Help with end of tenancy problems please

AbstractWool

A friend of mine has just left her flat after being there for 8 months. When she was looking around the flat prior to renting,, the landlady said that she always replaces the carpets after each tenant. This was said in front of two witnesses. and on another occassion to my friends hubby.

My friend has moved out now and did not clean the carpets because of what the landlady had said previously. The landlady is now strongly denying saying that she replaces the carpet.
The landlady is holding their £500 deposit and says she is charging £100 to £120 to have the carpets professionally cleaned. She is also trying to charge her £15 an hour to get a cleaner in to clean the bathroom from top to bottom, to be honest the bathroom needed a little cleaning but it certainly wasn't grimey.
We have looked over the contract and there is no mention of any cleaning bills, just about tenants having to fill in and repaint any nail holes etc, which was done.
Whilst there, my friend had a bathroom light repaired at her own expense as she couldn't get in touch with the landlady. Could she present this bill to her?

Any help and advice would be gratefully received.

moromir

AbstractWool wrote: »

She is also trying to charge her £15 an hour to get a cleaner in to clean the bathroom from top to bottom, to be honest the bathroom needed a little cleaning but it certainly wasn't grimey.

Thats not a bad price for a cleaner round here, I don't know where you're from of course.

AbstractWool wrote: »

We have looked over the contract and there is no mention of any cleaning bills, just about tenants having to fill in and repaint any nail holes etc, which was done.

There wouldn't need to be, look for the clauses that refer to delivering up the property in the same condition that it was let in and similar.

AbstractWool wrote: »

Whilst there, my friend had a bathroom light repaired at her own expense as she couldn't get in touch with the landlady. Could she present this bill to her?

She could certainly try but if this went to dispute the onus would be on her to prove she tried to contact the Landlord (ie recorded delivery letters, email at worst), ie phonecalls might be difficult to prove, as I guess now all you would have is a phone bill and it would be easy for the Landlord to say you were discussing other matters..

princeofpounds

Contracts and what was said are almost irrelevant in these circumstances. All that matters is that the property is returned in the same condition it was found, minus fair wear and tear, as evidenced by the inventory.

So if the carpet was cleaned before entry, and the landlord can prove this via the inventory, then there is no way out and it needs to be cleaned before exit. Whether the carpet is subsequently replaced or not is no concern of the tenant unless express permission was given not to clean and this can be evidenced.

Same principles for the bathroom.

£15/h is not cheap, even in London, but it is not on another planet and even if contested you'd get about enough to buy a hamburger with, if anything. Carpet cleaning sounds normal enough.

These deductions can be disputed at the deposit tribunal or court if you like, but don't bother unless there is a real case to do so.

BitterAndTwisted

A bathroom "needing a little cleaning" IS grimy! Why didn't the tenant clean it and leave it in the same condition as at the start of the tenancy? I wouldn't want to rent a place with a bathroom that wasn't absolutely spotless so why would anyone else?

lightSwitch_3

He said she said is all heresay, what counts is what is in the contract. You have to leave the place in reasonable condition. Coffee stains on a new carpet is not reasonable but I'm not sure if a landlord can charge new for old, probably not.

If the place isn't presentable to the next tenant thanks to the current tenant then the landlady will charge the amount necessary to make it presentable again.

Cleaners at £15/hour is double the going rate. East Europeans will do a very good job for £7.
If you haven't stained the carpets you don't have to clean them, you just vacuum them. If the landlord wants unstained carpets shampooed then that is her problem.

She won't get a penny for the light switch because this landlady sounds like the type that will say "you broke it".

My ex was charged for already broken items, several of them, about £250 in all. He wouldn't budge, he wanted to be taken to arbitration hoping to get at least half what he was trying to diddle her for. My stupid ex let him get away with it.

There are a lot of crappy landlords out there that will find any excuse to keep £100-200 of deposit money.

goRt

AbstractWool wrote: »

A friend of mine has just left her flat after being there for 8 months...
The landlady is holding their £500 deposit

No, the landlady has not been allowed to hold the deposit for some time:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/index.htm

princeofpounds wrote: »

All that matters is that the property is returned in the same condition it was found, minus fair wear and tear, as evidenced by the inventory.

Wear is fair, tear is not and should be deducted from the deposit (that's what it's there for)