Tenant Moving Out - Deductions from Deposit

gazfocus

Two years ago, we started to rent out our first house as we'd been fortunate to buy somewhere bigger. When we did, we spent a lot of money doing the house up, had just had a new conservatory built, etc, so a lot of things in the house were new (or less than 6 months old).

Our first ever tenants are moving out in a couple of weeks and we've got someone lined up to move in but need to decide what to do about the tenants deposit.

We're fair people so want to kee deductions to a minimum but obviously don't want to be out of pocket, so my questions are:

1. 6 months before renting the house out, we had a brand new kitchen fitted. This included a £600 electric oven. The tenants have somehow managed to dent the oven door. I have researched the cost of a replacement door and it would be around £150-£160, however, a cheap (ish) electric oven can be bought brand new for £140 so can I deduct the money for a new oven as the cheaper option (I can then repair the other oven and keep as a spare?)

2. There was an oak veneer fireplace in the living room that the tenant has painted white. Due to it being veneer, this can never be returned to its original state. Should I deduct anything for this?

3. There is some mould in the conservatory (which was only built 3 months before the tenants moved in) so not so much a question of deposit, but if anyone can suggest a way of removing the mould, that would be appreciated.

Pixie5740

You are not entitled to betterment, in other words you do not get new for old. You have had 2.5 years use out of the oven door and fireplace so you cannot charge the tenant the full whack for fixing/replacing these items.

I'm assuming the deposit was protected correctly and the prescribed information was issued to the tenant.

To tackle the mould problem then a bleach solution will clear the mould away. I've found HG Mould Spray to be good. Have you got any idea what caused the mould? Tenant's lifestyle or design/construction of the conservatory?

pmlindyloo

This is a link about avoiding betterment and how to calculate costs:

http://www.arla.co.uk/info-guides/info-for-landlords/deposit-protection-guide/betterment-and-apportionment.aspx

Not sure the expected life of an electric cooker but a rough calculation would seem to suggest something like £100 for deduction.
Present the tenant with a quote for replacement and then do some negotiation if they are unhappy.

As regards the fireplace, if you gave them permission to do this and you don't intend to replace, then I wouldn't deduct anything.

Most deductions should be done as amicably as possible - have you given the tenant the chance to replace the oven door?

In the end if you can't negotiate then it will be decided by arbitration through the deposit protection scheme.

[Deleted User]

How to remove paint from veneer

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/strip-paint-off-veneer-27290.html

That was just the first link, sure there are others.

This might be a silly idea..,but garages can remove dents from cars, I would assume dents can be removed from any metal, depending on how bad the dent is.

I assume the oven is working, even though the oven door is dented? Seems a bit off to get the tenants to replace the oven, then repair the old one so they are kindof paying for two ovens. I'd have put a cheap one in before they even moved in. Leaving a £600 oven for tenants probably wasn't a good idea anyway.

agrinnall

Does the dent in the oven door actually cause any problem in operation? If not I'd be inclined to leave it, note it in the inventory for the next tenants, and budget for a replacement in a few years. You could ask for a contribution from the departing tenants, maybe £50-£100, but is it worth pushing it if they are unhappy to pay?

booksurr

whilst betterment prevents you claiming new for old the fact remains that the oven and paint issues are categorically DAMAGE caused by the tenants not fair wear and tear, so they must suffer some financial repercussion for their actions

i would go for the full cost of a replacement oven door on the basis you are returning the oven to its undamaged state, that is not betterment.

System

It is because it ignores 2.5 years of fair wear and tear

selement

I was once charged £50 for oven cleaning because the door was stained (I'd had several attempts at cleaning it myself and stains wouldn't budge). Bit ridiculous if you ask me no way would it cost that much.
I've rented a few places that didn't start in top condition but I bet they charged the leaving tenants all the same, so I strongly recommend anything you do charge for you actually use the money to sort it out otherwise it's totally unfair

mrsp1987

With regards to the painting of the oak veneer fireplace in your tenancy agreement/contract is there a part where it stipulates that they can't re/decorate without getting your permission first? Or that they can't make any changes at all? If it does then it seems as if it might be reasonable to deduct something from their deposit. If it doesn't and they were free to decorate as they wish then no it is not fair.
My opinion of course.

AnotherJoe

If that's all they've done in two years I'd just let it go, and as someone else posted I'd just note for the next tenants that there is a dent in the oven door. Only proviso is, did they get permission to paint the wood?

G_M

gazfocus wrote: »

1. 6 months before renting the house out, we had a brand new kitchen fitted. This included a £600 electric oven. The tenants have somehow managed to dent the oven door. I have researched the cost of a replacement door and it would be around £150-£160, however, a cheap (ish) electric oven can be bought brand new for £140 so can I deduct the money for a new oven as the cheaper option (I can then repair the other oven and keep as a spare?)
Yes. You deduct what is fair. What you then spend it on is your business.
However no - you canot deduct the whole cost of new oen door, as the door is now 2.5 years old. See 'betterment'. I'd guess the life of good oven is 15 years. So 1/6th of that life is gone. You can deduct 5/6ths of new door price.

2. There was an oak veneer fireplace in the living room that the tenant has painted white. Due to it being veneer, this can never be returned to its original state. Should I deduct anything for this?
Yes. Get quotes to replace it to original (price of part + labour.) Again, deduct a % for 'betterment since you'd be getting a brand new veneer (or fireplace) in place of a 2 year old one.)

3. There is some mould in the conservatory (which was only built 3 months before the tenants moved in) so not so much a question of deposit, but if anyone can suggest a way of removing the mould, that would be appreciated.

Were they using the conservatory to dry their washing in perhaps? Without ventilating? That would cause damp and mould.........

see also:

* Deposits: payment, protection and return