Landlord acting illegally?

openmind1973

We recently (three weeks ago) moved out of rented accommodation at the end of our tenancy. During the handover the landlords agent pointed out that rawplugs used to fix shelves etc to the walls were still visible and should have been removed. We did offer to do this but they were moving the new tenant into the property literally an hour after our handover so there wouldn't be time. They advised they would repair the "damage" and then invoice us.

They have now contacted us to state they are looking for £438 to remove the rawplugs, fill the holes and paint over to make good which is incredibly excessive considering the small amount of work required.

Some points to make...

1) No inventory was provided by the agent when we moved in detailing the current state of the walls
2) No deposit was taken, instead two months rent were paid in advance and we paid no rent in the final month as agreed
3) All bills, utilities and rent were fully up to date on our handover.

Now we have made an offer of £100 to cover the work which has been refused so my questions are:

1) Are they able to charge for work once a handover is complete and a new tenant is in the property?
2) Are we obliged to accept their quote for the work or can we arrange for an independent quote?

anselld

(1) yes if you caused damage
(2) no, it needs to be fair and reasonable which 438 certainly isnt.

Dispute the deduction amount via the Deposit Protection Scheme you are in (assuming England)


Edit Sorry just read no deposit. Wait and see if they want to take you to small claims court then.

Fire_Fox

Welcome! Sounds like a deposit to me, however they want to dress it up. Should have been lodged with one of the three schemes, was it? Have you had the extra month's rent returned in full yet?

You have shot yourself in the foot by making an offer, you have admitted to damaging the property when there was no inventory. Either you owe for a professional to fix the damage you caused or you do not. That quote might be fair given the short notice and that whole walls often need to be painted, you can't just paint a little spot or it does not match. It's also two visits to the property: one to do the filler, leave that to dry and return to sand and paint over it. Depends how many walls you damaged.

Did you have the written consent of the landlord to put up shelves, and an agreement to either leave the shelves or make good the damage? You could have had a quote whilst you were tenants, you no longer have access to the property. The agents really should not have had other tenants moving in the same day, very bad practice. Do you now have photographs of the repaired walls? They can't claim for work that has not been done.

openmind1973

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Welcome! Sounds like a deposit to me, however they want to dress it up. Should have been lodged with one of the three schemes, was it? Have you had the extra month's rent returned in full yet?

No deposit was paid at the beginning of the tenancy, just two months rent. When we gave our thirty days notice the agent told us to cancel the standing order for the final month as we had already paid for the notice period. We did pay about £60 to cover four days between the end of the notice and the handover date.

You have shot yourself in the foot by making an offer, you have admitted to damaging the property when there was no inventory. Either you owe for a professional to fix the damage you caused or you do not. That quote might be fair given the short notice and that whole walls often need to be painted, you can't just paint a little spot or it does not match. It's also two visits to the property: one to do the filler, leave that to dry and return to sand and paint over it. Depends how many walls you damaged.

We made the offer as we are not disputing the holes just the quote. It would take a professional less than an hour each visit to repair.

Did you have the written consent of the landlord to put up shelves, and an agreement to either leave the shelves or make good the damage?

No agreement to put shelves up but we're not talking full room length shelves here We did offer to make good the repair before we left but this was refused.

You could have had a quote whilst you were tenants, you no longer have access to the property. The agents really should not have had other tenants moving in the same day, very bad practice. Do you now have photographs of the repaired walls? They can't claim for work that has not been done.

No photos unfortunately but our offer to make good was refused on the basis that the new tenant was moving in that very afternoon.

I should also point out that the work hasn't been done yet, they have simply sent us a quote. I also don't believe that this is from a contractor as the agents husband does the maintenance...

openmind1973

anselld wrote: »

(1) yes if you caused damage
(2) no, it needs to be fair and reasonable which 438 certainly isnt.

Dispute the deduction amount via the Deposit Protection Scheme you are in (assuming England)


Edit Sorry just read no deposit. Wait and see if they want to take you to small claims court then.

That was my feeling too as I don't think they will bother. We are in Scotland if that makes a difference...

RAS

openmind1973 wrote: »

We are in Scotland if that makes a difference...

It makes a huge difference. Scottish law is very different.

G_M

You appear to have admitted the damage, so the lack of inventory is now irrelevant.

The issue is purely the amount.

To remove the rawl plugs, insert filler, and paint (assuming matching paint) is a simple DIY job you could have done in around 10 minutes (once you'd obtained the materials - cost around £5).

Sadly you did not do so before moving out, and were not given time at the handover.

A professional would, I imagine, charge around £50 for call-out and time. £100 tops.

Repeat your offer of £100 in writing (head the letter "Without Prejudice" so it cannot be relied on in court). If they still refuse, they will have no option but to take you to court since they have no deposit or other £ of yours.

If you can get written quotes/estimates from local odd job man/builder I imagine the Sheriff's court will laugh loud at the £ 438 claim.

openmind1973

I agree and with hindsight I wish we had found the time to do the job as it would have saved a lot of hassle.

The agent has not yet responded to our last email so I will repeat the offer as you recommend and let them take it from there...

Fire_Fox

openmind1973 wrote: »

We made the offer as we are not disputing the holes just the quote. It would take a professional less than an hour each visit to repair.

No agreement to put shelves up but we're not talking full room length shelves here We did offer to make good the repair before we left but this was refused.

No photos unfortunately but our offer to make good was refused on the basis that the new tenant was moving in that very afternoon.

I should also point out that the work hasn't been done yet, they have simply sent us a quote. I also don't believe that this is from a contractor as the agents husband does the maintenance...

It s irrelevant how large the shelves are, generally you need written consent to permanently affix anything (= damage) to the structure of someone else's property. If it was only going to take a couple of hours you should have fixed it before the checkout, offering to do it at the point of surrendering the property is too late. You could not have done a professional job in a couple of hours because the filler needs to dry and be sanded before painting, you may well need a couple of coats of paint or even the whole wall which means cutting in neat edges.

I would not pay anything until the repairs have been done and you have a itemised receipt plus photographs of the repairs from a member of a recognised trades association OR mates rates. The new tenants may not want them in the property to do this, in which case you cannot be charged because the work has not been completed. What does the quote say, is it on headed paper and is the named company genuine?

openmind1973

Yep I know we should have got the work done before we left but didn't so we are in this situation...

The work hasn't been done by the agent, we have just been informed by them about the cost. This has been supplied as simply a figure on an email so no official itemised quote at all but we have asked them for a full quote detailing their costs...

Fire_Fox

openmind1973 wrote: »

Yep I know we should have got the work done before we left but didn't so we are in this situation...

The work hasn't been done by the agent, we have just been informed by them about the cost. This has been supplied as simply a figure on an email so no official itemised quote at all but we have asked them for a full quote detailing their costs...

So they've given you a rough estimate not a quote, definitely ask for an itemised receipt.