Maldon Lettings Limited

The tenant had been in situ the property 13 years and was originally introduced by another agent who complied the inventory without photos. Unfortunately, this meant we had no access to photos at the commencement of the tenancy, prior to taking over the management nearly 3 years later. As renewals had already taken place and no communication given otherwise, we had no reason to believe that any problems had previously been raised regarding the way I which the tenancy was being conducted. When we carry out mid tenancy inspections, we cannot compare the property against each inventory (this is stated in our agreement). I have personally taken the time to look over every inspection (which is logged date/time stamped on our property software, we cannot manipulate this). Reading each report, I can see that we have been very thorough in our reporting and in some cases have reported repeatedly the same things to you. Several of our reports highlighted that the tenants have a lot of stuff. We can not move furniture or personal items or look inside kitchen cupboards during the inspections as we do have to allow the tenant quiet enjoyment of the property and it would not be reasonable to do so. The last mid tenancy inspection was carried out 23/12/18 which was prior to the tenant receiving notice and 3 months prior to the tenants vacating the property 28/3/19. When the tenant was given notice, they voiced that they were devastated as they had been in the property a long time, thus we do feel that the tenant lost heart with the cleanliness as they were not expecting to leave. The tenant had also suffered a close family bereavement and whilst none of these explanations are meant to be excuses, we were determining the contributing factors and offering you an explanation as to why the property had deteriorated in terms of cleanliness. The property was also very tired, and this was also noted within our continual reports, as the property had not had any kind of decoration in the 13 years throughout the tenancy. Once the tenants vacated we were not given the opportunity to finalise the end of term procedure. We do believe had we been able to do so many of the issue would have been rectified without your knowledge, minimising upset you have suffered and then compensated by the deposit. We completely understand that no landlord wants to see their property in dirty condition. But unfortunately, and realistically when renting a property, especially for a long period of time to the same tenants, it does happen, and this is what a dilapidation deposit is for. Also, when families have been in a property for a long time, they do accumulate a lot of things. We did negotiate the entire substantial deposit on your behalf and I understand your husband's company carried out the majority of the work that was necessary and you were compensated for some works that were not carried out. We have not heard from the TPO but we are pleased that, at our suggestion, you have contacted them. We would never wish to sweep any complaint under the carpet, but we have not received a formal complaint from you. Additionally, we have encouraged you to communicate with us, but our hands were tied as you wouldn’t let us deal with this situation in the normal way. I have tried to be brief and not elaborate too much on the facts, as this was not the way we would want to communicate with you. We feel this way of venting disappointment and upset rarely leads to a satisfactory conclusion. However, you stated immediately you was going to use social media rather than follow a reasonable process. Once again our hands are tied. We hope the property has now sold per your wishes.

This reply is mostly made up of untruths there was no way in this earth that you could have put this right in the time scale you allow yourselves before I would have seen it if I had followed your advice. You go on about the original company and that you could not compare, your manager Alison was the lady I dealt with and i have a letter from her about the original agreement and inventory as she was working for that company, therefore she knew only too well what standard the property was at the start. There has been no mention of the pets these people kept and there were many as the smell in the house was absolutely disgusting and Alison refered to it on final day. My original agreement said NO PETS but again when I discovered they had a dog after 2 weeks I contacted Alison ( who worked for the original agency) and I have a letter from her apologising that she had made a mistake and would I like them to leave, however as they were all settled by this time I agreed they could stay and Alison wrote me a letter to advise that they would clean all carpets at the end of the tenancy. But I know that letter was from the original agency. So I knew about the dog but not the many cats they had and the small animals they kept loose on the summerhouse which was soaked in urine and covered in straw. This had to be demolished. The tenants had redone the lounge flooring apparently I was told they had a large tropical fish tank which leaked all over the carpet. This house I believe was just to house pets !!!! They Informed me that they did not see any cats !!!!! But it was totally obvious with regards the smell. I believe they just chose to ignore it Yes I felt the need to go on social media as I feel people should be aware after all it’s there most previous thing there home I have been contacted by another person who is now having a battle similar to mine, such a shame it’s still going on. Hopefully this agency will be investigated and these sort of things will no longer continue Thankfully I sold the house after quite a lot of work and filling 2 skips of rubbish that the tenants left behind they only took what they wanted they left the rest in my garage including 2 washing machines !! I am just glad now this property is no longer mine and I am free from such a dreadful agency