Should tenants clean house at end of their tenancy?

Swinstie73

Hi folks,

Just want to be re-assured that I'm not over-reacting here!

My tenants left on Sunday after having giving me a months notice, anyway we arranged a time to go collect the keys and check inventory etc and arrive to find them still taking stuff out the house - infact they weren't even there when we arrived even though they said what time for us to come.

Before they got there, I had a look in the garden and it's got old cardboard strewn across the grass, the garden gate which had been propped up against the fence (it fell off in the storms ages ago) lying on the grass with grass growing through it, old furniture lying, my garden table which was needing chucked anyway, bashed (goodness knows what happened to that), a path worn into the front garden (grass not cut even though had great weather for over a week).

The inside was, lets just say, not clean. She said they hadn't a chance to hoover but the biggest problem was the bits of 'stuff' strewn about, mould on the bath - I had bleached this before but they obviously hadn't bothered, bits of old food in the cupboards, food STILL in the fridge and freezer and I could go on. It wasn't in anyway damaged but considering when we last visited the place it looked great, I just got the impression they didn't care how they left it. Oh and cigarette butts strewn outside the front door. My poor house looked really worn and shabby (they have only been there six months).

The agent I usually deal with is on holiday and I didn't want to argue over them not getting their deposit back so told them to go ahead and return their deposit as the tenant had the cheek to text me asking about it. I was a bit mad and called to say agent was on holiday but also that I was a bit shocked at the state the house was in.

Do you know what I was told - 'eh the house wasn't exactly spotless when we moved in'. I am so mad as I left the house spotless, unfortunately the electrician only did the safety check the night before they got the keys and left some dust (which he was supposed to clean but didn't) and since I don't carry a hoover with me I coudn't get it cleaned myself but they knew this.

My friend who stays near said they didn't start moving til 10am on Sunday i.e. they had all weekend to do it so they should've had enough time to do even a quick clean.

Sorry for the rant, I'm just really shocked and disappointed that my house looks so bad and I could actually cry. Guess what we'll be doing at Easter weekend! Honestly though, am I taking it too personally - first and last time landlord that I am??

Notmyrealname

Its a business and you should be treating it as such. If you're going to get emotional about it all, being a LL is not for you. Tenants will wreck stuff and many will leave all their crap behind when they move out.

DreamerV

I actually bought extra cleaning stuff the day before I moved out of my flat last year and cleaned the whole place to a better standard than it was than before I moved in. I even touched up bits of paintwork where the wall had been damaged by the previous tenant (and reported as such, as there were dents in the wall I didn't want to be charged for). I just couldn't have beared to leave it in a poor state for the company or for the next person. Also I wanted to make sure I didn't give any reason for the company to keep any of my deposit.

It's not expecting too much to expect the place to be left in a clean state, definitely not.

ViolaLass

Why on earth did you return the deposit just because they asked for it?

girl_withno_name

As a tenant it annoys me that these people have received their full deposit back under these circumstance... whereas we moved in Jan last year, spent 48 hours between us cleaning and packing (mostly cleaning!) and still got charged because the grass wasn't mown!

Swinstie73

Thanks for your replies, and you are right I did get too emotional. The house was only rented as we were moving and it hadn't sold. Luckily it has now been sold, after this experience I doubt I'd have rented it out again.

They were really nice tenants throughout but I think they've thought sod it. I wish the agent I dealt with hadn't been on holiday and had came with me to do the check-out, I think they took me for an easy-mark and yes they were right. I'm a people pleaser I guess. Sorry you got charged for not mowing the lawn girl_withno_name, see I felt bad cos they've just got a new house.

Big lesson learned.

propertyman

They may have thought

" We have our deposit back- stuff them"

BigAunty

So did you have a schedule of condition (or info on the inventory) that proved the state of the property upon the start of their tenancy? That would have provided proof to support a deposit deduction and also acts as evidence if later disputed by the tenants.

If not, then why not? You either did not follow basic recommendations for letting property or employed an agent that was remiss in this fairly basic procedure.

Also, what happened about regular property inspections which would have picked up the mould issues and fag butt littering?

What did the tenancy say about who was responsible for the gardening and were any tools left for them to do it?


Without the schedule of condition/inventory then a knowing tenant would know they could trash the property completely and have no come-back at all - this would also invite this kind of sloppy behaviour.

AFK_Matrix

Well you have snookered yourself really by giving all the deposit back. As that is what you should have used to put the house right. Then you wouldn't have had to use your own money to tidy the house up.

LottieLou

You sound far too nice for a landlord! I agree that you should not have given them their full deposit back, given that things were not 'broken' is one thing. But they do have a responsibility to leave the house clean, cleaning bills should have been deducted from the deposit (either or your inconvenience or for cleaning company bills to sort the house out)

I scrubbed my old flat from top to bottom for 3 days, in a cast and on crutches (my flatmate had gone on holiday) and my landlord charged me for cleaning on the fridge (there were a few speckles of crumbs in the door) and the oven, (which my mum had cleaned!)

So, yes...you weren't prepared that nice tennants could turn into such slobs but nevermind. On the brightside it's just cleaning good luck!

Werdnal

Most tenancy agreements state something like "Tenant is required to return the property in the same condition as they took it on at the start, fair wear and tear accepted" - make sure your future ones include this. So unless you let it with a litter strewn garden, unhoovered floors and mouldy bath, then they should have addressed this before leaving.

Deposit should never be given back until you or your nominated representative (agent, family member etc), has viewed the property and accepted the check-out inventory as a genuine record of the state that the property was left in. You then compare the check-out copy, with the check-in inventory, decide what differences are deductable from the deposit amount and apply to the protection scheme you used to withhold that amount.

Under these circumstances, you would have been quite within your rights to engage a professional cleaning company to "blitz" clean the property, including carpet shampoo, windows, removing litter/rubbish in the garden, mowing the lawn and also get someone in to rehang the gate - then you have a third party invoices for the work which carries far more clout with deposit disputes that you spending a few hours over the weekend doing the work yourself!

You may as well not take a deposit at all if you are going to give it back in full regardless of what state the property is left in!