Our tenant recently moved out, and prior to her departure, we sent reminders requesting that all personal belongings be removed from the property. Despite this, she left behind some equipment—specifically, security cameras.
She later attempted to arrange their removal, and as a result, our agent remained on-site for 4 to 5 hours to provide access and assist the attending engineer.
We’d like to ask: Are we within our rights to charge the tenant for the time our agent spent assisting with this removal, considering the items should have been taken out prior to check-out?
Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated.
I’m curious here because this isn’t posted by an individual landlord, it’s posted by an actual property agency that boasts that its clients can
Tap into our profound understanding of the UK market, where our expertise guarantees effective management strategies for your rental properties.
With such “profound understanding” why would you have to resort to asking unqualified strangers online for advice?
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You may be able to charge the landlord for the time, depending on the terms of your contract and suggest they put in a claim to the deposit scheme to recover the costs. The landlord could also sue the tenant, but its unlikely to be worth it.
Hi @Abacus_Property
Unclear if access provision was before or after agreed date for the end of tenancy and that had actually happened - key return itself does not automatically mean tenancy has ended. If before and they have helpfully handed keys back early but you have then provided access other than via keys that was your choice and why would you expect to be able to charge them for access (unless specified as a chargeable cost in the tenancy agreement, just like providing emergency access if keys are lost could be). If after tenancy is supposed to have ended potentially extra rent might be chargeable by landlord, I ‘think’ as it’s then same as if they hadn’t moved out on time.
Unclear if you indicated to tenant in advance there could be a charge or any idea how much - if you provide any service you need to agree a contract for what you will provide and get that mutually agreed and documented. If possible at what cost when, beforehand. This can be txt, whatsapp or whatever. Otherwise you could be falling foul of consumer legislation on unfair terms and conditions.
Good luck!