Ridiculous Deduction From My Rent Deposit

musey

eeja wrote:

How about the other side of the coin. I have rented to students for the academic year and they move out next week. Several people who have inspected the house say they have never seen such a sorry state. The place is absolutely filthy... the worst seen in a lifetime. Grease and filth everywhere. The ingoing schedule signed by the tenants said the property was in good clean decorative state at the start of the tenancy. The tenants agreed to leave the property clean and tidy and we added that the rent had been specially reduced to ensure this would happen. Futhermore a full three page university cleaning schedule prior to moving out, was agreed at the start and attached to the lease . So next week I will be reoccupying the property and am terrified of the arguments that will ensue should I fail to return the full deposit. I do not want months of legal bickering. So what advice do you have for a landlord in such a case ? Will the tenants not claim the agreement was one sided and unfair ?

Ensure that the check out report is supported by photos (was the check in report supported by photos?) Make sure you are able to evidence all monies spent but be aware for example you cannot charge the full cost of a new carpet for example if the carpet was not brand new when the moved in, you can only charge a proportion of the cost as you have to make an allowance for the age of the carpet that was in situ etc. Just as I advised the Op if you are sure of your position ie. have a detailed check in inventory and detailed checkout inventory, have the supporting evidence for any costs incurred and have made appropriate alloances for wear and tear you should be ok.

Is it worth involving the parents? Have you got guarantors for the property? What about contacting the University's accomodation office they often have a meditation service that can be involved to pre-empt disputes.

musey

clutton wrote:

Musey, i have learned quite a lot from those two links - many thanks indeed

Glad you found them useful, I learn so much for the debates on the forums there. They have excellent articles on the main site also, well worth a read for landlords & tenants

clutton_2

This new tenants deposit scheme which allegedly starts in the Autumn is meant to stop all this nonsense. So, after September, anyone moving into rented accom, I strongly suggest that you ask your new landlord which of the 2 Schemes he is joining .......... If he hasn't joined one of them, he is committing a criminal offence and can be heavily fined !!!

musey

Have you decided which one you will be going for yet clutton? I seem to read and read on the subject and only succeed in confusing myself lol

clutton_2

no, i have not made a decision yet. But so that everyone understands the complexities of the new situation, i have started a new thread, ("Tenant Deposit Scheme 2004 Housing Act") with all the info about the new schemes - happy reading !!

realwildone

This new tenants deposit scheme which allegedly starts in the Autumn is meant to stop all this nonsense. So, after September, anyone moving into rented accom, I strongly suggest that you ask your new landlord which of the 2 Schemes he is joining .......... If he hasn't joined one of them, he is committing a criminal offence and can be heavily fined !!!

It does not start in Autumn. It has been put back to April.

clutton_2

""It has been put back to April"" - Thanks for that - its not a surprise, as the government have still not decided who will administer it, let alone how !!!

eeja

Seems this column is only read by those with grievances against landlords , not against tenants ! Only one posting in support suggesting the tenants be forewarned to ensure cleaning is done .Thought about this but in view of current laws it could be dangerous in the extreme ! Were the students to smell a whiff of any danger to the return of their deposit 100% they might decide to stay on illegally after the agreement has expired and the current law allows them to do this. Should the landlord complain too strongly or too often , he could be sent to jail for harrassment of tenants . A court order to get my home back could take up to a year , cost ten thousand pounds and in that time no rent would be paid !! NB Sincerely hope none of my tenants are reading this or I'll be done for !

clutton_2

eeja - i agree with your sentiments - i suspect in 3-4 years time, there will be a huge shortage of decent private rented accommodation - as Housing Benefit tenants rent is forceably paid directly to tenants; and as HMO licensing becomes more and more draconian for landlords, there will simply be no financial incentive to stay in this business at all.

My builder recently had a tenant who paid him nothing at all after the first month, and it cost £5k to get him out 8 months later - mind you - he hadn't used my "Tenant Finding Services" !! If you have a good AST in place, you can short circuit this somewhat.

And then there's dogs - dogs ruin carpets, and yet if you want to say "no dogs" its an Unfair Term.

And then there's not paying the last months rent "well, you've got the deposit haven't you?"

etc etc

clutton_2

alexjohnson says ""and they even add a rider that a machine I rent myself will not be enough" - sounds ridiculous to me - if you clean the carpet, what they heck does it matter how you have done it ?

i strongly suspect that this is against the Fair Terms of contract legislation - ask your Trading Standards about this.