Damage in rented property

BitterAndTwisted

In your position I would come clean with the landlord right away. There's nothing worse than thinking something is still in good condition then you discover that someone else has broken it and not owned up. It's possible that the item was a cheap and cr*ppy one in the first place and has already outlived its useful life. No sensible landlord would buy a five grand sofa for a rental property unless the rent reflected that.

adg1

cleggy88 wrote: »

Hoping someone can advise me here as both me and my housemate will need the £400 we each have in the property as bond to move into another property in 8 weeks time.

Just a quick point - it will take time to get your deposit back when you leave the flat. Have you got a contingency plan for the deposits on your new place?

MissLucy_3

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

In your position I would come clean with the landlord right away. There's nothing worse than thinking something is still in good condition then you discover that someone else has broken it and not owned up. It's possible that the item was a cheap and cr*ppy one in the first place and has already outlived its useful life. No sensible landlord would buy a five grand sofa for a rental property unless the rent reflected that.

Oh, yes, we'll let the LL know, it was just a case of wanting to know where we stood before telling him.Thanks for your advice.

cleggy88

adg1 wrote: »

Just a quick point - it will take time to get your deposit back when you leave the flat. Have you got a contingency plan for the deposits on your new place?

Yes I am aware that it takes a while to get my desposit back, got everything sorted Thanks anyway!

cleggy88

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

If all the rooms in the property were properly heated and ventilated there should be no problem with condensation causing mould. Any vapour in the air unless ducted to the outside will condense on the nearest cold surface. I suspect that leaving the bathroom door open might have been the cause of this.

Leaving the bathroom door open has just been something we have tried recently to stop the problem, just going to have to leave the window open all day while we are at work.

Anyway, the pressing issue for you now is to get that bathroom and bedroom washed down with a bleach solution and make good any paintwork while you still have time before your tenancy ends. That is where I would be focussing my energies.

The walls get wiped down nearly every week to try keep them clean, I will clean and paint over them before we move out.

The issue with the leek from the bathroom to the kitchen should be your landlord's problem IF you have reported it to the agent or the landlord and they have chosen not to given it any attention.

The problem has been reported but they claim we are liable for any damage?

I'm not entirely sure how things work with the tenancy deposit scheme but is the owness on us to prove that we didn't cause the damage or for the letting agents to prove that we did? Is it worth us collecting our own evidence to prove our side of the story?

foxy-roxy

moromir wrote: »

Are you leaving this window open for a reasonable period of time after you finish using the room? I'm not sure I'd leave the door open into the rest of the property because the hot moisture laden air is simply going to condense on the next nearest cold wall it finds, leading to condensation and mould in other areas of your property.

On the latter problem, I'm no expert (and one will probably be along shortly with a good answer) but I believe you are correct provided you have used the premises in 'a tenant like manner', ie if you've been doing the hokey cokey in the shower and consequently the tray has cracked, then I can see the Landlord's point in asking you to remedy the problem, however he should be asking a plumber to go out and ascertain the source of the leak, and then if it turns out to be due to something you've done, persue it, not the other way around.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Oh the image i have in my head now!!

BitterAndTwisted

Did you report the problem of the leak to the agents in writing? Is the water is leaking from the bathroom via poor condition sealant round the bath or is it not possible to tell? Unless you're treating the bathroom like a wet-room and it isn't one then it cannot be the tenant's responsibility.

Take photos of everything after you've cleaned and painted the bathroom and bedroom and get your letter written to the agents immediately and send by Recorded Delivery. Make no comment about whose responsibility this leak is and you won't invite any discussion about it. In the meantime get that kitchen ceiling painted as well.

You need to do everything you can to prevent any deductions being made from your deposit and handing back the property in the same condition as it was at the beginning of the tenancy is the way to ensure that. The only way to prove you didn't cause any damage is to have photos of the property at the start of the tenancy or a complete inventory describing the condition of everything and all the fittings and equipment.

Any amount disputed will not be released by the tenancy deposit scheme but the balance will be until the disputed amount is agreed one way or the other.

PasturesNew

With the bathroom, I'd set aside some tme to wipe down and clean all the walls, then splash on a coat of anti-mould paint, then top that off with two fresh coats of paint. It should then look perfect for when you leave. If I were staying, I'd use bathroom/kitchen paint for that. If there's condensation when you take a bath/shower, you really need to leave the window open for longer, or not shower for so long, or have cooler baths. One way to reduce steam in a bath is to put the cold water in first.

moneysavinmonkey

we have problems like this in our bathroom as the only window that opens is a large one and it opens onto a flat roof making a very inviting entrance for burglars - we can only leave the window open for a little while in the morning before we go to work and so the bathroom does can get mildewy!

If you spray some mould and mildew cleaner on the ceilings + walls then leave for a few minutes and wipe down they should be good as new. Also the grot-buster stuff for tiles + grouting is a miracle worker!!

This won't solve the problem long term and the harsh chemicals in these products can't be good for you if used repeatedly but that is all you will need to blast away all the mould so the place looks spick and span and you get your deposit back.

If you want to stop the mould growing back, spriz with tea tree oil from time to time, air the room as much as possible and make sure the room gets as light as possible (e.g. remove blinds) which helps to keep the regrowth at bay.

On the subject of cleaning to get your deposit back generally, it's a good idea to wash all walls down with sugar soap solution (do test patches first though) as well as make sure light switches are cleaned + sinks are sparkling. Pay attention to detail as you can be sure the letting agent/landlord will as they see it as an easy way to make an extra buck out of you (IME!)

msm x