Letting Agent trying to charge for tear in carpet!!!

whoschuffed

Hi all, just after some advice really, my girlfriend recently moved out of a house with 3 of her friends. All was fine and dandy, house was left in a spotless state, everything cleaned inside and out, no marks, dirt anything, pretty perfect condition really.

The house is a 3 floor town house which has bedrooms on all floors - they agreed with the letting agent to take the house on the proviso that the letting agent/landlord move the couches from where the lounge was at the time on the first floor, down to the room on the ground floor so they could use the bigger lounge room as a bedroom. All good and well, landlord moved couches and they used the old lounge on the first floor as a bedroom instead and used the small 4th bedroom downstairs as a lounge!

Basically now they've just received an email saying that the house was fine bar a rip/tear in the lounge carpet (downstairs) which they are deducting £200 from their deposit and have already instructed a carpet fitter to put a new carpet in.

Now they've sent 4 small images which show the tear in the middle of the room. The tear was not there when they moved out and its clear that the landlord has made this tear whilst moving furniture from the lounge (downstairs) back up to the original lounge (on first floor).

I'm just wondering where we stand with something like this, and how best to fight it?

The pictures even show the couches not in the room anymore and is blindingly obvious that the landlord has made the tear themselves when moving the furniture - but they are trying to recoop the cost through us because they've been a numpty!

The letting agents just asked that they clean the house and then bring the keys back on the move out day - there was no mention of a sign off/final inventory.

princeofpounds

Was an inventory taken on entry and exit? By who, and what did it say?

Was a deposit taken and protected in a scheme?

outofmoney

Did your friend(s) take any photographs? Without any they may not be able to prove they are not responsible.

casperlarue

danielrostron wrote: »

Hi all, just after some advice really, my girlfriend recently moved out of a house with 3 of her friends. All was fine and dandy, house was left in a spotless state, everything cleaned inside and out, no marks, dirt anything, pretty perfect condition really.

The house is a 3 floor town house which has bedrooms on all floors - they agreed with the letting agent to take the house on the proviso that the letting agent/landlord move the couches from where the lounge was at the time on the first floor, down to the room on the ground floor so they could use the bigger lounge room as a bedroom. All good and well, landlord moved couches and they used the old lounge on the first floor as a bedroom instead and used the small 4th bedroom downstairs as a lounge!

Basically now they've just received an email saying that the house was fine bar a rip/tear in the lounge carpet (downstairs) which they are deducting £200 from their deposit and have already instructed a carpet fitter to put a new carpet in. When your girlfriend moved into the property was an inventory taken, and signed by all parties to the contract? In order for the landlord to make deductions from the deposit he must be able to prove that the carpet wasn't torn at the beginning of the tenancy.

Now they've sent 4 small images which show the tear in the middle of the room. The tear was not there when they moved out and its clear that the landlord has made this tear whilst moving furniture from the lounge (downstairs) back up to the original lounge (on first floor).

I'm just wondering where we stand with something like this, and how best to fight it?

The pictures even show the couches not in the room anymore and is blindingly obvious that the landlord has made the tear themselves when moving the furniture - but they are trying to recoop the cost through us because they've been a numpty!

The letting agents just asked that they clean the house and then bring the keys back on the move out day - there was no mention of a sign off/final inventory.How can they hope to prove that your girlfriend/friends tore the carpet then?!

All assuming this is is in England.....
Who sent the email? Was it the landlord or the letting agent? They are jumping the gun a bit by instructing a carpet fitter when the deduction hasn't been agreed!

Did your girlfriend/friends pay a deposit to the landlord? If so was it properly protected in a tenancy deposit scheme? There are 2 ways to deal with this depending whether the deposit was protected or not.

whoschuffed

Hi, their deposit was paid to the letting agent - to the best of my knowledge it is in the deposit protection scheme.

There was an inventory completed when they moved in, but they made no mention to complete an inventory when they moved out and just asked them to clean the house and return the keys on the last day of tenancy.

I can only assume the inventory was done AFTER they moved out, with none of the tenants present.

whoschuffed

Also they performed the check out inspection on 31/08/2012 according to their email to her - however I've checked the EXIF data from the pictures and they were taken on the 04/09/2012.

Does that carry any baring? Shouldn't images have been taken at the time of inspection?

BitterAndTwisted

Have your friends asked the agent for sight of a copy of the check-out inventory carried out on the 31st of August?

whoschuffed

Not yet, they only just recieved the email this morning informing them they wouldnt be getting their deposit back. I'll make sure they ask for one.

Fire_Fox

Deal with this in writing, request the original of the checkout inventory OR a certified copy so they can't amend it. It's good the photos are not dated the same day as the inventory and why the furniture is no longer present, ask why that is after you have the inventory in hand. Also ask why you were not informed that the checkout was taking place/ not invited to attend.

StuieUK34

think i'll keep my eye on this thread!

whoschuffed

Well apparantly the letting agent is just waiting to hear back from the landlord regarding it, but i'm going to get my girlfriend to put all of these questions to them tomorrow!