Landlord claiming on deposit for cooking smell

moromir

robatwork wrote:

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.

This could easily be overcome by rational arguements -

1) A bad smell would have been noted on the Inventory much like damage to the property.

1a) Any good Inventory will have a disclaimer on the end saying everything is in good, sound and reasonable condition unless otherwise noted.

2) The tenant had opportunity to examine the Inventory and add any comments they wanted to (i.e. they should have mentioned if there was a smell)

Small claims works on the balance of probabilities - the Landlord could easily make a compelling arguement like the one set out above that the property did not smell when the tenant took occupation.

AnnieO1234

You don't mention what type of foods you cooked, is this just a general fatty smell or something more ethnic.

I recall a frank conversation with an estate agent client many years ago how kitchens where ethnic foods had been cooked and stored on a regular basis, how those smells got imbedded in the plaster. It literally was a rip out job from what he said.

Now I'm not saying that it would be a valid deduction as presumably it would be classed as fair wear and tear, particularly if the tenant was simply using their standard cultural cuisine, as this could be argued to be racism. It would be interesting to see this be taken further, as a pp has said, it's not something that can be easily proven or photographed.

Xxx

misssaver12

robatwork wrote: »

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.

In some contracts the cleaning of the property professionally is for the tenants not landlord at move out. My agent has stated that my current tenants need to have a professional do a deep clean or forfeit the cost on the deposit..not do it themselves.
Personally I was not overly impressed with the cleaners who did the job for me employed by the agent on letting so am not concerned as long as house is clean state.
I employed a conveancy checks and the contract states that the tenants need to pay for a conveancy check on exit the property which in this case of the smell would have provided an independent to witness the issue for both sides.

lzcook

You have nothing to lose by disputing it. Dispute it.

Have you anyone who was there when you moved out? If so, get them to write a letter stating that the property was in a good state of repair and there was no smell.

ps Did you move out before your tenancy actually expired?

Better_Days

OP do you cook a lot of fried food or with spicy ingredients? If so you may not even notice the smell, but someone coming into the house may well do so and find it unpleasant. Just because you can't smell it doesn't mean that people who don't cook with those ingredients wouldn't either.

I once bought a microwave from someone who clearly ate a lot of fried food. That microwave smelt very strongly of fat even after cleaning.

If a strong odour, whatever the cause - pets, cigarette smoke, cooking smells has got into the carpets, curtains, walls etc then it does take extra work to 'deodourise'. I speak from recent experience having moved into a property where the vendor smoked. We had to wash the walls, ceilings, carpets and curtains, and then it still took weeks for the smell to fade.

keyser666

Agree with the comments on fatty and spicy smells but think the landlord has dropped a clanger here by doing the exit inventory.

pops5588

Hi OP,

The house we bought had an incredibly strong smell of spices from cooking. It wasn't ideal, but other than that it was a great house for us and we went ahead with putting an offer in etc. but the EA did tell us that it was the smell that had prevented other people putting offers in for the 4 months that it was on the market before we came along. In hindsight I would be inclined to believe them as next door (which is identical to ours) went on the market 3 months later and sold within a week.

A lot of people said that it would only become ok again by ripping out the entire kitchen and starting again. However it would be silly of your Landlord to not try other options first. One thing that worked quite well for us was dotting around little pots of vinegar and lemon which helped to neutralise the smell. Obviously this was as well as washing EVERYTHING down thoroughly.

Unfortunately one of the main things that helps get rid of the smell is someone just living in it and cooking amongst it, however I can sort of understand your Landlord's frustration if people aren't prepared to take on the property and give it a go. The smell has mostly faded in our house now but it took a while and we have accepted that we will eventually replace the entire kitchen but for now it's ok

I would agree with others though when they say that just because you can't smell it doesn't mean it isn't there! Apparently the previous vendor was completely baffled when he received feedback from his EA!

AnnieO1234

misssaver12 wrote: »

In some contracts the cleaning of the property professionally is for the tenants not landlord at move out. My agent has stated that my current tenants need to have a professional do a deep clean or forfeit the cost on the deposit..not do it themselves.
Personally I was not overly impressed with the cleaners who did the job for me employed by the agent on letting so am not concerned as long as house is clean state.
I employed a conveancy checks and the contract states that the tenants need to pay for a conveancy check on exit the property which in this case of the smell would have provided an independent to witness the issue for both sides.

I'm fairly certain a professional clean is unenforceable, it can only be expected to be cleaned to a reasonable domestic standard and would guarantee a win if it went to dispute of it not being done.

X

PalmTree

AnnieO1234 wrote: »

You don't mention what type of foods you cooked, is this just a general fatty smell or something more ethnic.

As this is the most asked question, I'll answer it foremost. I have mainly been cooking Italian food (pizzas, pasta's etc) and also fried food. I have ordered currys on many an occasion on the weekends but I wouldn't say that is out of the ordinary?

lzcook wrote: »

You have nothing to lose by disputing it. Dispute it.

Have you anyone who was there when you moved out? If so, get them to write a letter stating that the property was in a good state of repair and there was no smell.

ps Did you move out before your tenancy actually expired?

I will dispute it for sure, thank you.

Only family members and a friend were there when we moved out, to help with moving furniture etc.

I did move out before the tenancy expired, a week earlier but used this week to clean the house and pick up any remaining possessions. No cooking was done during this time period.

dodger1

A few months ago my daughter moved into a flat previously rented by an Indian couple and the cooking smell was pretty strong, a lot of curries and spicy food probably. Within two to three weeks and windows open a fair bit the odour had completely gone and the previous tenants had been in the flat for at least 12 months.