I am an accidental landlord having moved out of my flat to look after my dad who has dementia so dont have much experience. My next tenants have only been in the property for 9 months have moved out but their check out report shows they have caused damage in several areas.
There are cracks to the bathroom floor and wall tiles, stains to the carpet, marks to the walls, chips to the doorframe. I have before and after photos as evidence but i dont know how much to charge for these. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
If the damage is not the result of reasonable wear and tear, you can charge for the repair or replacement cost of damaged items. This you do against the tenant’s deposit which I assume you have taken and held with a registered scheme. Example of carpet. You cannot charge for the replacement of the entire carpet if only a small percentage area of it is verifiably damaged by the tenant. Also you cannot charge for betterment ie, where new carpet is used to replace older carpet. There are guides online for what the expected lifespan of many household items and fixtures is. If you do the work yourself, you cannot charge anything for your time or labour. Only the materials. Make sure you keep invoices/receipts for everything as the tenant can easily dispute your claims and it may be necessary to go through the arbitartion process run by your deposit holder. However, always better to come to an agreement before you get to that stage. Saves a lot of time and potential for lost rent.
For carpets, you can charge the cost of professional cleaning if possible. If not you can only make charges for that room/area even if it no longer matches the rest of the property. The exception might be for very high end properties.
If the item can be repaired you can charge the full cost of that. Otherwise, you have to start with the original cost, [O], not the replacement price. You then find the expected lifespan of the item [L]. The deposit schemes do have guides on this. Finally you work out its age at the end of the tenancy, [E] and whether it has any residual value [R]. The calculation would then be:
O x (L-E)÷L - R
For example, if a sofa cost you £500, had an expected lifespan of 10 years, was 4 years old at the end of the tenancy and is now only worth £50 due to damage, the calculation would be:
500 x (10-4)÷10 - 50 = 250. So your claim would be £250.