Tenant moving out,breakages costs.

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mark71

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After a year my tenant is moving out. After calling to the people i'm fearing the worst they are going to give me a list of breakages before moving out so far I know a double bed is destroyed and blinds broken. The place will have to be repainted and a carpeted but I expected these would have to be done who ever was there. My question is how do you calculate what to take out of the deposit to cover breakages? I presume you can't go by the price the items cost when new?
 
No, you can't deduct the full value unless they were new when the tenants moved in. The deduction should be a fair representation of the value of the damage. Bearing in mind the depreciation you can claim for your tax return, it would not be genuine to deduct the new market value.

You can however deduct full repair charges afaik because the repairs will only return the goods to a usable condition, repairs don't add value.
 
The lesson to learned here is not the recovering the cost of the current breakages but to prevent it becoming an issue with the next tenant.The way to do that is to get an independant property inventory survey which includes photographs and itemises all of the house contents and condition of each room, signed by both you and your tenant when they move in.
 
mark71 said:
The place will have to be repainted and a carpeted but I expected these would have to be done who ever was there.
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It is not normal to have to repaint after a year but most good landlords do repaint to freshen up a place to rerent and don't charge the tenants for this. But certainly the replacement of the carpet is not normal. Think about putting down tileing or parquet if you think all tenant's are going to destroy the flooring. Based on the damages you've encountered I'd say be more careful with the next tenants and get a very large deposit.
 
Thanks for all your replies. After a further check today we found that all the upstairs curtain rails had been pulled down,he told us this was down to old age!!! A new cooker we put in had the door hanging off same as the washing machine. Three blinds broken,door handle broke of the toilet door,lost keys to a sun room. No doubt there will be a few more to add to the list when they are gone. Not looking a thing like the house we let out a year ago. Live and learn.
 
Has the house not been checked since they rented it? ie after 6 months, this would give you an indication, and set off any warning bells of just the type of tennants you have. If your managing the property yourself, having dealt with the tennents ,you will get a gut feeling of greif you will get , and if its worth it to rectify the damage by holding back their deposit or just cut your losses.
 
I was actually calling over every month collecting rent but only going as far as the living room which was fine. He was a rent allowance tennant so if I do hold back the deposit will that affect any future lettings with the HSE?
 

Sounds sensible enough but at a cost. Never like a middle man talking money I should be getting.

When renting you can be very lucky for years or repeatedly get a house trashed. Good luck with it. Those damages sound very expensive to repair. Think you will be talking most to all of deposit from this waster. As problems renting with HSE if you hold back the deposit, I have no idea.
 

You're very blasé, are you not mad at the tenant as it will surely cost more than the deposit plus the time and effort to get it right.

I don't see why it will affect you getting another HSE tenant. Take pictures of the damage as a tenant like that will in all likelyhood sue you for the loss of deposit. Just to be sure, you should take a PRTB case against him so you get in first. Keep all receipts for your repairs.
 
I am pretty ****ed about this but I know the guy doesn't have a pot to pee in so to speak. He knows he wont be seeing any deposit back and I will be covering myself by taking plenty of pictures and keeping all receipts.In the long run he'll be the only person screwed as the HSE wont be handing out another deposit too quickly to him.
 
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