Dear Mr Zoumboulis – Airey,

Thank you for your review and I’m sorry to see that it is a negative one, although I’m pleased to see that the maintenance department have performed well for you. I have investigated the points you have made relating to your end of tenancy checkout inspection back in June 2022.

Firstly, I will strongly refute your claim of bullying and law breaking. We work to the highest industry standards, with four ARLA qualified agents amongst our team. We are here to mediate between the landlord and tenant at the end of the tenancy to ensure resolutions if any issues have arisen. There is no financial gain to our company for any deductions made from a deposit, as these deductions will either be for damage, cleaning or rent arrears.

Having investigated your points, I can see that a few points were raised with your checkout inspection,

1. Missing shower head – you agreed the cost for this to be replaced
2. Broken freezer drawers x 2 – you agreed the cost for this to be replaced
3. Light bulbs that were either missing or needed replacing x 7 – you agreed the cost for these to be replaced
4. Cleaning points raised – you were offered the chance to attend yourself or if you would like our recommended cleaning company, Pineapple Cleaning, to attend on your behalf. At first you agreed for Pineapple to attend and then you decided not to proceed with Pineapple and attend yourself, which was perfectly acceptable, and this then resolved the cleaning.

I have seen the correspondence on the above points, and I’m satisfied that no bullying as you have claimed, has taken place. I do accept your point that some cleaning issues were missed on the pre checkout inspection, and I can highlight this with my team for improvement. However, I was pleased to see that you were offered the chance to attend to these missed cleaning points once the official checkout inspection had taken place.

Cleaning can of course be a subjective point, with varying standards and opinions. As you have stated in your review, “fair wear & tear could be considered things like yellow grouting”. This quote is from another letting agency and we do not base our standards on other agents. You will also note that this quote is not definitive, as the use of the word “could” does not imply that this is factual. Wear & tear is allowed for on all our checkouts, but cleaning is not wear & tear.

In summary, I can see that the final deductions for points 1,2 & 3 were less than £60.00, and of course there would have been no deduction for cleaning as you attending to this yourself. The deposit was returned in under 3 weeks once the issues had been resolved. It is of course a shame to see that after a successful tenancy for 3 years, you feel this way but the procedure we have followed is the correct one and the points raised were valid.

I wish you all the best in your new home.