Furniture & Fittings Maintenance / Repairs

My tenants have invested in a new floor in my property, this was 12 months ago. I guess the value of the property has gone up. I now need the property back. Do I have to compensate the tenants? I did approve the work, but I have no idea how much it cost.

ANSWER 1: I've never seen a Tenancy Agreement which creates a debt upon the landlord should the tenant make any decorative changes. If you did not do a specific deal alongside the tenancey agreement then you legally owe them nothing, even though you agreed to it happening. Morally speaking, you may find it within your power to forgive them a few scrpaes and scratches from the deposit money if they have actually done improvements to your house from their pocket.

ANSWER 2: You have no legal responsibility to pay anything but you may choose to as a goodwill gesture. To gain possession you will need to serve a section 21 notice but I suggest you meet your tenants and talk through your decision and reasons first. It's always good to remain friends and serving a section 21 notice cold under these circumstances may not go down too well.

My tenant had a lock replaced on the front door without letting me see any quotes first (so therefore I didnt give permission) - she just sent the invoice directly to me - can I refuse to pay for this?

ANSWER 1: First question is- why did she change the lock? If it was because she list her keys and (like most tenancy agreements) you have a clause stating tenants cannot change locks without the landlords consent then, not only do you not have to reimburse her but you could actually have the locks changed again and send her the bill as long you ensure her access to the property is not affected. However if she changed the lock because it broke the best thing is to be logical about it. Get 3 other quotes for the same job. If they are similar or minimal difference then I would just pay her the money. However if the quotes are considerably different (your quotes should be from publicly available businesses and no 'mates rates' or if you can prove you would have done the labour yourself then the cost would have only been the new lock) then you only have to pay her what you would normally have paid and not the amount she has billed you for. Do take care to take timing into consideration too- if the lock broke at night and an emergency call out was required and the applicable rates then your quotes should reflect this too. Ultimately however, it depends what your contract states on the matter.

The carpet in the house we renting is as old as the house (about 20 years old!). We have asked the landlady to replace it, but she said no. We even offered she could put the rent up so she gets her money back - the answer was no again. Also no to laminated flooring, which she thinks is "dangerous". As we renting through an agency there is no way to contact the owner directly. Other problem is our almost 3 year old son developed asthma (we don't know if the carpet is the reason) and old carpets, and carpets at all ain't good. Is there anything we can do?

ANSWER 1: If you try and replace the carpet without your Landlady's written permission, she may hold you for breach of covenant and try to bill you. HOWEVER, it is generally considered reasonable that a carpet has an average life span of ten years before it becomes degraded. After that, if a Landlady has to replace it, they can't bill the tenant for it. Take some photographs of the carpet, get them signed, dated and witnessed, then get a statement from your doctor about the effect of bad carpets on asthma. Then replace the carpet. Your landlady may push for breach of contract, but you should have more than enough evidence that it will never stick in court. As to laminate flooring, if she says no there's really not a great deal you can do about this. But if she wants to argue that she didn't want laminate flooring, she will have to prove that the laminate flooring is dangerous, which I doubt she will get away with.

I have asked for my landlord to clean the carpet and settee as they are full of unknown stains. The landlord has declined both. Is it not the landlords responsibility to get the property cleaned for new tenants, deducting the cost from the previous tenants deposit?

ANSWER 1: Nope. Would have been a good idea to ask the Landlord to clean the furniture before you signed the tenancy agreement. Still, you won't be obliged to clean the furniture when you leave the property at the end of your tenancy unless that's stipulated in the tenancy agreement. Basically, leave the place as you found it.