Moving out of a rented property after 15 years - what condition should I leave it in?

ach45

I have been renting for 15 years and will be moving out in a couple of months. The house is old but had been renovated and redecorated immediately prior to us moving in back in 2010. Since then we have not decorated or replaced any flooring (it's a mix of carpet and lino).

My question is, when we move out, we will of course thoroughly clean everything but do we have to return the house to its original state? We have two small children and previously had cats and the former drawn on the walls / left sticky handprints in places. We have also put up shelves so we are planning to fill holes, clean and emulsion all the walls throughout as I think the current state of them represents more than reasonable wear and tear. Do we need to go further than this? There are lots of painted windowsills and skirting boards which are naturally showing some signs of wear and tear after 15 years. The carpets needs to be replaced in all but one room, I would say. They are worn/frayed and have some stains. Do I deep clean the carpets if they are obviously going to need replacing? The shower doors have been dodgy for at least 5 years, we've replaced / patched up the fittings but really they need replacing. Surely the landlord would expect to need to do this before the property is re-let?

I obviously want to retain as much of our deposit as possible. I don't want our landlord to feel we have been negligent but need to balance that against the time and expense required to erase 15 years of living! 

Many thanks for any advice.

FlorayG

That's going to entirely depend on your landlord and how reasonable they are. If I had a 15 year tenant moving out I would expect the paintwork to be up to the standard they started with and all clean (redecorated if badly marked) but not the carpet - but I would expect carpet to be properly cleaned. (TBH, as a landlord I would have had it redecorated at my expense after ten years anyway)
Fixtures and fittings are not your responsibility unless you broke them and wear and tear needs to be allowed for.
If I were you I would do the necessary repainting then get the house professionally cleaned and make sure to get and keep an invoice from the cleaner in case your landlord says its not clean enough.

Herzlos

Check with your landlord in writing what they expect. If they are planning on ripping it all out anyway they may not mind if the carpet is a bit grubby.

doodling

Hi,

The house needs to be returned in the state it was in at the start of the tenancy with the exception of reasonable wear and tear.

Stains, holes, marks on walls, broken things (unless  broken as a result of wearing out) are not reasonable wear and tear.

The landlord can only claim for the value of things now, not new for old.  That means that if a carpet is expected to last 15 years and it is 14 years old then if there is a stain on it then they are entitled to compensation but only 14/15ths of the value.  If the carpet was 15 years old then arguably the value is zero.

You need to form a view of what is a reasonable life for each damaged item to establish whether there is any value the landlord could claim.  I would suspect that carpets have a life of between 10 and 20 years (unless of exceptional quality) so may be of zero value, similarly for most decoration.  Plastering has a life of 50 years plus so the landlord could reasonably claim for any damage if you've made holes or deep gouges in the walls.

I would be wary about doing any decoration work yourself, unless there is a clear agreement with the landlord.  Fixing stuff that the landlord could reasonably claim for (like holes in walls) is a sensible thing to do however.

Myci85

After 15 years unless they are very good quality carpets, your landlord shouldn't expect them to have much life left. Certainly I think they'd find it hard to claim from your deposit towards them. Same for any obvious wear and tear.

We recently left a house also after 15 years, luckily on v good terms with landlady and knew she was selling to her granddaughter who was doing it up, so got full deposit back. Carpets had been new when moved in, we did clean them but didn't professionally. We didn't paint, but did fill holes and left house clean. Your landlord should expect to have to redecorate after that time, unless your contract says you are expected to. That said, definitely get rid of sticky hand prints and drawn on areas. General marks from living, furniture etc are expected though. 

Did you have an inventory? That should help remind you what condition it was when you moved in. But unless you've been very careless and obviously caused damage, after 15 years I'd be surprised if the TDS or DPS would deduct any money from your deposit if the landlord tried it. 

Bookworm105

ach45 said:
I have been renting for 15 years and will be moving out in a couple of months. The house is old but had been renovated and redecorated immediately prior to us moving in back in 2010. Since then we have not decorated or replaced any flooring (it's a mix of carpet and lino).

My question is, when we move out, we will of course thoroughly clean everything but do we have to return the house to its original state?

yes you do, the start point of any tenancy is your return it in the condition you received it.

ach45 said:
We have two small children and previously had cats and the former drawn on the walls / left sticky handprints in places.

technically that would not be treated as "fair" wear and tear, it would be treated as claimable damage.

ach45 said:

We have also put up shelves so we are planning to fill holes, clean and emulsion all the walls throughout as I think the current state of them represents more than reasonable wear and tear. Do we need to go further than this? There are lots of painted windowsills and skirting boards which are naturally showing some signs of wear and tear after 15 years. The carpets needs to be replaced in all but one room, I would say. They are worn/frayed and have some stains. Do I deep clean the carpets if they are obviously going to need replacing? The shower doors have been dodgy for at least 5 years, we've replaced / patched up the fittings but really they need replacing. Surely the landlord would expect to need to do this before the property is re-let?

repairing holes you created is a must, making sure such repairs blend in by repainting is advisable but may depend on the attitude of your LL. You won't know unless you ask. Even if they intend to have the whole place redecorated once you are gone, they are still entitled to claim for any damage you caused. 

wear and tear on windows sills etc is open to debate

did you report the condition of the shower doors as needing repair before you went ahead and did your own work to them? Fair wear and tear is not just a question of age, I would not expect to have a claim that the front door hanging off is wear and tear just because it is 15 years old. For shower fittings you may have a claim if the fittings were "cheap" to start with. . 

However, as others say, the condition of the carpets after 15 years should be unclaimable as that is fair wear and tear

Grumpy_chap

Bookworm105 said:

yes you do, the start point of any tenancy is your return it in the condition you received it.

I disagree.
If the OP moved into a newly decorated property 15 years ago, they do not need to leave it as a newly decorated property now.

As a LL - and assuming the OP has paid rent in full - after 15 years with no voids I would return the full deposit and expect to need to fully decorate and recarpet etc.

Bookworm105

Grumpy_chap said:

Bookworm105 said:

yes you do, the start point of any tenancy is your return it in the condition you received it.

I disagree.
If the OP moved into a newly decorated property 15 years ago, they do not need to leave it as a newly decorated property now.

As a LL - and assuming the OP has paid rent in full - after 15 years with no voids I would return the full deposit and expect to need to fully decorate and recarpet etc.

I said start point
If the inventory shows it was newly decorated (implies highly clean() then you return it highly clean. Anything less is down to arguing wear & tear or damage.

Time2count

I was in my last rental for 12 years. My landlord wouldn't allow me to decorate (not even white paint done by a professional) so I took pleasure in the obvious wear and tear when leaving the place.
Yes I cleaned and hoovered but that was it.
Speak to your landlord, I would imagine they'll be completely redecorating, the carpets and lino will most likely need replacing. Send them an email so you have their reply.

ManuelG

Herzlos said:

Check with your landlord in writing what they expect. If they are planning on ripping it all out anyway they may not mind if the carpet is a bit grubby.

Wish I'd done that in one studio flat I'd rented. Spent three days checking it so it was spotless, next time I went past they'd ripped the side wall and roof off for an extension!

chrisw

Herzlos said:

Check with your landlord in writing what they expect. If they are planning on ripping it all out anyway they may not mind if the carpet is a bit grubby.

People always omit this obvious option. Ideally, meet the landlord at the property if you can and jointly agree what needs doing.