?

For any T the best thing to do is c-o-m-m-u-n-i-c-a-t-e with the LL a week/10 days before you move out so that any potential areas of disagreement can be sorted out fairly amicably.

schnide wrote: »

...The landlords have as expected asked to negotiate on the claims they've made against us...

Best way forward: good luck - maybe you'll let us know what happens?

Stryder

schnide wrote: »

Dear All

I would very, very much appreciate your help.

I started a joint tenancy on a property with two others in May 2008. The ~£2800 deposit was held in a deposit protection scheme, with me as lead tenant. We did complete an inventory.

We then broke contract, with agreement of the landlord, to remove one of the tenants. Myself and another stayed on, and a new third joined us, under a new contract in August 2008. We did not, to my knowledge, complete an inventory (nor asked to) and the previous deposit scheme stayed in place.

Several items were already worn and torn, such as the blinds and sofas. The sofas were worn to the point where the landlord asked me several months ago if I would like them once we moved out, as they intended to replace them. I also have emails stating they already intended to replace the blinds, paint some walls, some other repairs once we'd moved out.

We moved out and left several items in the flat - Christmas lights, several food items, a duvet or two. We also partially cleaned the flat but had agreed that we would pay some costs (around £120 total) for a professional cleaner as per the previous tenants if we could agree that up-front sum rather than do it ourselves, as we knew they'd already get cleaners in anyway.

The landlords refused to pre-agree the partial cost, as I believe is their right, to visit the property. They've now produced a list of what we think is entirely unreasonable costs, suggesting that all the items they'd already agreed they would be replacing anyway have been damaged by us. They've said it took 6 1/2 man hours to clear the flat before any cleaning took place. They have said that they will cap our part of the cleaning costs at £150 total, but are saying we are partly responsible for many replacement items.

In total, they are saying they will keep ~£500 total of our deposit. Although I have every suspicion they expect us to bargain them down, I object to the fact they've even suggested we're responsible for anywhere near this.

My question for any experts willing to help answer my first thoughts, is -

1) If there was no inventory in place for the start of the relevant contract, do they have much ground to stand on?

2) Does the fact that the deposit protection scheme was in place for the May and not August contract have any bearing on how we are protected?

Many, many thanks in advance to any help offered on this. I am of course happy to provide any follow-up information.

if in doubt, small claims cost £25 and i got almost 300 back from unreasonable landlord
https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp

Fire_Fox

schnide wrote: »

We moved out and left several items in the flat - Christmas lights, several food items, a duvet or two. We also partially cleaned the flat but had agreed that we would pay some costs (around £120 total) for a professional cleaner as per the previous tenants if we could agree that up-front sum rather than do it ourselves, as we knew they'd already get cleaners in anyway.

If leaving a tub of butter, an almost-empty bottle of Diet Coke and a half pint of milk which we knew would only be in there for a day and was only left as an oversight takes you six and a half hours to clear the flat along with two sets of fairy lights and some baubles, please remind me never to hire your removal company. We had already agreed to part-pay for professional cleaners before we moved out and I don't know many cleaning firms who would take their bill up by much for taking these out.

I'm not quite sure why you're insinuating I'd make anything up because I want genuine advice on the actual situation. Some things, such as the food, were left as an oversight. I also left items in the property which increase the value such as a hardly used food processor and a stereo. I also left a new, boxed toy I had spare for the landlords' children, such was the good relationship I'd enjoyed with them virtually up until that point.

I appreciate you don't know the entire facts and am going from my overview, but some of the conclusions you've jumped to are unfairly harsh.

The reason I'm taking offence is because you're making judgements and criticising my behaviour as a tenant when I believe I've behaved appropriately. Randoms on an internet forum you may be, but that still doesn't make it right.

None of the miscellaneous items you have tagged onto your ever-increasing-list adds to the value of the property, quite the reverse.

Electrical items will need to be PAT tested annually and, if they get added to the next tenant's inventory and subsequently break, the landlord is responsible for replacing them. Used duvets may harbour bed bugs/ dust mites/ bodily fluids, food items attract microbes or vermin, fairy lights and baubles may require specialist handling.

You are the only one on this thread who thinks you have behaved appropriately and we are only going by your version of events, we haven't even heard the landlord's side of the story!! If the landlord thought your landfill was valuable he would have sent you a thank-you letter and not a £500 bill.

Stryder

Just because he has not acted responsibly, the LL should only charge reasonable fees. A day of removing junk seems excessive.

However, if there is that much work there is no arguement.

All items left incur a removal charge - standard practice, unless they are fixtures and fittings like replacement doors

schnide

tbs624 wrote: »

For any T the best thing to do is c-o-m-m-u-n-i-c-a-t-e with the LL a week/10 days before you move out so that any potential areas of disagreement can be sorted out fairly amicably.

Best way forward: good luck - maybe you'll let us know what happens?

I started communicating with them two weeks in advance. They told me that their chosen cleaning company was away on holiday and would not be able to supply any kind of quote in advance as they managed to the year before.

My fellow tenants and I acted in virtually exactly the same way as we did last year, without having anything else to go on. Instead of getting a bill for £45 each like we did then, we've now got a collective bill for £500 which includes items supposedly needing replacement which were damaged before I'd ever even set foot in the place.

schnide

Fire_Fox wrote: »

None of the miscellaneous items you have tagged onto your ever-increasing-list adds to the value of the property, quite the reverse.

Electrical items will need to be PAT tested annually and, if they get added to the next tenant's inventory and subsequently break, the landlord is responsible for replacing them. Used duvets may harbour bed bugs/ dust mites/ bodily fluids, food items attract microbes or vermin, fairy lights and baubles may require specialist handling.

You are the only one on this thread who thinks you have behaved appropriately and we are only going by your version of events, we haven't even heard the landlord's side of the story!! If the landlord thought your landfill was valuable he would have sent you a thank-you letter and not a £500 bill.

Thank you for your insight. It's been most valuable.