FAQs: Moving Out

Fair wear and tear is taken into account by the third party inventory company. They have undertaken thorough training to be able to decide what is fair wear and tear. It is dependent on many factors, for example the length of the tenancy, the type of tenancy and where in the property the affected area is. For example, if the tenancy was over 6 years it is expected that there will be more marks to walls than a tenancy of 6 months. The walls on a staircase or hallway are likely to become slightly marked as opposed to walls to a bedroom, due to heavier traffic.

There are items that will never be considered fair wear and tear. For example, but not limited to: Dirt and dust, burn marks or staining on floors and carpets, lost keys, broken windows, burnt on food to ovens / grills, grease build up on walls, hair, limescale, water marks, heavy scratching, pet hair / damage, avoidable damage to an item or area, staining to mattresses, allowing water damage to a property, misuse or abuse of an item, replacing an item with a similar one, but of poor quality,excessive usage causing damage, broken items disposed of, impact marks and blu tac.

No, you do not need to be at the property for your check-out. If you are present you will be asked to wait outside while our independent inventory company compiles the report. This is for two reasons; firstly because they want to be able to complete the report independently without distraction and need peace and quiet in order to record it, and secondly to make sure there is no bias affecting the report. The same rules apply to your landlord, so we feel like it’s pretty fair.

We are only able to discuss the breakdown with tenants named on the agreement. Please do speak amongst yourselves as tenants and feel free to drop us an email and we will be happy to liaise with you directly.

We do make every effort to chase tenants for any overdue rent, as well as calling guarantors where applicable. If the tenant continues to ignore our requests and does not pay the rent after they have vacated the property, we will be left with no choice but to deduct the rent from the deposit. Please note that if the rent, along with any other deposit deductions exceeds the deposit amount, we will request any outstanding amount from all tenants.

During your tenancy, you are responsible for carrying out all works of repair that are not the responsibility of the Landlord and taking appropriate care of the property. This includes the replacement of disposable items such as fuses, batteries and lightbulbs and acting as a guardian of the property throughout the tenancy. Tenant invoices often result from an unnecessary call out to the property which the contractor then invoices for wasted time. i.e. if a tenant reports their oven is not working and it turns out one of the tenants has unplugged it at the wall. Or if a sink or toilet is blocked due to excessive food waste or sanitary items blocking it as a result of the tenant’s actions.

If you do not pay these invoices during your tenancy, they will unfortunately be deducted from your deposit so that the contractor is paid for their time. You can contact us and we can help explain why any invoices have been raised and help you avoid any further charges in the future.

When vacating the property, you must leave your keys in the property as instructed. If this does not happen, the keys can get lost in the post or lost meaning a charge will be incurred to cover the cutting of a new key.

The check-out clerk will thoroughly check the property and list any items that appear in different rooms compared to the inventory. A staff member from Coapt will also visit the property the day after you vacate, as well as the day before the next set of tenants are due to move in, and will ensure that you are not charged for items that are recovered.

Charges for any missing or broken items of furniture are assessed fairly on a case-by-case basis and there are many factors to take into consideration. We will be looking at the following items initially:

• Whether the item can be repaired or whether it must be replaced
• How old the item is, and the original quality of the item
• The reasonable expected usage of the item
• What the cost of a replacement item would be
• The length of the tenancy

We would then calculate the apportionment for each item. For example, a item of furniture costing £90 with an expected lifespan of 4 years, which was new at the beginning of a 1 year tenancy has been broken and needs replacing. The item still has a further 3 years life expectancy and the landlord has only had 1 years use of the item. We would therefore calculate £90 divided by 4 years equals £22.50 per year, so the tenants would be charged £67.50 (3 years) and the landlord would pay the remaining £22.50 (1 year).

If the same item of furniture was 2 years old at the start of a 2 year tenancy, the item has reached its life expectancy of 4 years and would be replaced at the landlords cost.

If the item has been broken and the landlord decides they would like to replace it with a more expensive option, the tenant would still only be charged as though the item had been replaced with a ‘like for like’ replacement costing £90, with the landlord covering the additional cost of increased quality.

Sometimes it is not necessary to replace whole items when damage has been caused, particularly if the damage is aesthetic and does not impact on its functionality. For example, if a carpet has an iron burn mark, this has affected how the carpet looks but has not had too much impact on its function as a carpet for the immediate future. Apportionment charges are usually taken when items are not needed to be replaced, the money taken is to compensate the landlord for the loss of value and to go towards eventual replacement when needed. Therefore, apportionment charges should be a portion of the cost of replacement which is dependent on the severity of damage, original condition, life expectancy and type of tenant. To charge the whole amount of replacing the item would be betterment for the landlord as they would be receiving something brand new that was not necessarily new in the first place. In the above example, it would be deemed unfair if a landlord changed the whole carpet because of this burn mark, therefore, to avoid betterment, the landlord would take an apportionment charge for the aesthetic damage that has been caused.

Dependent on the damage, there may be some instances where you could also be charged for the most economical cost of any necessary remedial works. For example, if the marks to the carpet were particularly bad in one area and they could not be covered easily with furniture, the landlord would be entitled to charge not only for the aesthetic damage caused to the carpet but they could also include the cost of a rug to cover the marks. This would be deemed a fair charge as the landlord is not enjoying any betterment from this situation – they would be in a similar situation as before.

You are required to return the garden back to your landlord in the same condition that it was given to you. There is no wear and tear allowance on gardening, therefore, if there are any differences from your inventory at check-out, they will unfortunately be noted as dilapidations by the inventory company and you could be charged. The amount that you are charged depends on the size of the garden, the extent of the difference from your inventory and how much work is involved to return it to its original state. For example, small patios with a couple of flower beds will take the gardener a lot less time to do than a large garden with a lawn and hedge borders. Similarly, if a garden has been cut back to some extent, but some parts missed, this will not take as long to sort out than if the garden has been left to completely overgrow for several months. The gardener factors all of this in when invoicing for the job as well as costs involved in any green waste removal needed. Gardening charges can therefore vary considerably from around £50 up to £300+.

You are expected to return the property and its contents in a clean and good state of repair – as it was at the start of the tenancy. Fair wear and tear only relates to damage, not gardening or cleanliness.

The check-out report is a condition report compiled by a third party inventory company, who will use the original inventory document to independently assess if the property has been handed back to its original condition, taking into consideration fair wear and tear. The inventory company are a professional, independent company employed to provide an unbiased report of condition. These reports are very detailed and will not list anything that is considered to be fair wear and tear. Any items listed as tenant charges are areas the inventory clerk has identified as in need of cleaning, gardening or as damage that is in excess of fair wear and tear. Any items that were in a room on the original inventory that are not in the room at checkout, will be listed as missing items even if they have been moved to another room.

Set your alarm folks and dig out the rubber gloves! Our independent inventory company will come to your property any time from 7am on the last day of your tenancy to conduct a check-out. Please make sure the property is returned to the same condition as the inventory and completely clean and clear of all personal belongings or rubbish, including outside areas, by 7am. No matter how useful you might think an item will be for the next tenant, it’s important to not leave it, otherwise you may be charged for its removal. We recommend moving out the day before to avoid any last minute stress!