Letting agent deposit return advice please!
Discussion
Hello folks,
My girlfriend moved out of rented 3 bed house in Bristol a month ago and is having real problems getting her deposit back as the letting agents have, for no obvious reason, decided to be overly (and in my opinion, quite unfairly) picky about damage/cleaning/wear and tear.
The property had 3 girls, all late 20's (no pics), sharing for 18 months and on leaving they put a lot of time into fully cleaning it including using a vacuum steamer on the carpets etc.
The first issue raised was that of weeds in the front and rear garden. They have now dropped this one after we stated clearly that we have spent many hours working in that garden as it was a dump when she moved in. Numerous plants have been put in, I re-did the pond entirely, all the beds were cleared of rubble and replanted etc etc
The ongoing issues, which they want to charge for are:
1 - the kitchen sink not being cleaned to their standards. As far as I can see from pictures it merely has a few watermarks on it.
2 - the washing machine drawer (where powder goes) not being clean. It, unsurprisingly, has remnants of powder in it. The rubber seal is apparently dirty too.
3 - damage to the hob (They say "considerably damaged"). It was new when they moved in but has some burn type marks that would not come off on one of the rings. It is all 100% useable and working and I would argue that this is simply acceptable (if unfortunate) wear and tear for three people in 18 months.
Anyway, we are off on holiday early tomorrow morning and her two housemates are not great at wording things. We don't have time to fully research tenants deposit rights and so on but any help from anyone here who is knowledgable on the subject or has similar experience would be greatly appreciated.
Here are some pics of the damage that requires a contracted cleaner (amount has not been specified yet) for reference:
A dirty drawer
Mark on the hob that won't come off
A dirty sink
Not sure what this shows and she didn't give us any clues. But i assume it is dirty
And again
The rubber inside the machine - this does look slightly dirty but it's a pretty easy thing to miss/forget when leaving a house and I can't see that it can be chargeable
A tiny mark that was hidden behind the kitchen dustbin - all other marks were carefully painted when they started cleaning the house, this tiny one was missed.
So, am i wrong and are these things entirely reasonable to knock £30/£50/£150 off the deposit?
Or are we in the right and the letting agent is (for unknown reasons) being unfairly picky and unrealistic in their expectations as to what constitutes acceptably clean and also fair wear and tear?
Over to you, genuinely any advice is hugely appreciated as the girls have no idea where to go from here (I did of course know where to go - Pistonheads!)
As an aside the property has suffered from very serious ongoing mould issues since they moved in (the renovation of the house was rushed and very poorly done/bodged) and this has never been successfully rectified - they have had to run a dehumidifier (provided by the landlord) at their own expense constantly for a year. So we would argue that they failed to maintain the house themselves or keep up their end of the deal.
Thanks
My girlfriend moved out of rented 3 bed house in Bristol a month ago and is having real problems getting her deposit back as the letting agents have, for no obvious reason, decided to be overly (and in my opinion, quite unfairly) picky about damage/cleaning/wear and tear.
The property had 3 girls, all late 20's (no pics), sharing for 18 months and on leaving they put a lot of time into fully cleaning it including using a vacuum steamer on the carpets etc.
The first issue raised was that of weeds in the front and rear garden. They have now dropped this one after we stated clearly that we have spent many hours working in that garden as it was a dump when she moved in. Numerous plants have been put in, I re-did the pond entirely, all the beds were cleared of rubble and replanted etc etc
The ongoing issues, which they want to charge for are:
1 - the kitchen sink not being cleaned to their standards. As far as I can see from pictures it merely has a few watermarks on it.
2 - the washing machine drawer (where powder goes) not being clean. It, unsurprisingly, has remnants of powder in it. The rubber seal is apparently dirty too.
3 - damage to the hob (They say "considerably damaged"). It was new when they moved in but has some burn type marks that would not come off on one of the rings. It is all 100% useable and working and I would argue that this is simply acceptable (if unfortunate) wear and tear for three people in 18 months.
Anyway, we are off on holiday early tomorrow morning and her two housemates are not great at wording things. We don't have time to fully research tenants deposit rights and so on but any help from anyone here who is knowledgable on the subject or has similar experience would be greatly appreciated.
Here are some pics of the damage that requires a contracted cleaner (amount has not been specified yet) for reference:
A dirty drawer
Mark on the hob that won't come off
A dirty sink
Not sure what this shows and she didn't give us any clues. But i assume it is dirty
And again
The rubber inside the machine - this does look slightly dirty but it's a pretty easy thing to miss/forget when leaving a house and I can't see that it can be chargeable
A tiny mark that was hidden behind the kitchen dustbin - all other marks were carefully painted when they started cleaning the house, this tiny one was missed.
So, am i wrong and are these things entirely reasonable to knock £30/£50/£150 off the deposit?
Or are we in the right and the letting agent is (for unknown reasons) being unfairly picky and unrealistic in their expectations as to what constitutes acceptably clean and also fair wear and tear?
Over to you, genuinely any advice is hugely appreciated as the girls have no idea where to go from here (I did of course know where to go - Pistonheads!)
As an aside the property has suffered from very serious ongoing mould issues since they moved in (the renovation of the house was rushed and very poorly done/bodged) and this has never been successfully rectified - they have had to run a dehumidifier (provided by the landlord) at their own expense constantly for a year. So we would argue that they failed to maintain the house themselves or keep up their end of the deal.
Thanks
So, how much are they wanting for this?
They should return everything but the disputed amount to you. Then take the disputed amount to arbitration.
I'd recommend offering them a token settlement to make it go away but can't comment on whether they'd accept it or not.
Also, make sure that you get receipts for the work that has been carried out. Not that I'm suggesting they'll say the work will be done and then not done...
They should return everything but the disputed amount to you. Then take the disputed amount to arbitration.
I'd recommend offering them a token settlement to make it go away but can't comment on whether they'd accept it or not.
Also, make sure that you get receipts for the work that has been carried out. Not that I'm suggesting they'll say the work will be done and then not done...
littleguy said:
So, how much are they wanting for this?
They should return everything but the disputed amount to you. Then take the disputed amount to arbitration.
I'd recommend offering them a token settlement to make it go away but can't comment on whether they'd accept it or not.
Also, make sure that you get receipts for the work that has been carried out. Not that I'm suggesting they'll say the work will be done and then not done...
There has been no amount mentioned yet. They said the cleaning (sink/washing machine) would "not be expensive" - not sure what that will mean. £30? perhaps more.They should return everything but the disputed amount to you. Then take the disputed amount to arbitration.
I'd recommend offering them a token settlement to make it go away but can't comment on whether they'd accept it or not.
Also, make sure that you get receipts for the work that has been carried out. Not that I'm suggesting they'll say the work will be done and then not done...
With the hob they have said "I am obtaining a quote from a contractor that should be able to get this back to its original state". Who knows what that is likely to come to. Could be £10 or £200 I guess.
It's really not clear yet.
A token settlement might work though I think all three housemates feel the points mentioned are so nit-picky that there really isn't anything to settle. Perhaps £30 for a cleaner to come in and do their best on the lot would be ok, but much more and I think they'd all be quite pissed off.
Receipts will be asked for for any work, that's a good point. And hopefully they will come up with an actual figure soon as then we will push to get the entire remaining amount back ASAP.
Japveesix said:
There has been no amount mentioned yet. They said the cleaning (sink/washing machine) would "not be expensive" - not sure what that will mean. £30? perhaps more.
With the hob they have said "I am obtaining a quote from a contractor that should be able to get this back to its original state". Who knows what that is likely to come to. Could be £10 or £200 I guess.
It's really not clear yet.
A token settlement might work though I think all three housemates feel the points mentioned are so nit-picky that there really isn't anything to settle. Perhaps £30 for a cleaner to come in and do their best on the lot would be ok, but much more and I think they'd all be quite pissed off.
Receipts will be asked for for any work, that's a good point. And hopefully they will come up with an actual figure soon as then we will push to get the entire remaining amount back ASAP.
I am a Bristol based Landlord, having advised both tenants and Landlords, not at the same time, in Tenancy Deposit Disputes cases.With the hob they have said "I am obtaining a quote from a contractor that should be able to get this back to its original state". Who knows what that is likely to come to. Could be £10 or £200 I guess.
It's really not clear yet.
A token settlement might work though I think all three housemates feel the points mentioned are so nit-picky that there really isn't anything to settle. Perhaps £30 for a cleaner to come in and do their best on the lot would be ok, but much more and I think they'd all be quite pissed off.
Receipts will be asked for for any work, that's a good point. And hopefully they will come up with an actual figure soon as then we will push to get the entire remaining amount back ASAP.
If Protected, then the tenant's Deposit is protected for a further 3 months from the end of the tenancy. If there is a deduction from the full amount of the Deposit monies, that same deduction the tenant/s do not agree with, then the tenants need to inform the agents/landlord that the tenant/s intend to raise a dispute through the Scheme the Deposit is protected with.
This link will help you to check IF and who the Deposit is protected with, and how the Deposit Dispute Process works, how a tenant starts the Deposit Dispute Process.
From your opening post and pics, I would say the girls/tenants would be successful with their appeal, in fact I am quite certain the agents will back down if they know the girls intend to raise a Deposit Dispute.
http://www.mydeposits.co.uk/tenants/get-started/ch...
Japveesix said:
Apparently it is protected under a government approved insurance based scheme (according to their website) though my girlfriend doesn't know which scheme/company it is protected by at the moment. Or how to find that out?
Website is irrelevant, was the prescribed information provided to her or the other tenants?Looks like Fair Wear & Tear to me. The Landlord/EA will always go for path of least resistance. I had one who wanted my budget to pay for "used light bulbs", replacement cooker hood filters, things like that. I googled the legislation, and made it clear to the EA what the fair position is...
The claims are complete b
ks. Landlord just relying on it costing to much to challenge them I guess. I saw the possibility of just this happening on the house my daughter and her 2 friends rented for uni. However, the monthly rent was the same amount as the deposit. So they hasn't paid the final months rent, told the landlord to use the deposit money. Not that the house is damaged. Better than when they went in.
ks. Landlord just relying on it costing to much to challenge them I guess. I saw the possibility of just this happening on the house my daughter and her 2 friends rented for uni. However, the monthly rent was the same amount as the deposit. So they hasn't paid the final months rent, told the landlord to use the deposit money. Not that the house is damaged. Better than when they went in.Forums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff