Any landlords? Deposit deduction question.

[Justworkplease]

Any landlord that can maybe give me some advice? Having a hard time with my ex-landlord.

If you have a tenant leave your property and on inspection there are issues that require deductions from the deposit, do you give the tenant a breakdown of the deductions?
eg/ £50 cleaning, £50 broken X, £30 garden maintenance, £30 broken Y = £160 deduction.
or just “£160 deduction for breakages and cleaning/maintenance”?

I’m a LL.
When a tenant vacates, I expect the property to be generally clean and the garden to be generally tidied and maintained, but expect that it won’t be ready for the next tenant to move into and some further cleaning and garden work might well be necessary and the tenant wouldn’t be expected to cover those.

General wear and tear happens and especially if a tenant has been there a while. It should be charged for. If a property has been tenanted for 2-3 years I’d expect to have to decorate.

What I find more irritating and difficult is if tenants leave lots of rubbish behind - especially bulky furniture.

Things that I might consider charging for via deposit would be really filthy oven that will need a specialist firm to sort out, garden that has clearly been neglected through tenancy, new carpets that have been stained or damaged beyond use and usual wear and tear. Minor things I’d accept …expecting to have to do some work and spend some money between tenancies…it’s just one of the costs of running the business.

@willithappen Ahhh, handy that you’re also in Scotland! Thank you for your advice, that’s really helpful. I started the deposit release process myself when keys were handed in. The letting agent had their inventory clerk go in the following day and do his report which was then sent to the landlord the following day. She responded through the property manager 3 weeks later with these claims.

If she’d been a decent landlord I’d just have paid it and been done with the whole thing as I know how long disputes can drag on but I’m loathed to give her any more money 😅
So far the deduction has only been mentioned to us through the property manager, they haven’t raised it through My Deposit Scotland - it still just says the deposit release has been requested 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ah in that case I'd just wait it out! Hopefully they don't throw it in right at the last minute.

You are in the best spot right now though :)

@WombatChocolate I can imagine it would be very annoying if tenants left their rubbish and furniture 😓 what a nightmare to have to try and clear out!
The house was let unfurnished so was left completely empty as it was when we arrived. We paid for all the carpets to be professionally cleaned a couple of months after we moved in as they were a bit smelly which we hadn’t noticed on viewing the property so they were definitely left cleaner than when we went in 😅 Before leaving, the oven was deep cleaned, as was the fridge/freezer and dishwasher. I even took most of our rubbish to the dump/recycling centre so as not to leave the bins full. I left half a bin bag full in the general waste bin.
it’s literally a squabble over 1 dusty windowsill, dust underneath a radiator and a hedge that has been cut and maintained but wasn’t freshly cut on our departure 😬

Haven't read full thread but anything not disputed legally needs to be returned to you pronto. They are not allowed to hold back the full deposit, only the amount being contested.
They are also not allowed to charge for professional cleaning - only that property is left in same condition as at start. A bit of dust is irrelevant!

Average cleaner charges around £10 per hour. So to dust a single windowsill and behind a radiator works out at around 16p and that's being generous in time allowance.