Landlord Wants To Make Deductions from Deposit - Taking the Pee?!

MentalMinnie

We've just moved out of a rented house, handed the keys in on Tuesday 27th, check out was on the Wednesday with the LA. LA was happy with the condition of the house. The landlord is doing some extensive work to the house and moving back in, which is why we had to move out.

We met the LL for the first time on the Sunday when she can round with a builder (we said she was fine to come) she was gutting the kitchen and re-rendering all the internal walls. She gave us permission to take 3 chandeliers whilst she was there.

Fast forward to today and I receive an email from the agent, as below:

1) The locks have been changed. As you said on the phone you had a copy of the new keys so why was this not raised with me when it happened? - Confused by this, she instructed the LA to change the locks when we moved in, as the locks had been tampered with. LA agreed with me and didn't understand the issue here either.

2) I'm not happy with the cleaning of the property, the walls are dirty, there is dust on the dado rails and smoke stains on the cornicing where they've been burning candles. the walls are marked, it's not been decorated in the 5 years that it's been rented out, the check in inventory states the walls as uneven and average condition. I hold my hands up about dusting the dado rail, but seriously, she's doing serious work to the house, which started 2 days after we moved out, does it matter that I forgot to dust, and she's re-plastering the walls, so what difference does it make that there's wear and tear on the walls? The smoke marks on the ceiling are nothing to do with us, I think the previous tenant might have been using the fire, which wasn't sealed properly. The smoke damage is too extensive for it to have been candles anyway.

3) The bathroom hasn't been looked after and has limescale and mould around the bath and shower screen the bathroom was spotless, the only thing I noticed during the check out was the water marks on the bath screen from when I'd rinsed it down.

I've put all this to the LA, hes in agreement with me in all points. He was happy that the bathroom was clean as well.

We think that the LL is hoping to claim for a the cost of a full clean, so that she can use our money to have her house professionally cleaned after her builders have finished.

The LA is trying to make her see reason so waiting to hear back, but wondered what other peoples thoughts were?

Thanks in advance.

RAS

Is your deposit registered in an approved scheme?

Was there a proper dual signed inventory when you moved in?

Did you take photos of the house when you left?

MentalMinnie

RAS wrote: »

Is your deposit registered in an approved scheme?

Was there a proper dual signed inventory when you moved in?

Did you take photos of the house when you left?

Yes, yes and no. Unfortunately:(

00ec25

these are all simple points of disagreement which you take you with the deposit scheme, there is no point you raising them on here since the whole point of a deposit scheme is that it provides an arbitration service to resolve such disputes for you - go use it

MentalMinnie

00ec25 wrote: »

these are all simple points of disagreement which you take you with the deposit scheme, there is no point you raising them on here since the whole point of a deposit scheme is that it provides an arbitration service to resolve such disputes for you - go use it

Thanks, but I'm trying to establish if I can dispute these things, or whether I'd probably going to loose. I don't see why we should have to pay to clean up after her builders.

TBagpuss

when you did the check out with the LA was there an inventory signed? If so, then you have evidence that the place was in good condition.

Regarding the comment about about the place not being painted in 5 years - did your lease include any requirement to redecorate? I would have thought that in a residential property, this would normally be the landlord's responsibility, and by saying it hasn't been done in 5 years I would think that any marks are likely to be fair wear and tear, not damage for which you are liable (unless of course you made any big or unusual marks!)

You say she was gutting and re-rendering the walls - do you mean work was actually starting? If so, I would simply respond to say that the property was clean and welk presented throughout when you left, the LA was happy with the condition on the check out visit and that the things she mentioned all fall either into the category of normal wear and tear, or were not present when you moved out but may, of course, have been caused by the building work she has now started.

Claim your deposit back from the scheme it is in.

MentalMinnie

TBagpuss wrote: »

when you did the check out with the LA was there an inventory signed? If so, then you have evidence that the place was in good condition.

Regarding the comment about about the place not being painted in 5 years - did your lease include any requirement to redecorate? I would have thought that in a residential property, this would normally be the landlord's responsibility, and by saying it hasn't been done in 5 years I would think that any marks are likely to be fair wear and tear, not damage for which you are liable (unless of course you made any big or unusual marks!)

You say she was gutting and re-rendering the walls - do you mean work was actually starting? If so, I would simply respond to say that the property was clean and welk presented throughout when you left, the LA was happy with the condition on the check out visit and that the things she mentioned all fall either into the category of normal wear and tear, or were not present when you moved out but may, of course, have been caused by the building work she has now started.

Claim your deposit back from the scheme it is in.

Yep, check out was signed. There was no clause about redo rating in the contract. The builders started work on the Thursday, 2 days after we handed back the keys.

Twiggy_34

We queried the state of the walls in our last rental property when we were due to move out (which we'd been in for 3 years and had not been decorated fully prior to our moving in) and the LA advised that it is usual for redecoration of a property to be the landlords responsibility if the rental period exceeded 3 years. It's a bit longer than we were told but check out the last paragraph in this blog. As others have said, it may depend on what the terms of your agreement were though. For example, the property I now let allows the tenants to redecorate to colours of their choosing, but that they must redecorate if/when they move out to reinstate the neutral shades that had originally been used (we would supply the paint, but they are to do the work).

AlexMac

You are probably in a strong position, but it seemed to me, when the TDS 1st came in, that some over zealous agents thought they had to give the landlord ammunition to screw tenants on the deposit; case in point- we were really happy with the condition of our rental flat when a bunch of Bulgarian women left it; they'd meticulously replaced the odd broken wineglass and even moved all the rugs and furniture back into the rooms they had been in, so the check out matched the inventory!

But the check out clerk was totally OTT- noted every tiny paint chip or scuff, microscopic mark on carpets, suggested the tenant had repainted the white gloss in one room with magnolia (they hadn't- it was that rubbish batch of Dulux which turned yellow after application!) - all these and dozens more "to be remedied at tenant's expense". The killer was when she reported that three bottles of (Bulgarian) wine left in the fridge should be " removed and disposed of at the tenant's expense" - they were a present to me for being a gooD landlord fur Crissake!

I gave 'em back their deposit. But if I'd bin a nestybestid...?

MentalMinnie

Twiggy_34 wrote: »

We queried the state of the walls in our last rental property when we were due to move out (which we'd been in for 3 years and had not been decorated fully prior to our moving in) and the LA advised that it is usual for redecoration of a property to be the landlords responsibility if the rental period exceeded 3 years. It's a bit longer than we were told but check out the last paragraph in this blog. As others have said, it may depend on what the terms of your agreement were though. For example, the property I now let allows the tenants to redecorate to colours of their choosing, but that they must redecorate if/when they move out to reinstate the neutral shades that had originally been used (we would supply the paint, but they are to do the work).

We only lived there for a year, it was a comment from either the LA or the LL about it being years since it redecorated. There's nothing in out contract about redecorating though, I triple checked it as we did have to redecorate our last place after living in it for a year.

But it just narks me off that she's told us to leave all the screw and pin holes as she re plastering anyway, but she's annoyed with the marks on the walls?! The same walls that are getting re plastered?!

BitterAndTwisted

Get a copy of the agent's check-out report. If they are on-side then they are likely to help you hang onto your deposit. Their relationship has ended withe landlord, so they have no future fee-income to protect. This makes you quite fortunate.