How I saved £230 when renting

Neil Faulkner explains how renters can save hundreds of pounds in seven easy ways.

Buying a property is not right for everyone. You may not want to commit yourself to one property for a long time, and prefer the flexibility of renting. Or perhaps you take the view that houses are so overpriced at the moment, it makes sense to wait for another house price crash.

However, if you are renting there are plenty of ways you can save money when the time comes to move out.

What to do when leaving your property

You have many things to do when you leave a rented property. You must allow the landlord or its agents to enter the property to show prospective replacement tenants around. Usually the contract says they must give you 24 hours' notice.

You have to thoroughly tidy and clean the flat and you have to send final meter readings to your energy supplier. In some instances, your contract also requires that you transfer your energy supply back to the provider who supplied gas and electricity when you moved in.

You are also likely to receive a letter explaining your other duties, the final rent and other costs. It's not unusual for such a letter to have mistakes that can cost you money.

When I moved out a while back, I received a letter from my estate agent about my check-out and I had several issues with it:

The date of the check-out

I had given notice for my tenancy to end on 26 May, but the letter i received stated that, as the 26th is a Bank Holiday, the agent would not be able to carry out the check-out that day, so it would conduct the check-out on the 27th.

That's fine. However, the letter also said that the landlords would, therefore, charge me rent for the 27th May.

I emailed the agent to contest this, as we were only required to give two-months' notice. The agent agreed that this was an error.

That saved me about £40.

The cost of the check-out

As I wrote in Dealing With Estate Agents, I had negotiated that we were not to pay the landlords' costs for checking over the property on the last day of the tenancy. However, the letter from the agents was a standard letter that stated we would have to pay it.

Again, after I contacted them about this letter, the agents agreed I was not due to pay the check-out costs.

That saved me at least £120.

The final rent payment

The estate agent's letter stated how much our final rent payment would be. However, after a quick check of our contract I found that they had calculated the rent incorrectly.

The estate agent quickly agreed and reduced the final rent payment.

That saved me around £20.

Cleaning the flat

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The estate agent's letter also said that we would have to pay for 'deep cleaning' the flat. After looking up what that meant, I found it was exactly what it sounds like: an industrial scrubbing and decontamination of everything from the walls and floors to the sinks and drains.

However, our flat was pretty shabby when we moved in. A quick look at the contract revealed that our duty as tenants was merely to return the flat to the landlord in the same condition as when we moved in, so a deep clean was way over the top.

If an inventory never takes place and you as a tenant dispute damage or deterioration, the landlords will find it impossible to support their position if they have no other evidence.

As it happens, we did (eventually) receive an inventory from the estate agents and, thankfully, it was an excellent one: it clearly pointed out the level of dust and dirt in the flat.

So, once again, after pointing this out to the agents, they agreed a deep clean would not be required.

That saved me...I don't know how much deep cleaning costs, but it sounds expensive! £50? (If anyone knows, please post a comment below.)

Read the check-out instructions alongside your contract 

By reading the contract and check-out instructions thoroughly I saved myself perhaps £230.

My main tip, then, when you're leaving a rented property, is to read the instructions you receive along with your contract. If you don't receive written instructions, that doesn't mean you have no obligations. You should read the contract again anyway, to find out what costs and duties you have before you leave.

Attend the check-out

Recent question on this topic

• mattressman asks:

  How can I ensure a good and reliable lodger for my own home?

  • 
    MikeGG1 answered "Unless it is someone you know well, you will be unlikely to manage that scenario. Answering it in..."
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You will be invited to attend the check-out. It's worth being there to ensure that the check-out happens fairly, should there be any disputes about damage later on.

If there are any disputes, and you feel your landlord has unfairly held back some or all of your deposit, remember: you have rights now, for example under the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme.

Be helpful to your landlord and agent

My final tip is to be as accommodating as possible to the landlord and its agents. I always say, for example, that they may of course show people around if they give us 24 hours notice, but we will also do our best to accommodate them if they want to give us less notice.

Simple things like this can make a big difference in how they view you and treat you. It makes dealing with them much easier.

This is a lovemoney.com classic article, originally published in May 2008 and updated.

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