The most common cause of a tenancy deposit dispute in the private rented property sector is cleaning, according to the latest data released by The Dispute Service (TDS).
But there was a marginal decline in tenancy disputes in the 12 months to March 2020, the figures show.
In total, there were 34,993 disputes in the year to March 2020, down from 35,513 the previous year.
The fall in disputes occurred despite an increase in the number of tenancy deposits in England and Wales at the end of March 2020, which reached 4.1 million, up from 3.9 million the year.
The full Statistical Briefing (2019-20) can be downloaded for by clicking here.
Comments (4)
Why should the tenant pay if they can do it themselves?
Also goes against the TFA which was brought in to stop what you are suggesting.
The problem is that moving home is a very busy and stressful time. In the vast majority of cases not enough time is spent cleaning and frankly tenants are excited about their new home and concentrating on that.
There is normally a massive difference in standards between what tenants expect when they enter a property and how clean it needs to be when they leave the property. I think the saying “It will do”, the type of things ive heard when doing end of tenancy viewings are:
“No we did clean that”
“Its good enough”
“Im sure it was like that when we got here”
“You cant expect it to be totally clean”
“Its ok you can dispose of that, we dont want it”
“We werent sure if you might want it so left it”
“Its all clean…… Oh we must of missed that bit”
“Its all clean….. Oh yeah we didnt have time to clean that”
“If you werent happy with how clean it was we can come back next week maybe and clean any spots you think need cleaning more”
Im sure there is loads more that I can remember if I really thought back. I think the point is your arguing why should someone pay to get it done professionally when they could do it themselves, clearly the evidence is that people are not doing it to a good enough standard. Its not just the odd one that is not clean its 95%, you should see my reaction when someone has actually cleaned the property to a good standard, im actually amazed.
The strange thing is whenever I have bought a house the property has always been left extremely clean, not sure why sellers manage to leave a property in a clean state but tenants cant.
Should be agreed at start that the tenant pays for cleaning. £200 or something.
what is ‘ clean ‘ is way to much of a variable.
“Clean” is as clean as when they moved in, subject to fair wear and tear. Some clauses in tenancy agreements for charging tenants fee’s have and in devolved parts of the UK been illegal for many years.