I had a lot of problems at the house that I used to rent, and when I moved out they sent me a letter saying that i would have to pay to have the carpets professionally cleaned. This was before they had actually seen them, by the way, there were only a couple of small carpets and they were pretty clean anyway.

Here is a letter that I wrote to them about a year ago, you can tell I was a little annoyed… (I got what I wanted by the way.)

Dear *****,

I acknowledge receipt of both of your identical letters dated 3rd November 2008 and I am writing to you in reply regarding parts of the enclosed information. Let me first state that I had to email you twice and send a letter to elicit this response, and this was after me attempting to call your lettings department on several occasions and getting no answer.

Your letter states mostly what I would expect regarding the state of the property when I move out, the only thing that I have an issue with is “Carpets should be professionally cleaned” so in effect this is a tax on my withdrawal from the property? I either pay money to get the work done, or you will use it as an excuse to stop some of my deposit being returned to me?

I have spoken to **** (the landlord’s representative) regarding this matter today, and he is more than happy for me to do it myself, as I have access to a carpet cleaner. The house will be left in a far cleaner manner than when I moved in, and I add that I had to spend the best part of a day with assistance from family to make this house habitable!

I will consider paying for the carpets to be cleaned, if you consider reimbursing me for the following issues that I have had since I moved in. (You may want to sit down for this, as it could be a long ride, keep your hands inside the vehicle at all times.)

When I got the keys for the property, I found when I got here that none of the upstairs lights worked, and it was assumed that it was an electrical problem, it wasn’t. All of the bulbs were out, which I replaced at my own expense. As was the connection for the TV aerial as that was broken. As stated above I had to spend the best part of a day tidying up due to the excessive mess that the property was in.

Since then I was without a shower for several months, and then subsequently without a working oven for several months as well. Both of these were only fixed once I had threatened non payment of rent for your breach of contract. The gutter at the rear of the property came down in the storms over 18 months ago and it still has not been fixed or replaced. This is presumably damaging the property when the rain just seeps down the wall. The fence at the rear of the property on the right hand side has been down since around the same time. The fencing at the front of the property is also damaged and partially down.

On two occasions I was sent threatening letters for non payment of rent, that I had paid. I have letters to prove all of this by the way. On another you took no money at all, and I had to email you to remind you. For which I got no thanks, or indeed a response at all. Which is a pattern that I have come to expect from your organisation.

I hold your company, and it’s slow responses partially responsible for the burglary that I suffered earlier this year. The outside of the patio door was smashed and the outhouse door damaged in an attempted burglary, as nothing was done about this due to you arguing with the landlord and the insurers, I was subsequently burgled several weeks later. (All of this is available in a corroborating format from the police, with photos I took myself of both incidents.) The police officers and scenes of crime officers agreed that I probably would have not been burgled had the door been fixed in time. It then took several weeks to be fixed after that, including me losing 2 days of work due to the lack of security in the repair. In the end my Father and I repaired to make it more secure ourselves. Again at our own cost.

The outhouse door was damaged in both attempts, although entry was not gained. No one has even asked about repairing that, so I also repaired that so that it was secure. Again at my own cost and in my own time.

I had to pay an excess of £150 on the claim for replacement of my articles, I do not see you offering to pay towards any of that? And of course all of the tidying that had to be done and correspondence that I had to pay for to yourselves, the landlord, police and so on.

I have since had a mice infestation, which I notified you about via email (again twice, as you blithely ignored the first one. Keeping up your usual good form there that I have come to expect.) and was promptly called back by one of your representatives who asked a few questions and said she would get back to me. Can you guess what happened next? Go on, you know you want too. Yes that’s right, nothing. How did you see that one coming?

So to summarise, I have repaired the toilet, put on a new lavatory seat (it’s nice and pine finish. Very tasteful, you would like it). Replaced a lightshade, bought a bath mat, fixed the drain on the bath, replaced many bulbs that should have been working before I moved in. Had several major items not work at all for several months, damage not repaired from storms over 18 months ago. Been accused of non payment of rent, when I had proof that I had been paying it. Burgled. Oh and the mice parties, where they get together and inexplicably eat my sponge scourers, odd tastes the Featherstone mice, what can I say?

I am sure that there is far more that I could put in this letter, as the service that I have received from your company has been on the whole, woeful.

So to summarise the summary, I am feeling very very annoyed by your company and the implication that I will leave this house in any form of bad repair that is my fault is frustrating at best. I feel that you should consider this situation based on the above problems and as the landlord is happy for me to clean the carpets and so on myself, to let me do just that. If you or the landlord have any issues when I have moved out then that can be discussed then.

I don’t believe that I am overly fussy, or too quick to complain, minor things such as the kitchen lino being ripped since I moved in, have been lived with without grumble. It takes a lot to me make me complain, I am hardly a serial complainer, but I have been pushed towards it now, which I regret.