Letter to Landlord regarding Vacating. Please look it over?

BrandNewDay

Hey, I've talked to the landlord about vacating their furnished house in two months (and given notice in writing, of course.) We had a chat on the phone regarding issues of redecorating and repairs, and she wanted to talk to her brother (the other owner) about things. I said I'd send them both an email about the issues we discussed.

Could you look over this and tell me what you think?

(Deleted as there was identifying information in there. Thanks for your help!)

BrandNewDay

For some reason... I feel like it's a bad idea to mention the TV in writing. It's not on any inventory. And, if I get the feeling that they're going to be really difficult and keep all of the deposit, then I'm tempted to not replace the TV and say "What TV? I don't know anything about a TV."

I think it would be wrong to do that. At the same time, I don't want to spend hundreds of pounds and them still moan at me about things.

Fire_Fox

Is your deposit lodged in one of the three schemes and do you have the prescribed information? Then set aside worries about the landlords being difficult, it is relatively straightforward to get your deposit back if there is no/ poor inventory and you can evidence formally reported all problems during the tenancy at the time of damage/ deterioration. Your predictions for the future should not influence what you repair or replace.

Similar spec is not a like for like TV, you should replace with the same brand name and spec since it was new, or have the screen repaired. There are very different qualities of picture and sound from one brand to another.

Don't paint the walls until you have cleaned them with sugar soap solution, you would be surprised what this removes that other cleaning products do not. Painting over patches rarely gives a good match and will leave you wide open to deposit deductions, expect to have to paint whole walls or even whole rooms to get a good finish.

Mould: use an electric dehumidifier and adjust your lifestyle (eg. no air drying laundry indoors, door closed and window open during and after showering) if ventilating is insufficient. Use a mould remover rather than bleach spray - Dettox or HG are excellent. Don't just wipe, spray and leave.

You should not have put furniture nor perishable personal property in a shed, that is too cold and potentially too damp for it - furniture is designed to be stored in a house. If you wanted rid you should have asked the landlord to take these items away to proper storage facility. Nor should you have discarded anything without the written consent of the landlord, regardless of how useless it seemed to you. I hope you took the medication to a pharmacy for proper disposal.

Don't worry about anything that is fair wear and tear - that is items that deteriorate from normal careful use or simply the passage of time. So peeling wallpaper corners, discoloured paint and flattened pile on the carpet are unavoidable. Scuffs on walls, ripped wallpaper as done by your toddler, dark patches on carpet are not.

BrandNewDay

Thanks for pointing out all the pitfalls - I will avoid mentioning anything in writing that may get me into trouble.

They refused to take anything out of the house. They said "This is a furnished house. If you don't need something, then put it in the shed or the loft." The loft was crammed full of stuff, already, so the shed was all we had. They know things are in the shed and they've even looked in there once when they visited and seemed happy with that arrangement. The medications and walking sticks and christening bonnets and etc. etc. were in drawers and the landlords weren't there when we discovered them. They are NOT on any inventory, so we pitched almost all of it, except for a few things that I thought would be sort of mean to do that to (like the baby shoes and bonnet.) If, however, mentioning these things just opens us up to more problems, I will not mention them. No, we didn't take the drugs to the pharmacy. I didn't realize that was necessary. However, that's not pertinent to the subject at hand. Thank you, though, for that. I'll remember if I'm ever in that position, again.

We rented this house because we were desperate - we had one week to be completely moved and there are very few houses where we are in the Highlands. We were very lucky to get this house and couldn't be picky. The next nearest house with two bedrooms was thirty miles away from my husband's job.

As for the mould, we did get a dehumidifier and we air the house all the time. But, mould has built up in a very narrow gap where they've bolted furniture to the wall. The active ingredient in Dettol is chlorine bleach, so that's what I use for mould. It works great except for that one corner.

I think it will only cause more problems to write all these things down. I think we'll just clean as best as we can and strive to put things EXACTLY AS THE INVENTORY DEPICTS and then let them have the deposit if they want to.

Yes, the deposit is protected. As for the TV... that's not in the deposit so they can't claim it on the inventory. I just feel like it would be the right thing to replace it. The exact same brand would be nearly £300 brand new, which is more than half the deposit. On the phone the landlady said that she would be perfectly happy if we bought a cheaper model of the same size from Tesco.

Fire_Fox

Then you would have been better putting the items into proper storage facilities or not renting the house in the first place. I would strongly recommend you bring all this inside now, given the seasonal weather changes. Even if items are not inventoried you are legally responsible for taking care of any property you find in the house.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=57183771&postcount=10

Dettox works better than cheap bleach, perhaps due to a penetrating agent? Apparently so does HG - it's worth running an advanced search.

BrandNewDay

As for the walls -

I think the thing to do is to wash them with sugar soap. Then, if there are spots that can be touched up, do so. If that just leaves things patchy, then I won't do it. The reason is that the walls were dingy when we moved in and the whole place needs redecorating. If WE redecorate, then that would A) be a huge hassel when I'm trying to move the whole family to another country and leave the house in a significantly better state than we got it. I think I'll just clean them and let the chips fall where they may. It's a pity about the biro on the kitchen vinyl wallpaper, but that is some seriously old, yellowed, and peeling wallpaper. It needs replacing and I'm not going to worry about it, beyond cleaning it. What they do is up to them.

I am pretty sure that they won't redecorate, themselves. They're nice people, but they can't be bothered to do real upkeep. As evidenced by their parents' stuff still being in the house five years and three tenants later.

BrandNewDay

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Then you would have been better putting the items into proper storage facilities or not renting the house in the first place. I would strongly recommend you bring all this inside now, given the seasonal weather changes. Even if items are not inventoried you are legally responsible for taking care of any property you find in the house.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=57183771&postcount=10

Dettox works better than cheap bleach, perhaps due to a penetrating agent? Apparently so does HG - it's worth running an advanced search.

There is no space in the house for their furniture. We've checked on it a couple of times in the two years and it's been OK. They have been told, repeatedly, that their stuff was in the shed. They've looked at it and seemed happy. They've had ample opportunity to come and take it away.

Only the furniture is in the inventory. How can they claim for anything other than that?

sequence

I don't know why your mentioning any of this stuff in your letter. Your notice should be just that. No need to say anything else. If they start asking about missing items, then you can deal with that then, as half of it isn't on the inventory, then it shouldn't be a problem. Mentioning it now and in writing will just cause more trouble for yourself. Letter should say: Dear landlord, I hereby give notice that I will be vacating on xx/xx/xx . -Tenant. No need to say anything else.

BrandNewDay

sequence wrote: »

I don't know why your mentioning any of this stuff in your letter. Your notice should be just that. No need to say anything else. If they start asking about missing items, then you can deal with that then, as half of it isn't on the inventory, then it shouldn't be a problem. Mentioning it now and in writing will just cause more trouble for yourself. Letter should say: Dear landlord, I hereby give notice that I will be vacating on xx/xx/xx . -Tenant. No need to say anything else.

I agree! I'm glad I didn't send the email.

I wanted to try and make everybody happy, but the truth is, all I can do is what I'm able to do. I will clean and repair to the best of my ability. I'll replace the TV with a similar but cheaper one. And then I'll leave it all at that. I don't mind losing the whole deposit. I just don't want to spend significantly more than the deposit on top of that. I'll replace the TV and a broken lampshade and then I'll clean (wash walls and shampoo carpets) because that's the decent thing to do. The rest is up to them. If they need to spend more than the deposit to get the house back to the way it looks in the inventory photos, then they can do that. But, I don't think that will be possible.

I could leave the TV off, but I just don't feel right doing that.

BrandNewDay

I do know this: I won't accept a CD ROM inventory, again. I think it's a good supplement to an inventory, but the next time I move, I am going to get IN WRITING every single thing. Every mark, every stain, every tiny bit of flaking or peeling.

Luckily, next time we won't be desperate for anything we can get. I can and will walk away from anything that is not satisfactory BEFORE the lease is signed. I had no choice but to take this place as it was literally the only viable house for rent within 30 miles of my husband's job. We're moving into a large urban area with lots of options and we can be more careful next time.

rpc

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Then you would have been better putting the items into proper storage facilities or not renting the house in the first place. I would strongly recommend you bring all this inside now, given the seasonal weather changes. Even if items are not inventoried you are legally responsible for taking care of any property you find in the house.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=57183771&postcount=10

Why shouldn't OP put items in the shed if that is the landlord's instruction? As long as the OP can prove that the landlord told them to store furniture in the shed, I don't see what OP has done wrong. The shed was the LL's idea, not the OP's.

"I followed the instructions given by the LL" should be a suitable defence against any claim for damage or deterioration.