UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,

Our tenants moved out in August and we are now planning to sell the property.  They left quite a bit of damage, painted rooms garish colours without permission, added electrical sockets without our authorisation, and drilled lots of holes in the walls for TV brackets.  Most of the damage and repainting can be fixed by my wife and myself but what labour rate should we apply, as they are contesting the deposit return.  I'm thinking about £20 per hour.

Thanks

Sadly you cannot claim for your own time, only for that of a hired contractor. You can claim for parts and materials if you keep receipts. You may decide that you might as well get someone else in to do the work if the deposit will cover it.

Quote from: heavykarma on January 10, 2024, 05:13:06 PMSadly you cannot claim for your own time, only for that of a hired contractor. You can claim for parts and materials if you keep receipts. You may decide that you might as well get someone else in to do the work if the deposit will cover it.

Thanks, I expect that materials can be claimed though?  The kitchen floor was damaged and needs replacing, paint, broken items that our letting agent agreed are beyond "wear and tear".

Will the DPS take into consideration that the rooms were repainted without our authorisation, and unsafe electrical work was done?

You're entitled to compensation for your loss beyond fair wear and tear. The work doesn't have to actually be done at all, so who does it doesn't really matter (although doing it yourself is a complication).

Claim for the lost lifetime of the decoration that was destroyed. Same with the flooring and anything else broken. You can't claim for the replacements, you can claim for what was lost.

Have a look at the DPS website for some examples of how their process judges claims.

Quote from: garyc on January 10, 2024, 05:02:02 PM...what labour rate should we apply, as they are contesting the deposit return.  I'm thinking about £20 per hour.

I see advice on this has been given, but don't ignore it and even think about trying it. The fact that your ex-Tenants are contesting the Deposit deduction is a warning for me, reading this. I don't think you actually want them to take it "all the way" if that's not already in-flight... much better to resolve this situation by both coming away with something that you're effectively truly unhappy with. Give a little, get a little - move on without third party involvement.

You ask what the DPS will take into account and the question appears quite innocent and open-eyed to me - the DPS is unlikely to come down in favour of the Landlord in many respects you'd hope they would. That's just not how it works. It's new skewed, but plenty of Landlords are very surprised to find out what is a valid deduction and what is not. Most Landlords are surprised by the effort and evidence required to succeed. At this moment you're probably looking at it as a clear-cut black-and-white cut-and-dry scenario in your favour... a third-party could blow that out of the water. Take control of whatever you can control.

And "adding electrical sockets without our authorisation" does not imply "unsafe". Could be, but it doesn't necessarily follow. We cannot tell, knowing little about the situation and not being Electricians... you have stated the work was unsafe and you might have good reason to do that - but we just don't know (but we know enough to read what's written here and conclude your expectations aren't on par with the real world - possibly just through it all being new to you - again, we can't tell for sure).

Quote from: Hippogriff on January 11, 2024, 09:06:23 AMAnd "adding electrical sockets without our authorisation" does not imply "unsafe". Could be, but it doesn't necessarily follow. We cannot tell, knowing little about the situation and not being Electricians... you have stated the work was unsafe and you might have good reason to do that - but we just don't know (but we know enough to read what's written here and conclude your expectations aren't on par with the real world - possibly just through it all being new to you - again, we can't tell for sure).

From my other thread, in the loft there were 6 double sockets, and a 4-way extension all connected to an existing spur off the ring main.  Also a socket with no earth wire.

I admit I'm new to this, hence the questions.  Not a professional landlord, just a guy that acquired a house and wanted to try renting it... lesson learned. 

Thanks for the help.

To charge for your own labour as a landlord use a business name and optionally an alternative address.

Then on your self assessment include this business under self employment. 

Be reasonable with charges and go by the book. There are no issues this way.

A charge for your own labour would be allowed if the tenant agreed to it (and could have obtained the same service somewhere else).
Otherwise it's a prohibited payment.

For stuff you want to claim from a deposit for damage, you're claiming compensation for a loss incurred outside the contract.
Your own time can't be a loss.

The number of tenants who would know this is small. The deposit companies, though do know.

This is generally BAD advice, do not assume your opponent is an idiot and will not seek to verify the "business name" seek and verify proper invoices.

In such situations not only will the claim be disallowed but the LL will be deemed as deceitful.

As advised by others you can't charge for your own time, END OF.  You can risk trying to get another company to do the work but you would need to prove the age of the decoration before that applied by the Tenant.

Some contracts have terms to specify what colours can be used or that any change requires approval which seems reasonable.

If a LL employs a firm they have to mitigate the loss to the Tenant, that means they need to give the Tenant an opportunity to fix the issue, repaint the room and remove the wire sockets.

A failure to do that could render the claim void.

Not all schemes are binding on the Tenant, I would advice any LL or Tenant to check the terms of the actual scheme they are in and whether they have custodial or insurance backed scheme.

Also ALWAYS check the deposit protection legislation was complied with within 30 days, including the service of the Prescribed Information.

The property is going to be sold, chances are the house would be tarted up for the sale and probably to a better standard so have a peaceful life and only claim for real damage.

Not sure what they needed 6 sockets plus extensions in the loft for, hopefully not "growing" something!!

Quote from: richhand on November 21, 2024, 02:48:41 PMTo charge for your own labour as a landlord use a business name and optionally an alternative address.

Then on your self assessment include this business under self employment.