Professional Cleaning Company - responsibility of landlord or tenant?

koloko

We are moving out of our house tomorrow - we have been there for two years.

We are a clean couple who have kept the house in good condition.

There is only a small deposit on the house - £600.

We have left the house in a slightly better condition that when we moved in. We have painted walls for our landlord that were scuffed.

The landlord however disagrees with the condition of the house and wants a professional cleaning company to come in, paint all the walls, profesionally clean all the carpets and the rest of the house. She expects this to come out of our our deposit.

Is this standard?

vax2002

The Mistake you made was paying last months rent.

You will have to sue for the deposit back, you are going to need a good clear well lit set of photographs.

pmlindyloo

First, a couple of questions.

Did you sign a detailed inventory when you moved in?

Is your deposit registered in a government protected scheme?

koloko

pmlindyloo wrote: »

First, a couple of questions.

Did you sign a detailed inventory when you moved in?

Is your deposit registered in a government protected scheme?

No, unfortunately not - to both questions. This was a private renter from gumtree who isn't registered and still technically lives in the house as far as utilities, the census, council tax and voting registration are concerned.

I can see I have been naive. I knew about the scheme but didn't ensure we we registered with it. So much for "instinct".

pmlindyloo

koloko wrote: »

No, unfortunately not - to both questions. This was a private renter from gumtree who isn't registered and still technically lives in the house as far as utilities, the census, council tax and voting registration are concerned.

I can see I have been naive. I knew about the scheme but didn't ensure we we registered with it. So much for "instinct".

Have a read of this:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/homeandcommunity/privaterenting/tenancies/dg_189120

Please confirm that your LL doesn't live in the same house as you.

Who pays the council tax, utilities bills?

What kind of tenancy agreement do you have?

Just wanting to establish what your 'rights' are before offering further information.

Werdnal

So, you LL has not notified utilities etc that she is letting to you, therefore she has likely not got consent to let from her mortgage, or be declaring her rental income for tax. I would be tempted to tell her of those 2 discrepancies and suggest that HMRC might be interested to hear about her tax evasion!

However, first write to her, advising that as she has failed to protect your deposit, you are intending to invoke a claim for 3x the deposit value - you must do this before the tenancy ends otherwise you cannot claim. Suggest that if she returns the full deposit to you, without any further claim for cleaning, then you will not persue the 3x claim through the courts!

If this does not work, you can still claim your whole deposit back via a court claim after you leave, and it is very likely you would win the claim, as LL is blatantly flouting the rules and courts take a very dim view of this!

jjlandlord

Werdnal wrote: »

However, first write to her, advising that as she has failed to protect your deposit, you are intending to invoke a claim for 3x the deposit value - you must do this before the tenancy ends otherwise you cannot claim.

Localism Act's changes have closed that loophole: Claim can now still proceed even after tenancy has ended.

koloko

Werdnal wrote: »

So, you LL has not notified utilities etc that she is letting to you, therefore she has likely not got consent to let from her mortgage, or be declaring her rental income for tax. I would be tempted to tell her of those 2 discrepancies and suggest that HMRC might be interested to hear about her tax evasion!

However, first write to her, advising that as she has failed to protect your deposit, you are intending to invoke a claim for 3x the deposit value - you must do this before the tenancy ends otherwise you cannot claim. Suggest that if she returns the full deposit to you, without any further claim for cleaning, then you will not persue the 3x claim through the courts!

If this does not work, you can still claim your whole deposit back via a court claim after you leave, and it is very likely you would win the claim, as LL is blatantly flouting the rules and courts take a very dim view of this!

The landlord does not live with us. She has freely admitted that she has not got consent to let on her mortgage.

Why would I ask for 3x the deposit value? The tenancy ends tomorrow.

pmlindyloo

jjlandlord wrote: »

Localism Act's changes have closed that loophole: Claim can now still proceed even after tenancy has ended.

Yes, see here:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/paying_for_a_home/tenancy_deposits/tenancy_deposit_protection_schemes

Good thing too since the OP is moving out tomorrow:)

I agree that the OP should let the LL know of her (OP's) rights.

Up to OP whether she wants to take the OP to court and be awarded the potential extra money or whether she writes as suggested just to get her deposit back.

Needs to do one or the other that's for sure.

vax2002

I think I would have a quiet word in the ear.

Just say : A can of worms will never open itself.

Now give us our deposit back in full or you will find you have opened the biggest can of worms you have ever seen and you will never get them back in the tin.

They way you have rented this property is illegal, the council will prosecute you, the building society may close the mortgage, The tax office will roast you over the open fire and I will claim 3x the deposit from the county court.
Your move, but please do look at what we have to throw back .

pmlindyloo

Just to clarify OP.

Your landlord should have protected your deposit in a government protection scheme.

Because she has not done this you can take her to court and be awarded up to 3 times the deposit as a form of compensation.

It does not matter that your tenancy ends tomorrow because the law was recently changed so that you can do this even after you move out.

Forget about losing your deposit and redecorating the house. The LL cannot take any money out of your deposit because she has nothing to prove the state it was in at the beginning of the tenancy (no signed inventory)

All the balls are in your court.

You can, as already suggested, write to the LL and say that you intend to take her to court for up to 3 times the deposit because she has failed to protect the deposit plus you could also say that you know that she has not got consent to let etc etc.

You can either leave and take her to court, or agree with her for the return of your deposit with no deductions and not take her to court.

Which ever way you play it your LL has not 'got a leg to stand on.'