Letting agents trying to charge for a tear in carpet that wasn't there when we moved out!

To be fair, the excuse being offered is exactly what a landlord would expect the tenant to say. unless your gf has evidence, she is probably not going to get anywhere.
 
R.O.S.S.I said:
They never made any effort to be present on the last day of tenancy when the check out was, they told them to just drop the keys in at the office.
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I think thats pretty bad terminology. I have never heard the term check out used, its normally something along the lines of lease termination inventory check. Its not normally, although technically could be on the last day of the lease.

Whats out of order in this case is if the lettings agency has allowed ANY access before they have completed the final inventory. They should not have allowed anyone (landlord or whoever) to enter before they had completed the survery and I would be arguing that most strongly. You (well gf) did not have possession and hence you relied upon them to inspect before granting anyone else access.
If you can get them to admit this you may have more chance of winning the appeal as your case will simply be : agency cannot say for certain you caused the damage (which you didn't) due to letting other unsupervised people enter the property before doing the inspection.
That should be your angle but you want to try to get them to admit it without realising what you are getting them to do.
 
R.O.S.S.I said:
They never made any effort to be present on the last day of tenancy when the check out was, they told them to just drop the keys in at the office.
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It's down to you to arrange. They won't just turn up. It's a life lesson if nothing else.

I always arrange it for several days before the end of agreement if at all possible.
That way if there's anything spotted gives me time to sort it out if I don't like their price. If all is good just hand keys back anyway.
 
they cant charge you for a whole new carpet.

what they have to do is find out how much the carpet cost per square meter when it was new. then depreciate ot by the age for wear and tear. then work out how much at this rate it would cost for the actual size of the damaged area, and charge you that.

expecting a whole new carpet at the tenants expense is betterment, and is not allowed.
 
Natwee said:
they cant charge you for a whole new carpet.

what they have to do is find out how much the carpet cost per square meter when it was new. then depreciate ot by the age for wear and tear. then work out how much at this rate it would cost for the actual size of the damaged area, and charge you that.

expecting a whole new carpet at the tenants expense is betterment, and is not allowed.
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Its not quite that simple :

"In considering whether cleaning/repair is necessary versus complete replacement at the
end of the tenancy, an adjudicator will examine the check-in/out reports, any statements
of condition and any photos/videos in order to compare the condition of the property at
the start and end of the tenancy. In some cases, the damage may not be so extensive as
to require the complete replacement of an item at the tenant’s expense (such as a kitchen
worktop or carpet); however the adjudicator will award sums in recognition of any damage
which has occurred. Whilst the landlord may wish to replace a damaged item, it is not always
the case, even where the damage is admitted by the tenant, that the extent of the damage is
such that the tenant should automatically bear the full replacement cost.
In the rare circumstances where damage (to the worktop/carpet/mattress/item etc) is so
extensive or severe as to affect the achievable rent level or market quality of the property,
the most appropriate remedy might be replacement and to apportion costs according to the
age and useful lifespan of the item. An example of how this might be calculated is set out
below:
a) Cost of similar replacement carpet/item = £500
b) Actual age of existing carpet/item = 2 years
c) Average useful lifespan of that type of carpet/item = 10 years
d) Residual lifespan of carpet/item calculated as ‘c)’ less ‘b)’ = 8 years
e) Depreciation of value rate calculated as ‘a)’ divided by ‘c)’ = £50 per year
f) Reasonable apportionment cost to tenant calculated as ‘d)’ times ‘e)’ = £400"

Question is would the rip have affected the let potential? Landord has assumed yes, its quite possibly true. However a simple repair may have removde that fact. E.g. A foam backed carpet could have been stuck down, a higher quality carpet could have a repair which would be about £50 from a carpet layer.

Thats of course assuming that the OP GF did the damage which they refute anyways.

Betterment relates to taking an old worn out item and expecting a new for old approach.

If £200 was the new carpet its either cheap initially and replaced with similar, or landlord has gone for a cheaper one anyway.
 
Glaucus said:
It's down to you to arrange. They won't just turn up. It's a life lesson if nothing else.

I always arrange it for several days before the end of agreement if at all possible.
That way if there's anything spotted gives me time to sort it out if I don't like their price. If all is good just hand keys back anyway.
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Oh I understand they wont just turn up, but there was no communication from the letting agent to say that the inventory would be completed on such a date, could someone be present etc!
 
R.O.S.S.I said:
Oh I understand they wont just turn up, but there was no communication from the letting agent to say that the inventory would be completed on such a date, could someone be present etc!
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Why would you expect that, agencies will do as little as possible. As it screwed you more than them. It's upto you to ensure you are protected. Unfortunately even with deposit protection that's the way of renting. You need to ensure. Your protection and use a bit of effort and arrange it.
 
Natwee said:
which if they replaced a whole old carpet with a brand new one, they would be doing?
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Look at the example I posted

If the landlord can arge those conditions the DPS guide that comes from suggests a way to go about it.
Number of years passed/number of years on average that item lasts X the cost

The item was relatively new so wouldnt have depreciated much.

The point is you have to consider the whole item not just the part damaged. You couldnt claim for a whole new kitchen if someone scratched one door, and you have to apply depreciation. You cant replace a square meter of carpet unless your very lucky, in the middle of the room, no its more likely to be an issue than the rip in the first place.
The point is would it affect the rent, arguably not if repaired in some way, but its hard to say.

Here are relevant examples (OP may also want to read the first one)
I would say its been pretty unreasonable to replace in full when the likelyhood is a repair would suffice. If the carpet was like for like a minor repair to a £200 carpet isnt likely to affect the rent.

http://www.thedisputeservice.co.uk/resources/files/Case studies - damage and missing items.pdf
 
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