Fighting for deposit return

mrswottinger

Hi MSers,

I've just finished a tenancy on a 2 bedroom house which our family let for 1 year and 9 months. It was a bolt hole for us having returned from abroad in emergency circumstances. It was too small but we looked after it as if it was our own, paid rent on time and made some small improvements to the garden which had been neglected.

We made sure that we had a few days from our furniture being moved into our new house 3 miles away so we could clean and make good any imperfections that may have caused deposit issues. It turned out to be mainly deep cleaning that needed to be done, I had cleaned the place but only to a lived in standard so went hell for leather in the last few days til my fingers literally bled! I also hired a rug doctor to clean the high traffic area dirt that was on the lounge carpet. The carpet was new when we moved in but it had been walked on a lot as the lounge was straight in through the front door. After the rug doctor had been at it, it looked like new although there were some spots of ground in blue tac we couldn't remove. Our teenage son's bedroom also needed repainting as there were more scuff marks than what we considered fair wear and tear. We matched the original paintwork as close as we could and the result was great.

So you can imagine we weren't too stressed when the inventory clerk arrived. We were when she left an hour later. My husband stayed with her while she made her report, taking photos and talking into a dictophone. From her descriptions, you would've thought a load of animals had been renting the place. She found a few grains of rice in the kitchen, decided the oven wasn't clean enough even after we had used Oven Pride. The oven is at least 15 years old, you cannot polish a turd! She picked up on the few spots of blue tac, she made notes that the few paint touch ups we had done to correct scuff marks were not exactly the same colour. She even had the gall to make a note of some small weeds growing through the cracks of the front footpath when we had weeded out bindweed and ground elder from the beds during the first few months of our tenancy. As for the back garden, she made no comment because the original inventory said that the garden was covered in snow at the time it was done, May 2011!

This raised issues in my mind with the original inventory which had been done by a different company. The letting agent themselves had admitted that they had changed inventory companies during the duration of our tenancy because the original company wasn't thorough enough. The inventory was given to us a few days after we got the keys, there were no photos and only vague descriptions as to condition. We added a few issues that were obvious to us and signed it. I never noticed that the photo on the front showed our house covered in snow yet the inventory was dated May 2011. I wish I had and raised it at the time.

Anyway, the upshot is that the agent wants to deduct around £300 from a £1275 deposit for cleaning and gardening. Our tenancy said the house was to be cleaned to a 'professional standard' and there was no mention of steam cleaning the carpets only a stipulation that the house is returned to the same condition as when we took it over.

The landlord is struggling financially and cut corners with repairs. I can see how he would benefit from getting his hands on as much of our deposit as possible.

What are our chances of fighting this?

ValHaller

Blutack and scuff marks, no chance unless you can show they were there originally. Oven depends on whether they can show the condition was worse than when you started. Gardening, the snow is probably on your side - they need to show that the garden was in better condition originally.

DRP

mrswottinger wrote: »

Hi MSers,

I've just finished a tenancy on a 2 bedroom house which our family let for 1 year and 9 months. It was a bolt hole for us having returned from abroad in emergency circumstances. It was too small but we looked after it as if it was our own, paid rent on time and made some small improvements to the garden which had been neglected.

We made sure that we had a few days from our furniture being moved into our new house 3 miles away so we could clean and make good any imperfections that may have caused deposit issues. It turned out to be mainly deep cleaning that needed to be done, I had cleaned the place but only to a lived in standard so went hell for leather in the last few days til my fingers literally bled! I also hired a rug doctor to clean the high traffic area dirt that was on the lounge carpet. The carpet was new when we moved in but it had been walked on a lot as the lounge was straight in through the front door. After the rug doctor had been at it, it looked like new although there were some spots of ground in blue tac we couldn't remove. Our teenage son's bedroom also needed repainting as there were more scuff marks than what we considered fair wear and tear. We matched the original paintwork as close as we could and the result was great.

So you can imagine we weren't too stressed when the inventory clerk arrived. We were when she left an hour later. My husband stayed with her while she made her report, taking photos and talking into a dictophone. From her descriptions, you would've thought a load of animals had been renting the place. She found a few grains of rice in the kitchen, decided the oven wasn't clean enough even after we had used Oven Pride. The oven is at least 15 years old, you cannot polish a turd! She picked up on the few spots of blue tac, she made notes that the few paint touch ups we had done to correct scuff marks were not exactly the same colour. She even had the gall to make a note of some small weeds growing through the cracks of the front footpath when we had weeded out bindweed and ground elder from the beds during the first few months of our tenancy. As for the back garden, she made no comment because the original inventory said that the garden was covered in snow at the time it was done, May 2011!

This raised issues in my mind with the original inventory which had been done by a different company. The letting agent themselves had admitted that they had changed inventory companies during the duration of our tenancy because the original company wasn't thorough enough. The inventory was given to us a few days after we got the keys, there were no photos and only vague descriptions as to condition. We added a few issues that were obvious to us and signed it. I never noticed that the photo on the front showed our house covered in snow yet the inventory was dated May 2011. I wish I had and raised it at the time.

Anyway, the upshot is that the agent wants to deduct around £300 from a £1275 deposit for cleaning and gardening. Our tenancy said the house was to be cleaned to a 'professional standard' and there was no mention of steam cleaning the carpets only a stipulation that the house is returned to the same condition as when we took it over.

The landlord is struggling financially and cut corners with repairs. I can see how he would benefit from getting his hands on as much of our deposit as possible.

What are our chances of fighting this?

Check the inventory in detail!

IF it is as vague as you suggest , it'll only make things difficult for the LL - they can't claim damage if there is no evidence for the original condition.

warwicktiger

I am a professional Carpet Cleaner

Many agencies are like this, trying to retain deposits. I will not even quote for end of tennancy cleans for one particular agent locally, three times out of three they have decided that my clean was not thorough enough and retained money to pay their pet carpet cleaner. Funny how their pet charges nearly twice what I do and that around 60% of my business is referral or repeat.

Blu tac - a pain but easily removed by a professional, and to be honest the agent would have expected it to be removed.

A slug doctor is NOT a professional machine, any reputable carpet cleaner would laugh at the idea of using one. I could go into great length about why.

Incidentally I am doing a 2 bed terrace end of tenancy next week, no furniture to move around. Cost £125.00

mrswottinger

Interesting comments from you both.

DRP, the check in inventory didn't contain photos or a detailed description of condition. I'm also doubting the time the inventory was really taken, the only photo is on the front, a photo of the house covered in snow yet the date on the document says 'May 2011'. It also says that the garden was covered in snow when the inventory was taken. I should've raised this at the time. Was this an old inventory that the LA recycled rather than paying for a new one?

Warwick Tiger, do you know if carpets come under the fair wear and tear point? There was no request for them to be steam cleaned in the agreement.

warwicktiger

"Reasonable" wear and tear is to be expected, the exceptions to which would be any spots and stains which could be removed, or damage such as a dropped Iron or burn marks from cigarettes. (Have seen these!)