Landlords

Ok. So it's been impossible to reach my assigned letting agent - due to the Covid thing he was furloughed. I'm sure that he's back now, but is eyeball deep in back tasks.  I wrote to their helpline early on as to how to and when to end my tenancy. Lots of back and forth, was finally told two months could start mid-month. I gave notice in mid-July, they accepted it as ending 24 Sept.  I had asked if they could cut us any slack on the September rent, as we are leaving the end of August. No, they didn't. Ok, well, that's their right. Thankfully I got the "24 Sept" date in writing as ok with them. The flat above us has been vacant for a month and I have not seen it advertised as "for rent", nor has anyone been up there. They did say if they could lease ours sooner than our tenancy end date we'd get a reimbursement, but since they're not marketing any of the vacant flats in this building I have no hopes of that happening!

I've been trying to get them to tell me how much I would owe in rent Sept 1 - 24. I got no response, but finally got a "the letting agent says to just pay the full month on your credit card and we can refund anything over what you actually owe."  Uh, no. I am not paying for days I am not liable - and I told them that. I told them I was really uncomfortable with that scenario, but would pay what I owed. I contacted Shelter and was advised the formula is 12 x monthly rent divided by 365 x number of days (24) to get what we'd owe for September. I just paid that via my USA Capital One credit card on their web portal, so we should be paid up until the end of our legal obligation to them. (I also terminated the direct debit with my bank.)

So they refuse to do a final walk-through. Keep insisting on FaceTime. I keep telling them I have not got a way to do that, and that we really want an in-person walk through. They asked us to send photos instead. I said I would send photos, but they need to tell me precisely what they wanted photos taken of, and that we REALLY still wanted a walk-through with a rep. Still waiting to hear what they want.  (I will, of course, document the hell out of everything in here, just in case.) Sorry, but if you can eat in a restaurant someone can walk through an empty apartment that has all the windows opened and everyone in masks.  Fortunately our deposit is with SafeDeposit Scotland, and I've kept copies of all the back-and-forths via email, so I've got a decent papertrail if there are any problems getting the deposit returned.

It's tiresome.

Ok. So it's been impossible to reach my assigned letting agent - due to the Covid thing he was furloughed. I'm sure that he's back now, but is eyeball deep in back tasks.  I wrote to their helpline early on as to how to and when to end my tenancy. Lots of back and forth, was finally told two months could start mid-month. I gave notice in mid-July, they accepted it as ending 24 Sept.  I had asked if they could cut us any slack on the September rent, as we are leaving the end of August. No, they didn't. Ok, well, that's their right. Thankfully I got the "24 Sept" date in writing as ok with them. The flat above us has been vacant for a month and I have not seen it advertised as "for rent", nor has anyone been up there. They did say if they could lease ours sooner than our tenancy end date we'd get a reimbursement, but since they're not marketing any of the vacant flats in this building I have no hopes of that happening!

I've been trying to get them to tell me how much I would owe in rent Sept 1 - 24. I got no response, but finally got a "the letting agent says to just pay the full month on your credit card and we can refund anything over what you actually owe."  Uh, no. I am not paying for days I am not liable - and I told them that. I told them I was really uncomfortable with that scenario, but would pay what I owed. I contacted Shelter and was advised the formula is 12 x monthly rent divided by 365 x number of days (24) to get what we'd owe for September. I just paid that via my USA Capital One credit card on their web portal, so we should be paid up until the end of our legal obligation to them. (I also terminated the direct debit with my bank.)

So they refuse to do a final walk-through. Keep insisting on FaceTime. I keep telling them I have not got a way to do that, and that we really want an in-person walk through. They asked us to send photos instead. I said I would send photos, but they need to tell me precisely what they wanted photos taken of, and that we REALLY still wanted a walk-through with a rep. Still waiting to hear what they want.  (I will, of course, document the hell out of everything in here, just in case.) Sorry, but if you can eat in a restaurant someone can walk through an empty apartment that has all the windows opened and everyone in masks.  Fortunately our deposit is with SafeDeposit Scotland, and I've kept copies of all the back-and-forths via email, so I've got a decent papertrail if there are any problems getting the deposit returned.

It's tiresome.

Ask them to arrange the end of tenancy cleaning and everything that is responsible.  Then you'll get your full deposit back less the fees for all the crap.  Seriously, it's the only way.

I've already got the cleaning supplies and allocated time in the process to do a thorough cleaning. Of course, even if we do that we could get screwed.... so yeah, that might be the best option.

Or since we'll be in a flat on air mattresses for a couple of days with nothing else to do we can clean it and hope. And take a lot of photos. As we will have literally nothing else to do than read a book or take a walk, I think we'll go that route.  We can always dispute any charges with the deposit scheme. I hope it doesn't come to that.

Seriously, though, all this faff. It's been that all the time, although with the landlord it usually hasn't been that bad. Except when they had to have outside contractor repairmen in. I do still wonder what they're going to say about the door over the washing machine sitting two inches lower than it should. (Thankfully I have the email where I sent photos of that when complaining about the bad installation, so it's defensible.)

I've already got the cleaning supplies and allocated time in the process to do a thorough cleaning. Of course, even if we do that we could get screwed.... so yeah, that might be the best option.

Or since we'll be in a flat on air mattresses for a couple of days with nothing else to do we can clean it and hope. And take a lot of photos. As we will have literally nothing else to do than read a book or take a walk, I think we'll go that route.  We can always dispute any charges with the deposit scheme. I hope it doesn't come to that.

Seriously, though, all this faff. It's been that all the time, although with the landlord it usually hasn't been that bad. Except when they had to have outside contractor repairmen in. I do still wonder what they're going to say about the door over the washing machine sitting two inches lower than it should. (Thankfully I have the email where I sent photos of that when complaining about the bad installation, so it's defensible.)

Read your tenancy agreement.  In England, most require a professional end of tenancy clean, carpets cleaned professionally, oven/hob/extraction fan cleaned professionally, and curtains cleaned professionally.  If pets, a treatment of sorts.  And they want receipts.  Just double check because it would be awful to do all that back breaking work just to have to get people in anyways.

Read your tenancy agreement.  In England, most require a professional end of tenancy clean, carpets cleaned professionally, oven/hob/extraction fan cleaned professionally, and curtains cleaned professionally.  If pets, a treatment of sorts.  And they want receipts.  Just double check because it would be awful to do all that back breaking work just to have to get people in anyways.

Oh, trust me, I've read every line.  They do not require that. We just have to leave it pretty much as we found it. Specifically:

clean the property, including carpets, windows, ovens, cookers and extractor fan
return the property to the same condition as in the inventory, taking into account fair wear and tear
remove your personal belongings
replace all light bulbs
defrost the fridge and freezer - and leave both doors open
return a minimum of two full sets of keys including any car park or key fobs.

We have pergo throughout. Which has been really nice and easy to care for. Except in the kitchen, where we have those ugly black big tiles on the floor, and the bathrooms, which have something similar, only in white. I've already nuked the large bathroom (oxyclean makes grout nice and white), so it'll just need a minor going-over.

We have pull-down blinds, so no curtains to clean.

I've already cleaned the extraction fan filters over the hob. They were soaked in soapy water and a brush was taken to them. I assume that's what they expect?

The oven was replaced last year. I've used it twice (bought a counter-top mini-oven that is much better). So that's pretty much ready to go.

We have to sweep and mop, and wipe down any cobwebs.

And do the windows. That'll be fun as we are several floors up. I keep the insides clean, and it's easy enough to reach the outside of the widows that open (they swing inwards). The big banks of windows that don't open, out in the living room, will be challenging. But I do already have a squeegee cleaning tool, so I'll just get the daughter to hold onto my belt ... no, I better not let her see me doing that! She'd have a fit. 

That's great.  My renting experience in England was not positive (not horrific or anything just no standard while in the place but then a huge standard at the end. 

Bummer!