Updating post from Reddit.
I’ve recently left a house share, as have the other two tenants leaving the property empty. The house was in a state when I moved in two years ago, another tenant had been there long term and another joined a year after me. It’s the sort of house that had tenants in and out all the time.
I didn’t sign or even view an inventory when I moved in but I was made aware of one later on. It’s from 2019 and depicts the property to be in the same kind of state it was when I moved in (dirty floors and walls, skirting boards coming off, windows in disrepair and some broken).
Upon moving out, we three tenants split the cost of a professional cleaning service to do an end of tenancy clean. They did the best they could with a very run down house.
Today (day after tenancy end) the agency have contacted us to say the house has not been cleaned to a professional standard. They haven’t outlined any specific issues with the cleaning or areas that need more attention. They have asked for us to pay for the property to be cleaned again.
My issue is that the only record of the state of the property is an inventory from 2019, and about 4 tenants have been and left since then. No inspections have taken place, and emails about problems within the property have been ignored by the agents (LL is foreign and lives abroad, as no involvement). These include emails about boiler services not being done, windows unfit for purpose, mould and general issues like marks on carpets and soft furnishings that have been present for months or even years.
Can the agency enforce this additional cleaning fee, when they have neglected the property for years? I haven’t caused any damage to the house and in the absence of an inventory I took a lot of photos and videos of the state of the house before I moved in and when I moved out. The same issues are reflected in the 2019 inventory, so I’m unsure what the agency want from us when the house has been in disrepair for so long.
Of course I can’t guarantee that other tenants haven’t caused issues in the property.
No in a nutshell. Your tenancy should have had its own inventory, not one from 2019 and you should have been given the opportunity to check it was accurate at the start of the tenancy. Dispute it all. Deposit schemes will ask to see the document and once it comes to light it's outdated and doesn't relate to your tenancy they'll find in your favour
Dispute and escalate to the relevant deposit scheme. The landlord will most likely lose, especially if you have evidence from when you moved in.
Dispute it with the deposit protection scheme. For the scheme, the fact that the landlord has been negligent during the tenancy is irrelevant as to whether you should get the deposit back.
The burden of proof is on the landlord to prove that you haven't left the property as clean as it was when you arrived. If they can't prove this, then you keep your deposit by default. Submit the before and after photos you have, and the receipt for the professional cleaning.
This guide from one of the deposit schemes has some useful information.
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What you taking about fool?