AIBU re landlord’s notice dispute..

[PardonBeeOne]

Sorry its long but its an effort to give a clear picture…

I have been a tenant for over 10 yrs. Finally managed to buy.
Over the years LL has come if called out for something or another but would go for months without coming because they did not need to.
We looked after the property to the best of our ability, had a window cleaner, regular gardening, all bills and rent paid on time. Never missed a payment or asked for rent relief. Recently had driveway washed.
Before Covid 19, we had a regular cleaner. So the place was generally well looked after.

When we moved in, there was new wallpaper in the bathroom. Come winter, it turned out it was a mouldy spot that started to grow back. We removed wall paper and painted it with ant mould paint.. it became easier to maintain during winter months.

There was some wear and tear, having had to bring up 2 kids during that time. But LL was aware of them.
LL had always wanted to do the kitchen so problems in the kitchen were met with, ‘we plan to extend the kitchen anyway’

The boiler was replaced but the pipes were left exposed and we were left to live with that for a few years. We never complained.

Fast forward two months ago, we completed and exchanged. The day after we collected the keys, we gave a month’s notice to LL. up to this point, I thought we had a civil business relationship.
Few days after notice was sent, we got what I thought was a hostile email from LL complaining that we blindsided them. Notice was not sufficient… contract says one month’s notice. LL listed how they have been lenient over the years, not increasing rent but we return that by not being grateful. They demanded a spot check of the property within ASAP which we couldn’t do due to work commitments, but offered a day we could do.
LL said wants property the way it was when it was handed over to us… well not possible as its been lived in so general wear and tear is expected. Having said that, I expected them to be pleased because of the effort we have made over the years

Now LL is saying umpteen years ago when we moved in, we moved in 12 days early (I cant even remember). So they are saying our notice should be 12 days less and they set a date. No complaints, we are working towards leaving.

My AIBU is: Are we within our right to call LL on this because as its never been an issue before.
LL is blaming us for property not being maintained outside… I say outside is LL’s responsibility to paint and decorate, Is this U?

LL said they will get a quote for carpet cleaning and fixing things they knew about and send us the bill? I think LL does not want to give us our deposit… AIBU?

The TDS are great. When we gave notice after buying our house they tried to keep 80% of the deposit! Alleged Misdemeanours included; spraying coke on the ceiling 🤔 and leaving the place untidy (only evidence was one crisp packet behind a wardrobe that was there when we arrived) He also tried to claim for the carpets which were years old, tatty and frayed even when we moved in and we were there for 1.5 years after that. Took a while but we got back the monies.

What was funny was the landlord actually lost his claim on a technicality. This was because the photos he’d taken of the property were dated three weeks before we moved in. TDS said that the damage could have occurred before we moved in and the landlord had no proof to the contrary 😂

BrilliantBetty

LL said they will get quotations for carpet cleaning and send us the bill

Had LL let us stay past our pay day, Knowing me, I would have had the carpets in the bedrooms cleaned. But our 30 days notice was reduced when they brought up the issue about moving in 12 days early!
Having just bought a house, the money tree had not grown back

BycullahRoad

We maintained the inside very well!

In fact, on the 1st property check, LL’s OH said property was good and has always told friends that they were happy with us hence no regular visits.
On the final day, OH would speak in a different language to LL, then LL would respond in English how disappointed they were about state of the property, using words like shambles

The 12 days would have applied to initial contract. After that it was a gentleman’s handshake, with no written contracts.

I would need to check the name of the deposit scheme.
We were desperately trying to avoid confrontation, but we have heard nothing about our deposit since.

I'm a landlord.
Your landlord is bonkers!
I don't understand why you agreed to move out 12 days early though?
You would be legally allowed a month to move out from whatever day of the month is stated on your tenancy agreement.
I hope you didn't pay rent for the whole of the month?

A tip from when I was in rental, look up average life of carpets. I was in the same place for about 10 years and the agent tried to claim I’d wrecked the living room carpet. So I set up a dispute saying the carpets weren’t new when I moved in, so they were at least ten years old and the average life was xxx years (5-7 if I remember correctly)

They had to give all the deposit back!

Take full photo and communications evidence make sure it is as clean and presentable as you possibly can and go to CA they will be able to direct and advise you on next steps on how to get your deposit back and warn your LL they are acting unreasonably and unprofessionally. Also stick to your notice date and go through your contract with a fine tooth comb to highlight any issue he hasn't addressed or adhered to to throw back at him just in case

He can't reduce the notice period either.

Mummyoflittledragon

LL has happily accepted our monthly rentals which covered 30/31 days. they never asked us to pay more for the first month because we moved in early. This was the first I heard of it.
I will double check the tenancy agreement.

But we did not argue, we adjusted our plans and moved out.

There won't be confrontation, the deposit arbitration process is done by a third party,
It won't be between you and the landlord.

MadinMarch

Sadly, we paid

I agree with PP, it was just sour grapes of losing the income than anything else. It was as if we had to apologise for buying our own property

Thanks to everyone for their help and assurance! Cleaning is my fav job, so I know the place was well looked after. Only two rooms had carpets and they were vacuumed regularly.
After all our property was out, I went over every room vacuuming, took the rubbish to the recycling centre/ charity shops and felt proud but…. The response was shocking!

I will contact the deposit scheme people and start the process.

Thanks everyone, this has been extremely helpful!

As the rental agreement states x to y date, he could be in for a heap of trouble for making you leave if you wanted to get nasty. I don’t understand why you were allowed to live there rent free for 12 days. The agent was very negligent. It’s so odd. The move in date is always the date the tenancy runs from, surely? Ergo the agreement should have been reissued.

I'm a landlord and this is not OK. Did your LL have your electrical safety certificate in place by July and do you have a copy?

Yanbu, don’t pay a penny. LL is a CF twat.

After 10 years the LL would be expected to have replaced the carpet and all the appliances as they do not have an unlimted life. As long as you have not damaged fittings beyond "normal" wear you are in the clear. He is being a CF.

Good luck.

Definitely go through the deposit protection scheme. I had to dispute my deposit through them for my last rental property and found them to be very helpful and fair.

It's a fair point about the carpets. They're at least 10 years old. Carpets don't last forever.

In my last place they'd put very soft and poorly fitted lino in the kitchen. When I moved the fridge out it caught on the bit that had lifted and unfortunately ripped.

The landlord wanted to charge me for a whole new floor but the deposit protection scheme agreed with me that the flooring was unsuitable for a high traffic area with heavy white goods and as it was so poorly fitted it was bound to be damaged.

They wanted my entire deposit but I got all bar about £100 back and that was only because they charged a check out fee and the protection scheme said it was in the tenancy agreement and wasn't unduly expensive so they couldn't see why I shouldn't pay it.

We had this twice when we moved out. First time was friends deposit was unprotected. Got deposit back but sadly friendship didn't survive. We had spent a fortune on thar house.

Second time the agents produced a report saying property was fine. Then landlord complained wanted whole deposit and they changed the report. It was only luck that someone who worked for the agency felt it was so unfair that they sent a copy of the original report secretly.

We produced this to the dispute section of the Tenancy Deposit scheme. Honestly they were absolutely useless it took the best part of a year but we eventually got our deposit back. Definitely dispute it.

Who puts wallpaper in a bathroom?!!
Hire a rug doctor and give the carpets a clean and take photos.
Maybe get professional clean of oven.
Leave garden tidy.
Then dispute with deposit scheme and don't discuss with landlord any further.

You will get your deposit back - no deposit protection scheme is going to side with a landlord over the wear and tear expected over 10 years.

You don't have to worry about the notice period either. Leave on the contractually stated date and pay rent up to that date. He can't make you leave 12 days early - the only way he could make you leave is with an eviction order and that takes months.

Just ignore his ranting abd continue to behave reasonably. You don't need him to be happy.

Your landlord has spat his dummy out. His easy money is gone and now the house needs work before it can be let out, during the work he spends more money and doesn't have the rent. It's totally normal as a landlord for this period and it can be expensive, but it's to be expected.

@user1477249785

Ps we are not all 'utter bastards'. I try my very best to be responsive but to leave my tenants in peace.

I agree. I’m also a LL but treat my tenants as I’d want to be treated. Ive had a couple of bastard landlords myself.

Yesitsbess

Nope… no electrical safety check done and we have no copy either.

KatieB55

I would have either hired the rug doctor or got it professionally cleaned but we were asked to leave before our pay day, so could not fit it in with all the costs that come with moving, all I could do was vacuum.

I'd let it be known to the deposit scheme that they told you to leave 12 days early but you paid rent for the whole month. Perhaps suggest that this more than covers the cost of cleaning the carpets?
Are you sure they paid the deposit into a deposit scheme? They should have done it within the first month of the tenancy and the scheme would have notified you that it had been lodged.
If your landlord didn't do this, they can be very heavily fined. At least it would give you a very strong bargaining chip if they refuse to give you your whole deposit back.