Question about damage by tenant

KingS6

soki91 wrote: »

You sound like excellent tenants. I would dispute everything after 10 years. We were tenants for 6 years in the same property with kids mid way and out landlords were always great and we were great tenants too. They didn't deduct anything when we left as they felt they could have done more to keep the property updated and loved having us. The check out report said we didn't clean well enough but after 6yrs there will be wear and tear.

As in you didn't clean well enough because of wear and tear or vice versa? Them being over zealous or you being lackadaisical?

Mela322

We have really taken pride in looking after the house and have only improved it. We have only neglected the back garden the past few years due to medical reasons. LL was completely heartless about that one. We are tackling that now and have an upcoming inspection and if not to their liking, we will be charged an admin fee and costs of work carried out to get it the way they want. It really just needs weeding and the grass needs some weed and feed. The grass has always been cut but we do have children and they do leave their toys out. I have always maintained the front garden though.

KingS6

Mela322 wrote: »

We have really taken pride in looking after the house and have only improved it. We have only neglected the back garden the past few years due to medical reasons. LL was completely heartless about that one. We are tackling that now and have an upcoming inspection and if not to their liking, we will be charged an admin fee and costs of work carried out to get it the way they want. It really just needs weeding and the grass needs some weed and feed. The grass has always been cut but we do have children and they do leave their toys out. I have always maintained the front garden though.

Did the LL expect you to get someone else, possibly a professional gardener to attend the garden if you couldn't? I doubt they can legally ask you to prove you was medically unfit to tend to the garden.

Lily-Rose_3

I'm no expert, so don't shoot me down. But going by how much it cost us to have 3 walls tiled in a bathroom circa 10 years ago, (in a house we owned at the time,) the cost for retiling an entire wall could end up costing more than your deposit. We paid around £700 to have 3 walls tiled, in a modest sized bathroom. (And that was 10 years ago!) There's a lot of labour involved. It could cost much more now.

Also, although we were homeowners, (for 18-19 ish years...) we went into private let in 2009, and our landlady was a prize cow. She was OK when we moved in, and seemed friendly, but for the 3 years we were there, she did NOTHING to our house, except fix a dinner-plate sized hole in the pantry, and a dangerous wire sticking out of a plug in the dining room.

We did SO much to that house, (much more than any tenant should have to do!) There was mould in half the rooms when we moved in (we got rid of it all,) there was a wobbly/loose worktop in the utility (we fixed it,) and there were dangerous flagstones in the back garden (we fixed them!) In addition, there was a broken loo seat we replaced, 5 loose curtain rails that we fixed, and the door to the downstairs loo was broken. (We fixed this too!)

Also, the house was a flea pit. There was filth and grime everywhere, we had to repaint all of downstairs, and 2 of the 4 bedrooms, the kitchen took 8-10 hours to clean, and the bathroom was covered in grime and took ages to clean too. I have no idea why the letting agent let the house be rented out like this, but the upshot is that we had never privately rented before, and thought this was normal (We know better now!)

In addition, we put nets up, (which we left when we moved out,) we left curtains in all 4 bedrooms, (only 1 bedroom had curtains when we moved in) and we left the carpets we put down in 2 of the bedrooms. We had to replace the old ones (which she said we could do!) as they had engine oil and fag burns on them . (Some bloke was doing up a motorbike. In the bedroom!)

ALSO, we fixed 4 or 5 wonky shelves, the bathroom door lock, and filled in a dozen holes in the walls.

Her thanks to us when we left?

She tried to take two thirds of our (£650) deposit, as she had to pay someone for 'rubbish removal,' 'garden work,' and 'cleaning.' Me and my OH spent around 25 hours between us cleaning the place from top to bottom. Also, the gardens were neat front and back, and we left no rubbish. The only stuff left there, was what was there when we got there. (Old rabbit hutch/2 old broken bikes/some plastic garden furniture etc...)

So when the letting Agent said she wants around £450 off us - we insisted that she shows us evidence/invoices etc, with a breakdown of the money spent on 'rubbish removal' and 'gardening; and 'cleaning.' Of course she couldn't provide anything because the 'jobs' never happened. A week later, we got our full deposit back.

Some landlords are great, but some are scumbags. Don't let this landlord rip you off. No WAY will the whole bathroom need retiling! He is trying it on so he can get the house updated without paying it out of his own pocket.

Lazarus_Blackstar

Have you mentioned to LL you are considering moving out in another year or so? Could this be why she is now being arsey with you & making demands?
She sounds extremely petty.
You however sound model tenants just like we were.
We rented a house for 13 years before we managed to get on the property ladder. LL was fine when we first moved in, but hardly did anything over the years we were there. In fact I can count on one hand how much they actually did when things needed doing.
We were told the same as you though, to treat the house as our own & do anything we wanted, within reason. We totally changed that house & when we left it was much more modern than when we first moved there. All out of our own pocket. We realise now that that was dead money & she will have benefitted from us doing improvements.
She was a pleasant LL most of the time and we were model tenants who looked after the property with care. Just like yourselves.
However, when we gave her notice, as we had completed on the house we were buying, she changed her tune & became very nasty towards us demanding we do this, this & this. She denied many many things we'd asked even though we'd had permission from her.
She was downright rude & my assumption was, that she was cheesed off she was loosing us & her regular tidy little income.
Well it actually backfired on her in the end as the property has seen 2 tenants live there for a matter of weeks before doing a bunk & the rest of the time it's been vacant for the last few years despite her advertising it!!!
Karma is a wonderful thing.

scottishblondie

Mela322 wrote: »

The lease was for 6 months signed back in Feb 2007. I believe that was before the protection scheme was introduced.

From the DPS website:

"Deposits taken before 6 April 2007, for tenancies which have subsequently moved onto a periodic tenancy on or after this date, now need to be protected in a Tenancy Deposit Protection scheme if the tenancy is still running. If a deposit remains unprotected, the landlord could potentially face a fine."

So even though your tenancy began (just!!) before the legislation was introduced, because you tenancy has moved onto a periodic basis since then your deposit should have been protected. However, it is entirely possible that the LL has not realised this. If it is not protected then you have the upper hand as without it being in a scheme the LL has left themselves open to a host of issues and penalties. If your deposit is protected, then the scheme will not allow the LL to keep the full deposit based on what you've told us.

You can check with the 3 agencies yourself to see if they are holding your deposit.

Norman_Castle

I've used silicone to fill holes in White tiles. It looks much tidier than leaving the holes. Expecting the bathroom to be retiled is ridiculous considering its age and condition.

You haven't said what you need to match but nail varnish comes in many colours and is cheap.

Mela322

KingS6 wrote: »

Did the LL expect you to get someone else, possibly a professional gardener to attend the garden if you couldn't? I doubt they can legally ask you to prove you was medically unfit to tend to the garden.

KingS6, yes, she did! My husband had back surgery. On waiting list for nearly 10 months, that surgery failed. Waited nearly 2 years for second surgery which also failed but thankfully, they got him back in this past January and it was a success. So it's really been a long time. She said I could have done the work but I was basically a single parent as my husband could't even sit with us in the lounge. It was an awful time and like I said, she was heartless about it. We had told her he was having back problems. I even told her if you need proof, I can get you his medical records! Was awful.

So yeah, she said if we couldn't get to it, we should have hired somebody.

Mela322

Lily-Rose wrote: »

I'm no expert, so don't shoot me down. But going by how much it cost us to have 3 walls tiled in a bathroom circa 10 years ago, (in a house we owned at the time,) the cost for retiling an entire wall could end up costing more than your deposit. We paid around £700 to have 3 walls tiled, in a modest sized bathroom. (And that was 10 years ago!) There's a lot of labour involved. It could cost much more now.

Also, although we were homeowners, (for 18-19 ish years...) we went into private let in 2009, and our landlady was a prize cow. She was OK when we moved in, and seemed friendly, but for the 3 years we were there, she did NOTHING to our house, except fix a dinner-plate sized hole in the pantry, and a dangerous wire sticking out of a plug in the dining room.

We did SO much to that house, (much more than any tenant should have to do!) There was mould in half the rooms when we moved in (we got rid of it all,) there was a wobbly/loose worktop in the utility (we fixed it,) and there were dangerous flagstones in the back garden (we fixed them!) In addition, there was a broken loo seat we replaced, 5 loose curtain rails that we fixed, and the door to the downstairs loo was broken. (We fixed this too!)

Also, the house was a flea pit. There was filth and grime everywhere, we had to repaint all of downstairs, and 2 of the 4 bedrooms, the kitchen took 8-10 hours to clean, and the bathroom was covered in grime and took ages to clean too. I have no idea why the letting agent let the house be rented out like this, but the upshot is that we had never privately rented before, and thought this was normal (We know better now!)

In addition, we put nets up, (which we left when we moved out,) we left curtains in all 4 bedrooms, (only 1 bedroom had curtains when we moved in) and we left the carpets we put down in 2 of the bedrooms. We had to replace the old ones (which she said we could do!) as they had engine oil and fag burns on them . (Some bloke was doing up a motorbike. In the bedroom!)

ALSO, we fixed 4 or 5 wonky shelves, the bathroom door lock, and filled in a dozen holes in the walls.

Her thanks to us when we left?

She tried to take two thirds of our (£650) deposit, as she had to pay someone for 'rubbish removal,' 'garden work,' and 'cleaning.' Me and my OH spent around 25 hours between us cleaning the place from top to bottom. Also, the gardens were neat front and back, and we left no rubbish. The only stuff left there, was what was there when we got there. (Old rabbit hutch/2 old broken bikes/some plastic garden furniture etc...)

So when the letting Agent said she wants around £450 off us - we insisted that she shows us evidence/invoices etc, with a breakdown of the money spent on 'rubbish removal' and 'gardening; and 'cleaning.' Of course she couldn't provide anything because the 'jobs' never happened. A week later, we got our full deposit back.

Some landlords are great, but some are scumbags. Don't let this landlord rip you off. No WAY will the whole bathroom need retiling! He is trying it on so he can get the house updated without paying it out of his own pocket.

I can't even imagine how much it would cost but we are not going to replace the tiles. We have learned so much here.

AdrianC

There's a world of difference between you offering to provide something, and the LL being legally able to ask for it.

B'sides, whether the garden is kept tidy DURING a tenancy is not actually particularly important - what is important is whether it's in a suitable condition at the END of the tenancy.