I recently moved out of a rented house and there were a couple of things we had damaged that the landlord is saying need to be repaired/replaced, that this is beyond reasonable wear and tear, and will be deducted from the deposit.
I accept this, but would like to know whether I am entitled to ask for (say) three estimates from independent contractors to try to ensure he does not try to overcharge for these repairs? Also I believe it’s likely he’ll be getting a family member to do the repairs so, unless I say something, he won’t be getting independent estimates.
If you have left I dont think you would be able to instruct your own contractor as you no longer have access. It would have been better to have done it while you still lived there as you would have been in control. It is easy to find indicative costs for things on Google so you could refer to that and challenge if unreasonable. Also remember you are not responsible for replacing an old item with a new item so the cost you are liable for is only the proportion of the expected lifetime of the item remaining.
Your only real option is to dispute the estimates he gives you if you feel they are unreasonable. You would then ask the deposit scheme for ADR to settle the matter
Why is everyone giving this tenant reasons to be difficult and put the landlord to further aggravation. The tenant damaged and coulnt be arsed to fix before leaving, now they want to dispute every twist and turn. Its their fault , they have to pay.Its about time people were made to be responsible for their actions instead of providing them with get out clauses. Havent the landlords suffered enough kicks in the teeth
You damaged and coulnt be arsed to fix before leaving, now you want to dispute every twist and turn. Then you will be “upset” when you cant rent again because of a bad reference from your landlord. Its your fault so cough up and stop winging.
Leslie1:
Sometimes life conspires against the best of us and it’s useful to seek the advice of nice informed people (accomplished) about one’s rights under the law of the land, nothing more.
Sometimes houses (or investments as people like you see them) need to take second priority when ones children are ill, changes priorities somewhat.
Hi
As a tenant when you were aware of the damage and you are accepting the damage then you should have informed your landlord before end of your tenancy contract. You could have tried to resolve earlier than afterwards.
You should have got the quote before leaving the property even if you did not wanted to ask your landlord.
Please note landlords have life and their time are important too.
But I am aware and my personal experience of even tenants have been good during tenancy but at the end of tenancy they behaved completely bad as they want to avoid paying damages etc and would think their landlord or agent would not know. Also tenants tried to do things in certain ways to hide the problems.
I have experience of the best of best tenants and if there have told me before and open and honest and the cost is not much I dono’t deduct from the deposit. But bad professionals crooks and any bad tenants dono’t accept their mistake then I would not let them get away because its principles because if they do with me then they would do with others.
But I would suggest try to be reasonable with your landlord and most landlords are good. They want to be fair to themselves and also fair to their tenants and that would be better for both parties.
I think your correct in suggesting that approach. Our dog when he was younger was a bit mental in the garden, so we paid for the lawn to be re turfed and spruced up the rest of the garden before we moved out. I think the letting agent was shocked that we spent the money doing this, but we just felt it was the responsible thing to do.