Landlords aren’t exactly known for playing fair, with many showing a tendency to be all over communication when they’re after an increase in rent, only to go suspiciously AWOL when a crack suddenly appears on your kitchen ceiling.
Then there are those that insist on a rental home being completely spotless when you return the keys, even though you moved in to find someone else’s rancid milk lurking in the fridge.
Yep, it’s fair to say we’ve all had our experience with a bad one – even if the good guys do exist.
But one was branded a particularly ‘cheeky b**ger’ recently after a woman shared her story on Mumsnet, with the tale proving to be one that sounded all too familiar.
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The woman explained that she was due to move out soon and had received a message from her landlord ahead of the big day.
But his request left her feeling frustrated, as she asked others if she was being ‘unreasonable’.
“I’m moving out soon and my landlord has sent me a message about returning the property in the same clean condition it was rented to me in, with no rubbish for him to dispose of, including oven and carpet clean,” she wrote.
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“I’m really not worried as I have photos to prove this but I really can’t believe the cheek of him.”
The woman continued: “When I moved in it the property was filthy, the toilet was filthy, skirting boards filthy, garden was over grown and had rubbish in the grass, one carpet had a big stain and they were all threadbare, the oven wasn’t cleaned at all, it was filthy. As well as the hob.
“I feel like replying back about the state the house was in. Aibu [Am I being unreasonable]?”
Her predicament seems to ring all too true for many others, who agreed it was a ‘bit s**t’ of the landlord to ask so much from her when she hadn’t been welcomed by the same treatment when she moved in.
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One fumed: “Cheeky b**ger! Please tell me you have photos of the state it was when you moved in.”
Someone else said: “The condition on arrival isn't relevant to departure condition excepting pre-existing damage.
“The time to bring up the state of the place when you moved in sadly was when you moved in. You could have demanded a deep clean at that point, or refused the tenancy.
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“I strongly suspect that now you do have to fulfil the contractual obligations. S**t though.”
A third wrote: “Reply and say ‘Great thanks, I still have all the photos of the condition of the house when moved in so I will ensure to adhere to those same standards.’”
Suggesting similar, a fourth added: “But only if your deposit is protected!”
Jess Hardiman