Reasonable deductions from a rental deposit

Wildsurf

Hi all,

We have recently moved house and would like some advice regarding the amounts the landlord would like to deduct from our deposit.

To give you some background info, we rented a new build house and were the first ever occupants so the house was as new when we moved in. We stayed for 13mths before moving out. The landlord has put the property up for auction rather than re-letting.

The landlord wants to deduct 3 things from out deposit as follows:

1 - £30 for replacing a broken blind

2 - £30 for gardening

3 - £162.20 for cleaning

Item 1 we can't dispute as the blind mechanism was broken, it would no longer lock in place.

Item 2 we are very annoyed about. We were all set to do the gardening on the weekend we moved out, but on the Thursday before he called to ask when it was going to be done and when I said it would be in 2 days time (i.e. the weekend) he said he needed it doing sooner as he waned photos taken for the auction the next day. We specifically said that was fine, but we would not pay for it as given reasonable notice we would have done it ourselves. It is only a lawn that needed cutting.

Item 3 seem excessive. We spent about 6-8hrs cleaning the house top to bottom. The only thing that in our opinion may be justified is carpet cleaning and that is only in 2 rooms. £162.20 is so high that we suspect he is trying to charge us for having the property professionally deep cleaned for the purposes of the auction, which is above and beyond what we should be expected to pay for. Subject to the carpet cleaning we feel we left the house in excellent condition taking into account fair wear and tear.

We are prepared to make an offer to the landlord to pay for the blind and half the cleaning costs. Does this seem fair? What are our rights? Do you think we are being reasonable or not?

Also, is there an advice line with the DPS we can contact?

Any advice greatly appreciated

thank you

Ben

Thank you in ad

N79

Obviously we don't know the facts of the case or the LL's point of view but based on what you are posting your responses to points 1 and 2 seem reasonable.

As for cleaning then it depends on how clean the property was when you took up occupation - if your inventory says cleaned to a professional standard and the checkout says only clean to a domestic standard then the LL has reasonable claim to the cleaning costs (and they seem reasonable costs for a house).

Obviously if the house was not cleaned to a professional standard when you moved in and you have returned it at least as clean then your 50% contribution for the carpets (which you admit need cleaning) may be fair. Better to ask the LL to quote the carpet cleaning separately. Spot cleaning two carpets should be around GBP 50-60 + Vat