Renting properties

[Gef]

Okay, so I rented a flat for about a year, the letting agents were completely useless. We had building materiels in the hallway for the entire duration we were there becasue they hadnt arsed themselves to bother finishing the place. They let workmen into the place without telling us, there were numerous things that needed fixing, including a broken fire door.

But anyway thats not my question, it just compounds my frustration. We had a party and one of the carpets in one of the bedrooms got a small ciggarette burn on it. They have charged me £300 for a new carpet, a small mark != new carpet. But I figure there isnt much I can do about it. I have moved out and bought a house now, so then it hits me, I need carpet for the basement in my new place. I dont care about a small burn mark i'll have the old one off them and everybodys happy.

Apparently it doesnt work like that, the landlord doesnt have to replace it, 'its just compensation' .. its bloody bullshit. Its my carpet, i'm paying for it, thats how stuff in this country 'usually' works.

Anyway, glad I got out of the rip off renting game, but anyone else had problems with deposits can offer me any advice? Buying a house has been pretty tough on the old wallet and that £300 was earmarked for some vital decorating.

 

[Tom]

It sounds to me as though the service you received was unsatisfactory. Did you have any communication with your landlord about the continual interruptions caused by the building work?

If so, I would suggest writing formally to your landlord, and telling him that should he proceed with the claim against you for the damaged carpet (which you in no way accept liability for), then you will proceed with a similar claim against him for the building work.

He doesn't actually have to replace the carpet - the 'compensation' would be his to do with as he pleases.

 

[DaGaffer]

That kind of crap was the reason I always stopped the standing order for the rent a month early when I was moving out of rented places. Of course the twats have got wise to that now by asking for six weeks or even two months' money. You're right, its bullshit, but you do have some rights though; the landlord can't just say arbitrarily "its 300 quid", he has to get a quote for the replacement value, and show you that. If you were still living there you could have seen about replacing the carpet yourself more cheaply, although it sounds like its a moot point now. Unfortunately, damage to carpets is one of the easiest ways they can screw you over

 

[TdC]

indeed. your 300 squids will be going right into his beer money tbh. be kind but firm, and see what happens imo.

 

[Damini]

I had the same problem when renting. My old shit of a landlord tried to charge me for the following:

Stealing two shelves from the room. Shelves I asked to be put in, which he never bothered to do. How I can steal something which didn't exist is beyond me.

Malicious rusting of patio doors. Patio doors that had one pane of glazing smashed already when we moved in. He wanted us to pay for a brand new set of patio doors. I called out a bloke, who said that all that needed replacing was a wheel, cost of £25, and there was no fault attached. Landlord wanted about £400 from us. Am I paying for him to improve his house? I dont bloody think so.

A new bed. When I viewed the room, it had an adult size bed. When I moved in, he had replaced it with a childs bed. I put that bed in the attic, and replaced it myself with a full size one that I left for the next tenant (a bloke over 6ft tall). He tried to charge me for a new bed, because I left his one in the attic, despite the fact I had also GIVEN him a free bed.

A new lawnmower. Apparently, the lawn mower was new when we moved in, and without any care or consideration, we evily made it over 6 years old. Wicked of us, I know.

The rest of my housemates were prepared to just roll over and let him get away with it, but I'd rather lose all my money pissing him off than let him take advantage like that. I was bitching at work one day about how I was going to have to hire a lawyer to take him to court, and it turned out I was telling all this to his friend. Suddenly, all we had to pay for was the lawnmower. Still, this burnt me, and when I went round there to confront him he turned really aggressive. Cue me fleeing from the house, clutching a lawnmower, screaming "IF I'M PAYING FOR IT, I'M TAKING IT!"

The shit charged me then £40 for disposal of food that he'd chased me away from packing.

ANYWAY...

Advice? Read the smallprint of your contract. Kick up a fuss. They expect most people to just give in, and when you start digging your heels in they tend to give ground. My brother's house he rented was rented straight away to his girlfriend. They moved out, the girls moved in. When Matt got his deposit back, he found they'd been charged for cleaners - £40 an hour, for several hours. Since they knew the people now living there, they knew that no cleaning was done. He marched down and gave them hell. What do you know, the money was refunded.

 

[DaGaffer]

Last place I rented they tried the 'cleaner' scam on me too. Fortunately, the guy from the letting agency who'd come round to take the inventory when I moved in was brilliant, and he highlighted every single dusty or dirty surface in the inventory (the place had just been refurbished and there was dust everywhere). Twats didn't have a leg to stand on as I left it a damn sight cleaner than when I found it. It just shows they do it automatically in the hope people will let it slide. Still took them about six weeks to give me the money back though.

 

[TdC]

happened to me too Gaffer. my crummy old landlord screwed me over for "cleaning costs" after I'd spent a day cleaning the place from top to bottom

 

[SAS]

mmm not got a inventory. Our landlord was in spain when we moved in and the agency did not give us an inventory. Can feel a sting coming on when we try and move .

Renting is a mugs game as they say, but with house prices the way they are its near impossible to get a decent place in a good location.

 

[itcheh]

There are good landlords/letting agents and there are bad ones .... I've rented in London for the last 12 years and I've been exposed to the 'cleaning and decorating' scam ... but I've also used the 'wear and tear' line myself to avoid paying for accidental damage.

Bottom line, for every landlord horror story, there's an equally horrific 'tenant destroyed my flat and then buggered off and left me to pay for the damages' one. Hence they tend to be a bit hard-arse about stealing your money at the end.

Of course, that's no excuse.

 

[Gef]

Hmm, well I have already tried the 'kick up a fuss' tactic, spent 30 mins on the phone ranting about how craply we had been treated, managed to get £50 knocked off.

My question was more about the fact that i'm not allowed the carpet that i'm paying for, been reading a bit about letting law etc. Seems to lean pretty much exclusively in the landlords favor.

Think i'll just have to suck this one up and chalk it down to experience. Well now I have bought anyway I wont have to put up with the money grabbing goits any longer, halleluja.

 

[SAS]

Might be worth having a scan over: http://www.direct.gov.uk/HomeAndCommunity/RentingAndLetting/RentingAHome/fs/en

Contains all the government advice on renting.

 

[Gef]

Only useful thing I can find in there is:

"A new tenancy deposit scheme to safeguard deposits and provide independent arbitration for disputes over deposits is being set up, and is due to begin in spring 2006."

Well better late than never I guess!

 

[Tom]

You got £50 off. In one phone call.

Don't give up now. Send them a formal letter, keep the ball rolling. Chances are you'll get more off.

£300 for a cigarette burn is frankly, ridiculous. Is the carpet patterned? If not, you could just get an off cut and fix the damage.

 

[yaruar]

I always take a complete set of photos of the place when i move in and do the same when i move out, especially detail photos of any flaws, stains or other such stuff.

 

[Whipped]

By the time i moved out tehre was a huge crack in one of the main load bearing walls (Scary!!) and the pipe that lead right off the stop-cock leaked something terrible. I moved out halfway through my signed 6 month agreement and lost my deposit of a months rent (£425) from that.

To be honest, the amount it would probably cost to fix the problems mentioned above, I'm glad I only lost out on my deposit

Just to add, the stop cock thing was only noticed when I moved the waashing machine out to move and the wall thing appeared about 2 months before I left and I hadn't got round to reporting it. So it's not like I personally trashed the place

 

[Kryten]

I can give another point of view, being part of a letting agent and a landlord myself.

Charging £300 for a small cigarette burn is laughable. The carpet wasn't replaced - an average room would only cost half that to replace anyway, unless it was huge. And the carpet would be cheap.
Personally I expect recompense for a fag burn of around £20. It's something towards a new carpet when one is actually needed due to further damage or wear and tear. I'd personally speak to the CAB on that one - if you break something in a shop, you have to pay for it (normally) and you are also entitled to keep it.

Inventories are wondeful - the more detailed the better. Taking pictures (for both parties, tenant and landlord) is very useful also. The trouble is, they often ask you to return your inventory after 14 or so day of moving in, and you will often spot faults after this time. Reporting everything in writing 1. gives the owner/landlord/agent it in clear english and on paper, and 2. gives you a backup if they want to get shitty.

Don't bother kicking up a fuss : you could end up with someone like me on the phone telling you to grow up. (I do, quite often - we rent to students and they are in this area no less than retarded). Put your intentions in writing and follow through with them. Speak to the CAB and let them know what's happened.

Some things to remember :you may spend a day cleaning, but are you a cleaner? No, you're not. I can spend a day in a 4 bed house cleaning and scrubbing from top to bottom, but its not sanitised. It costs upwards of £60 just to properly clean an oven, and a lot of people just don't realise this. I wouldn't want to move into a house thats been mopped and Pledged after the last tenants wrecked it : I want to move into a sanitised and fresh house. This is often the difference and a lot of people don't realise this. However, I also expect other landlords to expect to front a fair chunk of the bill (we say about £100) to compensate for wear and tear.

Landlord's are not often money-grabbing rich communists, believe it or not. Most of us have one house, maybe 2. In shared properties, we need 3 rooms to be let out of 4 to cover the mortgage, and hope the other is let and paid for just in case the boiler pops, the roof gets blown off or a car drives through the front wall. (It's happened). Yes insurance covers some of it, but what happens in the meantime. Letting properties isn't a get rich quick scheme and only generally works these days if you've over 30 or so flats/houses (unless you dont have a mortgage or pay very little on one)
It's generally best to try and agree something that suits all parties : the owners have to cover their costs - and should not be expected to pay for your mess - and you should have the right to quiet enjoyment as well as fair treatment with your deposit.

Hope thats some help : just thought it might be useful to share the other side of the coin.

Regards

Kryt

 

[Tom]

So a can of Mr Muscle oven cleaner, a dishcloth, green scrubber, and some warm water costs £60?

Where do you shop?

 

[DaGaffer]

Some things to remember :you may spend a day cleaning, but are you a cleaner? No, you're not. I can spend a day in a 4 bed house cleaning and scrubbing from top to bottom, but its not sanitised. It costs upwards of £60 just to properly clean an oven, and a lot of people just don't realise this. I wouldn't want to move into a house thats been mopped and Pledged after the last tenants wrecked it : I want to move into a sanitised and fresh house. This is often the difference and a lot of people don't realise this. However, I also expect other landlords to expect to front a fair chunk of the bill (we say about £100) to compensate for wear and tear.

While I'm prepared to concede that not all Landlords are *****, I've seen the 'cleaning' scam too many times for it to be funny. You see the problem with your take on it is that more often than not (and I'm certainly not saying you do this) rented accomodation isn't that clean when you get it, certainly not to the standards I'd expect. For various reasons, despite owning my own place, I've had to rent a couple of flats over the last few years, and both times, they were none too clean when we/I got them, and both times they were cleaner when we left, and both times, the agent tried to stick us with a cleaning charge. Unfortunately they got away with it the first time, which was why I was such a stickler the second.

 

[JBP|]

I didn't pay a deposit on the house i rent, I win

 

[Kryten]

Tom : because simply, it doesn't take a can of Mr Muscle to clean an oven properly. If tenants were all fantastical cleaners and did it once a week with said can, yes I'll give you that. but the average person doesn't, once a month maybe : and the shit certain still piles up beyond the reaches of a can of consumer oven cleaner - because frankly they're crap.
It's not just the materials : it's the time, they're not done in 10 minutes. Phone some yellow pages folks up and get an average price. It's not a con, it's people having no common sense to think for a moment.