Rental Cleaning Deposit Deduction £350 plus Non-Safety Glass?

Nabla

Hi,

I moved out of a rental place (2 bed apartment, 1 bathroom, 1 kitchen, 1 living room, no outdoor space) about 1 month ago, after 4 years of living there.

I had about £850 deposit in Deposit Protection Scheme (DPS). 

About 1 month before I left the flat, I accidentally dropped something, and it smashed through the glass on an internal door (non-safety glass). Shards of glass went everywhere, including into me, causing me personal injury. I have photos of this, and my injury.

On the day of leaving I gave the place a good clean ( took me all day), and took photos of everything cleaned.

It was a managed property through an estate agent.

Initially, they wanted to charge me £300 for the door glass, I got an all-inclusive quote to replace the door for about £150, and found equivalent doors available online for < £100. In the end I offered £90 for the door, and it was agreed after I showed them my quotes, and the available doors.

But now, 1 month after moving, they have just tried to charge me for a toilet seat £25, and £350 ! for a professional clean of the property. 

There is only one area where I would agree needs a professional clean, which is a 30cm diameter stain on the living room carpet. So really, they just need to clean 1 carpet in the living room. They are also saying the oven needs a clean.

When I have looked at cleaning costs, to do a full end-of tenancy flat clean, including oven, and carpets, I have found quotes on the order of £200. But the flat does not need a full clean, it is literally just that one carpet stain and maybe the oven, and everything else is clearly full wear and tear. If I look at costs for this, it looks to be more on the order of £50-£70 for both included.

They are saying they will put a claim in with DPS for a total of £465, which seems extortionate.

Some questions:

1. Can they justify the FULL end of tenancy deep clean of the entire apartment (£350), given everything was cleaned (my own time and effort) to a good standard, with the exception of one small carpet stain ( I didn't have the equipment/materials to remove), and possibly the oven (or so they are claiming). 

2. If they do, can I appeal it, and provide my evidence? What are my chances of success?

3. Being a rental property, I thought that it was a legal requirement to install safety glass? They also didn't fix it after I reported it for the remaining month of the tenancy, and only gave me a £300 quote for it (coincidentally) the day after I moved out. So me and my son were living with exposed shards of glass for a month. Since they didn't fix it, and I injured myself, what can I do to claim against them if they decide they want to take half my deposit (unreasonably in my eyes)? Would this be part of my appeal to the DPS? Or would I have to go to a personal injury lawyer or something? I have photos of the door and my injury,

4. The whole time I was in the flat, I had low hot water pressure as well (literally takes >10 mins to fill the kitchen sink), which they refused to fix, after two plumbers inspected, on different occasions and determined a pump needed changing. I pointed this out to the estate agent too, and she says it doesn't matter, as it's not a health and safety concern, so they had no obligation to change it. Is this true?

I offered them £90 for the door + £60 for the cleaning, £150 total, but they are saying it's not enough, and threatening to put a claim with DPS.

I feel like they are just being absolute greedy money grabbers, since I know for a fact my rental payments have been double the monthly mortgage payments on the flat for the last four years. So they're sitting there doing nothing, collecting money, and they can't even stretch to re-invest some small amount for any basic repairs, or cleaning / repairs between tenants. Makes my blood boil these greedy people. 

Photos attached post-my-cleaning (I have way more too)

os

anselld

You have made a fair offer.  Take it to DPS, present your evidence and let them decide.

The DPS will not be interested in the personal injury or the historic repair issues, just stick to the facts regarding the damages.

Grumpy_chap

Did the LL / Agent undertake a check-out inventory while you were present?
They cannot add further damages after that event.
It also seems unreasonable to come back a month after you left as the first time the additional damages are mentioned to you.  Anyone could have broken the toilet seat in that month.  Anyone could have made the property dirty in that month - particularly if the LL undertook any general decorating to maximise the rent for remarketing.

HillStreetBlues

Unless you did something stupit I wouldn't be paying for a toilet seat.

silvercar

You should be paying for one oven clean and one room carpet clean, assuming the stain can be removed. If the stain can’t be removed then one replacement carpet less an allowance for the time it has been used as a percentage of the total time a carpet is expected to last.

As for the glass, you broke it, so you should pay. A landlord isn’t expected to know the glass wasn’t safety glass, it looks old, so probably complied with the regulations in place when it was fitted. However now it needs replacing it needs to comply.

This is what deposit schemes are designed for. So dispute or reach agreement.

Nabla

Thanks for the replies.

No... No check-out inventory check or flat inspection was done in my presence. It was all done after I left, not in my presence and I did not receive their quote until 1 month after moving out.

Surely if non-safety glass is installed, against legal regulations, and I have injured myself as a result (it is looking like it will leave a scar), then there is some way I can make a claim against them?

If not via the DPS, then through a personal injury lawyer?

Yes, of course it was my fault that the glass broke, obviously. I completely accept responsibility for that, as communicated to them, and offered them the cost of a replacement door. However, accidents do happen, and this is the whole reason why there are legal building regulations to prevent an accident becoming an injury. Same goes for electrical regulations, bannisters / handrails on stairs, fire doors, windows, and fire regulations, etc, etc.

If they want to unreasonably (in my opinion) claim extortionate amounts from me. I would like to make a claim against them too. Looking at my photos above, clearly a professional deep clean of the entire flat is not needed.

Based on comments here, I will go through the DPS with my evidence if they don't accept my offer, and get in touch with a personal injury lawyer.

Grumpy_chap

Nabla said:

No... No check-out inventory check or flat inspection was done in my presence. It was all done after I left, not in my presence and I did not receive their quote until 1 month after moving out.

Surely if non-safety glass is installed, against legal regulations, and I have injured myself as a result (it is looking like it will leave a scar), then there is some way I can make a claim against them?

If there was no check-out inventory carried out, then I would use your departure photos and the 1-month delay in notifying the alleged damage as the damage occurred after you left.

I doubt you have any grounds to claim for the glass and cut to your hand.  The door and the glass probably complied with the regulations in force at the time the door was fitted.  How long ago did you break the glass?  Did you leave the glass like in the photo?  Or did you remove and dispose of the remainder of the glass pane?  Or did you tape some firm cardboard to both sides of the glass?  Or did you do something else to mitigate the remaining hazard?

theartfullodger

Just dispute everything through dps against this greedy stupid landlord.  (I'm a landlord since 2000)

Beeblebr0x

Grumpy_chap said:

Nabla said:

No... No check-out inventory check or flat inspection was done in my presence. It was all done after I left, not in my presence and I did not receive their quote until 1 month after moving out.

Surely if non-safety glass is installed, against legal regulations, and I have injured myself as a result (it is looking like it will leave a scar), then there is some way I can make a claim against them?

If there was no check-out inventory carried out, then I would use your departure photos and the 1-month delay in notifying the alleged damage as the damage occurred after you left.

I doubt you have any grounds to claim for the glass and cut to your hand.  The door and the glass probably complied with the regulations in force at the time the door was fitted.  How long ago did you break the glass?  Did you leave the glass like in the photo?  Or did you remove and dispose of the remainder of the glass pane?  Or did you tape some firm cardboard to both sides of the glass?  Or did you do something else to mitigate the remaining hazard?

Doesn't the landlord bear responsibility for having non-safety glass in the property in the same way as he/she has to comply with safety requirements for gas boilers etc? It's fortunate a child wasn't injured.

Nabla

I have just spoken to a no win-no fee personal injury solicitor who has accepted my case, and confident they can get some compensation for me, based on the fact that it does not meet building regulations for safety glass, and they did not fix it.

That is how it looked after it happened, multiple small shards, one large shard, and multiple medium sized shards fell out.

I reported it the same day, and for the remaining 3-4weeks of my tenancy, I was chasing for them to get a handy man round to fix it and given me a quote. I have the email evidence of me chasing them for this. They did not do anything. I hen received a quote for £274, two hours after I handed my keys back on the day of leaving. (What a coincidence, right!)

I got an independent quote myself for parts and labour for £180, provided to them, and also found two equivalent doors online (I measured the exact mm dimensions myself before I left), from UK suppliers, with safety glass, both for <£100 with shipping. It needed the old door unscrewing from the hinges, and the new door screwing on. That's it.

Nabla

I don't think it is any different to if they had left exposed mains wiring and I had electrocuted myself (Yes, they could say it was my fault for touching the wire, but it should never have been exposed in the first place - an accident waiting to happen.)