Tenant left without final inspection ... dirty and very messy gardens

WLM21

I was due to meet with tenants today but at the last minute they emailed me to say they have left and sorry they couldn't meet me.

In the email, they apologised for the state of the house and even suggested I could get a deep clean of the house at their expense.

Similarly, each garden is an absolute jungle and once again they apologised and suggested I get in a professional gardener to sort it out, again at their expense.

I do have their deposit, which is with the 'deposit scheme' organisation so my question is quite simply, can i go ahead and get the house cleaned and garden tidied (to get them back to the state they were, when the tenant arrived) and pay with their deposit. Would a clean of the oven, again in an awful state be allowed too.

Finally, broken / missing items are another point.

Two sets of vertical blinds have vanished, each set for a bay window, so 6 drops in total.   UPDATE Maybe it would be better just to remove all the remaining blinds and instead fit curtain rails where these are not present. It seems the law has changed regarding blinds. We lived in this house for many years before it was actually rented out and the blinds were there when we lived at the house. they were still in a very good condition, so we left them

Two kitchen light diffusers are missing too

thank you

tacpot12

Do you have an inventory that reports the condition of the property and garden at the start of the tenancy? You are going to need to get the garden and property prepared to be re-let, so I would get on with doing so. Just be aware that if you ask the Deposit Scheme to deduct an amount of deposit before returning the rest to the Tenants, the tenants can still object and you may ultimately end up having to absorb these costs. You can show the Deposit Scheme the emails that the tenants sent, which may help you, but the tenants might change their minds when they realise just how much deposit they might lose. If you have an inventory report that shows the oven was clean then you should be able to make a deduction from the deposit to get it cleaned. Again, you are going to need to do this whether or not the tenants contribute to the work.

WLM21

tacpot12 said:

Do you have an inventory that reports the condition of the property and garden at the start of the tenancy? You are going to need to get the garden and property prepared to be re-let, so I would get on with doing so. Just be aware that if you ask the Deposit Scheme to deduct an amount of deposit before returning the rest to the Tenants, the tenants can still object and you may ultimately end up having to absorb these costs. You can show the Deposit Scheme the emails that the tenants sent, which may help you, but the tenants might change their minds when they realise just how much deposit they might lose. If you have an inventory report that shows the oven was clean then you should be able to make a deduction from the deposit to get it cleaned. Again, you are going to need to do this whether or not the tenants contribute to the work.

Thank you for your detailed reply

Yes, I have full inventory as well as photographs taken before the tenants moved in .. they had a set of photographs given to them too.

The oven was brand new .. never been used ... don't know why I said that .. brand new means brand new

Back garden .. had about 40% flagstones, with 50% stone chippings over a weed membrane and about 10% for the double shedshed ... no greenery at all, for easy maintenance.

Front garden, a small flower bed with annuals only, remainder block paving. All greenery, coming through block paving.

Inside house, all clean

The deep clean may be a problem, as obviously I need to paint, but waiting for a thorough clean might just waste too much time, as I don't know any deep cleaning companies and getting a cleaner at short notice might be a problem. Tomorrow I'm seeing the estate agent, they may know of somebody.

the gardening is not as urgent .. as long as it's done in time for a new tenant arriving / viewing the house that will be OK as any slight delay will not affect me, who'll be painting.

I'm getting a gas engineer in this week too, to check everything, service the boiler etc and do the gas safety check.

A electrician will be coming too, again to check things and do the test

theoretica

WLM21 said:

The deep clean may be a problem, as obviously I need to paint, but waiting for a thorough clean might just waste too much time, as I don't know any deep cleaning companies and getting a cleaner at short notice might be a problem. Tomorrow I'm seeing the estate agent, they may know of somebody.

If you were going to paint (with the mess that involves) how much extra cost for cleaning will be due to the state the tenants left? 

WLM21

theoretica said:

If you were going to paint (with the mess that involves) how much extra cost for cleaning will be due to the state the tenants left? 

Putting down dust sheets means not much mess, from the actual painting.
the walls and floors are grubby, sticky residue in numerous places.
The bathroom covered in mould, so looks as if they didn't use the extractor fan. I think a steam clean would be needed to get rid of some of the grime. I may just decide to do this all myself.
the estate agent tomorrow, who will obviously have experience with letting properties will maybe give some advice.

tourist4ever

You will need to get the property ready for reletting so you will need to do works.

However, when you say you have an inventory, did you organise a check out as well? as that is needed to make sure tenants are held liable.

Put a list together with all items that tenants are liable for (cleaning, missing items, excess mould, gardening etc) and get costs for these. Send this to tenants in writing and await for their approval, tenants still need to approve the dilapidations before you just take the funds out of the deposit.

deannagone

How long did you live there, how long the tenants,  when was the last paint job etc?  This will affect what you can claim as if the tenants had been there for some years, ideas of betterment come into play and fair wear and tear.

It sounds to me like the weed preventer fabric failed.., how long ago was the paving and fabric installed? Not totally sure you can 'charge' the tenants for the failure of the weed preventer fabric.  It can be a pain pulling up weeds from pavement cracks, I've done it but it is a pain.  No sooner have you done it than more come up.  I'd be discounting any charges at the very least.., and replacing the fabric to prevent problems with the next tenants (this is what I did, no weed picking for two years so far). I am afraid you have to assume tenants won't care for the place they are renting as much as you cared for your home.  I rented a house out once, the tenants were nice young men with responsible jobs but didn't clean the kitchen floor/anything once whilst they were there.  A five minute job.   I'd also be doing more research into future tenants, social media, talking to them in their present property to get a feel for how they look after a place.  When I was a tenant I did minor repairs, treated it as my home but not everyone is like that.  You want a tenant who is.  Not just someone who can pay the rent.

It sounds like the blinds were ancient (there when you lived there and there for the tenants stay) so forget about any money for them.  

And I am not sure about charging for the hours you would spend cleaning and decorating. Also affected by when it was last done, same for the floors.  If no decorating for five years, you should have built up enough in the kitty to redecorate under 'maintenance'.

dimbo61

You should already have an EICR for the property as this has been a legal requirement since April 2021.
If you employ a company to clean the oven/house you will have an invoice to show the Deposit people.
Same with the painting ! 
So unless you have Invoices for a freshly painted house before they moved in and they have only been in the house for 12/24 months you will only get a portion of the costs back.
Damage that is not fair wear and tear can be claimed for.
Grass and weeds grow quickly in the summer and if your inventory with photos was done in November you will struggle to get anything for that.
Maybe a video inventory done by an independent contractor and a full refub to update the property and get the GSC, EICR Pat testing all done