How Show Costs Of Tenant Damage To Mediator

Landlord Discussion
1

We are a retail business and have flats over our shops which we rent out , and occasionally a tenant leaves with damage to the flat clearly beyond fair wear and tear. We have our own internal maintenance man with van who would be cheaper to do the repairs than getting in an external builder and well able to do most of it , repainting spills on walls, broken door handles, cleaning the cooker and so on. Our problem is that doing it this way does not generate individual invoices for , in this example, paint, door handle , clean cooker , we can only say it took our maintenance man a day of time to rectify the problems

Would the mediator accept one mans time of a day as an eligible cost or does it need to be really a list of individual invoices for each defect . It can be calculated we break even on our maintenance mans time if we charge him out at £250 per day

Thanks

2

Claims against a tenants deposit are for the loss in value of the items damaged. Landlords are not obliged to repair or replace the items at all. If you list everything with sensible estimated repair costs and/or quotes from other companies, the scheme should consider them provided you account for the condition of the item at the start of the tenancy. Its then up to you whether and who you use to repair them.

My one caveat would be that if items are already beyone their expected lifespan, (such as carpets often are) or the damage is purely cosmetic but doesnt affect the operation of the item, then you wouldnt get much for them, although cleaning or repairs should still be possible.