To be boiling with rage at my 'landlady'?

[FrameyMcFrame]

I've posted on here before about my horrendous landlady, she's always popping round to 'check' things in the house.
This time she said she wanted to check 'the state and condition of the house and garden'

Ok, fair enough. I tidied up a bit and around she came for a good old snoop.
I left her to it and sat in the living room with my two DC.
After 20 minutes of snooping she came back to tell me that the inside of the shower cubicle was dirty... so dirty that if I didn't clean it soon it would 'damage the glass' Not sure how a bit of old shower gel can damage glass
Then she went on to say that the inside of the oven was filthy...and again it was going to damage the glass if not cleaned. It wasn't that dirty, I'd just used oven pride on it the week before!!! When I said this she went through to the kitchen and opened the oven and ran her finger along the back of the oven door and showed me that it was dirty.... obviously I'd missed a bit.

At this point I had to physically restrain myself from telling her to fuck off...
I was so angry afterwards I had to have a glass of wine to calm down

oh god deffo move back to your own place and hide some prawns in the curtain poles....

where we are if it is a short assured tenancy it just continues she doesn't get to give you a new tenancy every 6 months so the normal notice period would apply if she wants you to go.
Bloody cheek.

at prawns.

I don't think they'll give us our deposit back, I'm sure they'll find something to complain about. We need to get it back as it was £1250 which we can't afford to loose as some was borrowed from parents.
I think we're going to need legal advice.

raindrop, I think she would have to give us two months notice otherwise the tenancy will just roll on. so that would mean she needs to serve us notice on 25 of this month if she wants us to quit at the end of the present tenancy.

Does she not realise that things have to be used and they will not be in teh condition they were in when you leave as they are being used, it is called reasonable wear and tear for christs sake.

Reply with, should you not wish to continue the tenancy from 25th July we trust you will be giving us due notice as per the tenancy agreement.

We would further advise that due wear and tear has to be factored into any property let whereby fixtures and fittings are present, as nothing can be left in the same state as it was when we moved here as it is six months older and has had six months more use.

As you have inspected the property periodically and have not found further fault we deem that our deposit will be refundable in full upon our leaving providing, the shower is as clean as you would like and the oven is duly cleaned.

Honey don't you worry about your deposit.

You have an inventory right? How detailed is it? How recent is it, is it accurate and did you sign it? Do you have any photos on your inventory, do you have any photos of the garden/house etc?

Your only obligation is to return the property in the condition in which you received it. Any better and you are ahead.

If you have been there for a considerable period of time there has to be a reasonable amount of fair wear and tear. We have had recent additional guidelines from the TDS people which stress the need for fairness.

If you know you are going to be checking out, then we can coach you to make sure you protect as much as possible.

This is what I do for a living, checking people IN and OUT of rental properties.

She does have to give you 2m notice and it has to be on your payment/contract date, ie tomorrow. Give the notice any longer and it won't take effect until the date of the next payment date, i.e 25th June, and it will still be 2 months from that date. Even if the tenancy does roll on, it is a statutory periodic agreement and she STILL has to give you 2m.

If you want to go sooner, you can counter-serve notice, but again on the same date.

OK, so what aspects of the house are you worried about? was the house professionally cleaned for your tenancy, carpets cleaned or new condition? what is the condition you need to reach to return the house as you took it on?

Oh and her 'very mild comments regarding the shower cubical and the oven were actually intrusive in my book.

Does she even realise she has to serve you written notice by tomorrow if she wants you out on 25/7? Doesn't sound like she does. Don't stress about the deposit, as Hissy says there are very strict guidelines. I would advise you to check your copy of the inventory and carry out any repairs or upkeep well in advance of the check out. She doesn't get it does she :( If you want to move out anyway I would just make plans to leave. Nobody needs a LL/agency like that. We moved from a terrible, intrusive one to a fabulous one and it makes such a difference to our peace of mind.

I love my landlord. I have met him twice. The first time we both went to look at the property as the last tenants were moving out... he apologised as the mess in the flat and said if I took it he would get it all freshened up and cleaned for me. I really loved the location and the views (stunning views of pentland hills) so I agreed to take it and asked if I could move in three days after new year! The couple were moving out on the 31st.
When i moved in on the 03rd all his family were there finishing off the flat! They had spent their christmas holidays painting and cleaning the flat. Regrouted the shower and new shower head etc. They were all so lovely and the parents gave their numbers as they didn't live far (landlord lives in cardiff) and if I needed anything they would come and fix it. Have only had two problems, one with washing machine and one with hot water and both times they were fixed right away.
Landlord phones me once in a blue moon for a natter, and even told me that he thought i seemed a nice lovely girl when I came to view the place and that he has no qualms about the flat. Not sure I would be so trusting... but then I guess I trusted that he would be a good landlord.... so worked out well!

On the one occasion I was lumbered with a pain in the arse landlord that I knew wouldn't give my deposit back I basically cancelled my standing order and didn't pay my last couple of months rent to the value of it.

This was in the days before protected deposits though, and was a desperate last resort!

You can't do that any longer Bluecat. You can be pursued through the courts for the rent and end up with a CCJ if you don't pay.

It was a lot of years ago...

Thanks for the replies folks, HerHissyness, yes there's a detailed inventory which we've signed and photos too. he inventory doesn't state the condition of most of the fixtures and fittings though and the photos aren't comprehensive... for instance there is not a photo of the inside of the oven or the shower!

I think they will try to claim on something but I don't know what. we haven't damaged anything and we intend to get the carpets professionally cleaned at the end of the tenancy. They're just money grabbing types. The handy man who works for them absolutely hastes them and told me a story about how they screwed the previous tenant as the bathroom hand basin fell off the wall two weeks after she moved in. They held her liable and made her pay for a new one even though in the handyman's opinion it couldn't have been her fault. Apparently they got a new basin at cost price but made the tenant pay the whole amount and pocketed the difference

I don't really understand the system of getting the deposit back, will we have to go around the house with them checking everything? Because I can't stand the idea of being in the same room as her ever again... And what if they say we've damaged soemthing and we disagree.. who decides who is in the right?

They, or their agent, goes round and notes down any damage or wear and tear that differs from the inventory. They then decide what work needs to be done and do it. They have to provide you with receipts for the work done, they can't just charge whatever they like. They cannot deduct the full value of replacing items unless you completely destroyed something that was brand new. There is a formula for working out how much they can charge for a damaged item, which takes into account length of your rental term. After 7 years I don't think they can deduct anything for painting or what have you. There is a clause about 'fair wear and tear' which can be debatable but you can argue it if you think it's beyond that.

If they deduct too much or fail to provide receipts then you can go to arbitration to try to get them to return what you don't agree with.

So how long does it take for them to give the deposit back then? surely if they have to provide receipts and get all the work done then it could take months?
arrgh...

What they should do is decide how much they intend to deduct then return the remainder asap. then if you disagree on the retained portion you take it to arbitration.

Will be very funny if the LL thinks you have to leave at the end of the tenancy without her serving you notice. Do you think you can bear to wait that long, just to see her face when she realises you don't have to?

I'm not sure if you've already said this - but how long ago did you move in? Any deposits paid by tenants to landlords since about the middle of 2007 iirc have to be protected in a deposit protection scheme. This is a legal requirement and if she hasn't done so and there is any kind of dispute over repayment of your deposit then she will be in BIG trouble.

Our ex-landlady - mad as a hatter - would poke about in our outside bins and tell us we needed to clean them because they had maggots in the food bin (in v hot weather). Well, what a surprise. She tried to deduct money from our deposit when we left because we hadn't cleaned the outside bin when we left, which was hardly surprising, given it was full of ...rubbish, as bins are supposed to be.

When we first got our green bin from the council for the purpose of putting green waste in she poked around in it and told us off for putting food waste in it. I had to send her the letter from the council showing that the green bin was designed to take ...food waste.

Nutter. So good not to be there any more.

I think you might be right eric, I'm not sure that she entirely understands the process at all, it would be funny to see her face...
I think what we're going to do is give her notice at the end of next month as we only need to give one months notice. But do we actually have to give her notice if the tenecy ends then though?

Bibity, our deposit is in a deposit protection scheme so hopefully that will help with getting a fair result.

Yes, the schemes generally are very fair. Am glad to hear it is protected, that should allay some of your fears, hopefully.

Re deposit, our ex-landlady tried claiming for everything - she wanted the whole deposit and more.

We let her have £3 - as we'd walked off with a cutlery tray - to be scrupulously honest.

The ombudsman awarded her not one penny more - primarily because there were no photos or independent verification of her claim. Whilst she claimed to have taken photos, there was no proof of date and so legally they were worthless.

Complete thieving cow.

Yes, you both have to give notice. She gives two months, you give one.

You do have to give notice AFAIK, otherwise if not it's presumed to roll over to the next month.