Moving into rented house...and it's filthy! Advice very much appreciated.

onethirtyeight

Hello everyone,

Myself and my girlfriend got the keys to our new place today, renting a terraced house.

To cut a long story short, the place is absolutely filthy!

I had been round previously to measure up the 2 bedrooms as I am going to put new carpets in the rooms (free of charge I may add!!). Whilst I was there the landlady's mother was also there, as she was arranging to get rid of to remaining bits of furniture etc. I specifically asked her 'are you going to get cleaners in to clean the house?'. She told me yes, she was, and that the previous tenants were being charged.

We got the inventory along with the keys today and there is no description regarding cleanliness anywhere, so we went through the entire list making notes on every disgusting detail around the house. No floors had been swept, mould in cupboards, other peoples hair, toothpaste holder still caked in saliva/toothpaste, cobwebs everywhere etc etc. We have only put our stuff in the small front room at the minute as we refuse to accept the house is fit to move into.

We are going to ring the estate agent tomorrow...so my question is what's the best way to approach it? Does anyone know where we stand legally and with LL/LA obligations? We have had some bad experiences with renting before, but this takes mickey. We have to hand the keys back to our current place on wednesday, so we need it sorting before then!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

pmlindyloo

Go to the LA and ask them to get it cleaned ASAP. You are in a great position because you don't have to live there straight away. If they kick up a fuss then insist that they come to the house with you.

This is very shoddy on their part since they should have checked the place before you were given the keys.

By the way, I hope you have the LL's permission, in writing, to change the carpets.

lionheartedgirl

from previous experience, if you have a digital camera that has a date/time stamp function, take plenty of pictures as soon as you can.

If you can get the agent down there, so much the better.

I once rented a flat with my ex hubby where it was utterly filthy when we moved in, the landlord grudgingly offered to send a cleaner but by that point we had moved in and our stuff was everywhere - we'd moved from a much larger flat to a smaller one. In the end he gave us a £25 discount on the first months rent to cover our time and effort doing some cleaning, then when we came to move out, he withheld our deposit because the cream carpets were black round the skirting boards - we were in 6 months, there is no way they go that black in 6 months :rotfl:. It was a long fight to get our money back. But we did in the end. Photos would have helped enormously.

Good luck!

onethirtyeight

hello lindyloo, good to hear were in a great position, there's a first time for everything I suppose! I am anticipating a fuss, and the typical delays the LA will try and throw at us. I have about 30 pictures on my phone proving the state of the place.
Were hoping that once we explain, the place will be cleaned ASAP. If they cause too much of a fuss I will book a professional cleaner myself and deduct it from the rent, but I don't really want to do that.

We have written consent to change the carpets, the only 2 carpets in the house are the ones were changing, however they insist in our TA that 'all carpets must be professionally cleaned upon departure'! We wrote underneath 'as we will be replacing the carpets we will happily put back the original, worn out and dirty ones upon departure'. ;-)

onethirtyeight

hi lionheartedgirl. I have taken a shed load of photos on my Blackberry, however I'm starting to think I should print them off and mail them to myself with recorded delivery to prove the date?? Sounds excessive...but these are estate agents we're dealing with.

Also, your carpets went black around the edges due to dust moving around in the construction of the building and coming up through the floorboards. Your landlord should have requested that paperfelt be laid before the carpets were put down as this is the only way to prevent it happening.

girl_withno_name

I'd imagine this is similar enough to be covered by the advice from Shelter...
"You must follow a specific procedure if you want to pay for repairs and take the cost out of your rent. Otherwise, your landlord can evict you."
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/disrepair_in_rented_accommodation/repairs_in_private_lets/tenants_doing_repairs

onethirtyeight

Going down the route of getting it done myself and deducting it from the rent is absolutely the last resort. We're going to insist that an estate agent meet us at the house and sign off the updated inventory and cleanliness details, that way there can be no dispute on the state of the place at the start of the tenancy. They then obviously need to get a proper cleaner in before Wednesday.

I would like to add that whilst we were going through the inventory we came upon the realisation that the inventory wasnt even new! it says 'prepared on 4/7/2012' this is a lie, because so much of it is wrong, items are missing, plug sockets changed from white to gold etc. So nobody has even bothered to go down there and do a proper inventory.

robatwork

onethirtyeight wrote: »

Hello everyone,

Myself and my girlfriend got the keys to our new place today, renting a terraced house.

To cut a long story short, the place is absolutely filthy!
.

When I started renting I moved into a place that had been empty a while and left in a state.

Managed to negotiate with the LL to not charge the first month's rent in lieu of me cleaning it up - a fair deal I thought.

onethirtyeight

After compiling a 94 page Word document with every single disgusting picture in it, we have decided we are so unhappy with how we've been treated that we want our money back. My girlfriend rang up the agent this morning and gave them a rocket, however it was only the lettings people there today, no property managers. I've attached the photographs to an email and sent it to the property manager and the landlord.

So, Monday morning I am going to request that we be refunded our deposit, our first months rent and the reference fee. As far as were concerned they have let a property that is unfit for living in, and everyone we've shown the pictures to has reeled in disgust! How do you guys think this will go (I know it's going to be far from easy) and what do you think I should say? I've been reading about tenants rights but can't find much that's specifically helpful. Thanks.

geoffken

Appreciate your annoyance/problems but if they refuse to clean up before Wednesday where are you going to live.

onethirtyeight

I've arranged for our belongings to be stored in a friends empty garage, and until we find a new place it's going to be back in with our respective parents. It's not ideal as we've been living together for nearly 2 years now, but I feel if we've been treated like this from the off, the worst is yet to come.