End of tenancy, landlord is looking for unreasonable costs?

StudentPoverty

Hi, myself and my partner have just moved of a rental property and have today received an email from the letting agent listing what seem to me like unusually high deductions from our deposit - so much so that they actually want MORE money. I am cutting and pasting from the email below. Sorry that it is a bit long, it is just to give the full picture:

"
[FONT=&quot]RE: Dilapidations[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Further to previous correspondence, please see below costs which the landlord wishes to pursue following the checkout report:-[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]General cleaning oversights mentioned as per checkout report - £200.00[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]3.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]Rectifying the damage to the kitchen worktop - £260.00 + VAT [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]4.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]Gardening works to the front and rear - £1,500.00[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]5.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]Cost of the replacement light bulbs -7 X 88p = £6.16, plus contractors callout to deal with this £50.00 + VAT.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]6.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]Carpet cleaning £150.00[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]7.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]8.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]Landlords time for dealing with the dilapidations – 8 X £50.00 = £400.00[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]9.[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]10.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]Landlord is also recovering our charges for project managing these works at 10% of the total.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The total deposit held is £1,800.00. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Taking into account the above costs that amount to £2,835.16 this leaves an outstanding balance of £1,035.16. plus point 10; recovery costs[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Please can you confirm if you are in agreement with the above, as soon as it is practicable.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Without prejudice; In order to resolve this matter amicably the landlord has informed me that he would be willing to accept the deposit in full, however should you wish to dispute this he will be pursuing the full amount.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Please note that if the parties are unable to come to a resolution in respect of settling the costs, it is the landlords choice to use the small claims court to pursue the claim, he would be looking to recover the legal costs / court charges involved.
[/FONT]


Basically, I am wondering if you think that £1500 for basic front and rear gardening (average Semi-D house) is over the top for lawn mowing and weeding. Annoyingly, the only reason we didn't do the gardening is landlord told us not to bother. Now of course they are saying that we don't have that in writing so it never happened.


Also, can we be charged for water marks near the sink to a kitchen worktop that is made of wood? It seems like fair wear and tear to me.



Does it all sound really dodgy? I am inclined to think that if they genuinely thought we owed them that much money, they wouldn't be willing to give £1000 off for not disputing.


Any other advice really appreciated as we didn't expect this and are in a massive panic about it!


Thanks a million
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

Guest101

Where is your deposit protected? Have you raised a dispute?

Did you sign an inventory when you moved in?

SerialRenter

Sounds very dodgy indeed!

I suggest you find out where you deposit is being held. If you don't already know, shelter list all of the schemes for you to check here:
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/tenancy_deposits/tenancy_deposit_protection_schemes/deposit_protection_and_tenancy_deposit_schemes

Once you know where your deposit is held you'll need to raise a dispute. It costs you nothing to do and it means an independent arbitrator will have a look at evidence from both sides and see if the landlord can be awarded any deductions.
For example things like this:

8.Landlords time for dealing with the dilapidations – 8 X £50.00 = £400.00

will definitely not be awarded to the landlord.

Important questions for you to answer:
Are you in england/Wales?
What date did your tenancy start?
did you go onto statutory periodic tenancy or renew? if so, what date?
Was your deposit correctly protected within 30 days of you paying it?
Did you receive the prescribed information regarding your deposit?
Did you sign and agree with an inventory when you started your tenancy?
Were you present and did you sign anything at the check out at the end of your tenancy?

Can you also give us a bit more detail about the kitchen worktop, the carpets and the garden, as compared to when you started the tenancy.

The mention of court action is just to scare you. In reality a court would look down upon a landlord that refused to use the arbitration service.

StudentPoverty

Hi,

Yes deposit protected with MyDeposits. We did sign an inventory. I haven't raised a dispute yet (which I normally would in this case), but I am afraid of losing more money if the landlord pursues us through the courts as he has threatened to if we don't accept his deal of just the full deposit amount.

Thanks

Guest101

StudentPoverty wrote: »

Hi,

Yes deposit protected with MyDeposits. We did sign an inventory. I haven't raised a dispute yet (which I normally would in this case), but I am afraid of losing more money if the landlord pursues us through the courts as he has threatened to if we don't accept his deal of just the full deposit amount.

Thanks

And from the inventory to the check-out what has changed? Crystal ball on the fritz / cant see from here.

Fear is a common element, when the evidence is weak. If the LL really thought they could get £1000 more, why wouldnt they?!

P.S by your name i suggest this is someone taking advantage of students.

nidO

Clearly your landlord is a professional !!!!!!! and wants to frighten you into paying utterly unreasonable "fees" with the threat of higher ones if you don't.

Dispute the deposit immediately, you'll probably get it all back. Anyone that tries to charge you 7 X 0.88 + 50 x 1.2 x 1.1 + 50 = £122.78 to replace 7 blown lightbulbs is having a laugh, and the deposit service should rightly laugh at the LL/LA's claims then refund you immediately.

Pixie5740

Don't let the LL bully you. If you genuinely believe the claims for damages are exaggerated or unfounded.

How does the check-out report compare with the inventory taken at the start of the tenancy?

Does your tenancy agreement say anything about who is responsible for the upkeep of the garden? For example, my tenancy agreement says the LL is responsible although I think that's because it's a shared garden.

If you have caused damage over and above fair wear and tear, then your LL isn't entitled to betterment i.e. he doesn't get new for old.

I don't understand the part about your LL charging you for his time (8 x £50) and also charging you 10% for project management. That would mean you're paying for his time twice.

StudentPoverty

Okay, we are in England and our tenancy started in April 2014. We handed in notice as per the agreement and our deposit was protected as it should have been. We did sign and agree with the inventory.

The gardens do need mowing and weeding. Does that cost £1500?

The worktop damage I hadn't noticed and neither had the landlord when inspections were done. There is a scuff mark to the wood and some marks they say are water stains. It is a fancy wooden worktop, I don't know how much sanding and re-varnishing a couple of spots would cost.

The lease said we had to professionally clean the carpets, however they were not professionally cleaned prior to moving in, so I know that we shouldn't have to leave them in a better condition.

Pixie5740

StudentPoverty wrote: »

Okay, we are in England and our tenancy started in April 2014. We handed in notice as per the agreement and our deposit was protected as it should have been. We did sign and agree with the inventory.

The gardens do need mowing and weeding. Does that cost £1500?

Depends how big the garden are but that sounds excessive to me for a regular suburban garden.

StudentPoverty wrote: »

The worktop damage I hadn't noticed and neither had the landlord when inspections were done. There is a scuff mark to the wood and some marks they say are water stains. It is a fancy wooden worktop, I don't know how much sanding and re-varnishing a couple of spots would cost.

That sounds like wear and tear more than damage.

StudentPoverty wrote: »

The lease said we had to professionally clean the carpets, however they were not professionally cleaned prior to moving in, so I know that we shouldn't have to leave them in a better condition.

Who determines what a professional cleaning standard means? There's no UK Council of Domestic Cleaners with a strict set of guidelines to adhere to.

nidO

Pixie5740 wrote: »

I don't understand the part about your LL charging you for his time (8 x £50) and also charging you 10% for project management. That would mean you're paying for his time twice.

It's actually even worse than that. The 10% charge is for the managing agents' "project management" time.
This means that, in the case of the lightbulbs which is to me the particularly farcical line:

The replacement bulbs cost £6.16.
They're then getting a contractor out to fit the light bulbs, at a cost of £50 plus VAT.
The managing agent are then charging £6 for "project managing" the replacement of the lightbulb
The landlord is then charging £50 for the time spent dealing with telling the project managers to hire a contractor to do the work.

How many greedy overcharging morons does it take to change 7 lightbulbs...

pyueck

I would just get the dispute in now. The landlord is having a joke and from the sound of his charges I very much doubt you will ever negotiate a reasonable amount.