The sales and rental market continues to be busy and we are seeing steady turnover of rental
property with both gains and losses to our portfolio. Consequently, we frequently help landlords who are selling their rental properties. This is often the so-called ‘accidental landlord’ – ie, landlords who never intended to be landlords but, through circumstances such as work or family, find themselves renting a former family home or primary residence.

Former family homes are often decorated and finished in a different style and decor than a dedicated rental property. For example a family home may have more expensive fittings, premium carpets, premium wallpapers etc. It can therefore be a shock and a surprise for a landlord when they regain their former family home after a period of rental, and they discover what they perceive to be damage and neglect.

So the question that comes to mind is: what can the landlord claim from the deposit?

A deposit typically is a safeguard against damage, theft (eg of contents in a furnished property) unpaid rent, unpaid bills (eg service charges and debts on credit meters), lack of cleaning, lack of gardening or a breach of tenancy agreement. A landlord cannot claim for “fair wear and tear”.

But what constitutes fair wear and tear?

Fair wear and tear is any deterioration of the property, contents, or the fixtures and fittings as a result of the normal use of the property. It becomes slightly more complicated: because what is “normal”? Normal wear and tear resulting from a single person occupancy will be quite significantly different to a family of six people with two pets. The chances are that tired/worn carpets, grubby/scuffed walls and dull/scratched worktops and kitchens are the result of normal use.

Landlords cannot claim on the deposit for general redecorating of the property because they would have needed to do this anyway at some stage; in fact the deposit adjudication processes assume a reasonable life expectancy for certain aspects – carpets are typically expected to have a life of 5 years and their value respectively tapers down over that period – eg, in year 5, the carpet would be 1/5th of the new value.*

A landlord can not expect a “betterment”

A landlord can not expect a “betterment” – so for example: if the electric ceramic hob is damaged then the landlord cannot claim the value of a new induction hob (which would be superior technology – ie, a betterment). Similarly, if a wooden worktop in the kitchen becomes damaged as a result of a hot pan, then the landlord cannot expect to fund a replacement worktop in a more premium material, such as quartz. In fact in this case, the landlord probably won’t even be able to fund a new wooden worktop as a repair might be more viable.

*We have further details on how to apportion rent and how deposit deductions can be calculated at this
information she here.
https://proudhouseproperty.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Deposit_Deductions_Advice-Sheet.pdf

Nic at Proudhouse is a qualified inventory assessor as well as an ARLA PropertyMark qualified Agent who regularly attends Deposit Protection Scheme workshops and webinars – she is an expert at advising in this area and if you have any queries then do not hesitate to contact her.