Tenant's deposit

[purpleme12]

Letting agent/landlord says they want to keep all my deposit

Not asking for more from me but are saying they have had to pay out a lot more than the deposit.

£430 for cleaning it says. Because it needed a deep clean she said. I did clean the property but did not pay for a professional clean? Can they do this?
Even the end of tenancy quotes have not been that much so I'm confused about the price.

They claim redecorating cost £1200. I thought they couldn't claim for that when I lived there for 5 years?

Usually if you have pets there is an agreement for professional clean at end of the tenancy.

This is my experience too. Part of landlords agreeing to pets is that you pay for a deep clean, including professional carpet cleaning, at the end of tenancy.

I'm also surprised by the amount of people saying the landlord can't charge you for a professional clean. I've always had to pay for a professional clean upon end of tenancy, and I've always moved into places that have been professionally cleaned before me moving in. I had no clue you could even push back on that.

@purpleme12

To answer some points above, It's just the carpets 'smell' strong pet smell they're trying to claim for, no other damage. The dog died early 2019 unfortunately. So just two cats. Every time I hoovered the carpet came up. The carpet bits stuck in the hoover. The inventory has no photos, just comments. However the check out has comments and photos

If this is the case with the carpet I'd offer a compromise of paying for a professional carpet clean rather than replacing the carpets.

I'd say wear and smell from pets, could easily be deemed outside of standard wear and tear.

You posted about this a couple of weeks ago and were advised then to go through the tenancy deposit scheme.

Did you do that?

The process has been started through that yes, that seemed to be the only way I could find out what they are claiming for.
I just don't get confidence with it all and with what I should push back against and what I shouldn't. It is still helpful to me to post here

You need to go through the deposit scheme. It’s very straight forward. Why the reluctance?

(on my previous post I only knew they wanted to keep the deposit, not why. At least I know why now)

OP do you know that they your deposit should have been placed with the deposit company and not with the landlord directly?

If it has not been them not only can they not keep your deposit, it will cost them even more.

Just push back on absolutely everything. Don't accept any deductions. Let the scheme do its thing.

Didn't he sell the house anyway?

He is selling it
It doesn't like it's been sold yet though
I have walked past and I can't see they're repainting the lounge and just taken the carpet up in the lounge.
That's all I can see though
It surprised me cos I assumed it would be sold as seen and this buyer would be buying it to do up cos no one actually looked round the property. But that was my guess about what was happening cos no one looked round

At least that's what I was told anyway

Garden. Taking the piss.

Pet clause and associated deep cleaning should have been added to your tenancy agreement. If not then you may be able to dispute this, although it's not an unreasonable request. However you should've be given an opportunity to sort this.

If the carpet was deteriorating then it should have been reported.

The property should be left in the same condition you found it in line with your signed check-in inventory, but the LL should expect wear and tear as standard and sort the decorating after 5 years.

Your LL or agent should have entered into a dialogue with you within 10 days of check-out declaring they were deducting from the deposit and why.

Regarding professional cleaning: the tenant has to clean the property to the same standard as it was at move-in. It's up to the tenant whether they do it themselves or engage professional cleaners. The landlord cannot insist on the latter.

www.tenancydepositscheme.com/ask-tds-can-my-landlord-charge-me-for-cleaning/

@purpleme12 - several posters have explained that you need to talk to the company that holds your deposit. Why do you seem reluctant to do so?

Or is it the case that your landlord has not protected your deposit? If this is the case, he has broken the law and you are due a significant amount of compensation.

What about the various safety certificates - were you given those?

Push back on everything, then the landlord will have to prove it.
Let the deposit scheme decide what is fair.

I have already explained I'm not confident with it all which is why I have asked for opinions. I have not said I'm not doing it.

Thank you for the advice

I really hope I don't have to rent again. So much

@purpleme12

I have already explained I'm not confident with it all which is why I have asked for opinions. I have not said I'm not doing it.

Just call them! It's their job to help you. I've always found them very helpful.

Ok thank you I'll try that as well then

Not read the full thread but I have experienced this. Our deposit was with the dps. Our ll kept calling us asking for various amounts of our deposit for things such as mice, wasp nest in loft, bike stolen left in shed. We never went in loft, there was no bike in shed and we had told him about the mice when we moved on and we dealt with it by getting a cat. He hadnt seen the property until months after we left.
In the end we went no contact with him and left it to the dps to sort out. They looked at the evidence, ruled in our favour as there was no evidence and we got our entire deposit back. Please fight this.

You need to raise a dispute with whoever holds the deposit. What does the check out inventory say needed to be cleaned, redecorated, and done in the garden? What does the check in inventory say about the state of the property? Without knowing that, no one can really answer whether the charges are reasonable for what needed doing nor whether they are reasonable things to claim for. It sounds like they are being CFs but...

Cleaning - the property needs to be at the same level of cleanliness as it was at the start of the tenancy when you leave. You don't have to pay for it to be professionally cleaned but it must be cleaned to the same standard as it was when you moved in.

Gardening - the garden should be in a similar standard condition to how it was when you moved in. You can't be held responsible for plants dying, trimming tall hedges/trees but things you might be charged for could be an unmown lawn, weeds or bare patches in the lawn, weeding, pruning small shrubs/hedges/climbers/ivy if they haven't been kept regularly pruned (assuming they were when you moved in). TBH, in 3 weeks the lawn could well need mowing and although they might be small, the weeds could have grown back. If you let a 5 foot hedge grow to 10 feet and only trimmed stray twigs to neaten it up before you left, that might be a reasonable claim.

Decorating - it is unlikely that they can charge you for decorating after 5 years wear and tear but it depends if there was damage due to negligence or you had done things in breach of contract eg multiple broken tiles, dog-chewed skirting board, mould or water damage, your teenager painted the walls and ceiling of their bedroom black, you painted a stone fireplace or wooden banisters that now need stripping.

Carpet - the deposit schemes look at the quality of the carpet and the age (the landlord will need to provide proof). Good quality carpet is expected to last 20 years, cheap carpet just 5 years. FWIW, IME it is usually new carpets that shed, not old carpets. What does the check-in inventory say about the state of the carpet?

Re the garden, the comments even on the inventory actually states there are some weeds and the lawn needs mowing.

Re the carpet the inventory says like new. if it was new it must have been really rubbish quality. I'm not sure what you mean by carpet shedding? Shedding of a carpet has a different meaning to me and I'd be very worried if a new carpet did what this carpet did.

That's another thing. The ll accused us of planting Japanese knotweed in garden as they hadn't seen it in a few months and weeds had grown very fast. Dps rejected this

I’ve o my rented once (with a dog) and as part of my tenancy I had to either prove I had paid for a professional deep clean including washing carpets or pay the landlord to do it. Professional deep clean cost £230 about 12 years ago so I’m not surprised it’s about £300-£400 now. Sometimes pet owners can’t smell their pets and become nose blind. I don’t have cats and I can smell them in friend’s houses a mile off (I’m sure they can smell our dogs)

I would not request money back for the clean; they may even need to replace the carpet due to the smell? My aunt in law tenanted her house out while she lived in the states for two years - the carpet was grim when she got her house back.

The rest you should be able to claim back if the deposit is protected. I think we lost £30 to a broken fridge tray. The rest we got back easily because we had the receipts to show for professional cleaning. Our tenancy agreement even stipulated gutter cleaning!!

@purpleme12

The process has been started through that yes, that seemed to be the only way I could find out what they are claiming for. I just don't get confidence with it all and with what I should push back against and what I shouldn't. It is still helpful to me to post here

You won't need to push back. They will simply look at the inventory and the checking out inspection and decide. It's very clear cut. To add our ll also complained about the decking as someone fell but we had reported that as I had also fell on it. Any emails or texts you have are helpful too but tbh the dps will sort it al for put.