My tenants have left my flat and there are a few things that I’m not particularly happy with, sadly.
Among the issues, I found some bad deep “scratches” on the wooden floor, likely due to something heavy that they drag over the floor. They claim it’s to be considered as wear and tear but I find it excessive especially if I consider that they stayed at my flat for 12 months.
I know this is a tricky matter. This is my first experience as landlord and would like to have an idea of whether this may be considered damage.
No way is that wear and tear.
I would consider that as damage however you just never know which way the deposit scheme will decide. But I would still claim it as deduction and cross your fingers.
It’s damage. But it’s not what LL thinks, it’s what DPS adjudicator decides. And they most often decide in favour of T or will award you a couple of poinds to replace 3-4 affected floor boards or to use compatible paint to mask the damage.
The damage looks horrible, indeed. But we had similar done by tradesmen, and never got any compensation.
I recently went through a similar process where I also had tenants move out and leave the floors badly scratched beyond reasonable wear and tear. I subsequently claimed for damages using the deposit scheme’s resolution service. For the dispute process, it is essential that you have the condition of the flat, including the floors, well documented in the inventory report at the start of the tenancy, and also a check out report carried out shortly after the tenants left. Also documentation such as invoices detailing when the floors were installed and the cost. Basically, provide as much evidence as possible as the adjudicator will ask to see these. Please also note that the maximum you can be awarded is the deposit amount, regardless of how much it will cost you to repair teh damages. While I did not get awarded all of the deposit amount (and my repair costs were much higher than this) I did get awarded most of it, around 75-80%, and I think this is mostly due to providing loads of evidence, whereas the tenants didn’t provide any. So I was pleased with the outcome - more out of principle just because I was so annoyed at the tenants’ disrespect of my property. So documentation is key. Hope that helps and good luck.
In the normal case, you will only be awarded for the proportion of floor which is actually damaged and can be replaced/fixed (think in terms of % planks that need replacing) once solid proof is provided that its the tenant’s fault. Its not an ideal situation.
My multiple tenants over the years have ruined high quality engineered wood floors with heel/point marks, water damage, excessive wear in spots and scratches. In the same time, with an identical floor in our home and at least double the amount of people using it, our floors had one scratch caused by the previous owner when they moved out.
and the problem is that the damaged stuff can only be replaced by taking up the good boards first to get to the bad ones as they will be t and g or click boards
If those are marks that dont come off with cleaning and assuming you have evidence of the condition of the floor at the start of the tenancy, then you need to get a quote for replacing the affected boards and claim this amount from their deposit.
It’s abuse of the property, it’s useful though that the tenant’s have acknowldeged that it has occured during their tenancy as that may solve any imventory defficiency. Incidentally, I had a floor burned with hundreds of spots of hot charcoal from an incense burner, I was able to effect a cover-up job with a special hard wax kit specifically for floors, you can mix the colours and with practica can emulate grain, it takes time thogh
