Retaining part of tenancy deposit

Rural_Puppy

Hello all
This post probably aimed at landlords, although interested in other views too. Tenant has just left one of my properties after a number of years. My issue is separating out fair wear and tear from legitimate damage and cleaning charges.
I want to be fair to my former tenant, but am also rather dismayed at the poor state the property has been left in.
Issues:
1. Property not properly cleaned to the standard it was on date of entry (eg windows not washed, fridge and oven not cleaned etc.)
2. Damage to painted wallpaper - has been ripped, very obvious and likely to require repapering and painting.
3. Tenant used overdoor hooks to hang heavy clothing such as winter coats etc. I asked her a number of years ago in writing to stop doing this due to the doors possibly becoming damaged. Now two of them are warped and won't close properly.
4. Marked vinyl flooring, which was noted as "new" on inventory 4 years ago.

There are plenty of start of tenancy photos, and a full inventory signed by the tenant. I am working towards claiming for:
1. reasonable cost of cleaning the property to the same standard it was at start
2. reasonable redecoration of damaged areas, other areas requiring a "touch up" being wear and tear
3. realignment of doors, replacement if necessary
4. Will try and clean the vinyl flooring. If it won't clean, how much is reasonable wear and tear vs damage?

Thoughts welcomed!
Thank you.

Socajam

Rural_Puppy wrote: »

Hello all
This post probably aimed at landlords, although interested in other views too. Tenant has just left one of my properties after a number of years. My issue is separating out fair wear and tear from legitimate damage and cleaning charges.
I want to be fair to my former tenant, but am also rather dismayed at the poor state the property has been left in.
Issues:
1. Property not properly cleaned to the standard it was on date of entry (eg windows not washed, fridge and oven not cleaned etc.)
Do you really expect that this will be the case. The property have been lived in for x number of years.

2. Damage to painted wallpaper - has been ripped, very obvious and likely to require repapering and painting.
This is wear and tear. Are you saying that after x number of years the wallpaper should in a decent condition for the next tenant. Probably needs changing anyway. Most definitely need painting and that's on you as the landlord, nothing to do with the tenants.

3. Tenant used overdoor hooks to hang heavy clothing such as winter coats etc. I asked her a number of years ago in writing to stop doing this due to the doors possibly becoming damaged. Now two of them are warped and won't close properly.
Yes, you asked, but it is done. Move on and have this as wear and tear. I am sure that you will be doing some repairs before next rental. So you want the tenants to pay for a couple of overdoor hooks.

4. Marked vinyl flooring, which was noted as "new" on inventory 4 years ago.
4 years and the house was lived in, this is wear and tear

There are plenty of start of tenancy photos, and a full inventory signed by the tenant. I am working towards claiming for:
1. reasonable cost of cleaning the property to the same standard it was at start -
I doubt you will get as much as your think for this. 4 years is a long time to expect the property to be the same condition

2. reasonable redecoration of damaged areas, other areas requiring a "touch up" being wear and tear -
wear and tear

3. realignment of doors, replacement if necessary - wear and tear

4. Will try and clean the vinyl flooring. If it won't clean, how much is reasonable wear and tear vs damage? How the hell can you claim for wear and tear?

Thoughts welcomed!
Thank you.

For the record, I rented out my flat for over 20 years, the tenant lived there and paid the rent on time every month.
She moved out, my only disagreement was that the garden should have been taken care of. They did that and I returned their deposit all of it.
During the rental, my mortgage was paid and I was able to live my life without worrying about finding money for mortgage etc.
I think you need to move on if this tenant was trouble free and paid their rent on time.

Rural_Puppy

Ouch. Rather abrupt tone, thank you for that.

To clarify your comment about over door hooks - it is not the hooks that are damaged, but the doors themselves that are warped due to the inappropriate weight placed on them. The point is that the tenant was asked not to for this reason!

Socajam wrote: »

For the record, I rented out my flat for over 20 years, the tenant lived there and paid the rent on time every month.
She moved out, my only disagreement was that the garden should have been taken care of. They did that and I returned their deposit all of it.
During the rental, my mortgage was paid and I was able to live my life without worrying about finding money for mortgage etc.
I think you need to move on if this tenant was trouble free and paid their rent on time.

pramsay13

Agree with socajam on this one.
It is nearly all wear and tear and if you have had a tenant for 4 years that has paid on time and hasn't completely trashed the place you are doing well.
The only possible deduction I can see is getting it cleaned.

Comms69

Rural_Puppy wrote: »

Hello all
This post probably aimed at landlords, although interested in other views too. Tenant has just left one of my properties after a number of years. My issue is separating out fair wear and tear from legitimate damage and cleaning charges.
I want to be fair to my former tenant, but am also rather dismayed at the poor state the property has been left in.
Issues:
1. Property not properly cleaned to the standard it was on date of entry (eg windows not washed, fridge and oven not cleaned etc.) - Windows typically your responsibility, fridge and oven seems fair deduction - £40
2. Damage to painted wallpaper - has been ripped, very obvious and likely to require repapering and painting. - How old?
3. Tenant used overdoor hooks to hang heavy clothing such as winter coats etc. I asked her a number of years ago in writing to stop doing this due to the doors possibly becoming damaged. Now two of them are warped and won't close properly. - Probably needs tightening at the hinges. I would charge maybe £10
4. Marked vinyl flooring, which was noted as "new" on inventory 4 years ago. - 4 years old, expect marks

There are plenty of start of tenancy photos, and a full inventory signed by the tenant. I am working towards claiming for:
1. reasonable cost of cleaning the property to the same standard it was at start
2. reasonable redecoration of damaged areas, other areas requiring a "touch up" being wear and tear
3. realignment of doors, replacement if necessary
4. Will try and clean the vinyl flooring. If it won't clean, how much is reasonable wear and tear vs damage?

Thoughts welcomed!
Thank you.

£50 sounds about right for few hours work

Rural_Puppy

Quote:
"Agree with socajam on this one.
It is nearly all wear and tear and if you have had a tenant for 4 years that has paid on time and hasn't completely trashed the place you are doing well.
The only possible deduction I can see is getting it cleaned."

I cannot see how damage caused by the tenant that was forseeable, and they were warned about is not a reasonable deduction from a deposit.

Comms69

Rural_Puppy wrote: »

I cannot see how damage caused by the tenant that was forseeable, and they were warned about is not a reasonable deduction from a deposit.

If I were the tenant I would counter by saying that the doors are clearly of cheap quality and after 4 years it cannot be clear that the 'damage' was caused by tenants actions.


Doors shouldn't warp because there's a few kilos of clothes on them. But screws may become loose and it's an easy fix if that is the real cause

Rural_Puppy

Comms69 wrote: »

£50 sounds about right for few hours work

Window washing is specifically mentioned in the tenancy agreement and inventory as having been done prior to the tenant moving in, so I think it is a fair deduction to have the windows cleaned to the same standard.
The decor was freshly done prior to the tenant moving in, so 4 years old.

need_an_answer

What you need to be very mindful of is betterment.

I do disagree with the poster above regarding cleaning...there is no excuse to not leave something clean,even old can still be clean!
For example mould is not wear and tear.
Something like an oven clean can easily be costed at a figure of around £50 and similarly the fridge wold not be unreasonable to charge £10-20,windows £10 assuming they were all clean and you have clear evidence of this in your check in inventory.

In your position I would make a deduction for cleaning that is in line with the check in inventory.

The wallpaper situation is a little more tricky,you cant charge for the redecoration of the area,only a portion in line with the age/expected lifetime of the paper...personally I'm not a fan of wallpaper for this very reason....at best you charge for a "repair" being a nominal figure but perhaps look at changing to easily painted neutral walls for future tenants.

Again you face a similar situation with the doors...a figure to acknowledge that they have become warped due to how they have been used,however you would be unable to claim the full cost of new replacement.

The flooring is probably a little easier to calculate the cost simply because it was new however again an allowance of 4 years needs to be given so you are potentially looking at passing a cost of around 1/5 of the new cost back to the tenant.

You probably are justified to claim some of the deposit back although the reality of it will be that you will spend much more than the charge back actually putting these things right or you can accept that the flooring is now marked wallpaper damaged etc and adjust the inventory for your next tenants to reflect this.

Comms69

Rural_Puppy wrote: »

Window washing is specifically mentioned in the tenancy agreement and inventory as having been done prior to the tenant moving in, so I think it is a fair deduction to have the windows cleaned to the same standard.
The decor was freshly done prior to the tenant moving in, so 4 years old.

1: When I say typically landlords responsibility, if you mean the outside of the windows it is 100% your responsibility - regardless what you've written in the contract.
If it's the inside it's a quick wipe and part of your duties as a landlord.


2: 4 years old, I'd expect to be repainting anyway. The Vinyl sounds like wear and tear.

danlewi2

Have to agree with everyone else sounds like wear and tear apart from the cleaning.

I do think tenant is responsible for paying a window cleaner, no different to maintaining a garden if you don't do it yourself then you should get a gardener.