Cleaning of room after a tenancy agreement shared property

awolo1

Hi

My partner recently left a short term tenancy agreement. In the agreement, and common sense applies, he cleaned his room and communal areas to the state/condition they were found in, prior to starting the tenancy i.e. the first day the tenancy begun.

The property was basically clean on the day the tenancy started. It wasn't 5* cleaning by any means.

Since leaving the property, the landlord has tried to at every possible opportunity, to try and charge us for additional rent which we were not liable for and also tried to charge us for cleaning at £20 PH as there was dust left on the curtain rail.

She says that three hours is required to clean the rail. This is a joke in itself.

We are not obliged to return the property to a standard of cleaniness that it was not prior to moving into it.

There was a bulb in the room that was broken and I am happy to replace this.

She has offered that we can go back to the property to clean it, to avoid the fee's, but this is a 200 mile round trip. It is not round the corner.

In the tenancy agreement it does state that fair wear and tear is excluded, am I right in thinking, that dust, etc can be classed as fair wear and tear. My argument is that the deep cleaning my partner has completed may have lifted dust.

The landlord is also trying to charge us for damage of items or areas of the property we did not even use. For example a cushion was damaged, but there is no record of who damaged it.

Please can somebody help?

Thanks

hazyjo

Was he a lodger or was it a HMO?


Jx

G_M

Were you a tenant or an excluded occupier (lodger)?

If tenant, was the deposit protected?

See

* Deposits: payment, protection and return


LODGERS (Licencees/Excluded Occupiers)
A lodger (broadly) lives in the same property with a resident landlord & shares facilities. Unlike tenants, lodgers have few rights.

The Housing Act 1988 provides definitions of 'Resident Landlord' & 'same property' (S31 & Schedule 1 (10).

awolo1

The deposit by the tenant, my partner, was provided by a local council instead. It was a 'houseshare' and he was a tenant on a short term tenancy.

awolo1

Sorry, it was a HMO, as my partner was living with three others.

Thanks

G_M

awolo1 wrote: »

The deposit by the tenant, my partner, was provided by a local council instead. .

Did the council actually pay the landlord the deposit? If so, read:

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

Or did the council offer some kind of guarantee to the landlord instead of a deposit? In other words, is the LL trying to get cash out of you (or the council), or are you and/or the council trying to get the deposit returned?

Re your specific issues:

The property was basically clean on the day the tenancy started. It wasn't 5* cleaning by any means.
Was it as clean when he left?

Since leaving the property, the landlord has tried to at every possible opportunity, to try and charge us for additional rent which we were not liable for
I assume
a) you gave proper notice, and
b) this rent claim has been resolved now
and also tried to charge us for cleaning at £20 PH as there was dust left on the curtain rail.
Was there dust on the curtain rail at the start of the tenancy? Can the landlord prove that there was not (eg if you say they dust was originally there)?

She says that three hours is required to clean the rail. This is a joke in itself.
Correct. At most the LL could charge for 10 minutes cleaning (though the cleaning contractor may have a minimum charge and/or charge travlling time).

We are not obliged to return the property to a standard of cleaniness that it was not prior to moving into it.
Correct. See above.

There was a bulb in the room that was broken and I am happy to replace this.
Either drive 200 miles and replace it, or pay for a contractor to do so, but as with the cleaning, you may end up paying travel time etc.

She has offered that we can go back to the property to clean it, to avoid the fee's, but this is a 200 mile round trip. It is not round the corner.

In the tenancy agreement it does state that fair wear and tear is excluded,
That is the law.
am I right in thinking, that dust, etc can be classed as fair wear and tear.
No. It is dirt. See above. Depends if the dust was there at the start.
My argument is that the deep cleaning my partner has completed may have lifted dust.
?? So he has just moved the dust from A to B? Not very effective cleaning! I would avoid this suggestion!

The landlord is also trying to charge us for damage of items or areas of the property we did not even use. For example a cushion was damaged, but there is no record of who damaged it.

If the cushion was his responsibility ie was on the inventory for his room, then he is responsible.

If it was shared by all tenants, in a communal area, then the LL needs to prove who damaged it.

I suppose the LL could share the cost out between all the tenants (ie make them jointly responsible for the damage cost) so your partner could be liable for 1/4 of the cost.

But 'betterment' also applies. So if the cushion is, say, 5 years old, the LL can not expect to replace a 5 year old cushion with a brand new one. If we also assume a cushion of this quality has a life expectancy of, say, 10 years, then the LL can only claim 50% of the cost.

Split between 4 people. So your partner would pay 1/8th of the cost of a new cushion.......

[Deleted User]

You could just claim that all light bulbs were in full working order when you left the property. Anyone in the property could have broken it after you left.

Unless the Landlord has a picture of the cushion before your partner moved in and another one of it after you left, again, its got to be proved your partner damaged it.

Obviously this is a lesson that a tenant should take a full inventory themselves when moving in, notifying the LL of any damage after moving in if one isn't provided by the LL..,and take moving in photos and another lot after moving out.