Unprofessional estate agent

yiamas85

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Is there any need to be so rude?

My DD's (now 10 and 12) never drew on walls, and from what I can remember, neither did I.

The property needs to be left in the same condition as you entered in, minus reasonable wear and tear. Over the course of 2.5 years, I'd happily do some painting, but would also ask my tenants to chip in with anything that has been damaged at the same time.

Poo on carpets and drawing on walls, in my opinion after 8 years as a landlord of multiple properties, doesn't constitute reasonable wear and tear. There is case law to back this up, and this is actually a very specific reason to why anything we own doesn't have any carpet anywhere.

With the regard to the other issues, speak to your local Environmental Health department (it will be within District Council for most of the UK, and Borough/City for elsewhere). If you can't work this out, see which authority licenses taxis (except London, where you'll need to speak to the borough), and speak to them.

There are some experienced posters already have posted, at least 2 of whom are also LL's, and probably more of whom are tenants, so take some of the advice here.

CK

there is not poo on carpets, I trained them outside like dogs, that was merely an example of the things little ones do. I want advice not people trying to insult my parenting skills because my baby drew on a small patch of wall! I want to compromise and pay for whole house but want them to pay for paint so at least then they can keep it for future use. And no it is NOT reasonable wear and tear, never said that.

budgetdiyer

Ignoring the other issues you have with the agent. The agent is entirely correct, if you or your children have damaged the walls by drawing on them and / or your subsequent attempts to clean this.

If i was your agent i might (depending on the colour match) allow you to repaint the affected walls only - ie if one of 4 walls were to be repainted and the colour match and cutting in is done well you wouldn't then need to repaint the undamaged walls.

Of course if your children have drawn on all four walls in a room then you will have to repaint all the walls.

Dan-Dan

to be honest , standard paint down at homebase is about £10 for 2.5 litres , it shoudlnt break the bank...

yiamas85

yiamas85 wrote: »

there is not poo on carpets, I trained them outside like dogs, that was merely an example of the things little ones do. I want advice not people trying to insult my parenting skills because my baby drew on a small patch of wall! I want to compromise and pay for whole house but want them to pay for paint so at least then they can keep it for future use. And no it is NOT reasonable wear and tear, never said that.

If you have kids that never drew on walls then you are lucky as most babies who find a pencil will automatically draw on the nearest thing. As I said, my kids must be little artists in the making. My kids have never bitten but I would never use that to try and make out someone is a bad parent or point out what little angels mine are.

yiamas85

Dan-Dan wrote: »

to be honest , standard paint down at homebase is about £10 for 2.5 litres , it shoudlnt break the bank...

It's is not the money, more the principle. However, the paint was mixed in 2004. I hope they still make it as the estate agent wants exactly the same paint. Well no, on second thoughts, as I am not doing it, couldn't care less if they do the paint or not :-)

yiamas85

budgetdiyer wrote: »

Ignoring the other issues you have with the agent. The agent is entirely correct, if you or your children have damaged the walls by drawing on them and / or your subsequent attempts to clean this.

If i was your agent i might (depending on the colour match) allow you to repaint the affected walls only - ie if one of 4 walls were to be repainted and the colour match and cutting in is done well you wouldn't then need to repaint the undamaged walls.

Of course if your children have drawn on all four walls in a room then you will have to repaint all the walls.

It was one small wall at the very bottom, not even that noticeable. But when you enter the house, the bottom landing wall is also the same wall as going up the stairs and then the whole of the upper corridor. There is no break in the wall so she wants the whole lot doing although on every wall you can see grubby marks and fading left from pictures being hung up. So I don't think it is reasonable to expect me to foot the whole cost. As I said I will pay for the work if they pay for the paint, which will allow them to sort out the other rooms which are same condition. If that is not reasonable I don't know what is. She wants to arrange a meeting to discuss the repairs so it sounds like the owner has spoken to her.

CKhalvashi

yiamas85 wrote: »

It's is not the money, more the principle. However, the paint was mixed in 2004. I hope they still make it as the estate agent wants exactly the same paint. Well no, on second thoughts, as I am not doing it, couldn't care less if they do the paint or not :-)

As I have already stated, if your children have drawn on the walls, doing it yourself will be cheaper than the agent getting someone to do it.

As long as it's a good colour match, it doesn't need to be exactly the same. I had a property returned to me in completely different colours last month, as the tenants offered (voluntarily) to re-paint the house, as it hadn't been done for the 6 years they were there. For this, they got the last months rent free.

A little goodwill can go a long way, although I don't want to get drawn into argument with you.

CK

yiamas85

yiamas85 wrote: »

It was one small wall at the very bottom, not even that noticeable. But when you enter the house, the bottom landing wall is also the same wall as going up the stairs and then the whole of the upper corridor. There is no break in the wall so she wants the whole lot doing although on every wall you can see grubby marks and fading left from pictures being hung up. So I don't think it is reasonable to expect me to foot the whole cost. As I said I will pay for the work if they pay for the paint, which will allow them to sort out the other rooms which are same condition. If that is not reasonable I don't know what is. She wants to arrange a meeting to discuss the repairs so it sounds like the owner has spoken to her.

But when I viewed the house I didn't see this as the walls were covered in pictures. Had my partner not worked away we would happily have re-painted for them but I was on my own with three little girls.

delain

Dan-Dan wrote: »

to be honest , standard paint down at homebase is about £10 for 2.5 litres , it shoudlnt break the bank...

This!

My twins have ASD and did manage to draw on some of our walls (we rent) I repainted the whole of the effected room(s) at my cost, which was minimal!

Courtesy of the ASD and the cat we have had the odd poo on the carpet problem. We cleaned thoroughly with disinfectant at the time and have since had the whole downstairs carpets steam cleaned (£50 cost) they came up like new. I'm going to try and get the whole house done this summer.

The mice thing is unreasonable, yes.

Slugs, buy a bag of cheap dishwasher salt and sprinkle a layer under the airbricks and around the outside walls (this is how they usually get in, I used to get slugs all the time now have none!)

yiamas85

CKhalvashi wrote: »

As I have already stated, if your children have drawn on the walls, doing it yourself will be cheaper than the agent getting someone to do it.

As long as it's a good colour match, it doesn't need to be exactly the same. I had a property returned to me in completely different colours last month, as the tenants offered (voluntarily) to re-paint the house, as it hadn't been done for the 6 years they were there. For this, they got the last months rent free.

A little goodwill can go a long way, although I don't want to get drawn into argument with you.

CK

I have offered to fix their walls for them if they pay for the paint. The estate agent has said it has to be an exact match. She said if I do the small bit at the bottom of the hallway it will be patchy, therefore I have to do the whole lot. Even if it is the same colour she said it will be clear where you have painted so do the whole lot. The owner has been in touch and it seems she thinks this is unfair and now a meeting has been arranged to sort it. I am glad I stuck to my guns as now it looks like a compromise will be reached.