If you are a tenant BE

If you are a tenant BE CAREFUL! This based on a 12+ year tenancy experience with them where I have been paying my rent on time and looked after the property as if it was my own! In my experience they only worry about the customer care they provide to the Landlord! They do not seem to listen to tenant's concerns! It feels that they have forgotten that a tenant is a client as well; as and if not more, important than the Landlord! Certain employees are very rude and their inspections are as unfriendly as they can be! BE PREPARED TO FIGHT FOR YOUR DEPOSIT! They will happily support unreasonable deposit requests by the Landlord using the excuse that as the agents of the Landlord they have to act as per the Landlord's instructions! At least that is what I have experienced after 12 years of tenancy! At the end of your tenancy, irrespective of how clean you leave the property, be prepared to FIGHT to get your Deposit back! You will probably have to go through an Alternative Dispute Resolution process (stressful and time consuming for a tenant!). Note: In my case after 12+ years of tenancy, they were unreasonably claiming 61.5% of my deposit and the ADR adjudicator only gave them 4.6%! In their standard instructions prior to your check out they will claim that you have the obligation to pay for professional cleaning (e.g. for carpets etc)…. DO NOT BE PUSHED AROUND BY THEM! As per your contract, the only obligation you have as a tenant is to return the property in the same condition of cleanliness as when the tenancy began. That does not necessarily mean you have to pay for professional cleaning. In order to prepare accordingly for an ADR process during your tenancy: a) Make sure that the unreasonable clauses in their contract (e.g. obligations to use professional cleaning services etc) are clarified on outset. b) Make sure that any check-in documents reflect exactly how you have received the property noting even the minute detail; they will use it against you at the end of the tenancy if you do not do so! c) Take your own pictures/videos clearly exhibiting the issues. If possible make sure that these are part of the check-in document. d) Make sure all your correspondence is in writing. Be very careful of what you say on the phone as they log it and you have no control of what they log. They use such logs to make their case against you at the end of the tenancy! e) Do not be bullied by their pre check-out requests. You can clean a carpet yourself! The adjudicator will consider whether the carpets were in a comparable condition of cleanliness at the end of the tenancy with that at the start of the tenancy and NOT whether you have paid for professional cleaning. f) Take your own pictures at the end of the tenancy. Do not rely on theirs which will be taken to bring out all the issues in order to support their claims. g) Do not sign the check-out report if you do not agree with it! h) Make a formal complaint and request that they provide you with all the supporting evidence. This way you will force them to reply in writing. i) Research and challenge any invoices. In my case, even when the adjudicator found in their favour of a cleaning claim, it allocated a much lower amount of what they were requesting; less than half!