Landlady - am I being unreasonable

busy_bee_7

Poodlecrazy wrote: »

Right, I thought I would keep you all posted....

I have written to the landlady asking for details of where our deposit is being held. I sent this a couple of days ago.

By happy coincidence :rolleyes: I ran into her in the supermarket last night. She proceeded to remind me about the carpet (we are to put a rug in front of the sofa to put our feet on to prevent marks - can't remember if I told you about that). I then decided to stop her talking by bombarding her with things so off I went...

Found out that the deposit is held on a stakeholder account with the original letting agents - they also did the move in inventory so I am slightly more hopeful that we will get some ££ back.

P
x

Poodlecrazy,

I am truly sorry to hear about your problems. You ARE RIGHT:

I agree with these forum members who think that your landlady IS NOT reasonable. As long as you pay the rent on time and try to look after the place as best as you can, which is I'm sure exactly what you are doing, you are in the right.
From what you describe I think she is a particularly pedantic person or even a control freak.
You may argue that if it is reasonable to leave the washing mashine door open to prevent mould build up etc. it is not reasonable, in fact it is absolutely crazy to expect you to move the dining table every week to prevent marks (!) on the carpet as it should be classified as "wear and tear" of the poperty. I do not mention the plumping of the sofa cushions, yes, I may be a bit pedantic myself and I would do it from time to time as it does prolong "life expentancy" of the cusion or simply they look better plumped up. However, it is just a ridiculus demand! As if you had nothing better to do but to plump your landlady's sofa cusions!

If the landlady is that bothered about her furnishings she should have let the flat unfurnished.

I do not think that she has a right to do the "inspection" every month, in each case, she should put it down in writing and give you one week's notice, as far as I'm aware.

I personally have an impression that she is just harassing you, probably because she has nothing better to do! I think your only option is to leave this property, when your contact runs out, I would not extend it, if I were you.

You should not worry too much about the deposit: it is held by the letting agent at all times. When you do the "check out"/ inventory of the poperty with the landlady/agents' representative the deposit will be paid back to you by the letting agents, provided that you have not made any damages in the flat.
I guess all you can do is to make sure you go through every item on the "check out" tick list, even if it means cleaning the windows or having the carpets cleaned by professionals. Do whatever it takes to leave the flat spotless, and make sure that the agent representative is present during that inspection. If the landlady is particularly difficult you can always dispute the items but even if she was objecting or causing problems, your deposit still remains with the agents.
From what you say you do look after this property so I think you will have no problems in getting your deposit back.

Best of luck

Busy Bee

stokesy01

i am a landlord and I don't do this to my tenant. You have to 'let go' a bit if you are renting a place out. people will never live the way you do (not suggesting you living unreasonably). I always apologise profusely to him for any visits i have to make. perhaps i am too soft? But this woman is obviously over the top.

Good luck

Poodlecrazy

Thanks BB and Stokesy. I'm feeling a lot more relaxed about it now as I am now aware that it isn't just me! My flatmate won't even deal with her now as she fears she lose her temper, I too fear that so I am taking the brunt of it!! The checkout inventory is going to be quiet funny, I actually pity the agent as they will be banging their heads against a brick wall if they think she will listen to them. I am going to have to set aside a good few hours for this I fear!

x

clutton_2

when did you move into this flat and when did you sign your last AST ?

Poodlecrazy

clutton wrote: »

when did you move into this flat and when did you sign your last AST ?

We moved in at the end of July last year and it is a 12 month contract. 2 months notice can be given (at the end of May) if we do not intend to renew. Will not be missing that deadline I can tell you! :cool:

Rowan1946

How was your move, any inventory problems?

We had a landlord who frequently let himself in to do repairs and stuff we were not told about.

Alot of the furniture and cutlary was rubbish, we replaced them with better stuff, even through his double bed out as it was falling apart but replaced it with a proper King size bed and left it, obviously, left lots of newer stuff, forced us to buy our own place as we new anything we done to the rented flat had to be left.