Landlord claiming on deposit for cooking smell

PalmTree

Hello everyone,

I just moved out of a rental 2 weeks ago and today I have been given the move out report done personally by the landlord. In it he says there is a very strong cooking odour/smell and that he requested a quote for a deep clean of the whole house. The cleaning cost is £400. The deposit was £600.

I think it is unfair as I vacuumed the whole house properly and cleaned the kitchen properly with cleaning products.

I refused to pay and the letting agents said I can raise a dispute with MyDeposits.co.uk

Can anyone with experience with deposit disputes comment on where I stand with this?

The landlord is not saying that I have made a mess of the house i.e dirty kitchen or dirty carpets. She is complaining about cooking smell in the whole house which I strongly disagree with. Who knows what the landlord has been up to in the house in the past 2 weeks after I vacated the property. The property is still vacant and not available To Let.

I did not keep any pets.

Looking forward to the comments. Thanks.

HappyMJ

If it's just cooking smell then opening the windows for a few hours is free.

Let him prove it to the TDS/DPS wherever your deposit is held and see what they say...my bet is you'll be OK...they can't prove it with photos and repainting (to cover smells and minor stains) between tenancies is a normal wear and tear item which you are not responsible for.

PalmTree

I did mention to the letting agents that the landlord can open the windows and use air fresheners.

Landlord is adamant about the deep cleaning of the whole house including wheelie bins which I forgot to mention earlier.

The council wheelie bins were clean too when I vacated.

cynicalgit_2

How many more of these ridiculous attempts to appropriate Tenants deposits are we going to read about!!
Some Landlords just see deposits as a way to improve their properties between Tenancies.

G_M

If the property did not smell when you moved in, it should not smell when you move out.

Some styles/ingredients of cooking do smell strongly, and may not be to the liking of the next tenant - or more importantly, the next prospective tenant, who may decide not to rent the property because of the smell.

Indeed, it is a well-known 'trick' for house-sellers to bake bread/brew coffee, as these smells are fairly universally liked, and actually help attract buyers.

my point is - smells matter!

And certain smells can be very long-lasting if they are imbedded in curtains/soft furnishings.

the same problem arises from pets.

so - if your problem is about the existence of the smell, then dispute it. But if your problem is that you do not feel a smell warrants a deposit deduction, I disagree.

emilybean

Wow that is ridiculous... tell the landlord they can hire a Rug Doctor for £20

PalmTree

G_M wrote: »

If the property did not smell when you moved in, it should not smell when you move out.

Some styles/ingredients of cooking do smell strongly, and may not be to the liking of the next tenant - or more importantly, the next prospective tenant, who may decide not to rent the property because of the smell.

Indeed, it is a well-known 'trick' for house-sellers to bake bread/brew coffee, as these smells are fairly universally liked, and actually help attract buyers.

my point is - smells matter!

And certain smells can be very long-lasting if they are imbedded in curtains/soft furnishings.

the same problem arises from pets.

so - if your problem is about the existence of the smell, then dispute it. But if your problem is that you do not feel a smell warrants a deposit deduction, I disagree.

Yes, my problem is about the existence of the cooking smell in the property. The property only smells of cleaning products like Flash, Dettol surface cleaner etc. Three of the rooms have laminate flooring too and she wants them deep cleaned aswell.


When I moved in, the property had a faint smell of cigarettes.

moromir

Are there curtains anywhere? Did you have them cleaned? If not they have almost certainly absorbed any cooking smells along with the rest of the rooms that you suggest are carpeted.

Hoovering isn't going to remove ingrained dirt and smells of any kind accumulated over your tenancy, you must have known this. Why didn't you get the carpets properly cleaned to be sure?

tumbledowngirl

How do you deep clean laminate?

gordonbennet

I agree that smells are relevant and that they can adversely affect the re-letability of a property. If you have been doing a lot of deep fat frying or cooking with aromatic ingredients, these will have permeated and a deep clean is reasonable. £400 sounds excessive though unless you were in a 4 bed house in London (but a £600 deposit suggests you weren't!)

That said, how is the landlord going to prove the existence of the smell now vs when you moved in? If there is no independent inventory then they may be hard pressed to convince MyDeposits to allow the deduction.

robatwork

Interesting in that if it came to court you can't have a photo of a smell nor would it be something in an inventory.

I would write a terse letter saying there is no more smell now than when you moved in and you won't accept any deduction.

A deep clean of a property after someone moves out is frankly something a landlord should do in any case.