What can I claim for?

Hi Anna

I think you will struggle to get any claim to stick here and that you should just chalk this one up to experience.

From what you’ve said it’s a shared house so you will find it very difficult to prove the items that need cleaning are the sole responsibility of your tenant.

Also, you are holding money for your tenant. If she’s paid her rent that’s the basis of her contract with you. I can’t see how you can legally take her money to pay for having her boyfriend staying over, presumably in a room which she has paid you rent for?

There may be a slim chance of getting away with making a small deduction but weighed against the potential hassle it’s likely to cause you I honestly wouldn’t recommend you NOT to go down that road.
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This is one that should be dealt with during the tenancy, not after 11 months or at the end of the tenancy. If you turned a blind eye throughout the tenancy then it is too late to deal with it now. Just chalk this down to experience, ensure your tenancy agreements are up to date and look out for it more carefully in the future so that you can deal with it as it arises.

Why are you being so mean spirited and sounding like some sixties B&B matron, who’s the self-appointed guardian of the country’s morals? By your own admission there was no excess wear & tear. I have 11 properties I tent out and I’d never act like this.

Drop it is my opinion.

Well said Terry Davis.

In strict legal terms you can only retain money from the deposit if you’ve suffered a loss as a consequence of something the tenant has done. You can’t claim money “on principle” just because her boyfriend effectively lived there rent free.

One tenant paid me nearly £48k over a number of years, when he left an untidy house, I bought him a bottle of champagne and wished him well as he was buying his first house with his new lady friend.

He is now a councillor in my home town!

Good things come to those who see the bigger picture.

Let it go!

Reply to the comment left by “Steve From Leicester” at “04/02/2016 – 11:51“:

Unless the rent was inclusive of bills, Anna, as a LL, hasn’t lost anything. It is the housemates who have paid extra utilities etc, and had to wait longer for the bathroom.

Do you charge rent per person? If not, then you have no grounds to charge for his presence.