I have just moved out of a rental property in which the tenancy ended today to be precise. However our landlord did their end of tenancy inspection yesterday in which flagged some issues on their side. The issue we are having which I’d like to clear up is that there were previous tenants before us who left their belongings in the house, such as a mattress, beds, wardrobe, draws as they had to leave the property due to covid in a very short time frame to fly home, so the property was left by the landlord with their belongings in. In which on our inventory has been added. We have had issues with 3 pieces of furniture in which we asked half of it to be removed as we had our own and some broken from the previous tenants in which we asked our landlord what would they like us to do with one part of the set and their words were that “they are not mine” and they are flexible what we do with them as they “don’t furnish their properties”. So we recycled the bedroom set as it was unable to be used and bought our own. Now our landlord agreed yesterday that their seemed to be “confusion” from what they said, so would release the full deposit today. However today I have received an email with the inventory on and the items on, basically stating because it is on the inventory we owe the furniture back.
What is the case around this? As the furniture was never bought by the landlord to begin with, it was simply left because they couldn’t be bothered to move it themselves. And we have messages stating that it isn’t theirs, along with everything else. So are we in our rights to still get our deposit back?
If you have recorded evidence (letter, email, Whatsapp or similar) that the landlord gave permission for you to dispose of the furniture without replacement and specifically which items of furniture then you are on pretty safe ground as long as your deposit is held with an approved deposit protection scheme. Who paid for the furniture initially is irrelevant. The fact that it is recorded on the initially inventory makes it the landlord’s property.
If the landlord is looking to hold back any amount of deposit against the furniture which you have had written permission to remove, get it in writing and speak to the scheme that is holding your deposit. Let your landlord know you are going to do this. If they have any sense, they should have a change of mind.
as a Landlord any property left behind I always take to the tip. It is a tight ,bad, money grabbing, lazy landlord who just leaves it up to a new tenant
We have messages in regards to the first set of draws that bowed first that we asked what do we do with them, which the landlord responded quote “the drawers were left by the previous tenants, they were not mine, so i’m Flexible about what you want to do, I usually don’t furnish my properties so if you want to purchase your own you can match it to your own style? It probably makes more sense to do that”
We never messaged about the other set of draws and wardrobe which again, draws bowed and wardrobe hinge was ruined by previous tenants. In all honesty I didn’t think to message her again, as the initial message above about the first set of draws were the exact same as the others, so assumed that we could do the exact same? As why would she say any different to the first time. We got told yesterday she would let this lie because there has been “confusion” and we will just agree to disagree and that the full deposit would be released today. Yet now they have back tracked
It was definitely left like everything else because couldn’t be bothered to take it out so let it just be in the property. We are also being questioned on a mattress that was left slumped against the wall when we moved in, in which isn’t at the property now we’ve left as it was dirty and had stains from the previous tenants and we was never going to sleep on someone else’s bed. She wants this back or is asking where has it gone because she’s promised the new tenants the mattress. I have said to her it’s unhygienic but if she wants it back it’s in storage currently
if we have to replace it we will, however it’s very unfair that she never even paid for the furniture to begin with and just left it in there and for us to keep asking for her to remove it all but wants us to pay for more back even though they were broken. We had 0 use of our garden all year round pretty much apart from 2/3 months in summer if that as the garden was waterlogged year round, and was like a swimming pool. So if they have any sense if they don’t drop the case about the furniture , we will take the no garden use to a small case court
I think you are worrying unnecessarily. The inventory company are just doing their job. The landlord probably just forgot to tell them about your agreement. Talk to the landlord before you panic.
The old furniture would have become the landlords property if the tenants said they were leaving it, so in that regard its no different to anything else on the inventory. However, you have evidence of the landlords position on the matter so just send a copy of that email to whoever is doing the check-out.