We recently rented a house for 6 months. The landlord was great at first but is retaining our bond since we moved out.

There were some stains on carpet which is fair enough, partly our fault altough they were dirty when we moved in.

Oak worktops however are a problem. I made every effort to look after them. Even oiled them several times to keep them protected. Issue however is that some 'rings' appeared after steel tins had been left on them overnight. Ive been told this is due to a rection between the wood and steel and th reason why you cant use steel nails etc in oak.

Can anyone confirm this? Are the rings likely to be deep and therefore difficult to sand out?

I offered to rectify the problem before we moved out but he said he was ok with it at the time.

Im narked as i power washed the very long drive down for him (so we didnt trail mess nto the house - it was thick mos etc), told him abut dampness etc to prevent damage. Had to have a telephone line installed (cost us £120) even though we were told the house had one. Had to install our own TV aerial. Refitted kitchen handles that fell off as they were only held on by 2 threads. Organised bins from council and various other little bits and bobs that we shouldnt have had to do. And the result of being a good tenant - you get shafted.

Oh well lessons learnt and all that.

Looks like my wife has managed to get £450 of the £675 bond released though - just eagerly awaiting the post now. Looks like we can kiss the rest goodbye.


I enquired in writing about telephone line and TV signal before taking on the lease - should i put a counter claim in? Or can you not claim back expenses you incurr if they arent agreed up front?

[Edited on 11/6/08 by DarrenW]

Do what two students did.

Take on old mini or small car - remove the engine. Take a large angle grinder and cut the car into two pieces front to back. Carry the car into the living room on moving our day - take a welder and weld the car back together - kindly lock the house when you have finish and give the key back to your land loard with a smile and a cheerey good bye.....

no idea but overhere what you are alloud to do is take with you the tv antenna and the phone line.. if its yours then it stays yours..

Tks

I just reckon on either never getting back my deposit or just not paying the last months rent....

I've been shafted 100% of the time re deposits. Once I painted an entire house, had a burglar alarm installed, sorted out the weed-infested garden, cleared out a cellar which was full of shi!t and they still kept 100% of the deposit....

Do a Google on iron stains in oak - there are dozens of pages.

For example: LINK

Some talk about using lemon juice, others mention commercial iron stain removers.

[Edited on 11/6/08 by David Jenkins]

we took our landlord to the small claims court at uni, he failed to turn up twice so the judge found in our favour.

What kind of contract did you have?

The contract should specify the condition of the house when you took it on. I rent a house out (as a Landlord) and I always get the carpets cleaned before somebody moves in, take lots of photos and make a long list of the condition of everything. The tenant signs the agreement saying they're responsible for the house during that period and I will keep their deposit if there's anything wrong at the end, because it costs me money to rectify any problems. However, this hard approach means that we both understand the relationship and I've had no problems up till now.

I would never fit wooden worktops as that's a recipe for disaster. Remove whatever you fitted as it belongs to you, otherwise the landlord will benefit from your goodwill.

As far as the costs incurred, with hindsight that should have been a condition of the lease. I think you'll struggle to reclaim the money unless the landlord agreed to the work and the rates you were charged. Otherwise he'll just say he'd have done it himself at no cost had you given him the chance.

It's hard rules I'm afraid with landlords, and no matter how nice they seem at the start, like all relationships, when they end they tend to go a bit sour.

Best luck with the rest of the bond.

Mike

Was the deposit in one of the new govt backed schemes or an older one held by the landlord? - it makes a difference. If you have added wiring take it with you. I am a landlord and the wear and tear VS damage issue is a difficult one. The new system is more complicated but may help with disputes. Landlord should provide wood oil and advice about wood surfaces. Lets drop the 'all landlords are bast*rds' shall we as it is plain offensive. To not pay the last months rent is breaking a legaly binding contract. To withold deposit money for false reasons is fraud. Cover yourself: take lots of photographs of any issues/all rooms/gardens/furniture when you move in and put in writing all problems. Landlords ask for references, why not as for a Landlord for a reference from a tenant?

Just thought i would chip in that there are good landlords out there, on my flat in southampton my wife managed to put a burn mark onto the brand new carpet, She dropped a hot iron onto it for a few seconds. It was a cheap carpet so left a nice iron shaped melted burn mark. I also broke the grill a week before we left, but we got our full deposit back.

Re-ring marks on oak rub a (shelled) walnut on them --- it takes ages but eventually works.

[Edited on 11/6/08 by britishtrident]

I will remain professional so no emotional reactions will come from me. We are out of the house now so cannot re-enter without his authority anyway.

Overall the landlord was OK so i cant complain about him.

Stains in carpets were our fault so i will accept reasonable cleaning costs if an allowance is made for marks that we werent responsible for. What bugs me most is that we tried to clean them but they are such cheap quality that they wouldnt clean. Ive bought several carpets for development houses but have never encountered such cheap ones before.

The worktops issue sticks in my throat as we made every precaution and offered to rectify the problem even though i dont feel 10% responsible. Oil was provided and used. At no time was i told to avoid contact with certain items, although nothing is in writing. Ill look into the ideas for removal. thanks for the tips.

If i get the £450 in the post soon ill consider myself lucky and probs put the balance into dispute if it costs me nothing. At this point ill try and put in a counter claim or show that we did make all efforts possible.

We never even let the dog in the house (and pets were allowed).

Ive learnt a valuable lesson. If we rent again ill make sure the landlord or letting agent comes with me prior to moving in so everything can be documented. I guess even then some things cant be pre-empted.

Darren

TBH mate you sound like you've done a damn sight more than most tenants! It seems like he's installed the wrong sort of worktop for a rental property.

Have a word with my French Polisher, Roy Cave. 0191 414 6216 or 07801 683 133.

The things he's fixed for me over the past few years include broken veneer doors, tar stains on a bespoke oak reception desk (bloody carpet fitters), etc etc. He's a real life saver and cheap too (but don't tell him!)

HTH

Mike