Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is this "normal wear and tear" on a rental property

119 replies

Dundundun · 07/02/2019 21:30

I hand my keys back to my rental property tomorrow and just wondered what counted as "normal wear tear" as i really need my full deposit back.

So I have cleaned every visible surface including paintwork and windows, cleaned inside all kitchen cupboards and drawers, cleaned the oven and extractor etc. Basically if you can see it I've cleaned it.

I've filled in all holes from where I had my TV on the wall and painted over the marks with the paint the landlord said the last tenants had used and left except it's a lot lighter shade of magnolia now it's on the wall so it's obvious where I've painted, will be charged for this?

I've tidied the garden but can't mow the grass as A) we've had really bad snow and rain for 2 weeks and B) I sold my mower already without thinking. Will this matter?

There is also about half a bin of garden waste as my council don't collect the green bin between November and March. Will this matter?

And finally one wall of my bedroom was a purple colour and I didn't have any paint of the right colour paint and my bed has left a black Mark on the wall, I have scrubbed it best I can but it's still slightly noticeable (but not a big black line any more) will this matter?

Thanks in advance 🙂

OP posts:
Biancadelrioisback · 07/02/2019 21:47

I was charged for fixing a washing machine that had broken. I had informed them it was broken but they refused to fix it, told me to sort it myself as wasn't there responsibility. I fixed it. Then they charged me. Charged me for not replacing a broke (from before I moved in) light fitting. And tried to charge me a new carpet for the whole house due to one small new stain (carpet was stained when I moved in). Take pics. Lots of pics!! Be prepared to argue

Original poster
Dundundun · 07/02/2019 21:48

Thank you for the links they are very helpful

OP posts:
donajimena · 07/02/2019 21:48

You'll be fine. No inventory so thats not good for them. If they DO try it on look up TDS to see how to appeal. They rarely side with the landlord even when its justified.

nancy75 · 07/02/2019 21:49

With no inventory when you moved in I don’t see how they could keep money - you could query it all

PenguinPandas · 07/02/2019 21:50

Ours was quite bizzare what was charged for and what didn't care about but interestingly friend and I were knocked £80 off for exactly same thing - professional hoovering. I had been round our house taking hours to hoover it on the fine nozzle but dents in dining room table were ignored. On balance I thought charge fair enough but was hacked off at what it was for.

I think it does depend on landlord though.

Original poster
Dundundun · 07/02/2019 21:51

The cleaning list just states "professional clean optional - provide reciept"

OP posts:
elemenopeee · 07/02/2019 21:52

@thighofrelief101 If the deposit was in a tenancy deposit protection scheme (which it should have been) then you could have challenged this and got the £250 back in full.

Original poster
Dundundun · 07/02/2019 21:52

My mum has a carpet cleaner so I have cleaned all the carpets.

My deposit is in a protection thingy like it should be. If I do have to dispute do i just log on to that and then will it be obvious how to do it?

OP posts:
nancy75 · 07/02/2019 21:54

Most places do require professional carpet cleaning even if not other cleaning

Original poster
Dundundun · 07/02/2019 21:54

I'm most worried about the lawn, I was really ill with pneumonia in the middle of September and wasn't better until the end of October and I've always been told not to mow in winter so it is longer than I would like but not like a wild forest or anything

OP posts:
AskMeHow · 07/02/2019 21:56

If there's no inventory the only things they could charge you for is the rubbish and the lawn.

Seline · 07/02/2019 21:57

I was in hospital giving birth to 26 week twins one of whom was expected to die and they still charged me for not cutting a sodding bush. Can you tell I'm still angry about It?

Original poster
Dundundun · 07/02/2019 21:59

seline that's awful Flowers

OP posts:
anniehm · 07/02/2019 21:59

Our landlord was really fair, she said the house was due for painting so not to worry about the few marks on the wall. But painting in a slightly different colour a patch might cause you problems. Some leases require a professional clean and unless you show an invoice they charge - again our landlord didn't mind us doing it ourselves. I've never had money stopped from my deposit but I think down to great landlords and we bought a few years back.

AyoadesChinDimple · 07/02/2019 22:00

Currently in dispute with our landlord who is trying to claim £600 for full redecoration of whole house! Amongst other things. We have disputed all claims and took lots of photos etc which we have submitted to the deposit scheme adjudicator.
Good luck, hopefully your landlord is nothing like ours and will give you a reasonable sum back.

Confusedbeetle · 07/02/2019 22:01

as a landlord, I have virtually always given the whole deposit back unless rent was owing

Highfever · 07/02/2019 22:03

Honestly it'll be fine. Any deductions dispute them.

Was it freshly painted when you moved in? No. I'd suggest it was time the landlord did.

You should remove the garden waste though but you can't do much about actual garden.

londonrach · 07/02/2019 22:05

Always got money back and never professional cleaned a place. We always hired a carpet cleaner. Take photos. Be there when they check it. If any problems dispute showing photos. You have to agree to the deposit being kept. If you dont your photos which should be dated backs you up. We rented ten places till we escaped the rent trap.

londonrach · 07/02/2019 22:07

Confused"..you not allowed to keep the deposit for rent. Deposit for damages. Rent different. Thats what cab advised us.

Noname99 · 07/02/2019 22:07

Got full desposit back every time. Always had to have carpet and curtains professionally cleaned but the rest I’ve always done myself. Only ever had a problem once and challenged it and won. Take photos and challenge and you’ll get it back

IamtheDevilsAvocado · 07/02/2019 22:08

It should be more difficult for landlords to retain deposits unfairly.

We've always got our deposits back in full.. From 5 separate tenancies...

Think it helped that we always took pics at start, kept a list of repairs they had (not) done then we took pics of how we left it with current newspapers to indicate time
..

It worked!

Good luck!

londonrach · 07/02/2019 22:08

Op...you will be charged for the lawn as it does need cutting before you hand it back. Sorry.

bigandbumpy · 07/02/2019 22:09

'They' always find something. I am one of they and it's mightily insulting and frankly a piss take when a tenant leaves a property in a right state. At 7 months pregnant my tenant left the flat full of his crap, corners of the carpet eaten by some sort of animal (no animals allowed in the flat) and animal poo all over the carpet. Also marks all over the wall! The flat was immaculate when he moved in. So I demanded money to make it such again.

OP - at least you give a shit! I would say you would get the deposit back.

Bluntness100 · 07/02/2019 22:09

I see two sides to this,

When I was a landlord I'd have charged you to repair the bedroom wall and clear the garden.

However my daughter rents, I cleaned it out as the four of them moved out of thr last student place and decided the agent had to deal with me alone when doing the check. Ultimately she did the check and bottled taking it any further and didn't take anything off the deposit for the minor damage they had done.

So it depends. Yes you should be charged. But if you have someone corporate there, taking rhe discussion and giving them the side eye, they may elect against it and note it as fair wear and tear.

🤷‍♀️

chipsandgin · 07/02/2019 22:12

I’ve lived in over 15 rental houses in the last 30 years & for the first time ever did not get the full deposit back on the one before last.

It was filthy when we moved in and immaculate when we left. We cleared the garden of amongst other things planks with rusty nails in and barbed wire - yet they charged us for leaving a bag of garden rubbish (we’d taken 20+ bags of the shit they’d left out there to the tip & the garden looked loads better!) & for cleaning the immaculate carpet. Arseholes. Utter arseholes.

I think sadly it’s down to the landlords, I hope that those wankers who kept my £100 have some kind of karmic payback for being so unreasonable. However, most landlords are lovely & perfectily reasonable especially if you look after their house.

Good luck!