Tenants Moved Out - Now Disagree With Deposit Deductions

steve2005

I'll keep it as brief and as factual as possible for ease of reading.

Tenants moved out on 21st Feb
End of tenancy inspection conducted on 26th Feb
They did not move out all their possessions until 23rd Feb.
There are still items in and around the property that belong to them, ie ornaments and a car tyre.

During the inspection I spotted several problems, namely:

• Drawings on several walls
• Other walls painted another colour
• Damaged furniture
• Oven and extractor fan filthy
• Holes in walls from Sky cables
• Generally not clean
• Iron burn mark on carpet
• Customs made cupboards damaged and repaired, but still marks of damage present
• Screw/Nail holes in walls after being told not to hang anything on specified walls
• Damaged locks
• Damaged door frames

We have so far decided to ignore that vast majority of this, and are seeking only to have the carpet, oven, walls and furniture put back to their original condition.

We have got several quotes from MyBuilder for the painting, and forwarded them the quotes
We have contacted an oven cleaning company and forwarded the quotes
We have allowed them to obtain a quote for the carpet which we have recieved.

Tenants are now arguing stating that the quotes we have given are too hign and are refusing to pay for them, and still demanding their full deposit back.

To try and get this matter resolved, we even offered to pay half towards the cost of the painting, but they are still saying this is too much.

At the end of tenancy inspection, they also signed a document staying that they are happy for us to deduct the cost of the Oven cleaning, carpet, furniture and painting from their deposit, but are now saying that they shouldn't have to clean the oven. I even gave them five opportunities to clean the oven whilst I was conducting the inspection.

What would you advise is the next thing to do. We do not want to keep more money than we need to fix their damages, but they seem to think they should not have to pay for anything.

Your thoughts please.

anselld

You cannot claim the full cost of return to original condition as this would be betterment. It is not "new for old".

You should get several quotes to justify cost, not just you preferred supplier.

Otherwise stick to your claim and I would say don't be selective. Claim for all damages based on checkin and checkout inventories and allowing for fair wear and tear.

You have presumably lodged the deposit in a scheme and the scheme will have advice on the process for making deductions and resolving disputes.

steve2005

We provided 4 quotes for the painting works, from 4 different companies and went for the cheapest.
We provided links to 7 oven cleaning companies, all of which charge the same price
We have found a furniture similar to the damaged item and have asked for a less than a third of it's cost.
We allowed them to provide the quote for the carpet.

Yes, deposit is with DPS. Not spoken to them yet as we wanted to get this sorted amicably.

anselld

steve2005 wrote: »

We provided 4 quotes for the painting works, from 4 different companies and went for the cheapest.
We provided links to 7 oven cleaning companies, all of which charge the same price
We have found a furniture similar to the damaged item and have asked for a less than a third of it's cost.
We allowed them to provide the quote for the carpet.

Yes, deposit is with DPS. Not spoken to them yet as we wanted to get this sorted amicably.

Good.

So allowing for age, example ....
Carpet expected life 10 years (depends on carpet quality)
Cost of cheapest equivalent replacement £400
Age of carpet now 5 years.
You can claim £200 which is the cost of remaining life destroyed.
You cannot claim the full £400.

Same for painting.

Cleaning you can claim the full cost assuming you can prove the cleanliness state via the inventories.

Read this ...
http://www.depositprotection.com/documents/a-guide-to-tenancy-deposits-disputes-and-damages.pdf

steve2005

anselld wrote: »

Good.

So allowing for age, example ....
Same for painting.

Cleaning you can claim the full cost assuming you can prove the cleanliness state via the inventories.

Read this ...
http://www.depositprotection.com/documents/a-guide-to-tenancy-deposits-disputes-and-damages.pdf

That's fantastic. Thank you so much!!

We both walked around the house at the start of the tenancy and asked them to point out either then, or within 14 days, any defects they noticed. They did point a few things out, and these have been completely ommited from our 'claim'.

The walls were painted approx 1 year before they moved in. If our quote was for £300, how much, in your personal opinion only, do you think we should ask for repainting?

anselld

steve2005 wrote: »

That's fantastic. Thank you so much!!

We both walked around the house at the start of the tenancy and asked them to point out either then, or within 14 days, any defects they noticed. They did point a few things out, and these have been completely ommited from our 'claim'.

The walls were painted approx 1 year before they moved in. If our quote was for £300, how much, in your personal opinion only, do you think we should ask for repainting?

How long was the tenancy?

Viberduo

This sounds like a more extreme version of what happened to me as a tenant in the sense that the landlord claimed I did damage when it was due to shoddy work he did on installing a kitchen etc, not saying you are doing that but would be interesting to keep an eye on this for me.

I have photos of a flat that is spotless bar a sleeping bag on the bed and pillows as he took the photos BEFORE I moved out, and had a white carpet 3 years old that was greying, he even charged me to repaint whole living room as there was scrapes where a sofa had been , he also claimed the flat had never been cleaned since I moved in and was in a disgusting and dirty state, I have shown the pictures to people and I have had to point out what the landlord is complaining about though if thats not the worse he wants £1000 more than my deposit for "putting it back to a liveable state"

Such a shame that both dodgy landlords and dodgy tenants exist, he was happy that my next door neighbour was a drug dealer and stole any parcels or post, that he had the police round all the time, that he had his electric meter wired for free electric, he was doing identity theft because in his own words "I dont care as long as I get the rent"

steve2005

36 months.

anselld

steve2005 wrote: »

36 months.

So for the paintwork, new 1 year prior plus three years tenancy.
ie 4 years life used.
It would be hard to argue an expected life any more than 5 years IMHO.
Hence, 4 years life used, 1 year life destroyed so only 20% of replacement cost can be claimed, ie £60. The rest is your expected maintenance cost as LL.

steve2005

anselld wrote: »

So for the paintwork, new 1 year prior plus three years tenancy.
ie 4 years life used.
It would be hard to argue an expected life any more than 5 years IMHO.
Hence, 4 years life used, 1 year life destroyed so only 20% of replacement cost can be claimed, ie £60. The rest is your expected maintenance cost as LL.

OK, not ideal but I appreciate you guys are a lot more experienced at this than I.

Audrey_Wright

Well, that is what the deposit is for. You have probably documented the house before they got in and the discrepancies of the condition then and now is pure evidence that you can claim an amount of the deposit equal to the damages done to the property.

I suggest you don't overlook any of them and claim the full amount that you deserve. They can't argue, when the damage is clearly their fault.

Alternatively, you can agree on them fixing everything to the standard you want and give them back the deposit. That way they can't claim it's too expensive, as they are picking the prices and companies they pay.