Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Original poster

Carpet is awful at the end of our 3 year tenancy

11 replies

JennyPenny22 · 07/03/2010 23:10

Does anybody know:

  • if some marks etc are "allowed" when it comes to despoits etc? Have lived here for 3 years
  • How to get marks off the carpet? The living room is covered in spills and general child/baby/cat made mess, the hallway has about a foot or 2 inside the door that is awful and litteally grey, instead of cream, the rest of the house has a mark in most rooms. Have tried using a vax, vanish carpet moose stuff and also that power carpet stuff you spray on and scrub.

Can't really afford to loose the deposit on this house so trying to sort it out as much as we can. Serves me right for being such a slattern for 3 years and not sorting each stain out as it happened!

OP posts:
apsie · 07/03/2010 23:21

Rugdoctor! Can hire from pretty much any johnsons drycleaners + loads of other places, about £20 for 24 hour hire plus solutions on top. They do spot stain removal stuff. I used it on my living room carpet after DS projectile vomited acid milk across it and loads of other old stains - it worked a treat. It also got my cream hallway carpet looking loads better. Pretty easy to use too.

wastwinsetandpearls · 07/03/2010 23:34

They do allow for natural wear and tear but a rug doctor may be a wise investment.

tethersend · 07/03/2010 23:36

Sod that- get someone to come round and do it for you once you've moved the furniture out. It takes off everything

Original poster
JennyPenny22 · 07/03/2010 23:49

Really? So the rug doctor is much better than the general carpet cleaners like the vax?

Some of the marks are really worked into the carpet - will it really get them all out?

Would do it once house is empty so it shouldn't be too difficult?

OP posts:
HellBent · 07/03/2010 23:53

Yes get it carpet shampooed, not used rugdoctor before we had a Bissel. We did ours and ended up getting the money back from the landlord after we told him. They should budget carpeting and repainting every few years as they generally use cheap shit materials. We saved him having to do that so he gave us the money back.

BigBadMummy · 08/03/2010 00:01

Right:

  1. Have you got an inventory from an independent company, dated from the start of the tenancy?

  2. If so what does it say about the state of the carpets?

  3. If not, then the landlord cannot pursue you for anything as he cannot prove it wasn't like that at the start of the tenancy.

  4. Was the carpet professionally cleaned at the start of the tenancy

  5. How old are the carpets? Were they new at the start? A landlord has to accept that after about 6 years they will need replacing so he could only charge you a pro rata amount for anything.

Your landlord has to accept that a three year tenancy where there were children and animals is going to result in some marks and wear and tear to the carpet.

If the carpet was professionally cleaned then dont waste your time with a Rug Doctor or carpet shampoo. It has to be professionally cleaned by a cleaning company and a receipt produced.

I am in property management so happy to give you more advice if you want to answer the above

Original poster
JennyPenny22 · 08/03/2010 00:09

Thanks bigbadmummy. We did have a proper inventry done, but if I am honest, it is SO basic. LItterally, for the living room it says along the lines of "cream carpet, buttermilk walls, one window".
The whole inventry for the entire 3 bed house fits on one page.

Can they do anything?

OP posts:
darksideofthemooncup · 08/03/2010 00:20

You need to read the conditions of your tenancy, if it states that you have to have the carpets cleaned then obviously you must comply with that. However if the inventory doesn't specify the exact state of the carpets when you moved in then you probably don't have too much to worry about as long as you leave them as clean as possible. I have been renting for nearly 20 years and have always stressed myself out trying to leave properties in as pristine a condition as possible so that I get my full deposit back, if you have been there for 3 years the landlord will expect there to be wear and tear and if as you say the inventory is quite vague there isn't an awful lot they can do

darksideofthemooncup · 08/03/2010 00:21

sorry I have just realised that I have just said pretty much said the same as bigbadmummy.

BigBadMummy · 08/03/2010 10:10

darkside actually that is not strictly true.

A landlord can put whatever he likes in his tenancy agreement but it it is not lawful then it is a waste of time.

He can demand that the carpets be professionally cleaned but if they were not done at the start of the tenancy then that would be deemed "betterment", ie making it better now than when you moved in, and that is illegal.

The inventories that I deal with are typically 30+ pages, for a one bed unfurnished and include photos so yours sounds like a pile of crap.

I would stand your ground.

If you have them cleaned then there is nothing, legally, the landlord can do.

If the deposit is held in the TDS they will take one look at that inventory and laugh.

Original poster
JennyPenny22 · 08/03/2010 18:30

Thanks, feel a bit less stressed about it now!

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread