Dear Christian, We were sorry to read your one-star review and note you have left this on behalf of the occupier, as you are not the named occupier. Prior to the end of any tenancy, an Occupier is asked to return the property in the same condition as recorded in the inventory at the start of the tenancy (allowing for fair wear and tear). Cat hair and rubbish left outside the property, does not fall within ‘fair wear and tear’. At the start of the tenancy, the curtains were not recorded as having ‘cat hair’ present. By signing the Occupation Contract, he has agreed to, ‘keep the dwelling, clean and tidy and respectable including keeping curtains or blinds clean’. The curtains were not left clean. Johnsons quoted £80 to clean a set of long curtains. To therefore go to the property, take down the curtains, take the curtains to Johnson’s, recollect the curtains, rehang the curtains – I believe a claim of £85 is more than fair. Of course, if the Occupier wanted to replace the curtains for a brand-new pair at £40, as noted in your review, the Occupier had every opportunity to check with us before vacating the property. Every deposit is protected within a Custodial Scheme, it is therefore not possible for us to 'take' £85 from a deposit. When a claim is submitted an Occupier, you can choose to agree or disagree to that claim, in this instance the Occupier agreed to the claim and chose not to provide the Custodial Scheme with evidence to the contrary. As the Occupier knows, an independent damp specialist carried out an assessment of the property and did not find damp at the property. In relation to the rubbish that the Occupier left outside the dwelling, we understand the Occupier paid the Council to remove his rubbish. Unfortunately, the rubbish has not been removed. It remains his responsibility to ensure that whoever he pays to remove the rubbish, does so, on his behalf. Ruan, our Maintenance manager, has quite rightly followed this up with the Occupier. We strongly recommend that he takes this matter further with the Council, as we are now receiving complaints from other residents. If the rubbish is not removed, the Landlord may wish to pursue this matter via the Court. Kind regards Sally Schofield Belvoir Response to reply Thank you Christian for escalating this with the Council. Unfortunately, when rubbish is left outside the property, other individuals can mistake this for being an acceptable place to leave rubbish, which of course it isn’t. Calling the Council to remove your own rubbish, is not doing us a favour, the Occupier has a contractual obligation to ensure all his rubbish is removed at the end of his tenancy. It is not our job to chase the Council for the removal of his rubbish, this is a matter for the Occupier who left the rubbish. With regards to reports of damp, we take our guidance from the professionals and instructed a damp specialist to assess the rental property. Their report states moisture levels were below the threshold and no damp was found to be present at the property. Ruan does not deal with deposit claims so the Occupier will not have been liaising with him at this time. However, I accept Ruan will have been persistent in his emails to remove the rubbish, as the property was vacated on the 27th July and the rubbish left behind still remains in situ. If the rubbish is not removed by Tuesday 10th September, we will advise the Landlord and as mentioned, he may choose to pursue this matter via the Court. We will not reply further, if you wish to discuss the removal of the rubbish, please contact our office.