The agency used by the landlord should be a member of a professional body like ARLA. (Tip: never rent a property via a firm that is not signed up to one of these bodies.) There is a complaints scheme. Use it. nfopp-regulation.co.uk/ Here's the specific bit: nfopp-regulation.co.uk/protecting-clients-money.aspx My guess would be that mere mention of your knowledge of this scheme and your intent to use it will get them to back off.
Take photos of the property as you left it.
BTW you're not a smoker are you? Because no matter how "clean" a property might be many new tenants won't touch somewhere that stinks and that may be why the landlord's agents feel a deep clean is necessary?
Our property was deep cleaned prior to us moving in, so would imagine we could stung upon departure. The biggest joke was our letting agents trying to charge us a renewal fee this year of £125 each (there are two of us in the property). Letting/estate agents really are working all possible angles at the moment. They're in the fortunate position of being middle men for a product in demand, especially if you live in London. It is just another disgraceful aspect of a disgusting housing market at the moment. Going off piste a bit here, but if the housing market isn't addressed by government soon, I can see real problems in the future. Many of you old enough will argue that de-regulation is a good thing, however, particularly with housing it has swung too far into the mercy of the private sector, benefitting those in the right place at the right time.
Consider having been born in the 50/60s. When you came into adult life, there were fewer people in the country, more affordable housing. I'm not saying it was easy, because I know my parents (born in the 50s) worked hard liked many others to get by. What they didn't have were 1/2 bed properties going for 300k plus. I genuinely don't care for the government saying get 5% and we'll match it as a deposit, because for a 300k property, that's still 15k you've got to find, without admin fees, solicitors etc. Plus you wait and see what happens to people when the interest rates go back up. Yes, we're building new houses, but if you take that Battersea development for example, I think you'll find the people that are able to capitalise on that are the buy to let or super rich crowd.
My post is skewed because I'm not a homeowner and I genuinely think it is a fucking joke that having been born and bred in South East London, my home city is probably going to price me out of home ownership until my parents pass away. Oh and then I get to hand 40% of the value of that inheritance over to the government anyway. The circle of shirt continues. Sorry for the rant and I know some people work hard to get on the property ladder. I just can't stand the back slapping that goes on amongst home owners who bought at the right time and have seen their home increase in value exponentially, going round talking as if they made some shrewd investment.
I also don't think buy to let is fair as it takes another house of the market and pushes prices up further. I'm sure there are a number of landlords on here, and being totally honest, if I had the capital, I probably would invest in property too. However, I pay over the odds in rent, have debts through education and just general living, so am the proverbial hamster on a wheel like a lot of others, just running to keep going.
10 copy keys with address tags "lost" in the 10 dodgiest pubs you can find after you leave. Let him try and deep clean it after that lot has come home to roost.
Offer him a bullseye whilst reminding him that contractually you are under no obligation to do this deep clean he refers to.
He'll probably take it, u lose 50 nicker but the DPS? What a load of crap that is. Good intentions, tin pot execution. Id say it will take you a lot of time and effort under DPS if you dispute it and he boxes clever.
Well I looked at closing inventory. Throughout it said light dusting on skirting boards. Which is my bad I guess. But the inventory stated:
"ESSENTIAL WORK PRIOR TO NEW TENANT = None RECOMMENDED WORK = small regrouting in bathroom & de scale if of taps."
Nothing else. All the tenancy agreement states, us that the carpet must be shampooed, which I can arrange for £45. Out of curiosity I got a quote for a full clean and shampoo for £125!!
So, do I: a) go back to agent and state the inventory is fine, and tell them I will dispute with the DPS or b) go straight mot DPS, request my deposit and then explain why I'm disputing
???
Most tenancy agreements will allow for wear and tear and specify certain things you must do. Shampooing carpets is reasonable and you can get a rug doctor from Morrisons for relatively little. If your starting and ending inventory are matched, but for normal wear and tear, that's it. Insist on your deposit from the agent within a reasonable timescale, perhaps 5 working days, and escalate to DPS if it's withheld.
Incidentally, they are only allowed to withhold the amount in dispute, so you should get the rest back immediately anyway. If you don't, I believe you'd be entitled to interest on any late payment.
part of the problem is some people are filthy feckers that never clean, I have seen some pretty nasty stuff from tenants who seem pretty decent, putting in an up front stipulation that it is cleaned to a certain standard and how that is done etc is the only way to get around grief
part of the problem is some people are filthy feckers that never clean, I have seen some pretty nasty stuff from tenants who seem pretty decent, putting in an up front stipulation that it is cleaned to a certain standard and how that is done etc is the only way to get around grief
Well said Barney. As our resident `Deep cleaner of lets' i can tell you we come across some real 'mares. If you want a deposit back of perhaps £1000 it is worth investing a couple of hundred to have the clean done professionally. Sorry Rikofold but a Rug Doctor won't do the job that a £2000 carpet machine will and the Agent will notice this. Another thing they pick up on is the Oven, sometimes it can take a couple of hours to be cleaned*(sometimes they should just be replaced but they'd rather YOU pay) Another advantage of getting cleaners in is to get a proper bill/receipt proving you've had it done.
About 5 years ago an agent in Greenwich was done for scamming tenants of the deposit by saying the cleaning was never done to a high enough standard.
*we do have an oven cleaner on CL based in Gravesend.
I offered to pay £45 for the carpet clean, as per the tenancy agreement. He refused, wanted deep clean also.
I went back as a compromise and stated I got a quote from a private company, of £125 for a deep clean and carpet shampoo. I said I will pay the £45 and he can chip in £80. He won't get it anywhere cheaper. I said that, if he still refuses, then I will dispute it, as I have no other alternative, which could take upto 12 weeks for a resolution.
To be honest, he'd want this resolved ASAP, as he is selling the flat. Which I believe is more or less completed.
I called the TDS and they said, if it comes to us, and you have proof of offering a compromise, it shows you are willing to pay, what you legally owe.
Hopefully it doesn't go to that stage. But for the landlord to be trying to mug me off for £80 is laughable. Some part of me just wants to pay the £125 myself and be done with it. But I think it's just the matter of principle now.
My father In law owns a few estate agencies, and he showed me some bad closing inventories. My old flat is immaculate in comparison.
Oh come off it. You've done the same thing on another thread.
If you want to advertise on here, contact admin and they can point you in the right direction - but it's only right that you should pay for the privilege. This board costs money to run, you know. Using a message board for free advertising isn't on and you know it.
The truth is, I expect these shenanigans are more likely to make punters on here avoid your firm than use it.
Oh come off it. You've done the same thing on another thread.
If you want to advertise on here, contact admin and they can point you in the right direction - but it's only right that you should pay for the privilege. This board costs money to run, you know. Using a message board for free advertising isn't on and you know it.
The truth is, I expect these shenanigans are more likely to make punters on here avoid your firm than use it.
100% this. I've never understood why firms do this. I mean 'actual' spam is bad enough, but people stupid enough to spamvertise clearly need a crash course in Internet marketing.
Haha! Some spammer called Cosmo. He was posting spamvertising (thanks for that term Leroy) for some cleaning company. He also posted the same crap on the "Steam Cleaning" thread. Got called out by a couple of posters (including WSS) and it appears he and his posts have now been removed from the site.
Comments
There is a complaints scheme. Use it. nfopp-regulation.co.uk/
Here's the specific bit: nfopp-regulation.co.uk/protecting-clients-money.aspx
My guess would be that mere mention of your knowledge of this scheme and your intent to use it will get them to back off.
Take photos of the property as you left it.
BTW you're not a smoker are you? Because no matter how "clean" a property might be many new tenants won't touch somewhere that stinks and that may be why the landlord's agents feel a deep clean is necessary?
Consider having been born in the 50/60s. When you came into adult life, there were fewer people in the country, more affordable housing. I'm not saying it was easy, because I know my parents (born in the 50s) worked hard liked many others to get by. What they didn't have were 1/2 bed properties going for 300k plus. I genuinely don't care for the government saying get 5% and we'll match it as a deposit, because for a 300k property, that's still 15k you've got to find, without admin fees, solicitors etc. Plus you wait and see what happens to people when the interest rates go back up. Yes, we're building new houses, but if you take that Battersea development for example, I think you'll find the people that are able to capitalise on that are the buy to let or super rich crowd.
My post is skewed because I'm not a homeowner and I genuinely think it is a fucking joke that having been born and bred in South East London, my home city is probably going to price me out of home ownership until my parents pass away. Oh and then I get to hand 40% of the value of that inheritance over to the government anyway. The circle of shirt continues. Sorry for the rant and I know some people work hard to get on the property ladder. I just can't stand the back slapping that goes on amongst home owners who bought at the right time and have seen their home increase in value exponentially, going round talking as if they made some shrewd investment.
I also don't think buy to let is fair as it takes another house of the market and pushes prices up further. I'm sure there are a number of landlords on here, and being totally honest, if I had the capital, I probably would invest in property too. However, I pay over the odds in rent, have debts through education and just general living, so am the proverbial hamster on a wheel like a lot of others, just running to keep going.
Rant over;-)
He'll probably take it, u lose 50 nicker but the DPS? What a load of crap that is. Good intentions, tin pot execution. Id say it will take you a lot of time and effort under DPS if you dispute it and he boxes clever.
Incidentally, they are only allowed to withhold the amount in dispute, so you should get the rest back immediately anyway. If you don't, I believe you'd be entitled to interest on any late payment.
As our resident `Deep cleaner of lets' i can tell you we come across some real 'mares.
If you want a deposit back of perhaps £1000 it is worth investing a couple of hundred to have the clean done professionally.
Sorry Rikofold but a Rug Doctor won't do the job that a £2000 carpet machine will and the Agent will notice this.
Another thing they pick up on is the Oven, sometimes it can take a couple of hours to be cleaned*(sometimes they should just be replaced but they'd rather YOU pay)
Another advantage of getting cleaners in is to get a proper bill/receipt proving you've had it done.
About 5 years ago an agent in Greenwich was done for scamming tenants of the deposit by saying the cleaning was never done to a high enough standard.
*we do have an oven cleaner on CL based in Gravesend.
I offered to pay £45 for the carpet clean, as per the tenancy agreement. He refused, wanted deep clean also.
I went back as a compromise and stated I got a quote from a private company, of £125 for a deep clean and carpet shampoo. I said I will pay the £45 and he can chip in £80. He won't get it anywhere cheaper. I said that, if he still refuses, then I will dispute it, as I have no other alternative, which could take upto 12 weeks for a resolution.
To be honest, he'd want this resolved ASAP, as he is selling the flat. Which I believe is more or less completed.
I called the TDS and they said, if it comes to us, and you have proof of offering a compromise, it shows you are willing to pay, what you legally owe.
Hopefully it doesn't go to that stage. But for the landlord to be trying to mug me off for £80 is laughable. Some part of me just wants to pay the £125 myself and be done with it. But I think it's just the matter of principle now.
My father In law owns a few estate agencies, and he showed me some bad closing inventories. My old flat is immaculate in comparison.
Only 9 months late.
If you want to advertise on here, contact admin and they can point you in the right direction - but it's only right that you should pay for the privilege. This board costs money to run, you know.
Using a message board for free advertising isn't on and you know it.
The truth is, I expect these shenanigans are more likely to make punters on here avoid your firm than use it.
Some spammer called Cosmo.
He was posting spamvertising (thanks for that term Leroy) for some cleaning company. He also posted the same crap on the "Steam Cleaning" thread.
Got called out by a couple of posters (including WSS) and it appears he and his posts have now been removed from the site.
Now it just looks like I'm a nut-nut.
I might have to come knocking at your door:
"Want some cleaning doing?"