Landlord and cleaning / Wear and Tear

[deanjames]

I am hoping i can get some advice as I am currently in a frustrating situation and facing costs which I think are unfair.

 

A little background I started renting in December 2010 with my partner this was the first time we have ever rented. When we moved into the house in 2010 the house was cheaply decorated walls painted and new carpet, we moved out on 28/03/14 so roughly three years.

 

Prior to leaving I spent best part of 2 days cleaning the house I have had a letter today listing dilapidations which were picked up on the exit of the property.

 

One of them is a full clean of the house with the cost of £144 I have already paid them £70 for cleaning of the carpets, the company I paid to clean the carpets do the work on behalf of letting agent and actually advertise them on their van, they have also been invoiced for the £144 work to be carried out.

 

They attached photos of the areas they see a problem with, the photos they sent me are like crime scene photos they have gone in and taken pictures of tiny specs of dust which I feel is unfair, almost looking for evidence of dirt. I spoke to the general manager and he said the house has to be left in the same condition as it was when we moved in, which we feel we have for one the oven has been dirty since day one and some of the items just generally look dirty due to age. I am sure even with a professional clean they could not been cleaned to a good standard.

 

I checked my inventory and highlighted some concerns such as it does not go into enough detail as to the condition of the house, I raised this with the general manager who said back then the inventory where not good and now we take photographic evidence. One example is that majority of the doors look to have tiny punch marks, these are not listed on the original inventory in detail but when having a conversation they apparently have notes.

 

Repainting of front room and landing, over the three years we hung some photos as expected they now want us to pay a proportion of the costs to paint the areas I would have thought this comes under fair wear and tear it seems not, not do they have an outline policy stating what they deem as fair wear and tear.

 

Overall they are arguing that the property has to be returned in the same state as how we got it one quote from the Manger is that “In your case this is easy, because the house was freshly decorated” with this in mind how can anyone return a house in a freshly decorated state after it being lived in for three years.

 

It is also worth a mention on my house inspections everything was marked excellent.

I have now asked for an itemized bill of what they plan on charging me and a breakdown of costs. Unfortunately I have misplaced my contract during my move I plan on asking for this and a summary of what they deem as fair wear and tear as at the moment it seems down to the individual.

[deanjames]

Can anyone answer does the landlord have to test fire alarms prior to tenant moving in ? I have on my inventory that they where not tested.

[Steve__M]

Is your deposit protected? If so, there will be a procedure to follow for disputing their claims.

 

I'm not sure why hanging pictures counts as fair wear and tear. What was the "damage"? Nails, blu-tack?

 

There should be a deduction relating to wear and tear. Quite significant for decorating after 3 years.

 

No, I don't think LL has to test fire alarms.

[mariner51]

Fire alarms are only required in HMOs. If present on inventory, they should be 'functional'. like g/ch, cooker etc, none of which inventory clerk will test. If you are talking about battery operated smoke alarms, the test button will indicate if battery present with sufficient power. Batteries are resp of T to replace as reqd, during T.

 

 

The other repair costs are negotiable, but LL is entitled to employ a contractor at market rates.

IMO T hanging pictures on nails or blu tack is not fair wear & tear, but may depend on amount of damage caused.

I had a similar problem recently, the number of extra nail holes in the room looked like the room had been sprayed with an Ouzi.