Tenancy deposit - general wear and tear?

tetty177

So we are finally buying our own home and moving out of our rented accomodation. Due to wanting to use our deposit towards furniture to the new house I really want to maximise our chances of getting it back.
for context our landlord has always commented on how nice we keep the house and we get on well.
The house was newly painted when we moved in with new fridge and freezer. We have been here just over 7 years and are a family of 4 with a labrador. 

We did re-paint a lot of the rooms during lockdown (walls only no woodwork) and as a result have used the leftover paint to touch up any marks etc on the walls so in my opinion the only walls that are in a state are the hallway walls. There are grubby marks and a few scratches due to being a heavy traffic area. I  will clean the walls before we leave but I do think regardless it could probably do with a paint.

The only other things are the skirting boards and bannisters have areas where paint has chipped off/marked potentially due to hoovering or the children’s toys not entirely sure again this is mainly in hallway but also some in the kitchen.
Two of the freezer drawers have large cracks in due to me pulling them open but due to the freezer frosting up it ended up cracking as I pulled. 

Finally the fridge has a small dent in the door low down almost at floor level (small undercounter fridge) which I don’t actually know /remember how it happened.

Just wondering will the above (hallway walls, skirting/bannisters, fridge dent and freezer drawers) be classed as wear and tear or should I expect to lose some deposit? I will try and touch up the paint if it’s going to cause a problem but I also feel we have kept it in such good conditions and pretty much repainted all the rooms fresh for the new tenants when touching up with the paint that I don’t really want to use any more time if I can help it as I need to concentrate on packing. 

Thanks 

pjs493

I would generally call this sort of thing general wear and tear. It sounds like you've taken good care of the property and as you mention children, it seems even more like you've done as much as you can to take care of the property. The landlord would be unreasonable to expect it to be returned looking as if it hasn't been lived in. It has, and general wear and tear is to be expected, especially in high traffic areas. Many landlords will consider redecorating between tenants anyway.

We've had tenants who've left with a similar level of wear and tear, and even more so, and have always returned a deposit. The only instance where a deposit has been retained by us is when a tenant owed us rent and did a runner. A broken freezer drawer is the sort of thing I'd report to your landlord if I were you. They might not care, but if they do, try and source a replacement part online, that'll likely be the cheapest thing to do rather than leave it to the landlord who might charge a premium.

When our last tenants moved in, we'd had the carpets cleaned beforehand, but the carpets were over ten years old. While we obviously expected the tenants to take care of the place, we made it clear that the carpets were already recognised as being old but clean, and that we'd likely replace them when they moved out.

Speak to the landlord to see if they have any plans to redecorate or change something once you move out. I'd also recommend you clean the place to a high standard or bring in professional cleaners when you move out, that way you can provide the landlord with a receipt for the cleaning in case that is contested. But if you have a good relationship with your landlord, just have a chat and mention the things you've mentioned here.

RHemmings

Can you invite the landlord or letting agent in early for an inspection and discuss any issues with them? Particularly since you say you get on well, this would be a chance for you to discuss any issues you're thinking about and the potential solutions (e.g. repaint), and also see if they pick up on anything that you've missed. 

Personally I think that the paint issues are fair wear and tear. But, particularly if you have paint already, touching them up (competently) would be a good idea. I was surprised how good a job I could do on some marks just using one of those tiny foam roller paint sample things that can be bought from many shops. Walls that I thought I would be charged for came out looking like new. 

If the fridge was provided by the landlord, then I'd be thinking that the price of a similar (but undamaged) secondhand fridge would be reasonable. Do you have time to check to see if you can buy new drawers? I would expect a small dent to be fair wear and tear. It wouldn't be good for the new tenants to receive a fridge with broken drawers, so somebody should really replace them. 

Bookworm105

At the end of the day it is a matter than can only be determined by the scheme's administrator when you lodge a formal dispute over the LL's claim against the deposit

For what it is worth, based on your side of the story:
freezer drawer is damage
hallway paint sounds like wear & tear (I assume your LL gave permission for the painting you did elsewhere?)
skirting wear & tear 
fridge door is damage but likely to be regarded as trivial 

tetty177

Yes landlord gave permission to re-paint. She was here a few weeks agai and had a look round and said they she needed to re-decorate some areas however since talking to her partner (not his house but he does the re-decoration) she seems to have decided not to re-decorate before the new tenants come in as we were evening willing for them to do this before we officially move out. We have an overlap between the houses so we said they could get in over the final week while we were just moving the last bits and cleaning this house. 

She asked us to repaint the walls in the kitchen and living room  to a neutral colour which we did but was happy for us to leave the rest of the house as is. She didn’t ask us to touch up the paint in the other rooms but we have done so out of courtesy hence why I’d rather not have to stress about additional painting if it isn’t necessary.

re the freezer drawers they are perfectly usable but just have a crack in the front of 2.

My worry is that the partner will try and convince her to take money from the deposit as it seems like he doesn’t really want to re-decorate before the new tenants come in like she wanted him to.

RHemmings

If they are serious cracks (like the fridge I own) I wouldn't want to move into a rental property with cracked fridge drawers. Even if they are 'perfectly usable' like the ones I own.

I do think it's reasonable to replace the drawers. Clearly it's your decision, but you asked for opinions and that's mine. 

If the landlord's partner decided they wanted money out of the deposit for the drawers, I personally would not consider that unreasonable. 

tetty177

No I completely understand and I’m not saying I don’t agree just explaining they are usable. I will look into replacement drawers 

tetty177

Also re landlords partner I am more concerned about the skirting boards and painting as he has form for not doing things. For example when we moved in we were told he would be fitting new windows in the bedroom as there was an issue with them but he never got round to it. He started a job in the garden then never finished it so we had to do it ourselves or it would have been dangerous for the children. 

My landlady is lovely but he partner will try to get us to do things that he is supposed to do as he is always too busy hence my worry he will try and take money to pay someone to paint the skirting boards and hallway walls as he won’t have the time. 

Bookworm105

tetty177 said:

Also re landlords partner I am more concerned about the skirting boards and painting as he has form for not doing things.

please appreciate that a deduction from the deposit is purely a financial compensation.
It is NOT payment towards rectification works.
LL perfectly entailed to claim money and do no work, as it is their decision whether to market the property to the next tenant with or without defects. Hence the importance of the incoming tenant noting all defects on their incoming inventory.

theartfullodger

General wear 'n tear.  Landlord, if he has 1/2 a brain would realise your family will create more wear than typically. 

Sadly have any part of a brain not a requirement for being a landlord.

 If greedy landlord won't agree to what is reasonable (eg £5 ..) then take disagreement to scheme dispute process.  Dispute process brought in (twice by parliament) after decades of greedy landlords ripping off decent tenants.

Best wishes. Artful, 76, greedy landlord since 2000.