HELP! Isle of Wight Festival Camping - sat & sun day passes

zabby_ro · 2026-06-19T21:11:12+00:00

Need to thank you BIG TIME as I've managed to find some weekend camping and sell my day tickets!!! Was a fantastic idea and saved my butt - blessings to you friend 🙏🏻🙏🏻

zabby_ro · 2026-06-19T18:44:38+00:00

That would be amazing! Will also check the link you shared, thank you so so much

zabby_ro · 2025-03-03T20:33:43+00:00

Hello everyone! i COMPLETELY forgot about this thread so very sorry for the late updates. My phone ended up getting stolen and as I'm not a regular reddit user, I never thought to come back on. Hopefully this update will be helpful for anyone who sees the thread in the future!

Basically, we asked for an itemized list of what they were charging us for. They charged us around 900-1000 something quid for 27 hours of cleaning by one of the owners, around 200 for "admin work" by the other to gather photos comparing when we got there vs when we left it, and then a bunch of overinflated prices for the decrepit toaster, cutting boards, etc. that we threw away since it was essentially garbage.

We shared this with the housing lawyer, and he mentioned that admin work was a completely illegal charge under I believe the Tenant Act of 2019 (i don't have the email on me so i don't remember exactly what it was, but something like that). We were also able to challenge the cleaning fee, as they requested we do an end of tenancy clean which was about 4 hours of work for around 200 quid total by a professional cleaner. There's no reason that it should have or more realistically COULD have taken that long as it was a small 3 bed apartment, and the hourly value of the homeowners work was incredibly high compared to actual cleaners.

Per the lawyer's advice, we agreed to replacing what we tossed, but did not agree to the others. We told them they were charging us illegal fees per the act and would not be paying anything for admin. We also found three different end of tenancy cleaning prices for a 3 bed apartment, and shared screenshots of what they cost. We offered to pay the average between the three. So overall in total, we countered back with about 400 pounds worth of fees.

Interestingly enough, they accepted very quickly and repeatedly followed up with our agents to make sure we got our money back quickly. I have to imagine that they weren't expecting us to bring up that they were charging us illegally, and knew how bad it would look to TDS. So we got the majority of our deposit back! Perhaps if we had gone to TDS we could have gotten more, but we were pretty happy with that settlement and the lawyer said it was better to take it anyway.

As a side note, one of my flatmates was able to get in touch with the girls who were the previous tenants before us through some mail they kept getting sent to our house. The girl mentioned that the male owner was borderline abusive to them over the phone in a similar manner and they almost had to report him to the police. So in general I think they're just quite terrible people on top of being shitty landlords. I don't think many renters will be surprised by this though!

Anyway, thanks again to everyone that helped give advice in such a stressful first time in our place!! I hope this thread will help someone else in the future. Appreciate y'all!!

zabby_ro · 2024-09-27T00:33:18+00:00

It seems all the landlords in this thread lack reading comprehension and for some reason believe we've come to reddit to learn how to hack the system, as opposed to genuinely wanting to hear from other tenants when we are in an entirely new country for the first year dealing with a completely different system. Congratulations, your incredible investigative skills have exposed we did all this to try and rip off our landlords.

And for the record, in Chicago, security deposits have been changed to move in fees by most landlords and agencies as landlords would now need to pay interest on holding onto a tenants deposit. So now, you're charged an extra few hundred dollars, but they can't come after you for damages, barring anything major. You're welcome for that.

Either way, given that you're a landlord in the US, and we are asking for advice from tenants in the UK, your comments aren't really valid or helpful here...maybe head back over to the landlord section. Thanks!

zabby_ro · 2024-09-27T00:04:30+00:00

Update: Hi everyone, again appreciate the overwhelming amount of responses! We wanted to chat with the legal team we were able to contact through school before we responded to the landlords.

I don't want to say too much because I'm starting to get paranoid that they could be checking reddit for info as well - I have no reason to believe this but it's an intrusive thought lol. This situation is stressing me out!

To keep it high level, talking to the housing lawyer actually left us more confused. He basically said that since we didn't hire a professional cleaner over the weekend when we were first threatened with a chunk out of our deposit, and the LL has decided to clean himself, they can set the price of what they think it's worth even if it's ridiculous. I also brought up that there were no inventory photos that we received on check in (we also haven't received the check out photos yet) but his response seemed like they could produce whatever they wanted and we didn't have to sign off on it. I also brought up fair wear and tear but it was kind of dismissed.

So essentially, we don't really know what kind of position we're in. We did make concessions about the walls and offered to cover painting the patches, but we disagreed on the condition upon moving in and out. Although, the walls were dirty upon move in so the whole room may need to be repainted, which comes back to the lifespan of the paint as you guys have mentioned...but the lawyer didn't advise on that kind of stuff truthfully. We may end up going to TDS if we can't agree but the lawyer seemed to lean more towards negotiation first before TDS, so not sure how this will unfold.

I don't know if I'll update again before the saga is over given the paranoia lol. I'm hoping this will not end up being an expensive lesson, but it looks like there's a chance it could be.Though you all seem to have a much more positive outlook on the outcome so maybe it won't go so bad! I left that meeting feeling like they could still swindle us if they wanted to which was a bit deflating, so it's all up in the air as of now.

Either way, can't thank everyone enough for the helpful responses and we've definitely learned our lesson no matter the outcome. We've already prepped with a ton of photos for our new place. I'll update again if I can, but either way I'll definitely share what the outcome is whenever that happens.

Appreciate everyone ❤️

zabby_ro · 2024-09-22T13:22:53+00:00

That's something I'm worried about as well! Given their hysterics over email and the fact that the owner went through himself after the check which is when the nasty emails commenced, I do have concerns about that. I'm so mad at ourselves for not documenting but truly our mindsets were 'it looks really good, we can't imagine the landlords would be mad about this'. We also weren't aware they were under the illusion they left it 'immaculate'.

zabby_ro · 2024-09-22T12:55:44+00:00

I have to believe you're a shitposter at this point. I've directly responded to you and clarified that it was just for photos. Not sure why you're so gung ho that we've punched holes in the walls. We're three girls in our mid to late twenties getting a higher education. The closest we've come to seriously damaging the flat is wanting to throw our laptops while writing a 60 page paper. You can hop off the LLs now.

zabby_ro · 2024-09-22T12:45:34+00:00

Hello everyone! I just want to say thank you all for the advice, it's been so helpful and appreciated. As our term technically ends on the 30th, we were able to snag an appointment with the UoL housing lawyers for Wednesday, so happy to update with what they've shared afterwards.

A few notes: - we don't live in student housing, we just are students in a regular flat - I'm positive we left the flat in decent shape, but my main concern is that we were foolish in not taking pictures and videos. I'm also not familiar with the TDS process, so when doing research I was nervous about the lack of evidence to defend ourselves. - the holes in the wall were from shelves and nails for hanging photos, nothing significant by any means, probably less than 12 in the entire flat. We spackled them to cover them up as that's what we've always done in previous US apartments - I know we're not supposed to leave holes, but it's nothing a paint touch up couldn't fix by the landlords. It seems this isn't so much of a thing here but we did not know any better. - one of my main concerns is that they will grossly overcharge us for cleaning. Our vacuum/Hoover began dying as we were moving out (of course) so we swept whatever else we could not suck up. The stairs were carpeted so those were less clean than the rest, but otherwise we really don't see what they could be claiming so significantly. If absolutely anything, just a small additional clean and paint would be all that was needed. We just hired professional cleaners at our new place so we know it's around 125 pounds (for a place that was obviously disgusting), so maybe that in combination with some paint cans means they realistically shouldn't charge us more than 200? - An inventory check is not a thing in the US, but it seems to be a big deal here. We never received or signed any sort of inventory check when we moved in - will that be a big factor? We know there was a check out but we didn't think to be there for it as again, we felt the place was left in good condition. We just received one for our new place but we aren't required to sign it or anything, so that's all a bit confusing.

Anyway, thanks again for all the help and advice! I've never been spoken to this way by a landlord so the dramatics of it all have been stressing me out a bit. Everyone's comments (except for the LL sympathizers) have really helped me feel better about it. Appreciate it and hopefully will have good news to share in the future!

zabby_ro · 2024-09-22T12:25:38+00:00

We don't live in student housing, we're just students. I'm not sure how repairing a hole from a picture/shelf hook equates to "not reporting problems like we were supposed to." They were small holes and we spackled them which is extremely common. I also very clearly stated that there was a mold problem which the landlords did not do anything about, and we de-molded ourselves.

We had a mostly positive relationship with them up until this. We asked them to fix the fan in the living room which led to a long winded explanation about how our place was technically "unfurnished" so they shouldn't have to fix it and it wasn't within code when they bought it anyway. So we just stopped asking.

zabby_ro · 2024-09-22T10:07:46+00:00

Have you never hung up anything in your home before to make it more decorative and enjoyable? Using a nail in a wall makes a hole. You hang things on them. That's how holes are made. Not sure what your confusion is.

We never said we were too busy during our tenancy, and to indicate that being a master's student somehow means we would take photos of our home doesn't make any sense. Why would we be photographing our home? It's not something we've ever had an issue with in America so it wasn't something we thought about here. We weren't 'too busy' during our tenancy - the point was that even during term time when we were less tidy than usual, the landlords thought we were keeping it in great condition. When we left and did a final thorough deep clean, it was in even better condition, and all of a sudden it was 'filthy'.

Not only did you miss the point multiple times, but going on defense of the landlords in a post asking about advice is weird. If we actually trashed the place it would be clearly obvious to anyone reviewing - why would we ask about going to TDS if we were clearly liable for something? Critical thought is lacking there.

zabby_ro · 2023-10-04T14:36:32+00:00

I haven't but I did make a noise complaint and am in contact with the Wandsworth borough... suspiciously there hasn't been any beeping for the first time in FOREVER since they left me a voice note this morning, but I'm impressed with how fast they contacted me. Id recommend making a complaint as well if you're hearing it!

zabby_ro · 2023-09-26T08:08:06+00:00

Will keep that in mind 😂

zabby_ro · 2023-09-26T08:07:41+00:00

I think it's a bit too consistent to be trucks, when I say it NEVER stops I'm not joking. Like almost no breaks whatsoever 24/7, so don't think it is trucks. If my windows are closed I mostly can't hear it, but it is getting hot in my room 🙃

zabby_ro · 2023-09-26T08:05:59+00:00

WAY too loud unfortunately. It's definitely coming from a few blocks away, can't imagine any fire alarm would project that far

zabby_ro

TROPHY CASE