Deposit query, delay with obtaining quotes for repair

Deposit query, delay with obtaining quotes for repair

13:56 PM, 29th July 2013, About 11 years ago 14

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I have 3 tenants who recently vacated a property. During their rental I only dealt with one of the tenants and we went through the check out procedure thoroughly so that he understood what was expected. On the day of the checkout the property was very unclean and the inventory clerk explained to the tenant that cleaning would have to be done. The clerk was also concerned to note that handles had been broken off the windows. The tenant explained they had not been able to open them, yet had never mentioned this to us. We have since had a repair man in who has told us that the windows have ceased up inside completely and he will have to drill through each window in order to release it, patch it up etc. It will be quite a big job. They have ceased up due to rust. We noticed when they were checked out that the boiler was off, that they used cold water only and we suspect that they did not use the heating (fans were all turned off too). Presumably the resulting condensation (no ventilation as windows were closed!) has rusted the mechanics of the windows. Once the tenants vacated and we were able to pull furniture away from walls, we can see black mould developing there, evidence of lack of ventilation and condensation. Deposit query, delay with obtaining quotes for repair

They vacated early July but the first appointment we could get for the window repair man was 26th July. Now that he has seen the extent of the problem, it may take some time before we know on costs, particularly as windows are included in our service charges, therefore the costs of these may be applied to the service charge and we would then only need to pass on to the tenant the cost of our portion of this charge. That cost though would not be known for over a year, though with a bit of digging around we might be able to know what the charge is in 3 months or so.

We have written to the lead tenant letting him know that we are doing all we can to find out costs for the windows, but meanwhile we await his final bills. We still await those final bills from him, 3 weeks after he has moved out. He also lives just around the corner from the flat and knows my husband is there presently doing some internal work, so could pop round at any time.

My question is- what do I do regarding his deposit. There are other deductions which we will have to make, but they are more straightforward. I would like to return as much of his deposit as possible, but the windows may only cost £100 or it may be £1000 – it really depends on how the management company deal with it. We want to be fair, but on the other hand don’t want to leave ourselves with a bill. At the very minimum all broken handles will need to be fixed. These are clearly shown on the inventory as being OK at the beginning of the tenancy.

I have dug around trying to find out rough costs for these, but have drawn a blank.

Any thoughts?

My question mainly goes out to other hands on landlords who have to deal with this regularly and who have not been able to return the deposit as quickly as 10 days.

I would appreciate your responses, thanks very much.

Yvette


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Comments

Kath Anderson

17:23 PM, 3rd August 2013, About 11 years ago

I evicted a tenant while abroad. My sister met the bailiff and changed the locks. 2 knives were placed strategically. The tenant was overheard planning to seed the carpet with drug needles. Before leaving all the taps were turned on and with blocked sinks the intention was to cause damage. No pets allowed, but I gave permission for a hamster. Before leaving cat litter was dumped on the carpets, hamster farces all over the lounge floor and the bin was 2 inches deep in dog poo.. I evicted for non payment of rent but had previously told the tenant if they got a dog I would evict them. The carpet cleaner refused to clean the stair carpet, not worth it he said. I have already paid a cleaning company £98 and have done all the rest myself, the whole house is being redecorated.
I have photographed everything including all the rubbish in the back garden. The ceiling was damaged and has to be plastered over the damaged artex, and the curtain poles broken off and curtain rail fittings broken and all curtain hooks gone.

Do you think I will get the tenants £500 deposit from the DPS?

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

17:44 PM, 3rd August 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Kath Anderson" at "03/08/2013 - 17:23":

It depends on how good your inventory was at the point of check in.

Anthony Altman

23:40 PM, 3rd August 2013, About 11 years ago

hmmm utility bills
we all know legaly the utility companies dont have a leg to stand on but 40 years tells me they still try it on (yes we give them the tenant details and meter readings and get the tenants to sign confirming readings at check in and check out) but the utility companies put them in the landlords name if the tenant tells them to

of the dozens of utility bills that have been put in my name fraudulently or at the whim of the utility company after questioning them at length not one utility company did any checks or due diligence to check this was not fraudulent
i have had many of these go as far as the county court (the utility companies have lost every case) but i have still paid thousands in legal costs
i have just spent 5 months and 6 hours of phone calls with one utility company and despite the ex tenant actively helping by contacting the company as well still no resolution
that is why i insist on sight of proof of payment up to the correct date and readings before refunding the deposit

Anthony Altman

23:59 PM, 3rd August 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to Kath Anderson
I have given the dispute resolution service a fair number of cases before coming to a decision but in its current form and with its terms of reference i have found it to be unfit for purpose i will review that decision if it ever becomes"fair just and unbiased"
but for now i would take every dispute that cannot be resolved with commonsense and goodwill on both sides to the county court I do

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