Hello everyone, hope you’re all well. Have just moved out of a property. At the start of the tenancy, we asked the landlords if we could make small holes in the wall for hanging wall art, and they agreed. We made about 20 new fixtures around the property, which we acknowledge may have been more than they expected us to make.
Having now checked out, the landlords are claiming these fixtures are ‘damage’ and they have since filled them all in with filling materials. They have deducted about £25 for the materials, which seems fair, but have also invoiced for £200 just for their own “Labour”.
Can a landlord deduct this much just for their own work and time? We have asked for clarification as to whether they hired someone else like a tradesman for the repair work, and they avoid the question - it seems they did the work themselves. We have asked for what rate they used to calculate £200, and they keep saying it’s a reasonable and proportionate amount for the time spent and work done.
£200 seems high to us, even at £20/hour that would be 10 hours of work to fill the holes, and they haven’t provided any evidence.
After we questioned the £200 amount, they have now said they could have deducted more for the materials they used. It seems they’re threatening to raise the deduction to about £350 to include those materials, unless we agree to pay the £225.
What should we do? Agree? Dispute? And can a landlord add more deductions on OpenRent after they submitted their initial claim? Thank you
If its damage beyond fair wear and tear, the landlord is entitled to claim against your deposit for labour costs even if they do the work themselves. The costs have to be justifiable, ideally with workings shown. £200 doesnt seem excessive for filling 20+ holes, sanding down and painting, but if you want you can challenge it with the deposit scheme.
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Have they lodged this claim with the deposit scheme? If so, I doubt they will be able to increase it now, so just refuse & go to arbitration, and the scheme will decide if their claim is fair.
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@BLondon good luck trying to find any tradesman who would do that job for less than 200 quid. Or any tradesman who works for £20/hour
If they had to make good 20 holes and let the filler set then smooth to a good finish.
That’s without any costs to paint over the whole wall to make the whole surface uniform colour- if you try just painting where the hole was it will stand out. Likely to need 2 coats to get a uniform colour.
Depending on how many walls this was for 200 quid is very cheap, actually. Decorators aren’t like plumbers or electrician they wont price by the hour If a job will take 5h they will still charge a full days work.
Pay up, you’ve caused the damage (it’s not wear n tear) and be glad they’ve not called in a professional decorate who would have charged much more than the checkatrade 37 quid an hour If you are in london
Good luck
Based on Checkatrade data, professional painter and decorator rates in the UK generally average around £325 per day or roughly £37 per hour. Total project costs vary by scope, with average room painting costing roughly £450 and exterior work costing around £693. Rates often range between £220–£400 per day depending on location and experience
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