I just had tenants leave a property.
In 2023 on viewing the property they asked if they could bring their two cats. I agreed on the condition that when they left the property they professionally cleaned the carpets/ treated for fleas and handed to me a paid invoice from a company. They agreed and signed a letter to this effect as part of the inventory. Before I’ve had tenants leave with fleas in the house and I’ve had to foot the bill. I’m wanting to avoid this.
They have left without doing this. I’ve had the carpets cleaned etc and charged on the deposit They are disputing this and claiming it’s not legal due to the tenants 2019 fees act.
I’m wondering If it goes to deposit resolution or court where this stands
They are correct. You can not insist that they ‘pay for’ professional cleaning. You can only require they return the property in the same / similar condition as it was on move-in, allowing for fair wear & tear.
If they haven;t done so, you can claim the cost of the carpet cleaning, but you will need evidence of condition on move-in, compared to on move-out.
Thanks for this. They have stained some of the carpets so I’ve been able to claim for new carpets to return to the same condition. The inventory enabled me to do this With the pet situation I’ve now learnt! Thanks for your input
if you can prove that there are fleas in the property and that they weren’t there when they moved in, then you can claim for treatment to eradicate them.
That’s very unlikely. If you really want to rent to Ts with cats again, you could get them to agree to an inventory that states that the property is free of vermin including rats, mice, fleas, etc. At least then you will have proof of the before state of the property. But even so, proving that there are fleas actually living in the property afterwards prob requires getting an expert in which, with treatment, will prob cost more than your average deposit.
Hi
In your opinion do you think if I had the carpets professionally cleaned on a tenants move in, with a receipt to prove, I can then if they don’t return the carpets to professionally cleaned charge them to return to a similar condition.
No, you cannot insist they pay anyone. You can require them to return to same standard of cleanliness, but if they say they cleaned themselves, how would you prove it’s not to same standard?
As has been said, you cant insist in advance on a professional clean as its a breach of the tenant fees act, but if you have evidence that there are fleas, you can make a legitimate claim against their deposit for treatment.
I’m surprised that they didn’t challenge that. They are allowed wear & tear. And even if they stained the carpet badly and the carpet runs through the whole floor-nit just the room,they’d only be liable for the room. Even then, they could claim depreciation as landlords can’t benefit from “betterment”.
In other words, you can’t be in a better position than you would have been.
If a carpet has a lifespan of 10 years and they stained the carpet after 10 yrs, they wouldn’t actually owe you anything. If they did it after 6years, they only be liable for 40% of the cost.
I agree. We had tentant move out with their 3 cats after 4 years and although they agreed that the cats had scratched quite a lot and caused damage to some carpets, we only charged pro-rata of the carpet’s 7 year guarantee.