Dispute with letting agent over state of returned flat

[popegregory]

Hi all. Looking for experience from landlords who’ve had a managed property returned in poor condition. We’ve had this just and had to go way and above the cost for “wear and tear” we thought in getting it habitable for the next tenant. We were able to recoup some cost from the deposit but the tenant disputed it and faced with the practicality of having to lose more of it through dispute resolution we settled at around half of what was required. We feel the letting agent should have intervened sooner, that their inspection wasn’t adequate, but I’m coming to terms with the fact their t’s and c’s are very cleverly written to be vague in our favour and very precise in theirs. Anyone managed to get a contribution off agents in a similar scenario, or a respite from future charges, or just gone with the simple route of binning them and getting another?

[mikecassie]

Similar experience, tenant left the flat I rented in a mess. £3000 to get it back to a decent condition for the next tenant. I went through the 'simple procedure' in Scotland, which is similar to small claims court. The Simple Procedure, as one of the court assistants said wasn't so simple. It would be if you are familiar with it, like everything I guess.

I did keep the deposit, which they did dispute but having the photos before and after made it kind of pointless.
At the court, about 1 year after they moved out, they did capitulate and say they'd pay to reimburse my costs to repair the damages. This was at £100 p/m, with interest charged as per the Court rules. It took another 2 years to get all the costs back.
I had to keep track of the repayments, the court didn't help there and I guess if they wanted to they could have stopped paying and I'd have had to go through the palaver again. The tenant did think they would be finished repayments 1 month earlier but they didn't argue the point when I said they had 1 more month to go.

The leasing agent was useless, they wouldn't help with the claim or anything apart from a couple emails to the ex tenant which they ignored and then left me to the simple procedure. If I needed their legal help that would have cost me their normal rate, £££££.

[Countdown]

popegregory said:

Hi all. Looking for experience from landlords who’ve had a managed property returned in poor condition. We’ve had this just and had to go way and above the cost for “wear and tear” we thought in getting it habitable for the next tenant. We were able to recoup some cost from the deposit but the tenant disputed it and faced with the practicality of having to lose more of it through dispute resolution we settled at around half of what was required. We feel the letting agent should have intervened sooner, that their inspection wasn’t adequate, but I’m coming to terms with the fact their t’s and c’s are very cleverly written to be vague in our favour and very precise in theirs. Anyone managed to get a contribution off agents in a similar scenario, or a respite from future charges, or just gone with the simple route of binning them and getting another?

Same here - binned them and stopped using Letting Agents.

[popegregory]

Thanks both for your insight, much appreciated