Landlord wants chimney swept and woodburner cleaned

rose28454

My husband has been living in a small house and has moved out over the weekend. He has some problems with depression and did not keep it very clean but my daughter and I went and gave it a good going over. The contract stated he had to clean the carpets before leaving but the landlady's son is moving and she said not to bother as they are having new carpets ( together with a new bathroom - long overdue). The only thing she asked was for lounge curtains and door curtain to be cleaned ( this cost £110.00!!)
Checkout was saturday and the agent came and said washing machine needed filter doing and cleaning inside, lounge skirting needed doing and extractor fan needed a good clean and a new filter.
Lastly chimney was to be swept and woodburner needed cleaning inside as they need a certificate for insurance.
Now I have looked at the tenancy agreement and the woodburner and chimney are not mentioned at all. However during the tenancy a couple of times the agent said he had to do it. I know he did it once but I dont recall any mention of a certificate.
Also last week the gas engineer came and did a gas safety test on the boiler and produced a certificate but this was not down to hubby to pay.
Landlady said yesterday that her chap is coming this week to do her woodburner and will do the one in the flat and she will tell hubby how much he owes her.
Agent said deposit should be returned ( the list of jobs was completed yesterday ) but I fancy landlady is trying it on with the woodburner thing.

G_M

It's an ambiguous one.

If I were advising a new landord, I'd tell them to include a clause in the tenancy agreement requiring the tenant to get the chimney swept annually (or whatever). Just to be sure.

If the TA agreement is 'silent', then the LL has to rely on implied terms eg of 'acting in a tenant-like manner' and leaving the property at the end as it was at the start.

Was the chimney swept and clean when the tenancy started? Is it mentioned on the inventory?

If a tenant uses the cooker and the cooker (inevitably) gets debris on it, the tenant has a duty to clean it up. If not during, certainly at the end of the tenancy.

If a tenant uses the chimney and the chimney (inevitably) gets debris in it, the tenant has a duty to clean it up. If not during, certainly at the end of the tenancy.

Ronaldo_Mconaldo

What does depression have to do with any of this? Will cleaning a stove push him over the edge? Tell him to get it cleaned or lose his deposit. Depression isn't some get-out-of-jail free card where you can just throw it out there and expect everyone to bend over backwards for you.

PasturesNew

Lounge curtains/door curtain - I'm assuming there's nothing "special" about them - lug them down the launderette, there should be a big machine there costing about £8 for a 30 minute wash. It's what the launderette would use if you dropped them off.

Then hang them out to dry (or get them started in the driers at the shop) ... then iron them while still a tiny bit damp and re-hang them.

LEJC

Hi Rose....
Bit of a grey area this one I ideally it should say in the tenancy agreement who covers the cleaning costs and sweeping of the chimney etc.

I am in agreement with GM that in the absence of it saying who is responsible it should be treated in the same way as you would need to clean an oven or appliance when leaving.

I dont have any experience of wood burners and in the properties that I rent have clear instructions within the TA over who covers maintenance and cleaning.

Quite correctly your husband will not have been issued with a bill for the gas safety check that you mention has been carried out....that is a LL responsibility.

rose28454

PasturesNew wrote: »

Lounge curtains/door curtain - I'm assuming there's nothing "special" about them - lug them down the launderette, there should be a big machine there costing about £8 for a 30 minute wash. It's what the launderette would use if you dropped them off.

Then hang them out to dry (or get them started in the driers at the shop) ... then iron them while still a tiny bit damp and re-hang them.

They were expensive fully lines curtains with pelmet tie backs etc so cleaning seemed the only way. But its done now and they came out great ( they were dirty )

rose28454

Ronaldo_Mconaldo wrote: »

What does depression have to do with any of this? Will cleaning a stove push him over the edge? Tell him to get it cleaned or lose his deposit. Depression isn't some get-out-of-jail free card where you can just throw it out there and expect everyone to bend over backwards for you.

I was making the point that he lets things get on top of him he is also a recovering alcoholic. I was asking opinions as it seems to be a grey area. The landlady is getting it done and he will be paying. Not using depression as a get out of jail free card!

rosyw

Ronaldo_Mconaldo wrote: »

What does depression have to do with any of this? Will cleaning a stove push him over the edge? Tell him to get it cleaned or lose his deposit. Depression isn't some get-out-of-jail free card where you can just throw it out there and expect everyone to bend over backwards for you.

You'd be surprised!! No, it's not a get out of jail free card, but you need to understand how debilitating it can be - I speak from experience. I'm fine now, but at my lowest even getting out of bed in the morning was a major effort, let alone doing anything else. If you've never suffered from depression it's almost impossible to fully understand what it can do to you. It's no good anyone saying "pull yourself together" or anything else for that matter, it doesn't help.

rose28454

LEJC wrote: »

Hi Rose....
Bit of a grey area this one I ideally it should say in the tenancy agreement who covers the cleaning costs and sweeping of the chimney etc.

I am in agreement with GM that in the absence of it saying who is responsible it should be treated in the same way as you would need to clean an oven or appliance when leaving.

I dont have any experience of wood burners and in the properties that I rent have clear instructions within the TA over who covers maintenance and cleaning.

Quite correctly your husband will not have been issued with a bill for the gas safety check that you mention has been carried out....that is a LL responsibility.

Thanks it is a grey area it seems. Just wondered as Gas cert was not his responsibility but wood burner was ( he obviously used both )
Interestingly when I looked online today it said he should have had smoke alarms and a co2 monitor. Neither of these were there!
Extractor fan, washing machine and skirting boards done by me yesterday and I took a tip from the agent to use soda crystals to get the grease off and it works a treat.

tiz

For our tenant we had it swept prior to move in and then said (put in writing) if they want to use it then it needs to be done annually at their cost. Our property has central heating so it's not necessary to use the wood burner for heating, it's just a bonus feature. If they don't want to expense they can avoid it by not using it. The boiler/central heating on the other hand is a necessity and our responsibility to cover the repairs/certificate costs. That's how we look at it anyway.

chappers

tiz wrote: »

For our tenant we had it swept prior to move in and then said (put in writing) if they want to use it then it needs to be done annually at their cost. Our property has central heating so it's not necessary to use the wood burner for heating, it's just a bonus feature. If they don't want to expense they can avoid it by not using it. The boiler/central heating on the other hand is a necessity and our responsibility to cover the repairs/certificate costs. That's how we look at it anyway.

Dodgy ground if you consider sweeping a flue or chimney a matter of safety, which essentially it is. How can you be sure they haven't lied and just said they didn't use it. My personal opinion is that as it is the safety of an appliance it should be the LL who is responsible. The LL is the only continuity for responsibility across subsequent tenancies, You can't make the outgoing tenant responsible for the incoming one's safety
Particularly so in the OPs situation where there is complete absence of an inventory or mention of it in the contract.
Cleaning the burner however is a different matter an analogous to the cooker situation