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Tenants left property filthy! How much to deduct from deposit??

moneyangel22
moneyangel22 Posts: 332 Forumite
edited 22 July 2011 at 11:51AM in House buying, renting & selling
Hi,

My tenants have just vacated my property. I went to inspect it yesterday and found it in a horrible condition! There will need to be a lot of cleaning and painting done before it is inhabitable again! This is not just wear and tear, this is the tenants not cleaning it and putting it back to the condition it was in when I let it to them. It is clear they have not been airing the property and have also allowed mould to grow around all the window frames etc. There is a security deposit held with a company and I am just wondering how much deposit to hold onto to compensate me for the work I will need to do??

Thanks

Comments

  • Sammy85_2
    Sammy85_2 Posts: 1,741 Forumite
    Photograph the property in its current state. Do you have photos from before it was let to compare the new photos against?

    If you are holding back the deposit then you can afford to pay the cleaners to do it. Get some cleaners in to quote for the work doing and then claim that from the deposit to pay for it.

    Who is the deposit held with?
    :jProud mummy to a beautiful baby girl born 22/12/11 :j
  • RAS
    RAS Posts: 36,622 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Who holds the deposit? Which scheme?

    What sort of inventory did you have made at the start of the tenancy? By whom? Signed?
    If you've have not made a mistake, you've made nothing
  • I agree that you should at least take photos of what happened to the room and you should have the before and after photos.

    My Aunt have a few houses for rent and we experienced this as well. We even ended up calling the sheriffs office to inspect the house cause it smells awful like something dead is in the cabinets of the unit.

    My Aunt accounted everything from the deposit of the tenant and notarized every expenses into writing. Ending is that the tenant didn't receive any deposit. Actually her family owes us a up to a couple of hundred bucks just to clean, repaint and redo anything in the houses.:mad:
    :A work to live or live to work? :A
  • RAS
    RAS Posts: 36,622 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    bellodharma - by the sounds of things you are in Scotland?

    If the OP is in England and Wales the law is very very different.
    If you've have not made a mistake, you've made nothing
  • zappahey
    zappahey Posts: 2,254 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    RAS wrote: »
    bellodharma - by the sounds of things you are in Scotland?

    If the OP is in England and Wales the law is very very different.

    "bucks", "notarized", "sherriffs office" looking for dead things.

    Sounds like a long way from Scotland.
    What goes around - comes around
  • may_fair
    may_fair Posts: 713 Forumite
    The following assumes this is an AST in England/Wales and that the deposit is protected with one of the three approved schemes.

    You are entitled to claim for your actual losses. If the property was spotless when they moved in, and filthy when they moved out, you can claim for the cost of cleaning. If there is a dispute, however, you will need evidence of before/after condition.

    See the last item in this link, entitled 'Guide to Tenancy Deposits, Disputes and Damages', which is the official guide by the deposit schemes:
    http://www.depositprotection.com/document-library/processes.aspx
  • Lukey__b
    Lukey__b Posts: 14 Forumite
    zappahey wrote: »
    "bucks", "notarized", "sherriffs office" looking for dead things.

    Sounds like a long way from Scotland.

    Scotland has Sherriff’s doesn’t it?

    In fact, here in Bristol we have a sheriff. I Don’t know what he does though.
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