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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

MY previous landlord wants to detuct £40 from my deposit because there was dust on the skirting boards.

186 replies

TurtleyAmazing · 05/06/2014 10:20

I have just recieved an email from my property manager regarding my deposit for the flat we moved out of a few months ago. now i was expecting SOME deductions of my deposit as i did scuff and mark the walls a little, not a lot just everyday wear and tear sort of thing.

I can't say i was expecting her to deduct a total of £210 though!

this is the email i recieved...

vacuum all carpets £40
skirtings were dusty £40
oven and extractor fan to be cleaned £60
clean the grout in the shower £40
scuffs on walls £10
small dent to the kitchen door £20

now, i have many issues with this. i used to hoover or sweep my carpet every single day without fail. it was a horrible carpet which just collected dust and grit and i couldnt stand the feeling of walking on it barefoot without giving it a good vacuum first. the very last thing i did before walking out of the door the final time was vacuum the whole flat. so i can say with 100% certainty that this is total BS.

£40 for some dust on a skirting board is fucking disgusting! how anyone can justify that i don't know!! it doesn't need painting just simply dusting.

I have never ever used the oven extractor. i opened it when i first moved in saw the dirty grimmy muck behind it and never opened it again. as for the oven itself when we moved in the glass door was so caked in shit you couldn't see into the oven through it. i scrubbed and scrubbed that thing for hours until the glass became clear so if anything the oven is in a better state now than it was when we moved in.

grout in the shower £40 the flat had a bad mould issue, the shower cubicle was damp and mouldy when we moved in the grout was possibly a bit worse when we left so i sort of understand that deduction although that was not our fault.

scuffs and dent to the door £30 yes, i scuffed the wall and supposedly dented the door thats fine i will glady pay the money for that.

she has also sent me the inventory for the flat with pictures of all the damage we had supposedly done. we didn't recieve one at the beggining of our tenancy though so she is swearing blind that all these problems were caused by us yet they truly was there when we moved in, we just have no way of proving it.

if you have made it this far thankyou Wine
what would you do in this situation?

OP posts:
allisgood1 · 05/06/2014 18:51

Chelsy the hole you are digging just gets deeper and deeper each time you post...

softlysoftly · 05/06/2014 18:53

We didn't get evicted legally it was a turnof phrase Hmm

You can't have it both ways, you either have nightmare tenants who don't clean more than 3 times a year whose deposit you keep to pay for scuff marks.

or you have fabulous tenants in a hugely expensive City who love you so much they bend on knee to thank you.

HelenHen · 05/06/2014 18:56

Chelsy you'll find if you bought a decent carpet it's much easier to clean

ChelsyHandy · 05/06/2014 18:57

allisgood Chelsy the hole you are digging just gets deeper and deeper each time you post...

Yes, I'm sorry if common sense irritates you and I'm sure you find writing nasty crap on the internet easy, so good luck with that in real life.

ChelsyHandy · 05/06/2014 18:58

HelenHen Chelsy you'll find if you bought a decent carpet its much easier to clean

Yes, I find this too, however theres no point unless you physically go round each week and do hovering for some tenants.

FuckYouChrisAndThatHorse · 05/06/2014 19:06

Just to give you the alternative, our landlord was brilliant. The week we were due to move our house got delayed so they let us stay an extra week. We cleaned thoroughly, but dd had ground some plasticine into the carpet, which we were happy to pay for. LL was so thrilled with the cleaning that she not only refused our offer to pay for the carpet, she refused the extra week's rent too :)

She also made sure we had the code for the deposit scheme separately to the company sending us the info (no email just a letter).

Your LL sounds like they're giving LL's a bad name. Take them for every penny you can!

merrymouse · 05/06/2014 19:12

Chelsy, you aren't applying common sense. You are having a general rant about tenants, none of which is relevant to the OP.

DonkeysDontRideBicycles · 05/06/2014 19:36

Thank you for clarifying Chelsy. I thought perhaps the OP was going to lose part of her deposit over costs which would then be clawed back later in any case.

kawliga · 05/06/2014 19:49

There are some LL who will always try to fuck over the tenants - Chelsy here is a good example. That's how they make money and no amount of reasoning or logic will ever get them to change an economic model that works for them. The rest of the information Chelsy is giving about how tenants should do specialized hoovering every day in that narrow space between the wall and the floor is just a way of justifying the economic model but in the end the justifications don't matter. Nobody should be expected to hoover every day with specialized implements if they want to keep their deposit.

You will never ever convince such LL to change. If they CAN keep the deposit they WILL. It is just too tempting to keep the money and unless they are GOOD people with a conscience they will keep it, why not? Would you give back shitloads of money to tenants if you could just refuse to return it? The truth is that most people would keep the money if they could easily get away with it, and that's why most LL behave this way. It is the rational way for most people to behave.

If you think of it, Chelsy is behaving rationally - she gets to replace her carpets (get previous tenants to pay) and this way she can offer her rentals with new carpets. It is easier to find new tenants if you can offer them new carpets, and unless you get previous tenants to pay for the new carpets it is not affordable. That's the business model. Other LL will keep the deposit so they can redecorate, buy new appliances, etc. Get previous tenants to invest in the improvements to the property.

As for the deposit protection scheme, hahaha to that. I think no matter how many tenants fight and win, it is always worth it for the LL to keep everybody's deposit. Most people will not fight, and even if the LL has to pay the few tenants who do fight and win, it is still economically worth it for the LL to keep all deposits or only rarely return it. See Chelsy here says 'rare' tenants are good and in that case they get the deposit back - but this rarely happens. Most of the time, Chelsy simply does not return deposits. Remember that even the tenants who win their challenge usually do not win back the entire sum kept back, and bottom line is most people do NOT have time/emotional energy to fight.

That's assuming a LL who is not worried about their reputation - Chelsy here is a good example obviously not worried what you all think about her/him. Some LL are good people, some care about their reputation, but most are in it for the money and the fact is that keeping deposits is a sure-fire way to make money.

Original poster
TurtleyAmazing · 05/06/2014 19:50

Chelsey, I said in my op that charging me for the door was fair and I accept that charge.

I also said the carpets needed vacuuming NOT replacing. For somebody with such an impeccable eye for detail you sure miss a lot.

OP posts:
merrymouse · 05/06/2014 19:58

It is rational to expect your tenant to have carpets cleaned on exit if they are cleaned before the start of the tenancy and it is specified in the contract and you have a third party do a pre tenancy inventory that is signed by both parties.

This has been normal practice when I have been a tenant or ll in the last 20 years.

If you don't do a proper inventory and don't have a clear contract and just refuse to give back the deposit you can expect to spend time in court (assuming you aren't deliberately choosing tenants who won't be able to stand up for themselves).

SallyMcgally · 05/06/2014 19:59

chelsy How come your tenants' hoovers invariably have full bags if they only hoover 3 times a year?

kawliga · 05/06/2014 20:00

Most tenants will not go to court to fight for their deposit no matter how much cleaning and hoovering they did, that's the fact.

Original poster
TurtleyAmazing · 05/06/2014 20:01

merrymouse I think chelsey is missing the part where i said the last thing i did before walking out of the door was Hoover the carpet and that the inventory was not done until two months after I left.

If that carpet got dirty in the two months I was not there then it's not my problem.

OP posts:
ChelsyHandy · 05/06/2014 20:04

chelsy How come your tenants' hoovers invariably have full bags if they only hoover 3 times a year?

Its truly amazing the things you find in those bags when you remove them (they are often so full they have burst open). Stuff like pasta, underwear, condoms, bits of wood, all sorts of things you wouldn't expect to find in a hoover. I presume some of them must hoover a bit too but when the bag gets full, they just do not think to change it. Some of them will complain the hoover is "broken", others will just abandon hovering.

EhricLovesTheBhrothers · 05/06/2014 20:11

Chelsy
You're talking about students as if all tenants are like that. People with children might be likely to cause damage such as crayons on the wall etc but there is no reason to suggest they won't Hoover regularly or do housework. I take real exception to your assertion that all renters are slobs and idiots who never Hoover and don't know how to use appliances. As you say you mostly rent to students I don't even know why you are contributing, as it's an entirely different rental market.

allisgood1 · 05/06/2014 20:19

If you are using common sense chelsy god help us all!

SallyMcgally · 05/06/2014 20:22

You have some v strange renters, chelsy. Even as a student I knew how to hoover and would never have hoovered up underwear etc. Most of the renters I know don't want to live in a sty, and clean up and hoover etc just as much as anyone else. In fact I've always been more anxious as a renter precisely because I'm handling other peoples' stuff.

Original poster
TurtleyAmazing · 05/06/2014 20:34

Uses common sense but then thinks the only way you can possibly scuff or dent a door is by purposely going out of your way to kick it.

Yeah that's not my definition of common sense.

OP posts:
allisgood1 · 05/06/2014 20:38

Have a biscuit Chelsy!!

ChasedByBees · 05/06/2014 20:42

Posting so I can see the update when you kick your landlords arse. :)

Original poster
TurtleyAmazing · 05/06/2014 20:44

chased we made a few calls today and it doesn't look like our deposit was placed in a protection scheme so a metaphorical ass kicking is definitely on the cards [grins]

I will be sure to keep everyone updated

OP posts:
Original poster
TurtleyAmazing · 05/06/2014 20:51

My deposit was £850 which will have to be returned plus 3x that amount so we are looking at a £3,400 potential pay out.

They could have avoided all this if they hadn't of taken the piss wanting £40 for a bit of dust.. More fool them.

OP posts:
randomfemale · 05/06/2014 21:01

Good luck Turtley I hope you take them to the cleaners > Grin

inabeautifulplace · 05/06/2014 21:51

Shit landlords are the reason why the deposit schemes were needed in the first place. I am certain that a larger percentage of renters are both financially vulnerable and naive. This makes it easier for them to be exploited.

As Chelsy points out, it isn't actually legitimate for the LL to claim for wear and tear like scuffs and dents from the deposit. The LL can claim tax relief for these damages.

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