Monday 13 January 2020

Sorting out our family home in the UK

We've had tenants in our family home for the past 9 years. We've had really bad tenants who trashed our house and we've had really good tenants. Our first agent really let us down and was paying our rent from his own account as the tenants were late and missed payments, then when he could no longer manage this he told us, we issued a section 21a, he messed up their eviction and in total with lost rent, mortgage payments, replacing stolen items and repairing the house, along with court and bailiff fees, we suffered badly. We also had to sort out their debts and utility bills also.
Our current agents have been brilliant, mediating payments and finding us 3 sets of good tenants over 8 years.

Our current tenants vacated the property on time, but asked to keep the keys for a further 6 days to allow them time to clean and remove the rubbish. The agents agreed, but billed them for the extra days.

I was back in the UK early December, the house needs quite a bit of work doing to it, the locks have been changed, utilities switched over, the contents from the flat are now in the house so I can live in it until our furniture arrives in May/June and the flat is being rented out to fund the running costs of the house.

I'll be writing separate blog posts on the renovations.

But for now here are some pictures of the work we need to do to return the house to an acceptable standard. The tenants are liable for redecoration, repairs, new doors, carpets, rubbish removal and the cleaning, but their deposit will only cover just over 60% of the total costs.

Fire automatic door closures were removed

A whole door is missing

What doors remain are damaged

Window handles broken

Sky cabling just lying loose over the conservatory

Sky cables everywhere

 Broken furniture and waste left behind

Pull cords and light fittings damaged so I can only shower during daylight hours


Steam mop purchased as normal cleaning won't suffice

I only cleaned 10 tiles so I could take delivery of a fridge freezer

Boxes glued to the walls, along with 101+ nails and screws removed

Damaged flooring

Broken bathroom tiles

Carpet is beyond cleaning

Oven needs cleaning as does extractor fan and cupboards are covered in grease. Hob is badly scratched.

Neighbours have been written to about their plants, shrubs over growing my property and damaging the fence

Neighbours shed has collapsed, breaking my fence, until their shed is repaired and garden cut back, we are unable to replace the fence panels.


There are several jobs we want to do also but for the meantime I've requested additional quotes for complete redecoration, new carpets, bathroom, tiling, matching all the internal doors and a new kitchen.

We're currently in arbitration with the tenants claiming this damage is where and tear or not their responsibility. The 6 new doors that need replacing, due to damage, well actually 1 door is missing all together is apparently my fault as the automatic door closures for fire safety requirements as per building regs and insurance were all damaged by the wind blowing them shut, the carpet is wear and tear, the mess in the garden is due to it being winter and that's how gardens looks, they cleaned just not to my levels of perfection and the junk left behind was furniture I left in the house in the first place and it obviously just broke.


You can read more of our Repatriation story below:

Some of these links aren't yet live and will be updated.

Repatriation or Operation Relocation

Part 1 Things we have to do

Part 2 Starting to get organised

Part 3 Transfer of Residence

Part 4 Relocating pets. Dubai to UK

Part 5 Sorting out our new home in the UK

Part 6 Bob and Pushkins arrive in the UK. What do they think of it? February 2020

Part 7 Renting an apartment in Dubai May 2020

Part 8 Vacating a Villa in Dubai May 2020

Part 9 Moving Day May 2020

Part 10 Relocation

12 comments:

  1. Ah, I feel for you. I used to be a landlord and had to deal with a house that needed a major clean up job after tenants moved out. Thankfully it was just that, a clean up job. Your job is a bit bigger than I had to handle. Best of luck with it and welcome back to Britain.

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    1. Thank you John, this isn't the first time we've had tenants like this sadly, but it'll be the last

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  2. Oh wow that is an awful condition to leave a house in. I rent from a local social landlord however I have always made sure in the past when I moved it was left so someone else could move in without anything needing to be done unless it was a job the landlord needed to fix #pocolo

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    1. well that's whats supposed to happen, normally we can turn the house round in under a week

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  3. Oh gosh some people just don't know how to respect other people's home. X #POCOLO

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    1. I'm sure they are probably disrespectful of most things in life

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  4. I can't believe how disrespectful some tenants are of landlord's property. My son and his wife rented out their house for the year. When they returned, it was destroyed. Ugh!

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  5. Oh, you have a lot on your plate! Just on thing at a time. It will all come right in the end. I cannot understand all the door damage etc. #PoCoLo

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  6. Goodness - How? Why? No don't answer, shocking. Hope all is sorted with relative ease. #PoCoLo

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    Replies
    1. yes, I had the exact same response when i walked in

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