Landlord charging me £655 for minor work

[Fay098123]

Hi, I need someone to advise me on a situation with my former landlord. I rented a small 1 bed flat for a year and a half. When I moved out I did some touch ups with the same colour on the wall and cleaned the carpets. The flat was in a good condition compared to when I moved in it was brand new. Obviously living there for a year and a half there is bound to be minor issues h re and there.
The agency that looks after the property sent me a quote for £655, £500 of which is my deposit.
The pictures he sent me are of a minor stain on bathroom wall, 3 places I touched up paint and a hole where I hanged the toilet mirror. He is charging me £390 to repain the whole flat even tho the marks on Walls are barely noticeable. He is charging me £80 to replace a heater that apparently had a tiny thing stuck to it. He is also charging me £50 to clean the flat.

The flat was in a good condition upon me leaving and the only reason he is doing all this is because when he advertised the flat he put the pictures that were taken when the flat was built and not current pictures of the flat so when the new tenant came to view he said he wanted to flat in the state that it is being advertised which is brand new. Obviously because I have been living there for a year and half it’s not going to be in the same condition. I am a 21 year old female renting for the first time on my own and I think he’s only taking advantage of that. I want advise as to who is in the wrong here.
The only thing he is being reasonable about is a carpet that needs replacing.

[Fay098123]

[Fay098123]

[Fay098123]

[peacelily]

Does it say in your contract that you can make amendments to the flat (i.e. hang pictures, paint walls?)

If not, did you get written permission from the landlord that it was ok to make those changes?

[Fay098123]

No, it doesn’t state anything about needing permission from landlord and I didn’t ask for permission. I am happy to pay one third of the pain job because I read up online if you’ve lived there for 1-2 years you only have to pay one third of pain job costs.

[leaseholder64]

The assumed life of internal paintwork is more like 7 years, so I'd expect you to have to pay between about 62 and 76% of the cost, if it can be proved that you have made things worse than if you had caused no damage and done nothing..

[vandamme]

Hey - that does sound excessive. I would always expect to pay 'something' but not that much.

I'm a tenant also and had a previous LL who tried to do something similar. I used the Deposit Arbitration Process - I got to give my side with evidence, the LL gave his with evidence, and someone completely independent made a decision which I found reasonable.

So - assuming your LL protected your deposit properly (see other posts on this forum for detail, but the LL has to have done certain things with your deposit otherwise you are in an excellent negotiating position) there *is* a standard process for you and the LL to go through - which means the LL cant be pressuring you or taking advantage of your situation - which should take some of the pressure off.

Good luck!

[Hillsy101]

Always take photos of the condition and contents of the flat when you move in. Unless you dabbed on all walls of the flat I find it excessive to charge for a full redecoration but completely reasonable to professionally paint the walls you have dabbed on although a small number of scuffs should be expected as wear and tear. Use the arbitration service.

[Stef Cooke]

Do you have an ingoing inventory?
Do you have all the prescribed info, including the deposit scheme confirmation?

Under normal circumstances, where items have not been removed or utterly trashed he can't charge you for redecorating the whole property; he can't charge you to replace an item that has a slight scratch/mark; he can't charge you to replace a whole carpet.

Going to arbitration with a far more reasonable offer seems like your best idea.

[mariner]

LL is entitled to charge you prof tradesman rates for renovation, less FW&T.
When Ts get a bill they think excessive, their first reaction is 'I could do it cheaper than that', forgetting their earlier attempts prob created a more serious renovation.
Raise a dispute with your deposit ADR.

[AndrewDod]

Why on earth, OP, do you think it was reasonable to do works of any sort on the property, made ho;les in walls, and painted dabs of paint here and there -- a property that does not belong to you. You messed up or altered the paintwork - you pay to have it sorted out - paint dams require repainting of the affected wall no doubt. What a damn cheek you have - not even caring to ask or caring at all. Exactly the sort of thing that makes landlords wary of tenants. I have zero sympathy.

That is not to say that the landlord's claim is not excessive -- it might well be, but you seem to have an attitude that you can do whatever you like.