Updating post from Reddit.
a small rant.
now im going to say very clearly, unlike many people these guys left the property in an absolutly immaculate condition bar one very small dirt mark on one bedroom floor. they kept the property in great condition the whole time they were in and were basicaly model tennants. so much so i offered them a further year at the same rent. but the property wasnt large enough for them.
the agent who i pay to manage this stuff was trying to get deductions made based on the small dirt mark claiming it was damage when a fast 5 minutes with a carpet clener had cleared most of it . these are not new carpets they are original fit but still in good condition.
and the lino who the fridge sits was marked. ( this has been down for a while as well)
jesus i get why tennants get annoyed with deposit stuff when the agent is trying to screw them over to be shown that they are doing things.
FYI i did say to the agent that there will be no deductions requested and to extend my thanks for looking after the property so well.
As a tenant myself, thank you for being a decent human.
My family and I always look after places we live in, but at the end of a tenancy it’s always a stressful game of what will they try to claim from us. You sound like a nice landlord to have!
It’s common decency to be honest. We are renting just now and will be scrubbing the place down and have been keeping it as immaculate as possible. I think it’s really ignorant to do otherwise.
Same, had one landlord tell me “you’ve left it perfectly and I’ve got no problems but because you didn’t pay for a professional clean I’m deducting you”. When I argued he agreed we’d left it cleaner than when we moved in but said it didn’t matter to him.
DPS disagreed and we got everything back but the stress when I was skint and we’ve put down deposit for the next place and needed that money back was horrible.
As others have said there should be repercussions for landlords who aren’t decent people like OP.
Experienced the same.
Although the tenants left due to s21 due to being in arrears for rent, the agent still wanted to charge for cleaning, paint scuffs etc.
I seemed to surprise the agent when I told them I'd cover the cleaning cost, for me that's a typical handover cost anyway. They seemed far too keen to take cash out of the deposit for things I'd be personally unhappy with being charged for.
Part of the problem is that trying to grab the deposit is seen as a free hit. You may get nothing, but it costs nothing to try.
Imagine the difference if a landlord had to pay £50 for each disputed item, and they get it refunded if the claim is deemed fair.
Seems like a fair approach. Although maybe I'd adjust it to a 25-50% fine for anything that's deemed not fair.
So... Claim £400 for cleaning. Ruled against... Pay a £200 fine.
That should be the way really, that it's done like insurance, you have to stump up a premium to make the claim against the tenant for 5% of what you claim or that if you make a claim for say £1000 but you only win £50, it's a mark against you for future claims.
I don’t understand why they would do that. I’m a property manager myself, we make absolutely no money from deposit deductions, I always try and persuade landlords to give back as much of the deposit as necessary and to only charge when there is a serious reason to. So it just doesn’t make sense to me why other agents do it, there’s no benefit and you’ll just be left with a bad review from the tenants
It depends where you work, I worked for a larger agency that absolutely made money from deposit deductions. Not directly but look at when they then instruct a contractor out for a clean or remedial work and skim their work commission off the top of what they pay the contractor.
The place I worked had a manager that absolutely pushed that sort of thing when the tenant fee ban came in.
I’m not a fan of letting agents, they were trying to get me to up rent 10% between tenants
I almost feel like they want it to be more expensive as then they get more turnover of tenants…
I only ever pay an agent for their find a tenant package. It's a fixed fee and we manage the property ourselves. I still get letters from that agent advising me I should up my rent. Totally bizarre. I have never increased rent during a tenancy.
This is why you should be managing it yourself OP. Tenants need to be treated with decency, and corporatisation is the opposite of that. Aside from a minority, private landlords will always give a better service.
I second this. I have 2 rentals - 1) because my fiance had a flat and I had a house, so we moved into the house and rented out the flat and then 2) we moved abroad (for my work) and rent out our house. Even though we are abroad, it's so easy to manage ourselves. It's more important to have a reliable tradesman than an agent.
Exactly.
It's tenant.
came here to say that
bet your both fun to be around at parties.
You're literally a landlord and can't spell such an important word, what does that say about your attention to detail in the rest of your approach to landlording? Nothing to do with fun at parties, it's just important to be seen to be thorough; to me anyway.
ETA also it's *you're* both fun to be around lol
The only qualification required to be a landlord is having a bank prepared to lend you enough to purchase a property.
And you're proving that in spades.
Agents are used to landlords complaining about things so they don't want to be seen as soft on damage. I take your philosophy completely and also plan for a professional clean at the end of a tenancy. Tenants who don't leave a need for it get thanked and I've even sent a case of wine for those who were also long term tenants. It's all about being fair.
They do it because they think it's what you want. Other landlords expect it and so they do it.
You should have been around before deposit protection schemes came in, landlords and agents would make up any old crap and unless you were prepared to sue there was nothing you could do about it. Landlords treated the tenant's deposit as free money, and that attitude hasn't died out.
I had one of those, landlord kept entire deposit because of a paint scrape on the wall, happened to talk to the decorator as I was passing and he said it was a 5 minute job to paint over. Landlord just laughed at me.
Yeah, that’s just wrong. My agents did an inspection a while ago, and mentioned a few minor bits of damage to paintwork, they put them down as wear and tear. There was damage to a window, which the tenant had informed us they had caused and we asked them to mend it, which they have, but mild scuffs and stuff, it happens. I want my tenants to live in their home, not feel like they’re walking round a bloody museum. I used to be a tenant and was always treated fairly, I hope I’m doing the same for my tenants.
i was but on the other side of the game. no matter how clean the property was i would never get a penny back and i ended up treating is as last months rent so i didnt pay and said use the deposit.
i dont want to treat people like that because im not an asshole
Son lets two apartments while he works abroad. We use an agent to find tenants then I manage it. Apartments are really good quality and easy to look after. Cost more than older Edwardian terrace type places but worth it. Everything works etc. Last tenants left apartment in immaculate condition. No charge to tenants.
Tenants have Whatsapp links to me. We've fixed minor problems very quickly. Everyone happy.
Even with new laws and charges we're in a huge demand town so good quality tenants in competition for good quality places.
As a tenant we got £100 back from an £800 deposit because of stupid deductions by the letting agency.
£150 to fix a letterbox that just needed a pin.
£300 for a deep clean. We already did and the place was spotless.
£250 for carpet cleaning. When we moved in the carpets were filthy, we asked for a carpet clean prior to moving in and they refused. 18 months later the carpets were actually cleaner than when we moved in.
They also tried to charge us for a missing kitchen shelf that never existed in the first place.
I'm sure some letting agents are OK, these were absolute scum.
We were tenants of 8 years and kept flat very clean, confirmed by agency lady that mentioned that on a few occasions, that she can safely sit and touch things in our flat 😅 We left it very clean, holes in walls patched up, only left deep marks in carpets from furniture (wear and tear). We were only required to hire professional cleaning company or agency would deduct the cost from deposit. We received full deposit back and the price of flat went up £100/pm afterwards so I gues we had the "good tenants rate" 😉
So the only time I’ve rented, it was a moldy ground floor flat. They eventually bought us a dehumidifier because the beds and other furniture were getting worse (it was fully furnished, so not ours). And the walls. And the ants.
They charged us for letting a bush outside my bedroom grow and didn’t keep it the same size.
And charged us for adding to the kitchen equipment with a ‘removal fee’.
Cash is absolutely fine to pay someone with. If he avoids tax etc. then that’s up to him it’s Not your problem.
estate agents suck the blood of tenants and landlords alike
recently stopped using any agents at all and doing everything myself
10% of all income is steep at the best of times, but if the service provided is worth it then fine
but they arent looking out for you or your tenants, they are looking out for their own bottom line
tenant turnover was high, once a year, paying their £600 tenant fee
everytime there was a turnover, they recommended the place get painted again, also recommended new blinds which were conveniently fitted by the same company that did their cleaning for £3-400
as i was already doing one flat on my own, told them that i'd sort out as many remedial works as i could and then the things i couldnt sort id get them to sort. the blinds didnt need replacing, just the leaves were a bit grotty, got that sorted for £80. couldnt fix the sliding doors within the time frame theyd allocated so left that to them
fast forward to the next year and i get a court summons for not paying council tax on the property. obviously someone at the estate agent never sent off the documents. they try their best to get me to pay the court fee and blame it on the local council.
i dont budge so they end up footing this cost, as well they should. then i tell them i dont want to use them anymore. thankfully they let me end the contract without further fees.
turns out the sliding door is broken again. and the tenants i paid them to vet are scruffs who leave the place a mess.
fix the sliding door myself, as well as all the work theyve neglected over the past 10 years. the hot water tank had been leaking for many years but nobody ever told me that, it was an unvented tank upon a wooden panel that was slowly collapsing, it could have caused catastrophic damage and hurt somebody.
but they wanted to line their pockets with getting the place cleaned and painted and new blinds put in.
fuckin waste company. not a small one either, an award winning estate agent in manchester city centre (although those awards are almost 10 years old now, i dont know how wise it is promoting that you won awards 10 years ago.. the fuck you been doin for the 10 years since?)
sorry, just needed to rant. it makes me angry.
now i deal with everything myself, i vet tenants myself and have a better relationship with them - they know their responsibilities and i know mine. my properties are better looked after. and im not paying 10% a month to a shitty company.
Agent raising a dispute gives them an opportunity to charge the landlord.
As a tenant myself this is really great to hear.
Checking out of a property is so so stressful seeing an agent walk around something you’ve paid a fortune to have professionally cleaned and provided receipts then looking for the smallest dirt blemish or mark on a wall to deduct a fortune.
I don't get why tenants wouldn't treat a property nicely. When me and the wife rented a flat for a year, we treated it like a home and always kept it nice. The landlady even gave us £150 back on top of our deposit, a bottle of wine and some flowers when we left. She said we were the best tenants she ever had and the flat was more clean than when she gave us the keys!
My wife and I became accidental landlords when we went abroad for what was supposed to be 2 years and turned into 10. First agent we interviewed asked us to let her know if there was anything we wanted redecorating, so she could ensure they found something to charge against the deposit. She did not become our agent.
I remember one place I stayed as a student tried to claim deductions for spider webs... I think there was a week between us leaving and them even checking the property. Some agents are incredibly petty.
You're paying an agent to manage the property, it's in the agent's best interest to do whatever they think will help keep your business. If that means making a claim against a deposit after a tenancy has ended, even for something really minor, well... they're going to do that, because it means you don't have to spend the minor cost on a small dirt mark on the carpet.
It's frustrating, but you've done the right thing there in being clear with the agents about the deposit.
Yes. Letting agents act completely morally at all times. Bless them.
What a weird stance from a landlord. I call troll post
This is why we can't have nice landlords.
Who cares? Not here to be your friend, here to rent to you and charge accordingly
You appear condescending enough to explain why you think any other landlord shouldn't be kind. You realise it's their choice, right?
I rephrase; YOU are why we can't have nice landlords.
its people like that who give me the grounding to be a better landlord as i have rented from the likes of it in the past and been screwed over perpetually. .
Quite so.
Most are dicks but not all of them.
Just charge them for it.