Deductions from deposit- reasonable?

Abbey10

Hi All,

I recently left my first rental property and been informed of deductions to my deposit which I think are excessive, but as I have never rented before I wanted to ask of people with more experience think they are reasonable before accepting/disputing:

Maintenance £350-
- agent advised this was to cover repainting as we touched up walls with paint they said has dried a different colour.
- We had 3 paintings up (this was allowed), each on a separate wall- 2 with 1 screw, 1 with 2 screws = 4 screws in total across 3 walls. We filled them in, sanded down and painted over the filled in areas. I accept these areas were touched up.
- The agent is claiming there was touch ups in every room (this is not true) and they have had to paint all of the walls.
- When viewing the property I had requested that it be painted as there was marks on walls. When we moved in it was clear it had been redone, you could tell it had been touched up and marks covered. I knew I wasn't staying forever and thought it looked good enough so didn't have any issues. The agent is saying if I had a problem with it I should have said on the inventory when I started the tenancy. The point is, I didn't have a problem with the paint work...I only do now that I am being charged for all walls to be painted when I only touched up small areas on 3 of them.

Cleaning £55
- I paid for the flat to be professionally cleaned. Check out report states that it was cleaned to a professional standard except 3 areas of dust (under the areas where the paintings were which we sanded). I sanded after the clean and wiped up but there may have been some dust still to settle so I accept there may have been a small amount of dust (not visible on any photos).
- Agent stated charge is for cleaning and changing one light bulb. I replaced all non-working bulbs before I left. There was a gap of 10 days between us vacating the flat and the check out being done (we moved out, went on holiday, tenancy expired and then check out was done).

Boiler £99
- I turned off the boiler when we left. During check out inspection, agent advised the boiler had an error code when they turned it back on. Technician was called out, error was due to drop in pressure so the pressure was re-set. Also changed a battery (aa) on the thermostat. We didn't have the heating on prior to leaving (and for months before) so cant say when the battery died.

In your opinion are these reasonable? Thanks in advance!

parkrunner

Just claim back the full deposit with whichever company it's held in and let the LL dispute it with them.

G_M

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

Abbey10

Thanks for the reply and link!

sal_III

The re-paining charge is correct, you did mess up the paint, you can dispute the amount to an extend, but depending on the size of the rooms, it's only slightly excessive.

The cleaning charge is correct, even if it's just small patches of dust that take 5min to wipe, the LA "approved" cleaner might charge minimum charge of £65 to attend the property.

The boiler charge is probably not correct. At least the last time I had to call a boiler tech to do similar work (as the plumbing wasn't connected properly and the top-up wasn't working as per boiler maintenance guide) it was paid for by the LL/LA. I would assume it's no different on check-out.

Just dispute with the protection scheme and see what they say. Worst case scenario they will agree with all deductions, you have nothing to lose.

Abbey10

Thanks for your reply Sal. They have painted the entire flat, including 4 rooms where there was no touch up at all...I accept they had to paint the 3 walls we touched up, and even accept that this may have caused them to paint the remaining walls in those rooms but to charge us to paint the entire flat I think is excessive.

I will raise a dispute with the protection scheme.

rosieflowers

What condition were the walls on the inventory? I had the exact same issue as you a couple of months ago (we had touched up walls with a magic scrubber thingy which made them look a different colour in small patches), but on check in inventory it stated that walls already had 'small marks' and grease marks They wanted to charge us £100 but I stated my case and they reduced it to £25 which I accepted as not worth the bother.

I'd defo challenge the cleaning charge. No idea about the boiler.

SmashedAvacado

You probably didnt need to do any touching up because fair wear and tear is reasonable - so the landlord ought to have expected the odd mark here and there because that is what happens from normal use of the property. Substituting those normal wear and tear marks for slightly miscoloured paint ought not to suddenly make you liable for the landlord's costs.

I woudl dispute the dust as well. The property was clean. it was clean to a professional standard. You have fulfilled your obligation. Being clean to a professional standard would not require every last bit of dust to be picked up - they are not being reasonable.

The boiler is also not a reasonable charge. The boiler is the landlord's responsibility.