Deposit and redecorating/cleaning

Guest101

Eejay wrote: »

Yup. His flat has been rented out for 6 years now. It's managed for him but he fills out his paperwork for HMRC each year and makes sure everything is legal.

Yet you are arguing about the state you left your flat here? Anyway.

My advice, do the decent thing and pay up

catshark88

This has to be a p1sstake...

Eejay

Guest101 wrote: »

Yet you are arguing about the state you left your flat here? Anyway.

My advice, do the decent thing and pay up

We intend to pay, but I don't want to pay for things unnecessarily. The carpets do not need cleaning - the LA says it is written in the contract that they need cleaning regardless but it must be written in invisible ink because I can't see it. It says 'soft furnishings'. The curtains do need a little bit of a clean (they just have a bit of fluff on one corner).

The wallpaper does not need stripping. It's not perfect but it's not bad. The tiles in the bathroom don't match because they are really poor quality, and the taps don't turn off easily because they are cheap and cr*p. So why do they expect the wallpaper to be perfect? I admit it's not great but the problems with it would be hidden when painted. There are a few slight bumps under the paper but that's because the plaster was falling off - the plaster is not our responsibility.

And finally, when we got the flat the cleanliness was about 8 out of 10. The drawers and cupboards in the kitchen needed cleaning before they could be used and there were tins of beans and stock cubes that had fallen off the back of the carousel cupboard (but could still be seen). But now we're paying to have it cleaned 10 out of 10.

Cleaning - £110
Light - £20
Decorating - £??

I wish I hadn't gone with their recommended cleaner - if I'd looked elsewhere (and looked sooner, more to the point - but I thought we'd manage to do more than we did) I could have got it for much less.

swingaloo

Some people have no shame. I would be embarrassed to admit to half of what the OP has written

swingaloo

From the OPs old thread-


I just hate to see people 'get away' with doing things badly.


Perhaps you need to have a word with your father in law!

Eejay

swingaloo wrote: »

From the OPs old thread-


I just hate to see people 'get away' with doing things badly.


Perhaps you need to have a word with your father in law!

He has been told. I wish I'd let my Mum do it as she's a perfectionist and would have done it really well, I'm sure. I hadn't wallpapered before and didn't fancy messing up someone else's hallway on my first attempt, but I suspect I'd have been able to do a better job (but it would have taken me days probably lol).

brett84n

Why don't you buy the light and replace the broken shade yourself, 1 job down with no additional labour cost to repair.

brett84n

Do you have any pictures of the condition you intend to leave the property incase we're being unfairly harsh?

Pete9501

brett84n wrote: »

Do you have any pictures of the condition you intend to leave the property incase we're being unfairly harsh?

From the description I rather she didn't post photos, I am trying to eat my lunch.

Eejay

I haven't taken many photos, but I've got a few of the wallpaper.

The wallpaper in the living room was damaged around the window so we took off the affected strips and replaced them. Underneath the wallpaper was a second layer of backing paper where they obviously hadn't bothered to remove the old wallpaper properly, but it was not lined up with the new wallpaper which made it difficult to remove neatly. Therefore down the joins it is a little bit bumpy, but not much at all. It dried out a bit too at the edges so it's not stuck down quite perfectly, but painting over it with the same paint would help with that. It was my first attempt at wallpapering so I'm pretty pleased with it. I would say it's as good as their 'complicated' bits (there's a bit at one side of the room where it's all bunched up as it goes around an awkward corner, and that's what the 'professional' did before... haven't got a pic unfortunately though). The man who did the check out said "you can see the joins" but he seemed to lack the ability to understand anything I said to him - I explained that it still needed painting.








The hallway was pretty much like these pictures - a bit bumpy in places but the plaster was coming away in places and it had never been sealed, so it was difficult to work with. There were two other bits that were bad - a 10cm (approx.) strip between two doors was yellow whilst the rest was white (I can't understand why - someone else might know) and there was a wonky join down the side of the front door. Most issues would be solved with a coat of paint, but the bit by the front door might be better off being replaced - I have matching wallpaper which I'm happy to provide if they'd like to replace that bit. I think stripping the entire hallway is ridiculous when, apart from it not being painted, it is the same standard as the paper that was in. The old paper also had a border stuck over the top which was hanging off at the edges because you're not supposed to put a flat border over Anaglypta - it certainly wasn't a 'perfect' room.





As for the bedrooms, they needed a second coat of paint which I'm happy to pay for too. In daylight, leaving the one wall pink-ish looked worse than it had at night with the lights on so I could understand wanting to paint the whole lot. The 'professional' they used last time painted the walls, polystyrene coving and ceiling all in one go so this is why I don't think it'd take long - apart from the skirting boards and door frames, there weren't really any edges to do neatly. Just slap paint everywhere like they did last time.

When it comes to cleaning, we got rid of the worst marks. There was cat fluff on one curtain which was quite bad, but I couldn't wipe it down with wet kitchen roll because I'd painted the walls by then and didn't want to get paint all over the curtains by straightening them out. There may have been small amounts on other curtains but they certainly weren't caked in fluff. The floors had been vacuumed but the vacuum wasn't picking up very well, so whilst the worst bits were up, the smaller bits remained. There was also dust around the place from where furniture had been moved, but again it wasn't thick with dust - any 'dust bunnies' had been vacuumed or swept. Inside cupboards and drawers were fairly clean as we'd had stuff inside them, so any dust would more likely be on our belongings. The kitchen will have been the worst - the hob and sink were thoroughly cleaned, the floor was cleaned to some extent but we were in and out so it couldn't be done fully. Any marks/splashes on the wall were cleaned off and the worktops wiped down. Inside the drawers had little bits in them as we hadn't cleaned them out, but no more than you would expect after you'd just emptied them of food. That's the condition they were in when we got there. The only bit of rubbish we left was a tiny bit of foil in one drawer that I noticed when he was checking through them.

I do think people are being a bit dramatic - we knew it was going to need a clean, but I think 6 hours is OTT. Three bedrooms, a bathroom, a cupboard, kitchen and living room... I suspect the LA has encouraged them to take as long as they like. At £27 an hour. If we'd managed to organise it sooner we could have had the cleaning and carpets done for only a few pounds more than this place is charging just for the cleaning!

ETA: Because we don't drive, it would have taken us about an hour and a half on two buses to get to Homebase and the same to get back, so that's why we didn't get the light. If I knew anyone locally who could have taken us across in a car then I would have gone (it's only 3 miles away), but unfortunately there isn't anyone I could ask