Filthy new tenancy during a pandemic

samgould100

Hello
We have recently moved. We weren't allowed to view the property in another city because of coronavirus. The previous tenants didn't want anyone round and the estate agent was providing a short video on the tenants phone and letting the property 'sight unseen'.

We agreed to take the property on two conditions:
1) A futon was removed from the spare room - which was agreed
2) It was going to be professionally cleaned.

I was told over the phone that the property was managed by the letting agent and so would be cleaned prior to anyone moving in.
When we finally picked up the keys and moved in late in the evening, we found the property in a filthy state. (Some photos attached below)
The bathroom was disgusting, covered in hair and grime. The kitchen was horrible. Random items had been left around. There was disposed rubbish in the garden. The carpets hadn't been professionally cleaned and had several stains. The living room was covered in muddy footprints where the landlord had been in. 

There was an inspection report by an independent company given to us from the day before which said on almost every page that it required a clean and was littered with words like 'yellow', 'grime', 'dirty', 'discoloured', 'black'.

We were very concerned about hygiene and safety during this pandemic. Also just desperate to be in a habitable place after a very difficult move. It was a Saturday. We had no option but to do the cleaning ourselves and it took the best part of 4 days to get the property into a clean state. We travelled to get carpet cleaning equipment and supplies. It took a lot of time, energy, expense and was distressing knowing that we'd moved into such a dirty property during this pandemic.

It has now been 3 weeks. I have had repeated emails with the letting agent and we've gone around in circles. We requested the first month rent. The landlord came back with £200 - £100 for cleaning and £100 for inconvenience. We have gone back and forward with the estate agent (who I hold equally responsible since they manage the property and were the ones who told me that it would be professionally cleaned) but they just relay information from the landlord.

My issues:
It took us 3-4 days to clean - taking time out of our own jobs.
We have been storing this futon for 3 weeks despite the agreement and have been unable to make use of one room despite paying rent.
It was distressing and negligent to let a property in that state during a pandemic.
We found it distressing sitting wondering whether we may have contracted coronavirus from a dirty property
We had not been allowed to view the property prior to moving in and had stipulated just those two conditions.
We spent money on cleaning supplies and petrol
I've provided quotes from local companies which state to clean the property it would have cost £180. They also would have already had the equipment.
I think we deserve compensation.

The landlord has come back and said that the max he would offer is £250. I don't think this should just be down to the landlord. He failed to deduct any deposit from the previous tenants for the condition and was totally fine to rent the property as it was to new people. Who cares about tenants in the middle of a pandemic as long as I get people in to pay me rent. Extracting wealth from people who are paying his mortgage without showing the slightest bit of respect or care.

Has anyone got any further advice?
What would be a reasonable sum to expect as compensation?
I know there are redress schemes and small claims courts. They may take a lot of time and money and I had hoped to resolve this with some amenity. We've only just moved in and would hope to stay here past a year, but it certainly leaves a bad taste that this is the foot we got off on.



tos 

SpreadableToast

I don't know why you keep mentioning "pandemic" as if it is in any way relevant to this.  You rented a dirty property that was supposed to be clean, that's a problem whether there's a pandemic or not.

I don't think you'll do much better than £250 to be honest  I'd just take the cash and move on.

ripplyuk

I would take the £250. I agree with you that the place is filthy and I would be angry too about the letting agent lying, but to try to get more compensation would be lengthy and stressful. If your quotes for cleaning were around £180, then a court is unlikely to award much more than that. 

On the plus side, when you move out you can leave the property in an equally filthy state. 

samgould100

Thanks for both your comments. Yes I agree it should be clean regardless, but during a pandemic there it is even more negligent. Should either one of us have contracted coronavirus the lack of due diligence on their part could have made them culpable. In addition there was significantly more distress felt given the circumstances. Moving into a dirty property would always be horrible, but when you have to pick up the keys through a letterbox and have to wear a mask everywhere you go, there is significantly more stress and anxiety to moving in somewhere that we know the previous tenants were isolating in.

sweetsand

Dear OP
I'm sorry for your woes as there as some very dirty, disgusting tenants about that
leave the place like you found. However, you are lucky as it could have been much worse as one of our properties when we
were first time landords our proerty was left in a worse stae we gave it to the misfits in a brand new refub condition - they were cons - we did hound them via balliffs and got 5k back of the 10k it cost us better than nothing

Back to your woes.

Accept the 250 as its better that nothing and the stress more of it not worth it - move on, enjoy your new place make it your own, enjoy yourselves treat yourselves with about 30 quid meal delivered to your place - forget about it put it to rest and trust me, soon it will seem distant as case closed.
I wish you good luck in your new home and things will only get better, trust me as you are a nice person and I wish we had tenants like you

x

SpreadableToast

samgould100 said:

Thanks for both your comments. Yes I agree it should be clean regardless, but during a pandemic there it is even more negligent. Should either one of us have contracted coronavirus the lack of due diligence on their part could have made them culpable. In addition there was significantly more distress felt given the circumstances. Moving into a dirty property would always be horrible, but when you have to pick up the keys through a letterbox and have to wear a mask everywhere you go, there is significantly more stress and anxiety to moving in somewhere that we know the previous tenants were isolating in.

It would never be cleaned to the extent that any trace of Coronavirus would be eliminated so "dirty" or not Coronavirus is still irrelevant. If the previous tenants had moved out a week or so before you moved in any virus that was present would be inactivated anyway.

Take the money and move on with your life.

EmmieAwards

ripplyuk said:

I would take the £250. I agree with you that the place is filthy and I would be angry too about the letting agent lying, but to try to get more compensation would be lengthy and stressful. If your quotes for cleaning were around £180, then a court is unlikely to award much more than that. 

On the plus side, when you move out you can leave the property in an equally filthy state. 

If you want to move contract may be void or voidable, which means you could claim compensation to be returned to the financial position you were in before entering contract, plus any additional costs this issue many have cost.

You got the quote, you did the cleaning.
Give a reasonable per hour rate, again based on average market price, cost of materials, etc etc.
To be quite honest, £300 = £75 a day or £9.35 per hour if you're doing 8 hour days (which I doubt you were). So the maths on 250 for 6 hours a day is similar.

If you think its a health and safety hazard, then move out and sue them.

Takmon

samgould100 said:

Thanks for both your comments. Yes I agree it should be clean regardless, but during a pandemic there it is even more negligent. Should either one of us have contracted coronavirus the lack of due diligence on their part could have made them culpable. In addition there was significantly more distress felt given the circumstances. Moving into a dirty property would always be horrible, but when you have to pick up the keys through a letterbox and have to wear a mask everywhere you go, there is significantly more stress and anxiety to moving in somewhere that we know the previous tenants were isolating in.

By having it cleaned then that would have resulted in more people (cleaners) being in the property so would have actually increased the chance of you catching covid19. Even if the place looked spotless it doesn't mean that all traces of covid19 had been removed so actually you would have had to do a full clean anyway if you were concerned about this to make sure it was actually clean. So by looking dirty is had actually done you a favor if that has made you clean the place more thoroughly and being more aware about touching things before it has been cleaned. 

But obviously the place was left in a disgusting state and just shows what kind of dirty conditions some people are happy to live in. So it was unacceptable and i think £250 compensation is fair considering that a full clean would have cost them £180 and you would have had to clean the place anyway.

diggingdude

You could take them to court, but as the landlord has been fair offering that amount of money youmyou well end up with nothing

sweetsand

diggingdude said:

You could take them to court, but as the landlord has been fair offering that amount of money youmyou well end up with nothing

Not just that but the stress and time and effort.
OP, I noted your were hoping to buy your own home hence your move during the Covid period - Free tip, when you do get your own property, do it up before you move in saves a lot of time and stress.

ATB
x

BigCraigJohn

Its just not worth the hassle, starting with it in such a mess gives you power against things going wrong when moving out. Your deposit is guaranteed to be returned in full. You dont have to worry about cleaning or tidying for inspections either as its always going to look better than it did to start.

I learned that when I moved out of my previous property that a previous agents incompetence was beneficial. As I took over a tenancy after 5 years(had just been clasified a guest before that) but the agents couldn't be bothered to come out and check the place out when I took over so they didn't have anything when I moved out. Fair enough we'd been in there 8 years total but myself only 3 in my name and they wanted to claim certain things against the deposit claiming they were not consistent with 3 years use. Ofcourse I argued this which they wouldn't accept and they could not even find the move in photos and check in stuff or contracts. Ofcourse as soon as they got hold of the landlord he said he didn't care and was going to start fresh anyway as it was dated + claim the costs against his tax and that he'd been in a few weeks earlier anyway. The moving agent mid term probably didn't help either. Turned out they had none of the paperwork from the previous agent.
I knew from when I took it over to keep hush as they could never come for anything from me, I could cover the place in bleach and they wouldn't be able to claim a penny back from the deposit as they only check they ever did was nothing to do with me.

I must stress the flat was in good condition and in line with somewhere that had been let for a decade. Tired and dated + in need of full decoration but no miss treated. Its just nice to have in the back of your mind that you have control.