Advice on tenant / landlord's responsibilities

[JJS]

I am fairly new to letting out my property and therefore used a 'professional' letting agency offering a 'fully managed' service.

A tenant has just moved out and after inspecting the property I have found that the tenant had decorated rooms without my permission, had additional keys cut without permission, broken or at least failed to report a broken lock on the front door, left graffiti on a blind, spilled paint on carpets, put a hole in the bathroom door, left holes in the walls in the lounge where they had hung pictures; failed to clean the toilets / bathroom / oven / fridge etc before vacating.

I am being told by my letting agent, who is a member of ARLA, that we cannot recover the full deposit to cover remedial work - they have suggested for example that the broken front door lock is 'wear and tear'. I have so far been offered £220 to cover all remedial work.:eek:

Does anyone know whether I can justifiably seek to obtain the full deposit for remedial work?

Also, if a broken lock on a front door is 'wear & tear' who is responsible for this?

Should I have expected that my letting agent would have noticed the decoration that had been done when they conducted their 3 month inspection?

Your help and advice would be much appreciated and may help to avoid pursuing unnecessary legal recourse. I don't know if I am more annoyed at the damage done by the tenant or the 'response' from the letting agent.

[welshgold]

I am fairly new to letting out my property and therefore used a 'professional' letting agency offering a 'fully managed' service..
from what you say your agency has fallen short of a fully managed service


A tenant has just moved out and after inspecting the property I have found that the tenant had decorated rooms without my permission, had additional keys cut without permission, broken or at least failed to report a broken lock on the front door, left graffiti on a blind, spilled paint on carpets, put a hole in the bathroom door, left holes in the walls in the lounge where they had hung pictures; failed to clean the toilets / bathroom / oven / fridge etc before vacating.

I am being told by my letting agent, who is a member of ARLA, that we cannot recover the full deposit to cover remedial work - they have suggested for example that the broken front door lock is 'wear and tear'. I have so far been offered £220 to cover all remedial work.:eek:
Does anyone know whether I can justifiably seek to obtain the full deposit for remedial work?. well i dont know what the full deposit was but £220 - does not seem anything near enough, but have you had estimates of costs , a new door, blind, cleaning,decorating etc.


. Also, if a broken lock on a front door is 'wear & tear' who is responsible for this? i would say fair wear and tear


.Should I have expected that my letting agent would have noticed the decoration that had been done when they conducted their 3 month inspection? yes, but was it in the tenancy agreement that they could not decorate without permission.

[JJS]

Many thanks for your comments. :) It is a great help to have insights from somebody with your level of experience.

In answer to your question it was stated in the Tenancy agreement that any decoration required my permission first.


I am waiting for some quotes / estimates as well as confirmation from the agency over their proposed contribution to the remedial work.

Thanks again for your advice.

[Paul_f]

Ask your agent to show you the references taken up on the tenant before the premises were let to him (you are entitled to see them).
You can't control what a tenant does quite as easily as you might think!
Ask to see the periodi inspection reports carried out by your agent if they contracted to do this (it will be in your terms of business).
If you can't resolve any dispute with your agent, then you can complain to ARLA for free, but you must exhaust their internal complaints procedures first.