End of tenancy, Bond return timescales and communication.
Discussion
Apologies if this has already been covered elsewhere previously, but a quick search did not turn anything up.
I recently moved out of rented accommodation (25.07.17) and I'm unsure of what to expect of the letting agency with regard to timescales of returning my bond and communication from them.
A brief summary:-
21/07/17 - Vacated the property.
23 & 24/07/17 - Fully cleaned all rooms in the house, including the carpets. As well as all windows, mirrors cupboards etc ... being cleaned inside and out.
25/07/17 - Final inspection of the property with myself and letting agent.
02/08/17 - Bond return requested by myself via email.
The only things highlighted during the inspection were:-
Plate/dish drainer missing from on top of draining board. This will have been present when I moved in over 2 years ago which I clearly forgot about when moving out and I binned it. I accepted at the time that I had thrown it out. - No mention of being charged was made by the agent at the time.
2 candles missing from living room!! - I admitted that I had set fire to them and they no longer existed and I took the responsibility for this. - No mention of a charge being made.
Grass needed cutting to front and rear. It had been cut approx 1 and half weeks prior, but due to it raining almost constantly since, it had not been cut again. - I was told I would be charged for this. Although it was slightly annoying I did not disagree with it at the time.
There was a question regarding a fitting in the main bathroom being different to the ones shown on the very poor quality photos the agent had on the paperwork he had with him. I had had plumbing issues in that bathroom (bath taps leaking) and these were replaced by the letting agent's contractors approx. 12 months prior. The agent mentioned at the time that the photos he had may have been old ones and did not reflect the house at the time of me moving in. He was going to double check the photos on the system when he returned to the office and would advise me if this was the case.
Other than that there we zero other issues to speak of.
Since then I have had zero contact from the letting agent other than them replying to my emails chasing up the return of my bond. I was informed on 02/08/17 that it `should be in my account by the end of the week as this was only sent recently'.
My assumption based on that is that the full bond would be returned to me?
As it stands today I have not had the bond returned to me, nor have I had any further communication from the letting agent informing of deductions from the bond.
My relationship with the agent is a good one, and have had no issues with them during my tenancy, so would not expect there to be any reason for them to withhold anything from me.
Is it unreasonable of me to expect my bond to have been returned in full to me by now? Or are the timelines involved and communication (or lack of) from the agent normal and acceptable?
I recently moved out of rented accommodation (25.07.17) and I'm unsure of what to expect of the letting agency with regard to timescales of returning my bond and communication from them.
A brief summary:-
21/07/17 - Vacated the property.
23 & 24/07/17 - Fully cleaned all rooms in the house, including the carpets. As well as all windows, mirrors cupboards etc ... being cleaned inside and out.
25/07/17 - Final inspection of the property with myself and letting agent.
02/08/17 - Bond return requested by myself via email.
The only things highlighted during the inspection were:-
Plate/dish drainer missing from on top of draining board. This will have been present when I moved in over 2 years ago which I clearly forgot about when moving out and I binned it. I accepted at the time that I had thrown it out. - No mention of being charged was made by the agent at the time.
2 candles missing from living room!! - I admitted that I had set fire to them and they no longer existed and I took the responsibility for this. - No mention of a charge being made.
Grass needed cutting to front and rear. It had been cut approx 1 and half weeks prior, but due to it raining almost constantly since, it had not been cut again. - I was told I would be charged for this. Although it was slightly annoying I did not disagree with it at the time.
There was a question regarding a fitting in the main bathroom being different to the ones shown on the very poor quality photos the agent had on the paperwork he had with him. I had had plumbing issues in that bathroom (bath taps leaking) and these were replaced by the letting agent's contractors approx. 12 months prior. The agent mentioned at the time that the photos he had may have been old ones and did not reflect the house at the time of me moving in. He was going to double check the photos on the system when he returned to the office and would advise me if this was the case.
Other than that there we zero other issues to speak of.
Since then I have had zero contact from the letting agent other than them replying to my emails chasing up the return of my bond. I was informed on 02/08/17 that it `should be in my account by the end of the week as this was only sent recently'.
My assumption based on that is that the full bond would be returned to me?
As it stands today I have not had the bond returned to me, nor have I had any further communication from the letting agent informing of deductions from the bond.
My relationship with the agent is a good one, and have had no issues with them during my tenancy, so would not expect there to be any reason for them to withhold anything from me.
Is it unreasonable of me to expect my bond to have been returned in full to me by now? Or are the timelines involved and communication (or lack of) from the agent normal and acceptable?
Edited by airsafari87 on Wednesday 9th August 17:15
SantaBarbara said:
Are they going to send you a cheque or will they transfer te money to your account?
If you live locally, pop into their office and ask if it is ready to collect
Transfer the money to my account.If you live locally, pop into their office and ask if it is ready to collect
They are local, and I could call in at the weekend to speak to them. But before I did that I wanted to make sure I wasn't being unreasonable with the timescales etc ...
As a LL myself I attempt to return a departing tenant's Deposit within 10 days. Under the TDS rules, the tenant is advised to request in writing the refund of their Deposit, and if after that time the Deposit has either not been refunded, or the tenant is unable to agree with the agent/LL the amount of the intended deductions, then the tenant should raise a Dispute with the TDS.
Wings said:
As a LL myself I attempt to return a departing tenant's Deposit within 10 days. Under the TDS rules, the tenant is advised to request in writing the refund of their Deposit, and if after that time the Deposit has either not been refunded, or the tenant is unable to agree with the agent/LL the amount of the intended deductions, then the tenant should raise a Dispute with the TDS.
Cheers Wings.I've updated the OP with the additional dates now.
My tenancy ended 25/07/17 and I assumed that the bond would either be returned to me within a week or 2, or I would at least hear something from the agent within a week of it ending should there be any further deductions, or to confirm the amount to be deducted based on the discussions that took place during the final inspection.
As neither of the above happened within that week I emailed them on the 02/08/17 to request it be returned. That was the first time I had requested it.
Do they have 10 days to return it from when I first made the request? Or does the 10 days commence on the date the tenancy ended?
I don't believe they are trying to screw me over or anything untoward, they are just very lax with their correspondence and seem to require constant prompting, and I want to make sure I am doing everything correctly.
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