UK Landlord Forum / Life

I am currently having a problem with a tenant, the tenant has been there for four years and is now vacating. I fitted new carpets 18 months ago and on check out find the carpets stained and dirty and have to be replaced. The wall have all been drawn on with crayon and pen and have hand and feet marks on. The curtain rails are off and some of the kitchen cupboard doors are off too. The tenant has agreed to pay  £200.00 towards redecorating but will not towards the carpets. I have now spent £2530.00

What can I do.

If you have protected the deposit, then just claim the maximum you can back from the scheme.

I doubt you could get more than that.

Quote from: Roonpipe on September 19, 2014, 06:57:59 AMI have now spent £2530.00

Just be careful you can't be accused of betterment... the amount that you've spent is interesting only, what it would cost you to repair the damage that is beyond wear-and-tear is the important thing. That said, there is always the route of Court for when the cost of repairing damage is more than the amount of the deposit. All the Deposit Scheme can judge on, though, is the deposit... they can't suggest you get more than the deposit... it's either some of the deposit or all of the deposit (or none of the deposit).

Hi, the amount spent was £1000.00 for paint, globes,plug and light fittings, toilet seat and bath panel and labour for the new tenant. The extra comes in to fix the other issues mentioned earlier at £350.00. The carpets, underlay and labour come to £1180.00. The deposit is with the agents. They say they will not release the deposit until a settlement is reached. The tenant will not admit to the issues and how do I get the agent to pay me and refund the balance to the tenant.

I am in no way asking the tenant to pay for all the repairs only the £200.00 for redecorating (as offered by themselves) and £708.00 towards the carpets. This figure I got of the exel sheet for wear and tear from the agents.

Carpets can be stained and dirty... but cost around £60 to have professionally cleaned (guy comes along with a variety of different machines and spends about 30 minutes going over it). Was the damage actually worse than just stains or dirt as you initially described?

You simply cannot go and claim to have all your carpets refreshed for the new Tenant if the current ones are perfectly serviceable. What would make them require replacing, I'd expect, are things like holes or burns that were caused by the outgoing Tenant. Even if they were old and are almost worn-out due to years of wear-and-tear - you don't get to claim for new carpets from your old Tenant - that's not how wear-and-tear works. I think you've understood this as you say you're asking for £708 out of £1,180 for the carpets... but that sounds like quite a high level (to me).

If you want to make progress... then you should initiate the ADR process of the deposit scheme in question. That way, all parties should agree and the result will be objective. You will need a good Inventory and Schedule of Condition to back-up your claim, though, as all the onus of proof will be on you, not the Tenant.

If the £200 is already agreed, though, I would think that part could be released to you.

The out going tenant has had the carpets prof. cleaned. I have had the carpets prof . cleaned as well and the stains will not come out. They are really bad.  The carpet can not be matched and this is why the decision to change all was made. I have only charged the tenant for the lounge, hall, stairs and landing as these were the worst of the lot. The balance of the rooms I have carried the cost.

The cost calculation came from Your Move and the deposit is with My Deposits.

What is ADR process?

I don't use MyDeposits, but I guess you can use Google as well as I can...

http://www.mydeposits.co.uk/sites/default/files/mydep%20ADR%20Guide%20(landlords).pdf

Quote from: Roonpipe on September 19, 2014, 12:25:05 PMThe carpet can not be matched and this is why the decision to change all was made.

You're not implying that uniformity of carpeting throughout the property is an absolute necessity are you?

Umm, the underlay wouldn't have been stained.

You cant claim for that, as if it wasn't there before you are not replacing like for like.

As I said before, claim for the deposit, and leave it at that, don't go claiming for extra's it is never worth all this pettyness.