UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,

Baby landlord - one property - first dispute. Inexperience will be glaring but hoped to sound out the community to check expectations and see if I need to chalk this up to bitter experience.

Tenant - 18 months, no rent arrears, £1500 deposit.
Georgian property. Stone walls. Hadn't got an extractor installed in the bathroom, only in kitchen
Painted/Cleaned throughout on letting
Deposit with TDS via Agent

Problems:

Check out report says:

1. House a mess - needs cleaning - badly cleaned kitchen, some dust/cobwebs/skirting boards etc. There's not crap smeared on the walls/everything's functional but there's work to do.
2. Various sundries missing - toilet brush, plant pots, shower seal buggered through poor cleaning (all noted in inventories)
3. Check out report says extensive chips/scuffs/marks to walls. Check in called it a "good condition" (slightly below "professional")
4. Some condensation damage - I don't believe he was opening windows enough in the bathroom or the main bedroom
5. I did my own labour to tidy up the rear and front yards.

In short, I'm really annoyed. To cover the decorating and the cleaner alone I'm pretty much at £1500 to restore it. Add in the rest and it's 100%.

Tennant saying he wants to go through a dispute, but given all this I think it's well beyond a fair level of wear and tear. I think he'll take the cleaning and the replacement parts, but i think it's the decorating that he's not happy with - approx. £900 (new paint on one wall would make the rest of it look scruffy etc). May have been screwed over but it sorted it. We weren't best mates on my visits but everything was professional enough.

Before I tell him to go for it and raise his concerns. In short:

How bad does a tenant have to screw the house up for me to get a 100% return of the deposit through this process? Anyone had any similar examples?

Any advice welcome!

Cheers.

I'm of the live and let live school of thought. If the house needs a titvation/clean up but is in general good condition then I'm happy to get it back. Despite a full decoration needing £900 work, if it is 1 wall then that has to be the consideration. 18 months is a short time but I'm a magnolia all over type of LL so a refresh isn't onerous and the properties are around the corner and Im very handy.

I have only claimed deposit where  considerable filth and/or rent arrears were involved. I have lost count of the number of ovens I have cleaned.I think you are being a bit greedy here.If he agrees to cleaning expenses and a proportion of the paint I would leave it at that.I always send a letter a few weeks before departure,listing all the things that need to be clean and in good order,like windows and grass cutting which tenants often neglect to do.

You're entitled to claim compensation for any loss in the value of your property beyond the normal wear and tear associated with someone living in the property.

That's unlikely to be the full cost of rectification. You lost the use of the paintwork which was, presumably expected to last longer than it did, you can't claim the cost of redecoration.
If the paintwork would be expected to last (say) seven years and cost £700 (to be simple), and only lasted four years, you've lost £300.

And cosmetic damage is not usually a claimable loss, so you can't claim for painting anything else to match at all.
So if it was one wall only, you've probably lost a quarter of the £300.
Obviously your own figures will depend on whatever the actual situation is.

You'd normally expect some cleaning between tenants, so you need to allow for that as well - so you're claiming for the extra cleaning needed, not the routine elements.

That's the approach the arbitration service (or a court) will take. So any claims over that wouldn't be allowed. I can't see how you can get remotely close to £1500 for what you've described.

I am not going to digest the damage and expectations of figures... I am just going to say that I have never gone through to a dispute. I had one lovely set of Tenants who were nearly there but, even then, I took a deep breath and explained to them (and my inner self) that it would take a) time, b) effort and that the outcome would be uncertain, so if we could come to an arrangement the remainder of the Deposit would be in their bank account that afternoon.

I hated to let them "get away" with some stuff... but it's a bird in the hand if you can obtain agreement. And, frankly, some of the stuff I was asking for might have been questioned - I can't tell sometimes - but unless who you are dealing with is completely intransigent and unrealistic... get an agreement of some kind.

The old saying that a compromise is where both sides are relatively unhappy is 100% true... and why allow your destiny to be placed in the hands of an unknown third party (your understanding / gut-feel / hope of what you're due might not be reality)? If the lines of communication are open - try again. Good luck.

Everyone - thank you. I appreciate your input.

If I was being really honest with myself (no one likes doing that do they?!  ) I think it's much of what you guys have said. I need to get myself back to the drawing board and think of something palatable enough clearly for the sake of everyone's sanity and resolving it whilst there's a degree of control over it.

We live and learn - thank you for the replies.

There's no reason to go to the other extreme though.
A claim can be made on the basis described and, if you present it in that way, it's difficult for the tenant to argue (other than on the same basis - paint should last x years not y years).
And if you go to arbitration, chances are you'll win, because they'd take the same approach (again they might have a different view on the actual numbers).

But there's no reason for a tenant to ruin a wall and walk away not cleaning the place to get away with you paying for the consequences.