Tenant has changed carpet, door and curtains!!

[Member786488]

He’s leaving tomorrow as was served a s.21 in July, my daughter is moving in.

he’s just told me how much he’s ‘improved’ the flat - he’s put in a horrible cheap grey fluffy carpet over a lovely, hard wearing, (expensive) and neutral one, he’s put a couple of doors in because he ‘doesn’t like open plan’, and my (again, neutral) blinds and curtains have been replaced with dark red things.

his deposit is £860. I don’t want to have an uncomfortable conversation but I think I’m going to have to. What’s reasonable here?

I can’t believe he did all that without asking!

I am a tenant and have replaced curtains, but have kept the old ones and will put them back when I leave. Carpet and doors though, that's a bit much!

Is there a clause in the tenancy agreement about having to hand it back in the same condition? (Excluding wear and tear?)

Yes I think you will need to have an uncomfortable conversation. And check the inventory when he moved in.
Ask where the original blinds and curtains are. If he has disposed of them replacements will be needed.
Hopefully your original carpet is still there.
How annoying

There is no conversation to be had. The decision on the deposit will be taken by the deposit protection agency.

Do you have evidence (photos) of how the flat was when he moved in? If so it shouldn't be difficult to keep the deposit.

We used to rent an I’m sure that if you’re going to take things down then you have to keep them.
We changed light shades, curtains and blinds and kept them all. Gave them when we left but they preferred ours more so left them up.
Difficult conversation needed definitely!

Keep it professional.

Say that the cost of returning the property to its original presentation will be taken from the deposit. I would list the things that will need to be resolved. And that you will get quotes and it will all be in writing.
I would also stress that this is not betterment it is returning the property to the state it was in when it was originally let to him.

Not gonna lie @Member786488 it sounds a bit like you're trying to come up with an excuse to keep this tenant's deposit. Sounds like he has done nothing wrong. The doors being put in sound like an improvement! Will help with noise levels and keeping the warmth in. And is his carpet really any worse than the drab private-let hard-wearing one you put down? Let it go. Give him his full deposit.

It's not for the tenant to decide as it doesn't belong to him.

The house must be returned in the state it was found.

So the blinds and carpet need to be returned and the door's removed with the walls repaired from damaged

Otherwise deposit will be held.

Drabness in a carpet doesn't matter. You get rugs if you want to jazz your floor up. As a tenant, you can't replace flooring.

Or add doors to open plan houses.

If you have strong feelings about doors you rent somewhere with doors.

If he kept the old curtains then they can just be put back up and the doors can be taken back off. I can't believe he changed the carpets without asking however.
I'm a tenant and there's no way I'd pay to replace carpet and floors at my own expense for a house I don't own. Really Bizarre.

Change not replace.

I don't understand the doors. Did you have door frames with no doors in them? I think I would want doors up too (I would have asked first though)

You can't just take the doors down though. There will be holes in the frame on both sides. It's really hard to fill them and blend it in with the shape of the frame.

Just go through the deposit scheme.

How long has he been there and how old are the items you provided? They knock money off the cost if stuff is old because you'd be expected to replace after a few years anyway.

I'm trying to understand how he's put doors up to stop it being open plan? Not your point I know!

Is the carpet actually over the original? Can it be lifted? How odd to do something that sounds quite costly without approval.

I think it's simple if you don't like what he has done. Ask him to return the originals or replace to pre-contractual position. It's a shame to charge him but he has brought this on himself.

Also has your daughter seen it? She may prefer the red.

Hope you've a good inventory
Before pics

And then lodge a complaint / dispute with tds of Whatver despot scheme you used

An open plan flat doesn't mean (outside of shitty landlord speak) 'taking the doors off the hinges'.

That alone will probably account for the cost of a few completely pointless and not warming a room in the slightest blinds.

I bet when you take his carpet up, he has ruined your nice one underneath. There is no other logical explanation.

Not gonna lie sounds like you are the tenant. Or just bonkers.

It is not his property or place to drill into walls to put up doors without permission. Removibg them making good walls and redecorating will be needed. Hopefully his tatty carpet can be removed without damaging the original if over the top of the previous one. If not he pays for a new one. Hopefully he kept and will replace the original window coverings. If not he pays for them.

I doubt £860 will actually cover the costs and he will probably owe the original poster money.

How long was he in the flat and how old would your carpet be? The same for the blinds and curtains?

You can’t change an open plan home to not open plan simply by installing doors. Did he build internal walls as well?

You will have to go through the deposit scheme to claim any money from his deposit. If your carpet, blinds and curtains were at age to replace due to wear and tear if he’d lived with them anyway, they will not let you keep any deposit to put in new carpet, blinds, or curtains as that would be betterment.

The doors sound a bit odd. If all he has done is install doors where you had removed doors, then he has rectified your illegal removal of doors contrary to fire safety code. The DPS will take a dim view of attempting to charge him to make your flat back to being non compliant with fire code. They might fine you the cost of the doors he installed instead.

I have a 16 page inventory on the 1-bed flat (which includes note about squashed spider inside front door frame?!)
it’s very specific!

he’s been a nightmare tbh, but he’s elderly and vulnerable and I’ve finally liaised with the local senior housing officer and waited for her to find him somewhere appropriate that will let him take his dog with him. He swears it’s a therapy dog - it’s not, but hey ho. I think people should have animals in their lives.

im hoping the new carpet is just on top of the old, will check tomorrow, but I don’t want random doors put on.

I haven’t had issues before, so please excuse my ignorance, how does the deposit scheme company decide an amount of ‘compensation’ if necessary? I thought he and I agreed an amount and I instructed agent to pay that back?

tbh I’m very tempted to write it off, but I think I’ll regret doing that in the long run, and I’m so cross with him…

I think the doors are the plastic sort of corrugated things, but until I see them I don’t know.

the flat was designed to be open plan - I haven’t taken doors off. Fully fire compliant as it was.

Can you afford to cover the cost instead of using his deposit? If you can, I would be tempted to do that considering he is elderly and vulnerable.

I fully appreciate that you don't have to but, that is what I would do in your position.

(This is possibly why I'm not running a business!)