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Incorrect Etats Des Lieux and Unresponsive 'Expert'

Question

We rented an apartment in Uccle last September and the expert doing the etats des lieux provided a totally biased report. Cracks and marks on the wall were not photographed while the cleaner parts were focused on and photographed. He said he was using the software for the first time and appeared to have a lot of difficulty using it.
When the report was emailed to me I could not open it to have a look at his comments. I sent him a reply stating this and he did not reply back until end October. We were going to the US for 3 weeks at the time and I mentioned to him that I would get back to him on our return. I duly sent him the photographs I had taken of the cracks, stains on wall, etc...when I returned. However, there was no acknowledgement from him of the photos I had sent by email.
Finally, although we rented the apartment because it had a bathroom we were never able to use the bath as it was blocked. We told the landlady many times but she just suggested we use an unblocking fluid. We did that many times but it appeared the blockage was somewhere deeper and therefore it did not work.
There were other problems with the apartment in that the landing lights did not stay on for more than a few seconds and the lift light did not work. So getting into the lift and going down to the ground floor took some guess work with feeling for buttons in the lift etc... When the lift did not work, as often happened when someone left the door open, we had to feel our way down 4 flights of stairs in pitch darkness. The boiler was also very old and had to be lit each time we needed hot water.
Anyhow we decided to leave last week (after less than a year) and I gave her 3 months notice. I had earlier offered her 100 Euro a month more than she had required in order to get a tenancy which was less onerous and allowed us to leave with lesser penalties. I also paid her 6 months in advance.
None of this seemed to have mattered. She asked me for 3 months rent in penalties, and the same expert turned up and demanded that I pay 600 Eur to repaint the property. Many of the marks he pointed to were already there at the beginning and in the photos I had sent him which he did not acknowledge.
I am extremely glad to be able to leave the property but feel like I have been had by the landlady and expert. Is there any way I can complain about the expert's bias which is evidenced in his unresponsiveness to my emails and biased photo taking?
By the way, I myself am the landlord of a property in Belgium and when my tenants left after 2 years there were lots of marks on the walls. However my agent suggested that they were natural wear and tear (d'usage' as he said) and I was ready to accept that. However when I compare that to the way I have been treated, it is like 2 different countries. How can there be such a discrepancy and who is correct? Is there a different approach because we are foreigners?

CC_R

Hi, if you had this issue on moving in you were really forewarned to have your own expert at the moving out survey to argue your case. The experts are often biased in favour of the landlords. You need your own there to Rgue it. Under the law as I understand it you are responsible for some painting cost, but the place should have been repainted in the past seven years I believe. We repainted a very dirty room. The land lady verbally agreed we could change the colour, then on moving out we were charged because the colour wasn't grotty white it was pale blue and really much cleaner!
If you don't agree you must write to the expert and say this. You can argue with them, write all your objections and send it registered. Ideally you should have done this the first time too. If you have proof of sent emails include this and demand the cost is reduced. Include your photographs and refuse to release the funds until it's settled but then you don't have your money back for a while I'm afraid.,
They think all foreigners are expats on cushy deals I'm sad to say and yes it is one rule for them another for you.

Jul 4, 2015 01:03
Spendingtimeinb...

Thank you so much for your feedback. It helps to know that. I should have been more diligent in pursuing the 'expert' when he did not reply. We bought a lovely flat close by so no more renting in Brussels thankfully.

Jul 4, 2015 16:23
CC_R

So glad you won't have the issue again, we moved out of a place and got fleeced charge for "professional cleaning" it was spotless, but we refused to pay the bill for garden over €2000 until it was explained clearly to us how it was calculated. We believe they were charging us to cut the hedge in next doors garden.
We wrote to the landlord and the expert several times we got a letter from their notaries demanding we pay this money, same reply to them four years on we still never heard back from anyone, but we did leave the cash in a side bank account so if it ever goes to court we can prove we could pay but that they didn't respond to our requests for information.

Jul 6, 2015 19:29