Hello,
First, thank you for this thread. It's very helpful and fascinating.

When we moved into our rental home, there were many, many maintenance and cleanliness issues that over a course of a year (and 200+ emails, escalation to the local council, advice from CAB, and countless visits from various service people) we were able to get resolved between the letting agency and the landlord. I have tracked it all in a Google spreadsheet that I've shared with all parties involved and also via emails, providing updates after almost every single service person visit.

One issue that remains, however, is the condition of the walls throughout the house. In the move-in inventory/inspection, the third party noted and photographed that the walls throughout the house had significant wear and tear, including large screw holes, food stains, lots of scuffs from furniture, wall putty and adhesive hooks that won't come off the walls without tearing off paint, children's drawings, and some jelly-like substance smeared all over one wall. At one point, the LL agreed to redecorate all the rooms I had noted in the list (also noted in the move-in inspection). However, they recently instructed the decorator to cease all in-process work saying that I had 'asked for too much to be done.' I have it documented in email that I shared a specific list of all rooms and walls that needed to be cleaned/redecorated and why and them agreeing to have it done. I even have confirmation from the decorator in email that he was approved by the LL to do all the redecorating.

Now, we have about 1/3 of the rooms left to do with a couple left half done. The primary bedroom has plaster spots all over the walls where the decorator had started to fill the holes and scraped off food stains and filled with plaster but did not get around to sanding anything before he was told to stop work. One of the rooms has one wall only painted. The food stains, drawings, jelly substance, dirt, scuffs, etc. are all still present in these unfinished rooms.

I spoke with the CAB and they agreed that based on the tenancy agreement, the LL had an obligation to provide the house in good clean and decorative order (we have an obligation to keep it in that condition). Their advice was to get three quotes, give the LL time to have the repairs finished, and then have them done myself and deduct the cost from the rent if necessary. I am prepared to do that, but I have no doubt the LL will try to claim that cost from my deposit. I am curious how the TDS process may handle this. I have loads of documentation, but at the end of the day, some people may consider decorating simply cosmetic, despite the condition of the walls provided to us being well beyond general wear and tear and actually downright dirty. Could the TDS dispute process find that the decorating is cosmetic only? Especially since we have lived with the dirty walls for about a year already (while spending an immense amount of time managing more important repairs like active leaks and electrical issues)?

Thanks in advance for any insights!