I am a landlord that used the
I am a landlord that used the services of Northwood for approximately 8 years. My house was handed back to me recently and the house was completely trashed by the last tenants who had lived there for 3 years. They had been smoking everywhere in the property and had a pet (i specifically asked for non-smokers and no pets!) The house was filthy dirty and had fleas! It took over 40 hours of cleaning to make it habitable.
I was left with mould everywhere, despite there being an expensive air filtration system in the property.
I would never rent out a property of mine ever again. I was paid less than £600 in compensation and the agents made excuses for the tenants - awful service!
Reply from agent
Hello Emma, thank you for taking the time to post feedback. As the owner of Northwood Worcester, I am grateful for comments both good and not so good. All tenants are expected to look after a property in accordance with the terms of their tenancy contract and to hand it back at the end of their tenancy in the condition they received it in, subject to fair wear and tear. The vast majority of tenants do just this but unfortunately some don’t. The inconvenience caused to you by the condition of the property as left by the most recent out-going tenants is very much regretted and I understand and share your frustrations. Matters were sadly compounded by you moving back into the property very soon after the final inspection which left little or no time for any of the issues to be attended to beforehand but that does not alter the fact that the tenants should have prepared the property much better for handback. We did arrange for the house to be professionally cleaned top to bottom but you turned the contractor away when they arrived at the property saying you were going to do it yourself. I have previously set out in emails why some of the issues might have occurred despite the air movement system being in place including the mould to cold outside walls behind where large pieces of furniture had been and the property not having cavity walls and not being well-insulated (having a low E energy rating). A detailed explanation of the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme rules and the principles of fair wear and tear that must be taken into account at the end of all tenancies have also been provided. At no time however have excuses been made for the actions or inactions of the out-going tenants. I appreciate that you are very dissatisfied with the amount of compensation that has been assessed in accordance with the deposit scheme rules. Sometimes those rules can seem unfair towards landlords especially where, for example, the cost of new replacements cannot be recovered for items left damaged that were previously undamaged at the start of the letting and which would not have needed to be replaced if the tenant had not damaged them. As a professional letting company however, we must follow the rules and regulations that govern residential lettings as set by government and the relevant professional bodies. I am very sorry that the final stage of the lettings process has blighted our dealings over the last 8 years. If you wish to raise any other points or issues, please email me direct and I will do my best to help. Jonathan