Deposit Nightmare

franklee

I wonder of it depends on the type or quality of the carpet. The cream carpet I rented already had a few slightly grey patches in the hallway that didn't shift and I doubt they would. As they were already there in my case they were on the inventory so not a problem to me but I doubt they'd be cleanable. It was rather horrible nylony stuff IIRC.

clutton_2

i rent at the moment with cream carpets, and i have bought cream runners for inside the external doors (£5 each) in mhy office whihc is getting a lot of wear and tear....

i think tenants need to be sensible - if you have choosen a property with cream carpets you must realise that more care will be needed than a property with dark carpets....

unreal83

Hello all

Thanks so so much for all of your posts, I have calmed down a bit now and am seeing things a bit clearer!

The things I listed were things that NEEDED to still be done, I agreed with some of them, but the washing machine drawer?! Completely picking hairs in my opinion!!

Anyway, I have managed to find my own quote for £130 which is a lot better - but listen to this - before I found the quote, I got so fed up of the rude EA and LL that I said please take £150.00 and call it quits, because I am pregnant and cannot deal with this stress. She said she would put it forward to the LL. Still to hear back about it.

In the meantime, I managed to hear back from a cleaning company and got a quote (copied and pasted the jobs to them so no confusion) for £130.00. I went back to EA and told her I had found the quote for £130, isnt that good news, please give the details of this company to the LL.

She said well you just offered £150, and the LL is considering that, and I said yes but I have now got this cheaper quote so surely it makes sense to use this company? She said well its up to the LL to want to use your company you have found.

If he says no, he doesnt want to use the company, doesnt accept my offer of £150 (which she said he would prob go for to tie it up - funny that) and doesnt accept the quote I found, where do I stand? Can he actually refuse the quote I found, without giving me a valid reason in writing?

It just seems that they dont want me to have my money back, it really does, I reckon EAs do this all the time, ok I admit their original issues are actual issues, but in the actual process of helping us keep the cost down as much as possible, they have been useless.

Oh, and I asked the EA for proof of her original quote, which she has not yet sent me...funny that.

Oh, and I never saw an inventory, because it was my first flat and i didnt know it existed or that i had to see one; am waiting for it to actually be sent through, which they say i have not signed - never remember seeing it and i am usually very good with paperwork etc.

Thanks all.

BitterAndTwisted

It appears to me that you have done things in the wrong order: it doesn't make sense to offer them one figure and then to try and withdraw that and justify another lesser one. In any case, if there was no signed inventory with accurate notes about the state of the property and the fittings the landlord is in a very weak position to justify any deductions whatsoever. Where's the proof that you did not leave the property in precisely the same state as it was when you moved in?

Alan_M_2

I don't think £150 is excessive for the work required.

That's pretty much what I paid for the last place I rented just for the carpet cleaning.

Is £20 worth all the heartache over...just say ok, get on with it and give me the deposit balance back and off we go thanks.

You're not being ripped off.

hells_2

Would you move into a property that was dirty?
Would you want to wash your clothes in a machine that someone else had used and not bothered to clean?
Would you want to cook in a dirty oven?
Would you want to take a shower in a dirty bathroom?

You have to ask yourself all of these questions and then realise, you should have THOROUGHLY cleaned the property.
Leave the place as you would expect to find it.

unreal83

hells wrote: »

Would you move into a property that was dirty?
Would you want to wash your clothes in a machine that someone else had used and not bothered to clean?
Would you want to cook in a dirty oven?
Would you want to take a shower in a dirty bathroom?

You have to ask yourself all of these questions and then realise, you should have THOROUGHLY cleaned the property.
Leave the place as you would expect to find it.

I know you're completely right, I do agree with you, it's just that the previous EA in that office (who has now conveniently gone on maternity leave!) told us to give it a light going over and it should be fine, our flat inspections were always A*, and I actually did clean the oven - with oven mate - it was spotless, they are just being picky because it doesnt look "brand new". Sorry but the property is 25 years old, how can they expect it to look pristine pristine sparkly sparkly - its not going to - its a nice flat, and if i was shown that flat I would be impressed and think it was lovely, I took a lot of pride in that flat and have obviously just learnt my lesson with that estate agents!

Do you know I thought it was weird, when we didnt even sign anything to say that we had moved out we literally walked in there handed the key back and said to her er do i need to sign anything she said no!

If it comes to it, I will give them £150 a run. Just wondered why they would refuse the cheaper quote thats all!

Thanks.

Mischa

Did you ask them whether you should be signing something when you went to hand over the key? Keys have to be signed in as well as out, so this should have been done to prove safe receipt of the key. It seems as though they are a shoddy organisation and next tim emake sure everything is signed for, inlcuding the leaving condition. Congrat's on the baby! :-)

Milliewilly

unreal83 wrote: »

I know you're completely right, I do agree with you, it's just that the previous EA in that office (who has now conveniently gone on maternity leave!) told us to give it a light going over and it should be fine, our flat inspections were always A*, and I actually did clean the oven - with oven mate - it was spotless, they are just being picky because it doesnt look "brand new". Sorry but the property is 25 years old, how can they expect it to look pristine pristine sparkly sparkly - its not going to - its a nice flat, and if i was shown that flat I would be impressed and think it was lovely, I took a lot of pride in that flat and have obviously just learnt my lesson with that estate agents!

Do you know I thought it was weird, when we didnt even sign anything to say that we had moved out we literally walked in there handed the key back and said to her er do i need to sign anything she said no!

If it comes to it, I will give them £150 a run. Just wondered why they would refuse the cheaper quote thats all!

Thanks.

So out of all the list of jobs that the EA wants to charge for you only actually cleaned the oven. I would just pay up and move on.

Vampgirl

The rental house we are in at the moment has cream carpets and they're not in a particularly good state: lots of marks that won't come out no matter how much we try to clean them. Luckily they were there before we moved in so they're noted on the inventory, but I do feel your pain as low quality cream carpets wear very visibly - by contrast the carpet in our last place was immaculate even though it must have been 5 years old - but it was much better quality.

With regards to the other things:
- Oven, hob and hood requires full clean. Area around oven needs grease splashes removing (tiles) - definately not acceptable to leave any dirt at all on the cooker or the surrounds. I always spend a long time cleaning all the ingrained dirt off the cooker before moving out - in fact in our last place you would have thought that it had never been used (quick tip...Oven Pride...comes in an orange box, costs about £4 and really does bring ovens up like new - even if they're really dirty!)
- Freezer needs defrosting and cleaning, fridge needs further wipe out - agree this should be done. Freezer should be defrosted and the fridge should be sparkling clean (I wouldn't want to put my food in someone else's dirty fridge). Doors should be left open to make sure no smells build up.
Kitchen cupboards/units require cleaning inside and out (fronts) - I would do this too. Its amazing how dirty cupboards can get - especially on the outside with grease from cooking.
Washing machine powder drawer requires cleaning - sorry but yes I would clean this, also the inside of the drum and the window.
Hallway carpet requires steam cleaning. (approx size 8 x 6 ) - see my previous comments about carpets
Bathroom sink requires de-scaling - even if you're in a hard water area unless you have let limescale build up there are products out there that will remove it fully.
Shower cubicle requires cleaning ( however Landlord is renewing sealant and grout so only shower door needs cleaning. - yes this should be clean - again I use an anti-limescale cleaner to make sure its sparkling.
Flat in general requires (further light clean) vacuum and dust, especially skirting boards in hallway. - people do often miss skirting boards and lightshades, though if landlord is going to redecorate then this is a bit petty

I think 3.5 hours is underestimating how long it would take to do these properly - it took me a whole day of hard work to thoroughly clean an empty 2 bed flat - over half that time was spent in the kitchen and about a quarter was in the bathroom.

Having said all that....if you don't have an inventory then your LL/LA would be hard pressed to make any deductions at all as they have no proof of the condition when you moved in and if you went to arbitration I suspect that you may find you have a strong case. However to me this wouldn't make a difference as I'd be embarrassed if I didn't leave it in ready-to-move-in condition whether there is an inventory or not - I don't mind cleaning my own dirt, but the thought of cleaning someone else is not pleasant.