Moved out of rented home and estate agent RANT!

that's not a rant, just a little moan..

offer to do it yourself, seems a long time to wait to send you the bill, when were the photos taken?
 
Dont estate agents always pull this, seen loads of threads on here about people moving out and them saying the place needs a professional clean and extortionate prices.
 
As the others have said, £300 is a joke! I would personally go around there myself with some secateurs (if allowed), cut it up small enough and you'll be surprised how much you get in the brown dust bin lol.

I hate gardening too, but I don't like to walk outside and have it looking a mess. An hour at the weekend pulling out weeds/cutting the plants back in autumn keeps it looking neat-ish.

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The whole thing is a game with landlords.

I had a place on my placement year from university, I left a small amount of residue in the washing machine powder drawer and the chain for the plug had snapped. They asked for something ridiculous like £250 to fix the plug and provide a "professional" clean. I'd left the place spotless and had the pictures to prove it. I contacted the protection scheme and started the dispute proceedings with my evidence....their claim was dropped the same day. I asked for the number of their cleaning services as I'd have liked to have earnt that hourly rate but never received a reply.

With regards to the garden, if you took it on in that state I don't think you should fit the bill.
 
Going to Cali said:
The whole thing is a game with landlords.

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It's much better since the deposit protection and we don't help our selves. Most people leave themselves wide open for abuse.

How many actually walk around the house with the agency and sign of in person after agreeing on it.

How many people actually go through the inventory properly and sign it off. As well as take and keep copies of photos/video.

How many don't report small problems in the house, which they wouldn't get charged for anyway. But becuase they haven't been reported you are now liable as you let damage increase.
 
The agent or landlord should have carried out an inventory of the property before you moved in. You would have checked and signed that when you moved in and this would include the condition of the garden. You have to hand back the property in the same condition or better when you move out (less fair wear and tear), and if you have not signed an inventory then what proof is there of the condition of the property when you moved in?
 
At first I thought this thread was going to be like the EBay thread the other day when I saw the photos and skim read and assumed the OP wasn't happy about having to pay to get the garden sorted :p.

But yeah, £300 for that is ridiculous, either they you bill you for the cost of the gardener (a reasonably priced gardener), or you can do it yourself/hire your own gardener and get the full amount back IMO :).
 
The garden was in a similar condition with the exception of the weeds not being at the rear it was just soil.

the landlord is also trying to charge £190 for cleaning of the carpets due to pet smell. The annoying thing is the lounge had new laminate flooring fitted which i paid it£400 for 3 month prior to moving out and new carpet fitted to the stairs and landing too. which was paid for by me too due to the wife spilling paint on it. my wife steam cleaned all the carpets after we emptied it. it really is a joke. i took a load of pics of the inside of the house but didn't of the garden.
 
Guh Estate agents :/
When we moved out of a flat a few years ago they wanted £35 from our deposit to clean the carpets. The g/f had already cleaned the carpets with a machine we rented. Funny thing was they said before we had moved in they would be cleaned but they wasnt :(
 
We had disputes with out old landlord. We simply said "Show us proof that we caused those damages and we'll pay for them.".

After a few months we got our all our money back.

It's funny, they wrote down the damages but never photographed them. By the time they sent us the report, people had already moved in. They couldn't prove anything.

BTW this was only about £40. £5 of it was to put a lampshade back up.
 
Did you screenshot the garden and other areas of the house when you arrived?

Is it in the contract that you have to maintain the garden whilst renting?

£300 is ridiculous, I'm not saying Professional Gardeners/Landscapers don't earn that much but at most thats a few hours work, so they think it costs £150 p/h for a gardener? Tell them to jog the **** on.
 
Make sure you log onto your DPS and log all your disputes the letting agent doesnt decide what money they get to keep, the DPS decides. Thats the whole point of the service. ;)
 
Were you provided with gardening tools? IIRC you can only be expected to garden in a rented property if you're given the tools to do so.
 
Glaucus said:
This so why you always have a meeting in person with the landlord/estate agent a day or two before the keys are handed back and sign the house back to them in person. Or if work needs doing you have a few days.
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From my own personal experience, even this isn't enough, especially with private landlords. Landlords are a 100% pain, the sooner I am rid of them, the better.
 
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