Fair Wear and Tear - what can they charge me for?

jhsam

Hello,

We have just done our check out with the letting agents and the lady seemed to be implying that nothing in the property can be classed as fair wear and tear, and she is going to compose the report and then will let us know the outcome.

Things she pointed out (I have photographic evidence of everything when we moved in and when we moved out and even the extra bits she pointed out)

We have lived in the family property (3 beds up stairs and 4th bedroom on lower level which we used as a play room) for 6 years - in that time the landlord has never painted or done any general upkeep. We have rented a carpet cleaner 6 times in the 6 years to keep the CREAM carpets through out a bit fresher, granted we didn't clean them again before we left but they are not bad at all after 6 years of use (plus the years before that from previous tenants!)

So she said all carpets need cleaning properly (assume she means with a proper carpet cleaner) - Do we have to do this, or can they take money out the deposit for this?

She said there are marks on the walls, these are general marks, so in the dining kitchen there are those like silvery grey lines from when the chairs or table has been pushed up against the wall, the are some marks going down the stair way on the wall (all walls in the house are magnolia) she pointed out some basic marks in all rooms, mostly where furniture had been - 3 rooms we painted ourselves anyway magnolia as we had painted different colours which needed to be set back so 3 rooms are "fresh" so to speak - So can they charge us anything for this out the deposit?

Oven, I have run the oven cleaner through ti 7 times now, she said it's not clean enough (we literally used it 3 times a day for 6 years, and I did try and clean it once or twice a year) - can they charge us anything further for this?

General marks on the carpet - I hold my hand up, in the hall my 3yr old was sick after iron brew (barf can you imagine) so there is a FAINT orange stain about the circumference of a football, and there are a few just dirty circular marks (size of a pea) dotted about (no idea where these came from they always seemed to just pop up out of no where!) anyway - can they charge us anything for that?

She said the shower isn't clean enough, she means the sealant where it goes a funny colour - can they charge for this?

Finally, and we accept responsibility for this, in my sons room, we didn't know till we dismantled his bed, at some point he had dropped some black (had to be black didn't it!) silly putty under it and it had all soaked in to the carpet, its about 2 spread out hands in circumference, iv'e dried getting it out to no avail, I assumed they would just take a bit of money out the deposit for it but she said I would have to get a quote and get a new like for like carpet fitted? Is this correct? The carpet was far from new when we moved in, it had stains all over it and we got them out with a cleaner (I have photographs of that too) - so can they charge us for a new carpet or a just a proportion of the cost? I mean if it's a new carpet then we will have to get a quote and replace it, but I want to make sure they are not trying to rip us off as they seem to be being a bit silly with comments like "marks on the wall are not fair wear and tear even after 6 years"

If anyone in the know and who can offer proper advice wants to see pictures, then PM me your email address and I will send them through.

thanks

silvercar

If you don't agree with the deductions then the correct procedure is to go through the dispute scheme operated by whichever deposit protection scheme was used to protect your deposit.

They will adjudicate on what is wear and tear and what is not.

jhsam

they have not deducted anything yet - but they will do, however I need to know what I NEED to do if they can deduct anything -

For example - carpet cleaning, if I have to do it and don't, this means they CAN claim for a carpet cleaner (which they will probably get a professional at say £100 for example), OR I could pay £25 and rent one and do it myself, saving £75 - but if I wait till we all put the claims in it will be to late for me to decide to do it myself.

So before we start the process of getting the deposit back and disputing stuff, I need to know out of my list what I can be charged for - i.e I don't want to ring the carpet guy and pay him £400 for a new carpet and then find out they would of only got £50 from a deposit claim due to the carpet being over 7yrs old etc

Guest101

After 6 years the effective use of the various items claimed for could well be used up.

Google 'betterment'

Guest101

jhsam wrote: »

they have not deducted anything yet - but they will do, however I need to know what I NEED to do if they can deduct anything -

For example - carpet cleaning, if I have to do it and don't, this means they CAN claim for a carpet cleaner (which they will probably get a professional at say £100 for example), OR I could pay £25 and rent one and do it myself, saving £75 - but if I wait till we all put the claims in it will be to late for me to decide to do it myself. - Why would you have to do this? Just make sure it is as clean as when you recieved it, less 6 years wear and tear.

So before we start the process of getting the deposit back and disputing stuff, I need to know out of my list what I can be charged for - i.e I don't want to ring the carpet guy and pay him £400 for a new carpet and then find out they would of only got £50 from a deposit claim due to the carpet being over 7yrs old etc

Google betterment.

Stop panicking.

After 6 years they cant claim much at all!

HappyMJ

jhsam wrote: »

they have not deducted anything yet - but they will do, however I need to know what I NEED to do if they can deduct anything -

For example - carpet cleaning, if I have to do it and don't, this means they CAN claim for a carpet cleaner (which they will probably get a professional at say £100 for example), OR I could pay £25 and rent one and do it myself, saving £75 - but if I wait till we all put the claims in it will be to late for me to decide to do it myself.

So before we start the process of getting the deposit back and disputing stuff, I need to know out of my list what I can be charged for - i.e I don't want to ring the carpet guy and pay him £400 for a new carpet and then find out they would of only got £50 from a deposit claim due to the carpet being over 7yrs old etc

Were the carpets new when you moved in?

Have you still got some time left on your tenancy or have you returned possession back to the landlord? If you have time I'd get the carpets cleaned yourself. I'd also clean the oven again.

I wouldn't worry about a few scuff marks. The LL should expect to repaint every few years and 6 years is pushing it whether or not you painted there will be marks on the walls.

Sealant on the shower should be replaced every so often anyway so I don't think they could charge for it's wearing out.

You don't have to pay for the full cost of reinstating the carpet. Just pay for the remaining years of life left in the items that were damaged. So the carpet with the large orange stain might only be £50 for the last few years of it's life being cut short.

kinger101

Have a read of this.

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

Might not be the deposit protection scheme you're in, but it will give you the gist of how it works. Just dispute everything. The letting agent is taking the p155.

Do you know if your deposit is protected? Did you sign an inventory?

RAS

I doubt if after 6 years a deposit scheme would agree any deduction for painting walls; a LL would expect to be re-decorating at least that often.

If the carpets were there for the previous tenants, they would have to be very good quality to justify much deduction after so many years. Depends on the quality; some carpets might have a 5 year life span at most; better quality could be 10 years.

I would argue betterment on the whole lot and see what the deposit scheme say.

Kynthia

Don't pay out for anything now, other than maybe a professional oven clean as you should be able to hand back an oven as clean as you received it. Most of the other things you mention you would only need to pay a portion of due to their age and lack of useful life left. If bleach doesn't get the sealant cleaner then it's discoloured through age.

Gather evidence such as receipts from your carpet cleaner hire, photos of the cleanliness as you move out, any comments in the inventory or any correspondence that shows the carpets weren't new when you moved in, etc. Then you can go through the deposit arbitration.

jhsam

HappyMJ wrote: »

Were the carpets new when you moved in? No - They were filthy, before we signed the tenancy we asked them to get them cleaned as there were hacky stains everywhere, they got a professional carpet cleaner in who couldn't get all the stains out!

Have you still got some time left on your tenancy or have you returned possession back to the landlord? If you have time I'd get the carpets cleaned yourself. I'd also clean the oven again. - Technically we have handed possession back, our tenancy ended midnight on 28th but the letting agent said for me to keep the key to come back and put everything right and get the carpet people in to measure up and quote for a carpet

I wouldn't worry about a few scuff marks. The LL should expect to repaint every few years and 6 years is pushing it whether or not you painted there will be marks on the walls. - what's pi55ed me off about that is, I contacted the agents month ago to get the exact paint on the walls, i went and bought the same exact paint (crown trade) and painted to kids bedrooms back in it, and then with the left overs we filled in all holes (like where stair gates were and where we had hung pics) sanded and painted so you can not see those at all, and then I painted the wall from upstairs to middle level, and various other marks just to try and spruce it up for them a bit - wish I hadn't of bothered now!!

Sealant on the shower should be replaced every so often anyway so I don't think they could charge for it's wearing out. - they even raised this 2 yrs ago at last inspection (we had one yearly) and said they would ask the LL if he would have it re-sealed as it needed doing

You don't have to pay for the full cost of reinstating the carpet. Just pay for the remaining years of life left in the items that were damaged. So the carpet with the large orange stain might only be £50 for the last few years of it's life being cut short. - Thanks that's what I thought

kinger101 wrote: »

Have a read of this.

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

Might not be the deposit protection scheme you're in, but it will give you the gist of how it works. Just dispute everything. The letting agent is taking the p155.

Do you know if your deposit is protected? Did you sign an inventory?

Thanks I will give that a read tonight. I think we might be in that one, I will dig out the paper work but I'm sure it's DPS. It is protected yes (that's something at least!) When we moved in, we did get an Inventory that we signed, and the carpets & walls are listed as "average condition with stains and marks" she said she doesn't know if they have pictures from the move in (I do!) so she will have to check that, and then see if they can tell which stains and marks are ours and which are not!!

RAS wrote: »

I doubt if after 6 years a deposit scheme would agree any deduction for painting walls; a LL would expect to be re-decorating at least that often.

If the carpets were there for the previous tenants, they would have to be very good quality to justify much deduction after so many years. Depends on the quality; some carpets might have a 5 year life span at most; better quality could be 10 years.

I would argue betterment on the whole lot and see what the deposit scheme say.

yes they were the carpets from previous tenants, I don't think good quality, probably average! We have just had new top of the range carpets in the new house and they feel 10 times, and the pile 10 times better than in the rental (even from day 1) so I would say average quality

I will google Betterment that a fair few have suggested.

I am going to go down on Sunday (I did tell her I was busy this week and sat and sunday is the only day I can go and she said fine) and clean the over a few more times to sparkle it up, and go round AGAIN with the bleach - Ive got about 40 pics but I think I will take some more again so I have everything covered!

I'm not panicking by the way to the poster who said that, I just don't really have the time to be getting carpet quotes and fitters and doing carpet cleaning if I don't have to and if the letting agents are trying to take the pi55 out of me, expecting me to not know what I have to do. If the DPS say I need to pay xx that's fine, I accept that, but the LA was REALLY rude, and to pretty much say the walls should be spotless and marks are not classed as fair wear & tear and to try and con me in to paying full for a new carpet in one room at least so it's really got my back up now. We treated the property like our own home, you know, made people take their shoes off when they came in, carpet cleaned it (have receipts for this luckily!), even had my dad who is a handy man fix lot's of little things that cropped up so we didn't have to bother the LL (also saved him money!), and we think the property is decent condition for 6yrs worth of family living so it's a bit of an insult to be honest.

G_M

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