It's the time of year again to fight for our deposit

A question for those of you who are landlords in the UK, what is your policy on wear and tear on carpet? If you rented an apartment to an adult with 2 kids, would you expect normal wear and tear or would you expect the carpet to be spotless? DH's flat has WHITE carpet in it. And it had *some* stains and marks on it when he moved in. That was 3 years ago and I'd say the carpet was not the best quality to begin with. So needless to say, it is showing it's wear and has also accumulated a few more stains from the kids, sad to say.  DH is convinced he will have to pay for all new carpet. Just curious on your thoughts?

Do you have photos from:
- move-in
- first spotting of mould
- move-out

If so, even if the landlord/agency does try to keep your deposit, you ought to be able to go to an ombudsman and prove that you're leaving the flat in the same condition as you found it, barring the mould which you told them about and they ignored.

My last landlady yakked about repainting the walls due to mould, but her brother did the check-out/deposit sign-off, and I'd told him multiple times about the mould, and sprayed de-mould stuff to try to get rid of it, so he was fine with what remained. We did get our full deposit back, but we paid for professional cleaning and then did some more on top of that.

I have no pictures from move-in (there was a bit of mould when we moved in). I assumed because we were finally with an agency, they would take care of it (my bad).

A question for those of you who are landlords in the UK, what is your policy on wear and tear on carpet? If you rented an apartment to an adult with 2 kids, would you expect normal wear and tear or would you expect the carpet to be spotless? DH's flat has WHITE carpet in it. And it had *some* stains and marks on it when he moved in. That was 3 years ago and I'd say the carpet was not the best quality to begin with. So needless to say, it is showing it's wear and has also accumulated a few more stains from the kids, sad to say.  DH is convinced he will have to pay for all new carpet. Just curious on your thoughts?

No way would you have to pay for a new carpet. Not unless you've put burn holes into it and it's chewed up or something. Stains will come out with stain remover. Everything else is fair wear and tear. Even some stains are fair wear and tear. As long as you try to get them out and they're faded I don't see the agency charging you for new carpet. Maybe for a professional carpet cleaning.

Uggh.  I HATE this part of renting. 

Check your lease and check with shelter for the rules and regs - they're very helpful (hats off to Shelter Scotland) - do the best you can

I am always convinced that that deposits are a money making scheme for the landlords/letting agents and that you'll never get them back.  I certainly never have any luck and always have a fight on my hands. 

I dread moving out for that reason!
 
Good luck Gibby

Uggh.  I HATE this part of renting. 

Check your lease and check with shelter for the rules and regs - they're very helpful (hats off to Shelter Scotland) - do the best you can

I am always convinced that that deposits are a money making scheme for the landlords/letting agents and that you'll never get them back.  I certainly never have any luck and always have a fight on my hands. 

I dread moving out for that reason!
 
Good luck Gibby

Thanks Phatbeetle. I can't wait for the day when we can finally have our own property. So tired of renting these disgusting mice infested cheap sh*t holes.

You're absolutely right, there's always a fight!

The first place we lived was a student property, LL ended up keeping both of our deposits (we had two different rooms). We didn't know better. Didn't fight it. From then on though I've become much tougher. Every place since then I fight it and I haven't lost since. It's the fighting and waiting and worrying that kills me though.

A question for those of you who are landlords in the UK, what is your policy on wear and tear on carpet? If you rented an apartment to an adult with 2 kids, would you expect normal wear and tear or would you expect the carpet to be spotless? DH's flat has WHITE carpet in it. And it had *some* stains and marks on it when he moved in. That was 3 years ago and I'd say the carpet was not the best quality to begin with. So needless to say, it is showing it's wear and has also accumulated a few more stains from the kids, sad to say.  DH is convinced he will have to pay for all new carpet. Just curious on your thoughts?

As a LL I depreciate the carpet on my tax return and expect to replace it every 5 years. I would know what state the carpet was in when the property was let as we take photos, and would only be concerned if a new/nearly new carpet was badly stained after a short lease.

Hopefully he has photos, or an inventory with the carpet stains detailed, from move in day and, if he leaves the property in a clean and reasonable condition, there shouldn't be a problem.

We rent our house in Worthing out to a couple with a toddler and a dog.
It has an old carpet in one of the bedrooms.
I DO expect it to look older a year later - especially with a dog and a toddler.
So, unless it has a 3 foot round burn hole in the centre of it, I would not charge them anything for any 'damage' or anything - and I expect some normal wear and tear.

Even WITH a 3 foot burn hole, I would not charge them the full price of replacing it, as it was already old.

The thing is, as a private landlord, you decide those things based on your own views.

I suspect agencies have set policies, maybe?

Hi guys just an update
 
I've contacted shelter today and they told me that there is no legal requirement to re-paint a rented property. Also, mould is up to the landlord to sort unless you're drying clothes in the room with the mould or not opening the window. We obviously don't dry clothes in the bathroom as it's always wet in there and there is no window to open so I'm guessing the mould is a structural fault.

The shelter advisor also told me that the landlord has to prove to the deposit scheme that any damages in the property (less fair wear and tear) have caused a financial loss. I have no idea how they go about proving that but it sounds hard. So if anyone is worried about not getting their deposit back, you shouldn't be unless you put a hole in the wall or something fairly bad. I hope some of that can help anyone that is/was stressed out about losing their deposit. 

Thanx GibbyGab!

GREAT to know!

Thanks for the advice!