UK Landlord Forum / Life

I was hoping to get some advice on a dispute which has arisen between us (the landlords) and our tenants on damage done to our property and deductions from the deposit.

At the end of their contract the tenant went through the property and applied numerous large areas of paint to the walls to cover up where scuffs, damage and picture hooks had been. The tenant had no permission to remove picture hooks or to decorate the property. The tenant failed to colour match the paint and used incorrect colours through large parts of the 5 bedroom house leaving large areas of damage.

At check-in a full inventory report was produced (and signed by the tenants) stating the property was in excellent decorative order throughout (with very minor wear and tear). Prior to this letting it was owner occupied by us the landlord and we took exceptionally good care to keep it in high decorative state (freshly painted throughout in June 2012 and decorated in places in both 2013 and before we vacated in April 2014)

The damage was recorded on check-out and the tenants have accepted liability. We have had 3 independent quotes stating the entire house will now need to be redecorated to get back to original state (sections of walls cannot be done due to aged paint and discolouration). This is in the region of 5000GBP of repairs. Our tenant is refusing to pay and at most has offered 1000GBP towards the damage.

Our tenants are refusing to work through MyDeposits and have instructed a property solicitor instead and are threatening to take us to small claims court.

They have advised that they wish to instruct an independent surveyor to attend the property to verify our claims of damage. Do we have to agree to this? We have had new tenants in situ for 3 months now and have also had separate (non-cosmetic) updating work done on the property so surely the check-out report (they signed) is legally binding and states the condition of the property? Why would they now need to re-verify it? We do not wish to inconvenience our tenants and we do not see that a report 3 months later is accurate. However, we do not wish to prejudice our case or claims.

Any advice on this matter would be hugely appreciated. Thank you

If you are asking for £5000, I think you're barking.

Have you spent this? I assume not, and you just want to punish these people financially, clever you.

The have offered you £1000.

I really could decorate a 5 bed house for that and still earn £750 for a weeks work.

I assume you live in London, where reality enters the twi-light zone.

Sorry, not a polite reply, but really, wtf!

Quote from: catherinetoms on June 13, 2015, 08:18:38 AMThey have advised that they wish to instruct an independent surveyor to attend the property to verify our claims of damage. Do we have to agree to this?

You don't have to allow anything... but you want something from them, not the other way around. If you want to let them instruct someone (that won't be free, right?) then you can... personally, I would let them. Your risk is that the independent person says there's nothing to do - you still have the position that of course you've fixed things since they left 3 months ago - you can't wrap the property up in a time-bubble, it needs to be earning you rent. I think the risk of allowing this is low to you.

However, £5,000... unlikely, right?

You don't say what amount the deposit was, only that they've offered £1,000. You can decorate a house for £1,000... maybe not a mansion, but certainly a house.

Just as an aside... I always leave Tenants with at least the knowledge of what paint has been used - brand, type and colour - and I often leave them some of that paint.

Good point Hippo. Always worth leaving a full can of the right color to cover scuffs up, not just the right color but the right "sheen" put matt on a silk wall, and it looks worse than a different color IMO.

Catherine. Admittedly, I have not see the before and after.  But is seems they have obviously done a rubbish job touching up, however, to extend that to say they have inflicted £5000 worth of damage on your property seems a stretch too far in my view.

For goodness sake give youself a break, take the £1000 and move on.  Is it really worth the stress and the dust up?

Thanks for taking the time to reply and for your helpful comments. I'm afraid yes we do own a home in the London "bubble" and we also live overseas so have relied on our Managing Agents to get 3 quotes from professional decorators. The amount quoted is the lowest of the 3.

Boboff - we have no desire to punish our tenants nor gain from this dispute financially, just to return our home to the excellent state in which it was let. Thanks Hippo for the comment on paint colours - we did leave a comprehensive list of paint colours, types etc but unfortunately our tenant ignored it and applied one colour though out the whole property in very large areas on most walls. Thanks Hippo for the advice on the access - food for thought and will consider your points.

It is possible the Managing Agent is adding 20%, maybe even 30%, to the quotes they've got in. It seems incredible that £5,000 is the going 'real' rate... but I am willing to stand corrected.

Hello Catherine

I've recently been through the process of claiming on deposit.  My experience which was through DPS rather than My Deposits they let me claim the cost of the paint rather than the whole amount to get the work done.  On this basis if the tenants are offering £1k I would rip their arm off.

I would advise that so long as you have the photos as proof just crack on now to get the job done and relet as timescales can be long.  My tenants moved out (evicted) mid October, then had 3 months to submit to DPS (which of course they waited until last minute), deposit monies finally came through end February.

Hope this helps!