Or is the landlord being petty?

[Unionofthesnake]

Moved into rental property a couple of years ago. Curtains in the lounge were not to our taste (bit dated, not particularly new looking, water stained lining). We informed the landlord via the letting agent we would buy our own to match our style and asked what we should do with theirs. Received email back to say we should store them and re-hang them when we vacated. I vaguely remember putting them at the back of the wardrobe and then forgot about them. We bought some new ones in Dunelm for about £50.

We've now moved out. Couldn't find the landlord's curtains anywhere and then DP said he was sure he chucked them out as they were "rank". Told the letting agent we couldn't find the curtains but that we would leave ours to replace them. Agent replied by forwarding a copy of the email telling us to store them and said they couldn't guarantee we wouldn't be charged if the landlord wasn't happy with the replacement. I made it very clear we didn't expect to be charged as we were replacing them with better ones (new, unstained).

We've now been told £150 Will be deducted from our deposit towards new, custom made curtains. I of course challenged it and was told ours are inferior - ready made, unlined & ill fitting (they are a bit long but shouldn't be too hard to turn up) vs their custom made lined ones (even though they were dated and a bit scruffy imo).

WIBU?

A little petty, but it doesn’t surprise me massively.

If they are so easy to turn up, why didn’t you do it?

So, you’ve destroyed the LL property in spite of specific instructions not to do it. Your DH chucked them out….so now he can pay for them.

Landlords are often petty but this one made it clear what they wanted and 150 is rather cheap for curtains.

Chalk it up to experience

Yeah this is on your DH, sorry. You had explicit instructions to keep them, and he ignored it.

I'm sure this is a trick LLs pull tbf to you, but that email couldn't have been clearer.

It would be different if you took pictures and sent them or pushed back and asked the LL to collect them for them to store.

£150 wouldn’t cover the fabric for custom made curtains, I think you’ve been lucky.

Dunelm curtains that cost £50 are not going to be nice. If the curtain that were there were handmade and good quality in the beginning you were silly to chuck them out for some inexpensive polyester readymades that don’t fit the window.

I think if theirs were lined and custom made then they are letting you off quite well for 150.00. 50.00 curtains from Dunelm probably do look cheap. Get dh to pay for it and I doubt he'll be chucking stuff without asking you first again.

YANBU . Accidents happen.
I’ve never rented a house that came with curtains, and certainly most agents would advise landlords not to leave anything that isn’t nailed down for precisely this reason. I would thing the new tenants are also going to want to choose their own and the LL with probably pocket your money and not get new ones made up.

It is a bit petty. Aren’t there any photos on the inventory that shows the bad condition of the original ones?

You're lucky he is only charging £150 as fitted and lined curtains can cost way more than that. This in on your DP - he shouldn't have chucked them out. It's not too difficult to store curtains for two years. Did you really think that your landlord would pay to get the curtains altered?

Doesn't matter if you think they are awful. They are not your property, and you were told to keep them. I did Greg same thing when I lived in rented. And rehung the original ones when I left.

Ex landlord here - our tenants disposed of 4 sets of lined, full length curtains and pelmets.

Our letting agent advised the DPS took a dim view of deducting large amounts for curtains; depreciation was always taken into account.

We were advised to deduct no more than £30.

It wasn't your property to dispose of, the Landlord could easily ask for more, I don't think that's petty at all.

Afraid I agree with the others, this isn’t about your opinion, he asked you to keep them, they were binned, this is on you

Petty. Yes. These things happen so it’s petty to make a fuss.

Make sure you challenge it using the deposit scheme. Unless these were expensive and brand new curtains and detailed as such on the inventory and possibly/probably requiring receipts as they would be a business expense (this stops LL scams like buying cheap off eBay but claiming they paid John Lewis prices) when you moved in then the deduction won’t be allowed or will be proportionate.

People/LLs often think they will get ‘new for old’ when tenants move out but it doesn’t work like that. Age, condition and depreciation over time is taken into account.

YABU, you were asked to keep them and didn’t, as simple as that, you now need to replace them.

For PO’s saying it was an ‘accident’ it wasn’t. You took them down and then didn’t keep them as explicitly asked. If they still been up and you’d tripped and split something on them, that’s an accident, but throwing out someone else’s property isn’t an accident!

You should have had deposit held ina secure way so that you can challenge any deductions. If you do this, they won’t make you pay that much. They will probably deduct a bit but it won’t be anywhere near that much I wouldn’t worry

Oh, and get your curtains back

I'd ask for your curtains back. Yes it's petty.

Yeah this is what I was trying to say in a bit so great way lol

It’s also patronising to think your tenants should be grateful for your stained old curtains or ancient ineffective hoover. Tenants are paying for somewhere to live and put their own things, not subsidising the storage of the landlords manky old stuff. If LL wants to keep it they should store it in their own home.

YABU, lined curtains are way more expensive than a Dunelm £50 set. Just because they weren’t your taste doesn’t mean you should throw them away.

Custom made lined curtains are much more expensive. You should have hung on to them.

I think the landlord is trying it on but I also think you can’t just expect them to keep your curtains.

I would try to negotiate for a lower cost and if that isn’t successful raise a dispute with the deposit company.

That's not being petty. You were told clearly to keep the old curtains. Custom made curtains are usually more expensive and better quality.