£60 out of bond to clean a window and door

mrcol1000

Finally after a long time in rental houses we have finally brought. Our final rental property we were in a year and a bit before buying. When we moved in the place was in a digusting state. It obviously had not been cleaned since the last tenant left. We rang the letting agent who said they thought we were moving in a week later. As all our stuff was packed up we couldn't wait any longer and moved in and were forced to do all the cleaning ourselves. The letting agent did pay us £75 which they should paid the cleaning company. Halfway through the tenancy the letting agent was sacked due to a dispute over a property next door the landlord owned as well. When we moved out we gave the letting agent more than a months notice. Depsite the place being a tip when we moved in we cleaned it throughout. Although we admit we did not clean the oven or the windows on the outside or get a professional cleaner to clean the place. There was also a bad damp problem in the kitchen which has caused mould to grow on a carpet under the fridge.
The letting agent has now written to us saying they are to take off £60 because of a small tiny window about 1ft x 1ft in the kitchen which was not cleaned and we didn't clean a back door which we don't have a key for, never used and was behind a curtian.
While we are tempted to dispute this with our photos of just how dirty the place was inside (we did not mention we had these as something to keep back just in case of them witholding part of the deposit) with the deposit scheme we also need the money to pay off some debts associated with credit cards spent on to pay for essentials when we moved into the new house.
I suspect the landlord is to paint and refurbish the house thorought as the house next door he owns when the tenant moved out it was in a dated poor state and he spent a lot of money doing it up to a high standard and rented it out for a lot more than ours which is twice the size.
I just wondered what everyone else thought? Is this fair? Should we just take the money and be grateful it wasn't more? The deposit was £500 in total. I also think its the landlord more than the letting agent that is asking for this money. We have used the letting agent before and they were sympathetic in the past.
Thanks for anyones help.

Catblue

I'd probably just accept it and move on. You did say that you didn't clean the oven or the outside of the windows (and they're not charging for those) so £60 for the small window and door doesn't sound too bad.

You accepted £75 for cleaning the place when you moved in, so that was resolved with the original letting agent and has little bearing on your deposit now.

Also, if you need the cash quickly then raising a dispute with the deposit service will just delay things. For the sake of £60, I'd just agree to it and get my hands on the remaining £440 as quickly as possible.

Enjoy your new home.

tbs624

I'm going to offer a differing view

If you accepted 75 quid to clean the property at the start, then that is showing that the property was/should have been cleaned.

You have to return the property in the same condition as when let, save for fair wear and tear. FW&T does not include dirt or damage

Is there an inventory in place or any paperwork referring to the money paid to you for doing the cleaning yourselves? Was it effectively paying you as a cleaner or was it intended as some form of compensation for the "inconvenience"?

Is there an inventory in place or any paperwork referring to the money paid to you for doing the cleaning yourselves?

Even if the LA/ll had adequate paperwork to back up a shiny clean property at the start, if the only two issues now are a small dirty window and a dirty back door I'd say that the LA is overpricing the necessary work. Cleaner 8-10 quid per hour - why would it take around 6 hours to clean those two items?

Challenge them - you can go via court or the scheme's arbitrators.

mrcol1000

tbs624 wrote: »

I'm going to offer a differing view

If you accepted 75 quid to clean the property at the start, then that is showing that the property was/should have been cleaned.

You have to return the property in the same condition as when let, save for fair wear and tear. FW&T does not include dirt or damage

Is there an inventory in place or any paperwork referring to the money paid to you for doing the cleaning yourselves? Was it effectively paying you as a cleaner or was it intended as some form of compensation for the "inconvenience"?

Is there an inventory in place or any paperwork referring to the money paid to you for doing the cleaning yourselves?

Even if the LA/ll had adequate paperwork to back up a shiny clean property at the start, if the only two issues now are a small dirty window and a dirty back door I'd say that the LA is overpricing the necessary work. Cleaner 8-10 quid per hour - why would it take around 6 hours to clean those two items?

Challenge them - you can go via court or the scheme's arbitrators.

The inventory with photos I recieved was taken before the tenants who had it before me moved in. I gave them an adjusted inventory within 24 hours of moving in and gave copy of my adjusted inventory to the letting agent when moving out.
We have no record of the cheque we were given for the cleaning as it was sent to the wrong address orginally (you think they would know the address...) and so after first denying any knowledge of saying they would give us money for cleaning we collected a cheque from their office after we went in there and complained to the director of the letting agent.
I am tempted to just take the money as I need the money now but it is the prinicple of the thing and its a lot of money to charge to clean a door and a window and the cheek of charging us when the property is in such a poor tired condition to begin with.

westlondonbuyer

It's £60.

Fair enough if it was £600, or if £60 was all you had to live on. But it's not the end of the world. Get the rest of your deposit back and get on with your life.

Your landlord sounds like an @rse, and sadly there are far too many of them about. But this situation is really not worth the aggravation and expense of taking it further.

mrstinchcombe

The vast majority of landlords arent content with you paying off their mortgage, quite a few go for this scam too and take great delight in conning their tennants with "cleaning" fees.

Got to take it on the chin sadly!