Letting Agents - Useless!!

themaccas

We have rented out our family home for the last 4 years while we have moved around the country with OH's work (he is in the forces). We decided to use letting agents from the start and after seeing them decided on one who we really liked - assured us he would visit the property every 3 months, inform us of work that needed doing, would take £1300 deposit and charged us a 10% fee per month which we felt reasonable.

Our tennants moved out yesterday after giving the letting agent 4 weeks notice (their paperwork says 3 months is needed), the tennants handed the keys back yesterday and we had a look at the house yesterday ourselves. The LA said it could do with a bit of redecoration and the carpets were worn. Fair enough, but when we visited the house yesterday, we were appalled!. The walls were filthy, the toilets and sinks disgusting, cooker not cleaned, holes in the walls where pictures had been - not filled and there was hole in one of the carpets. That is just the start.

OH contacted the LA while we were there and vented his anger and made them come and put a lock back on one of the windows that had been broken so we could secure the house. We have made a snagging list that we will present to the LA. The house is 10 years old and we accept that the house needs redecoration and new carpets but the lazy attitude of the LA and the tennants has really annoyed us. We have decided to do up the house and sell it as I am not cut out to be a landlady or do the buy-to-let thing.

Just wanted to ask anyone if they had had any similar experience and whether we should pursue the LA to put all these things right or ask for a monetary value to the cost of the cleaning and repairs. They are still holding £1300 deposit from the ex-tennants.

Many thanks

sandy2_2

The cost of remedial work should come outof the tenants deposit before it is returned to them, You have to accept normal wear and tear however. Our letting agents always send in cleaners a few day after the end of a tenancy, and they clean carpets, clean upholstery and do a general clean, a gardener also checks the garden, mows lawn etc (as most tenants don't seemto bother). I must say I always ask them to pay particular attention to cooker and bathroom

themaccas

Thanks Sandy for your reply, I agree that normal wear and tear is totally acceptable it's just that the house is soooo dirty the walls need redecoration but the walls are filthy with fingerprints all over and ?pawprints so will need to be cleaned before painting can be done.

I think we will totally redecorate and put in new bathrooms and then put on the market to sell, I hate the stress of letting! Maybe I feel like this because it was our family home once and DS2 was born there.

clutton_2

as long as the LA did an inventory. then get cleaners in and deduct this cost from the deposit. If carpets are damaged then charge them a proportion of the replacement value. Tenants need only give one months notice by law - this agent has no business putting 3 months notice in an agreement.

Sadly, you cannot force your standards onto others - that is why it is hard to see your "home" let out to others and not looked after as you would have done.

Meatballs

After 4 years the walls are likely to be marked... Thats normally what the LA's mean by redecoration - a paint job?

thelawnet

Meatballs wrote: »

After 4 years the walls are likely to be marked...

Is this fair wear and tear? A tenant has lived somewhere three years, should they leave the property exactly as they found it, or is this the landlord's expense in maintaing the property?

themaccas

Walls scuffed and marked, yes I understand, dirty handprints, coffee marks on the walls I find unacceptable. It takes a couple of minutes with soapy water to clean them off.

Meatballs

thelawnet wrote: »

Is this fair wear and tear? A tenant has lived somewhere three years, should they leave the property exactly as they found it, or is this the landlord's expense in maintaing the property?

Difficult to decide. After 4 years I would think it would be impossible to get the walls back to their old standard without repainting. But then some people will mark the walls far more than others. If you allow a family with small children or a smoker into your property then you would understand that they are going to deteriorate quicker.

I agree they should wipe off obvious coffee and handstains though. Charge them for cleaning the marks (or a proportion if it was already marked) but I dont think the tenants should be charged for actual repainting.

Spendless

We rented our house to people known to us, and whilst they in no way damaged it, and certainly they cleaned the cooker and loo before leaving, the 2 years of wear and tear took its toll when someone is in a house that they are not concerned about maintaining. I was also surprised when I saw about how much my place had 'gone downhill' from when we were there. I never used an LA, so can't help you there.