Social housing after moving out billed for things I shouldn't

dekaspace1

Wanted some advice here.

When I moved in there was old carpet from previous tenant, curtain rails, blinds and even a set of curtains left up and a hoover in the storage cupboard.

When I moved out I left place spotless as I could but left everything there that was there when I moved in (would of thrown out the hoover as it didn't work but was already exhausted after spending days cleaning)

Social housing place has billed me £300 in costs for a hoover, and 2 other items in cupboard.

Most of the costs are to remove "floor coverings" but the person I phoned says they don't know what it is for as their notes just say "lift floor coverings" and for cleanup "hoover, mop, brush"  they have charged £27 EACH for these 3 items.

Legally even if I left them, wouldn't/shouldn't I have the chance to go back and remove these offending items myself?

What can I do to dispute this?

HampshireH

Your opportunity to remove them is in the notice period. There isn't an opportunity to remove items once you have left.

Usually in social housing you are gifted what's in here when you move in and it I your responsibility to remove them when you leave

dekaspace1

HampshireH said:

Your opportunity to remove them is in the notice period. There isn't an opportunity to remove items once you have left.

Usually in social housing you are gifted what's in here when you move in and it I your responsibility to remove them when you leave

Interesting on the gifted part as I was going to remove them but was already swamped and thought I would leave as was there when I moved in.

I actually needed curtain poles for my new flat but needed a ladder to go up and remove them and then I would need to struggle with them on a bus or get a taxi.

Still, I guess they will try and claim for anything.

Def didn't leave any electrical items when I moved out though.

HampshireH

dekaspace1 said:

HampshireH said:

Your opportunity to remove them is in the notice period. There isn't an opportunity to remove items once you have left.

Usually in social housing you are gifted what's in here when you move in and it I your responsibility to remove them when you leave

Interesting on the gifted part as I was going to remove them but was already swamped and thought I would leave as was there when I moved in.

I actually needed curtain poles for my new flat but needed a ladder to go up and remove them and then I would need to struggle with them on a bus or get a taxi.

Still, I guess they will try and claim for anything.

Def didn't leave any electrical items when I moved out though.

At the end of the day they are a social landlord. In theory they shouldn't have to pay for anything, but they do. So they will claim back on recharges where things cost them.

Same would happen in a private rental.

macman

You need to remove anything that wasn't on the inventory when you occupied the property.
Were these items inventoried?
If not, you should have asked them to remove them at the start.

comeandgo

Last year we had to clear my late mothers council house.  Her carpets and floor coverings were not old and immaculate.  We asked her housing officer if we would leave them for the next renter but were told that the new people may accept them but if not we would be charged to take the flooring up and take it to the bins so we did it ourselves.  A total waste but it had to be done, even the blinds that could only fit those windows.

dekaspace1

HampshireH said:

dekaspace1 said:

HampshireH said:

Your opportunity to remove them is in the notice period. There isn't an opportunity to remove items once you have left.

Usually in social housing you are gifted what's in here when you move in and it I your responsibility to remove them when you leave

Interesting on the gifted part as I was going to remove them but was already swamped and thought I would leave as was there when I moved in.

I actually needed curtain poles for my new flat but needed a ladder to go up and remove them and then I would need to struggle with them on a bus or get a taxi.

Still, I guess they will try and claim for anything.

Def didn't leave any electrical items when I moved out though.

At the end of the day they are a social landlord. In theory they shouldn't have to pay for anything, but they do. So they will claim back on recharges where things cost them.

Same would happen in a private rental.

The annoying thing is if there wasn't carpet when I moved in I would of got new carpet from a community care grant so it was actually a disservice!

And no there wasn't an inventory.

The itemised costs though were crazy, like £28 for a mop, £28 more for a bucket, £28 more for a hoover yet the mop and bucket were in a storage cupboard again there when I moved in.

The rest is "floor coverings" which I assume is the carpet, I did have lino in kitchen and bathroom but that was installed by them when they installed them after previous tenant moved out and they put a new kitchen in.

HampshireH

dekaspace1 said:

HampshireH said:

dekaspace1 said:

HampshireH said:

Your opportunity to remove them is in the notice period. There isn't an opportunity to remove items once you have left.

Usually in social housing you are gifted what's in here when you move in and it I your responsibility to remove them when you leave

Interesting on the gifted part as I was going to remove them but was already swamped and thought I would leave as was there when I moved in.

I actually needed curtain poles for my new flat but needed a ladder to go up and remove them and then I would need to struggle with them on a bus or get a taxi.

Still, I guess they will try and claim for anything.

Def didn't leave any electrical items when I moved out though.

At the end of the day they are a social landlord. In theory they shouldn't have to pay for anything, but they do. So they will claim back on recharges where things cost them.

Same would happen in a private rental.

The annoying thing is if there wasn't carpet when I moved in I would of got new carpet from a community care grant so it was actually a disservice!

And no there wasn't an inventory.

The itemised costs though were crazy, like £28 for a mop, £28 more for a bucket, £28 more for a hoover yet the mop and bucket were in a storage cupboard again there when I moved in.

The rest is "floor coverings" which I assume is the carpet, I did have lino in kitchen and bathroom but that was installed by them when they installed them after previous tenant moved out and they put a new kitchen in.

You would have still been asked to remove it though regardless of where it came from.

It's something most do. Too many carpets harbour fleas/bedbugs/carpet beetles or are just not clean or in good enough condition to have a policy of leaving them in situ.

One person's idea of good condition is often not the next persons 

dekaspace1

Yeah I get that, just venting a little there, especially since I was turned down for new carpet when I moved in as I already had some! (community care grant people visitied and decided it was good enough)

I wasn't asked to remove it, at least I wasn't when I moved out but I guess it was in the tenancy handbook.

I could of removed it given a little more time when I moved out but was physically drained working and moving.

Makes it even more annoying when I made the place otherwise spotless, they even admit the property was handed back in excellent condition, as it should as I spent days cleaning up after I moved, even asked for a extra week (at my expense to clean it properly and part of that reason was because I didn't want to be billed for emptying the property!) I even used filler to fill any holes such as where I hung pictures and even holes that were there when I moved in.

And yeah the carpet was old and worn when I moved in with dirty marks which I used a carpet cleaner a few times a year old except the bedroom which had new carpet just before I moved in.

dekaspace1

Tut tut, I have just found out they billed the previous tenant for removal of carpets and blinds, the same ones that were there when I moved in!