UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,

My tenant has recently vacated the property.  A clause in the tenancy agreement meant that she had to get the carpets cleaned at the end of the tenancy.  Upon checkout it was obvious the carpets had not been cleaned.  When we asked why the tenant said that she had booked a cleaning company to do a full clean of the apartment that included carpet cleaning, however as the lift in the block has not worked for some time then the cleaner was unable to carry their carpet cleaning equipment up several flights of stairs and therefore the carpet cleaning was not executed.

I booked a cleaner myself and this cost me £100 which I have deducted from her deposit.  She is disputing this on the basis that she had booked a full carpet clean as part of a cleaning package and it would not have cost her close to £100.  She also says that she was unable to know that the equipment would be too big/heavy to carry upstairs without a working lift.

She has offered to contribute £35 towards the carpet cleaning which is how much she would have been charged by her cleaners if they had been able to do the carpets.  She sent me her invoice along with a letter from the cleaning company and a photo of their cleaning equipment.  These documents back up what she claims.

I have rejected this offer and I have been informed that she has opened a dispute process.

Should I accept her offer?  Am I likely to succeed in getting the full £100 from her deposit? 

Is the lift not working? As you don't mention it the we must assume this is indeed the case.

To avoid the hassle I'd accept the tenant's offer (which she has had the grace and professionalism to prove is fair without appearing to be confrontational from how you've described events thus far by the way), and instead focus your energies on more important things in life than the remaining £65.

Hint: Putting pressure on the building's management to get the lift fixed would be an excellent starting point,

Take the money. Move on.  Avoid the stress.  The ex tenant sounds reasonable to me.