to be furious at this letter from letting agent -

[ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight]

3 month check on our flat, we have only been here 3 months. They have written to us saying that we are not paying 'enough care and attention to cleanliness'! WTF! Then they say it is not for us to dictate how people live their lives but it can be hard to clean the flat to a good standard at the end of the tenancy if it is not kept clean enough throughout. Then helpfully give us the name of a cleaning company.

Ok, we have a one year old, the place is a mess a lot of the time. They were supposed to call back to confirm visit which they didn't do so I forgot they were coming, otherwise I would have tidied. But What? It really is not dirty. Ok the wall near the kitchen bin needs a wipe and it might have needed hoovering but the general state is absolutely fine. I am furious as it is my right to live in a messy house as long as it isn't trashed, and we need the landlady to agree to a rolling contract/to renew which she might not do if she thinks we are slovenly pigs. They are coming back again in 2 weeks so I will obviously make sure it's clean and tidy but what kind of state would you expect a place to be in to get a letter like that?

Letting agents really do not work for tenants at all, do they

LOL that was meant to be 24/7 although 23/7 would clearly be just as bad

I agree with the people who think the letting agent is giving a backhander to the cleaning company. But ignore it at your peril. Do take your own photos (dated) and ask to for a specific list of complaints. Your landlord may also be interested to know about this verging on harassment behaviour. Because they may well not and if I were a landlord, I'd be bloody furious and would sack the letting agent.

I'm not moving - I love this flat, we negotiated on the rent, paid over 450 quid in fees, we aren't moving! That's why I don't want them to tell the landlady we are a pair of minging bastards! She decides whether or not to renew in 3 months time and we're buggered if she decides not to.

She deals with all repairs anyway and I've been hassling her over a broken heater so I want to keep her out of it! I think I will ask them for an itemised list of the problems, and politely respond to each point, pointing out the things that can be cleaned and that it is not necessary for them to remind me to clean my home if no damage is being caused. The only damage is a tiny hole in the wall where the stair gate fell down, and the carpet will need professional cleaning when we leave as we have a one year old and it's cream but that's standard!

Is it possible that the place was inspected by someone fairly inexperienced within the company (rental checks are not a high priority in the world of your average letting agency) who isn't aware of the way a place can get messy very quickly when young children are involved, it was a borderline call, and they just sent out their standard letter anyway.

Try not to take it personally.

i am a landlord and i do not give two stuffs about the condition the flat is in when tenants are renting. as long as there is no publuc health hazards (ummm.... mice or rats?) then no business of anyone's, and the reasonable condition clauses opf standard letting contracts dont cover surface dirt of clutter.

i have also been a tenant lots and never heard of this 3-month check. is this normal? i would not let them come in a fortnight. landlords having v tough time at the moment - i would threaten to move out. really, i am very very for you.

Perhaps they thought that you knew about the visit, and this was your 'just cleaned up for their visit' standard of cleanliness. Does that make sense? Like saying to someone, 'excuse the mess', when actually you've been tidying up madly for the previous 4 hours!

As a landlord myself, I believe the agents work for me, but I feel like they work for the tenants most of the time. I would email them, remind them that they didn't confirm the appt, so you weren't expecting them, and make sure everywhere is nice and clean next time (since you want the tenancy renewed).

I would also say, that I would never refuse to renew a tenancy because of a bit of mess - so long as the rent is paid on time, and it's generally OK, I'm happy. Hope you get it all sorted.

I'd write directly to the landlady and say that you wanted to assure her that the property is being kept clean to a reasonable standard; that you are slightly concerned about the letting agents letter, and that you will be enquiring about specifics. Maybe invite her around to have a look?

The letting agents are only working because she pays them, so would let her know.

But agree with BetaDad -- sounds to me like a commission thing...

My letting agent does 3 month checks on my property in the UK as per the agreement I have with her. She always rings me and says it's messy, but as the house was messy when I lived there, I don't care, as long as it can be cleaned, and is reasonably clean and they heat it.

Grrr I loathe estate agents. They truly are an exceptionlly vile people (on the whole, I've yet to meet a nice one).

We've been evicted from our last property because we were in the middle of rearrannging our crappy living room which was oddly shaped and there were boxes everywhere when our boiler broke. We fought tooth and nail for a maintainance guy to come out and one did finally come over only to complain to the estate agents that he "couldnt get into the property" which was a lie. So rather than check the property themselves the estate agents ran to the landlord to 'tell on us' which resulted in an eviction letter. We complained about this and so the head honcho guy and his second in command came round and agreed the house was fine (we'd finished arranging the furniture by then) and retracted the letter, but the landlord decided he couldnt trust us

When we complained again quoting the head guy he had the bare faced cheek to lie.

We also had issues with a landlady who refused to believe we were allowed privacy and we kept getting letters from the agency saying "the landlady was visiting friends in the cul-de-sac and noticed the grass was too long"

I hate them.

We also were on the verge of buying our first property right before the credit crunch, but right after our offer was accepted Halifax changed their policy on how big a deposit buyers needed and failed to tell us. The estate agents starting harrassing me at work; I know they were being pressured by the owners but still.

Argh, I wish I'd read this thread when we were having such troubles. Hope you get things sorted!

we have had a number of different houses and never had this problem and with three children under 6 our house is pretty much never tidy!.

we have been in this house 3 years and only had one check - they came in the door looked at the living room and kitchen and left - we never heard anymore about it.

I really wish we could buy but we just wouldnt get a mortgage big enough to buy a house around here (south east)let alone save up a deposit while all our money is going out on rent! so its not even worth thinking about we just have to get on with it the best we can!

sophie

Sorry to hear about this

We have a perpetually messy house which we've been doing up since we moved in over a year ago. It was seriosuly neglected and therefore anything we do is going to be better iyswim.

I have got our quarterly on Friday and am rather terrified reading this! They have always just said 'it's a work in progress then' up till now.

I hope you manage to sort it out, it's horrid knowing your home might be at risk.

What a charming post from LittleWhiteWolf .

LWW - you will find when you have been here a bit longer there are several estate agents on Mumsnet. And when you are a bit older and wiser you might think twice before posting in such a an insulting way.

kat, what abetadad says about commissions to cleaning firm rings absolutely true. I think you should regard the letter you got as a form letter, nothing more - one they issue as standard after every 3 month check that agency does. Read it back to yourself & see if it has anything in it at all that doesn't sound generic, anything in it that even suggests they've seen your flat?

So treat it like that - write back saying you're quite surprised at the "standard form letter" they have chosen to send, and (yes, agree with others) could they please itemise what it is they saw in the flat that needs more care? Or if, on the other hand, their letter was sent "as a matter of courtesy" , would they mind sending you *copied to the landlady) another letter confirming that, of course, in your case, no such evidence of neglect was seen?

And mention that you'll be copying your correspondence to the landlady.

By LittleWhiteWolf on Tue 13-Oct-09 19:41:25
We also had issues with a landlady who refused to believe we were allowed privacy and we kept getting letters from the agency saying "the landlady was visiting friends in the cul-de-sac and noticed the grass was too long"

That's probably exactly what happens. Surely her seeing your garden from the street isn't invading your privacy. My parents have had tenants over the years (house rented out long term due to my dad being posted overseas with RAF) who have neglected the garden. When it gets really bad, the neighbours email my dad, who gets onto the agents to get it sorted. Leaving the grass too long damages the lawn. I'm assuming that actually you didn't think it was too bad? It's all down to standards again.. what I think is fine, is about 2 weeks too long my my mum's standards!

Just recounting my experiences. Sorry if it left a bitter taste in your mouth--it left one in mine, too.

Fair enough, saying "I hate them" is childish, and not true, but I was venting my spleen.

I'm sure you yourself, bibbity, have felt very frustrated by various professionals in various professions. Or are you too old and wise to let things get to you?

In my life as a tennant I have been treated very poorly. I was merely reflecting on that.

Bibbity, as far as I am aware, MN - and AIBU in particular - don't have rules saying that certain groups of people are above crittism. Particularly if the reason for this is because errrr...you are one of them and you know that some other posters are too.

LittleWhiteWolf didn't use profanities and wasn't especially offensive. I'm sure it annoys you to hear her comments if you regard yourself as a decent landlady, but that doesn't give you the right to chastise her for recounting her experiences.

criticism

didnt find anything offensive in LWW's post.

obviously bibbity hasnt had to deal with the threat of homelessness.

I do my very best not to get frustrated about things over which I have no control, that is certainly something I am learning as I get older.

I am also really glad that I am so old now that I realise how daft it would make me look to make sweeping statements about an entire profession based on my own very limited experiences.

Oh dear.

Well I think you are lovely Bibbity. I have no idea what your profession is and I am sorry if you know an estate or letting agent and feel bad at what LWW said - she was obviously venting, but fwiw I have the most sweet natured lovely letting agent, he is called Duncan, and although he sometimes has authority issues (realises he is oversharing and straightens his tie, sticks chest out and makes sarky comment about the half stripped wallpaper in the cloakroom) he is a dear and he has a vegetable patch

Which leads me to the worry i have about Friday...our contract says no pets apart from one cat which I had to have agreed at the beginning. We have now got one cat, three rabbits, two guinea pigs and are installing hens at the end of the garden.

This was all approved verbally by the actual landlord last month but I am a bit concerned in case the agent doesn't believe me!!! How do you hide several small animals, you can't can you? At least it is not a pony.

Clearly sweeping generalisations are, well, just that.

But I'm bemused why you've got so het up about this particular one.

It's not like LWW has marched in and slagged off a bunch of Buddhist monks who have been handrearing orphaned puppies and we are all reading and wondering WTF?

What we have here is a 'someone with a low opinion of estate agents' shocker.

You must have encountered this attitude before.

And... perhaps it's a reputation that is not entirely undeserved?

YANBU

The letting agency have no right to tell you how to live. General untidiness and mess is not relevant to an inspection UNLESS it directly affects the structure of the property e.g mould/mildew damaging window frames or the bathroom or if there is a health hazard such as a rat/flea infestation.

It certainly sounds like this is a standard letter from an agency advertising a cleaning company.

Give them a call if you are really unhappy.

yanbu, they sound like a bunch of cunts

Ok, I have actually been thinking about what I wrote and in fairness to Bibbity, I DID make a sweeping generalisation. I actually did NOT mean to cause offence, I only wanted the share my experiences which are mostly bad (woe is me) but I should have made that clearer. I just get narked when I remember those times and am very bitter about it so let my words run away with me.

In my experience I have yet to meet an estate agent who has treated me well like the rent paying, (usually) courteous renter I am. However I do believe nice agents exist!

Actually the agents we're with now haven't caused us any trouble, but they are pretty disinterested in the place we live; they let the whole rural village place and its in the process of being taken over by either Housing Association or Private Agents its just no-one knows which and the agents don't seem to think they have to stick to little agreements like making sure the drains work while this is going on

Oh I'm not one.

But I happen to know that some Mumsnetters are - people who have been here for years posting and sharing on all sorts of subjects.

They are not "vile".

IME (I have lived in plenty of rented properties, and rented out my own) there are never any problems so long as everyone abides by the terms of the tenancy agreement.

You must be psychic motherlovebone if you know that I have never faced homelessness .