Jen1977ni

(Background - House in NI, fully managed by a really good agent, tenant in house since I left it, (15 months) he has just moved out.)

Don't you just LOVE LOVE LOVE time differences!? lol

Long story short, my tenant has left my house in a terrible mess - filthy from top to bottom, kitchen honking - from the cupboards, to the worktops to the floors, bathrooms disgusting, stair carpets needing cleaned, both gardens left uncut, fire left uncleaned, shed left unlocked, with all of my gardening equipment left inside. THANKS MATE!

So, he was owed £425 deposit back but both my agent and my Dad have decided to withold £125, which in all honesty, isn't very much, and he's got off lightly! His Dad was present for the inspection and became threatening with the agent saying 'If he doesn't get all of his deposit back I'll be coming looking for it!!!' << charmed, I'm sure!!! lol My Dad has since been up and said he spent a few hours sorting out the bathrooms alone, today, PURE MINGING! He also hired a carpet cleaner to sort the stairs out! So my Dad is doing all of the cleaning and maintenance to get the house habitable again, so he will be getting the £125, he's spent one day there already and envisages at least another two, one more to sort the inside and another the outside!

So in conclusion, the reason I love time differences so much!? I received an email from my tenant this morning to say he'd contacted his solicitor (ironic as the same guy is also my solicitor haha) and if he doesn't get his full deposit back he will be taking court action!

Anyone else had a similar situation to this, or am I the only lucky one!? lol

Alfresco

Not yet. We have a clause in our tenancy agreement that the tenant must get the house professionally cleaned when they leave, at their expense, as we had it professionally cleaned before they moved in after we left. You can even nominate the cleaning agency that they must use so there's no cheating.

Do this before the next tenant arrives.

rasen78

Not been in this situation Jenni, but I would advise photos being taken of the state of the house and garden. I would also be asking what the agents have been doing for the 15 months...did they do checkups etc? What does the contract actually stipulate? Is it specific about whether the property has to be clean/tidy etc, or just no physical damage? Who recoups the cost of the cleanup? Whenever I have rented properties, the contract has been quite specific in that the deposit was only refundable if the house was in the same state as when I took possession, excepting 'reasonable wear and tear'.

Also, surely your solicitor cannot be acting for your tenant? Is that not a conflict of interests?

Hope you get it sorted out

Lukese

as above, my tennancy agreement with the guy in my flat states a full clean will be deducted on leaving, i told him that i would judge the general tidyness if he wants to clean it him self but may pay for someone to come in if i see fit, its a safety blanket really that is there if you need it.

Jen1977ni

I didn't have it professionaly cleaned before we left, but as it was my former home I left it really clean and tidy, so much so you could've eaten your dinner off the floor!!!

My Dad is doing the clean up, very kindly so, he's nearly 70 and shouldn't have to be doing it, but we're doing it to keep the costs down otherwise we'd have taken the majority of his deposit to get professionals in!!!

My agent has been doing inspections and did advise the tenant of various things along the way. They also told him what needed to be done to get his deposit back and he clearly didn't take on board that advice, so he's shot himself in the foot!

Also with regards to the solicitor thing, he had no idea the solicitor was also mine, and since I don't intend to react to his threats by getting a solicitor onboard, then it's irrelevant at present.

ARGHHHH LOL

Jen1977ni

Photos can't be taken as Dad has already spent a day cleaning up, as we didn't know my tenant would come up with this caper! At the end of the day the agent inspected it, my Dad has witnessed the state it's in and my brother viewed it a few weeks ago as he was nearly going to be letting it out, and he said even back then it was, in his words 'honkin!!!'

ARGHHHHH

vickyandrob

Ours has been left in a right state too! It was a corporate let and they have agreed that the bond of £750 will be used to get carpets professionally cleaned, 2 may need replacing and they will pay for them if so, house needs cleaning from top to bottom - absolutely filthy including oven, grill and fridge freezer! Some of the rooms need decorating, pebbles from gas fire missing and one unit door missing!
We left the house beautiful and they have gone back to Canada, not sure if his former employers will be able to claim any costs back off him.
Anyway, we will not be letting anymore ice-hockey player/managers in our house again! My mother in law has a key and she actually told us how bad it was, the agent played it down a little saying it just needed a good clean and a few walls tidying up, so she is going in to check it out when it has been cleaned!

Good luck with yours.

Vash the Stampede

You've really got to wonder about some people.

vickyandrob

I know it's unbelievable really!

Fluid36

I would have kept the entire Bond, I don't understand why you gave him back any?. By the sounds of things it would cost more than the entire bond to get it back to the state it was in so I would also be sending him the bill for the extra.

The tenant should be dealing with the agent only and not you or your family. He can sue the agent if he want's and it's the agents responsibility to deal with all of this.

I don't see why you or your family are involved at all, that's why you pay agents fees.

I'm sorry to here about the mess, some people are just pigs.

hoofie2002

That's the key word here Jen - what is your agent doing to earn his/her percentage ? The problem is all in his lap not yours, The tenants contract is with the agent not you; a solicitor will point that out straight away.

paulry

You are right to think so but unfortunately it doesn't always work that way. I'm having problems with my "full management" UK letting agent not doing the things that she said she would do and it's costing me money that I can ill afford. It's hard to know how to get the problems sorted when I'm over here and the house, etc is over there with a malfunctioning letting agent.

Sorry to hear about your problems, Jen

koalakim

Hi Jen

Sorry to hear about your place and tenant troubles. We had the same problem a couple of times.

The first woman was heavy handed and broke a few things but the agent said it was wear and tear...humpf!

The second lot were mature (questionable!) overseas students who trashed it and nearly burnt the flat down as we found candle wax running down the walls. The bathrooms were disgusting, the cream carpet was black and the rest of the place wasn't much better. Mr KK was fuming and I burst into tears how someone could treat a home like that. We also found out they were smoking weed (our upstairs neighbour actually found it useful as he discovered a hole in his bathroom floor and could trace it by the smell) and we specifically stated we didn't want smoke in the place.

Anyway, we were fortunately on a visit when they moved out and we saw the flat before the agent did, we STORMED round there and had a right go at them for not noticing things during the previous inspection. All we got is "smelt of aftershave" obviously to cover up the stinky loos! Anyway, we insisted on a "deep clean" by the agents cleaners and whatever it cost it came out of their deposit which was quite high so more than enough to cover the costs. They went back overseas so I guess they weren't bothered.

3rd person wasn't too bad but still wasn't great when he left it.

Anyway, after the second lot we took photos to ensure that it was returned to that state the next time.

We also badgered the agents, after all we were paying them 15% to do full management.

My Dad too offered to "sort the agent out"! Anyway, we were going to swap agents but decided to sell in the end and fortunately it went quite quickly.

I can't see how the tenant can take YOU to court! It must be in the agents contract somewhere that a tenant is expected to keep the place reasonable whilst in their care.

Good luck in sorting it out but once it's clean get your Dad to take pics so you and the agent can keep on file for next time.

Being a renter here taught us some valuable tips for keeping the UK agents in check!

KK

JAJ

Photos don't prove anything, as there is no evidence when they were taken.

You probably should have kept the whole deposit and paid for a professional cleaner. Your agent should have been able to advise on the ways and means of doing this.

This kind of thing is part of the cost of doing business and you should build it into your business plan.

tartankoala

Probably because the type of people who band this phrase about don't have a friggin clue about the law and watch too much tv!