Tenant deposit
Discussion
My daughter's just left a rented flat, agent wants to take about £600 off the deposit for a chest of drawers that's still there but in a different room, a light that doesn't work that she reported to them weeks ago and a toilet that doesn't flush but did when she left.
Agent says they can dispute it but that may take 3 months.
Citizens advice? Look for Solicitor who will give 30 mins free advice?
No win no fee may well not be worth it as the fee, unless it's a % may well be more than the amount.
Any good suggestions?
Thanks
Agent says they can dispute it but that may take 3 months.
Citizens advice? Look for Solicitor who will give 30 mins free advice?
No win no fee may well not be worth it as the fee, unless it's a % may well be more than the amount.
Any good suggestions?
Thanks
Have dealt with issues like this in the past, from both sides.
Does your daughter have written proof of reporting the lightbulb, toilet etc to the landlord? Also was the chest of drawers broken or just in a different location? I'd ask them for an itemised breakdown with costs of where the £600 is going, that seems incredibly steep. They've seen pound signs and an easy payday, effectively ambulance chasing old tenants for want of a better phrase.
Some solicitors may be able to give some further advice, I'm going on what my old man has said before (IANAL but he is)
Does your daughter have written proof of reporting the lightbulb, toilet etc to the landlord? Also was the chest of drawers broken or just in a different location? I'd ask them for an itemised breakdown with costs of where the £600 is going, that seems incredibly steep. They've seen pound signs and an easy payday, effectively ambulance chasing old tenants for want of a better phrase.
Some solicitors may be able to give some further advice, I'm going on what my old man has said before (IANAL but he is)
https://www.depositprotection.com/disputes/overvie...
Your daughters deposit will be in a scheme like this, go through their mediation process, assuming your daughter is telling you the full story (no offence).
Your daughters deposit will be in a scheme like this, go through their mediation process, assuming your daughter is telling you the full story (no offence).
Many years ago I rented a cottage...... £800pm with a £1600 deposit. Deposit was paced in the DPS and I had the account number.
On leaving the cottage, the Landlord decided she was going to sell it. So she withheld all of the deposit, and asked for another £1400 to repair the place and make it the most 'Cute little cottage in the Cotswolds' as per her advert once it was up for sale.
I obviously told her where she could stick the request and demanded my deposit back!!
After raising a dispute with the DPS, I spent a weekend creating a spreadsheet, getting photographs from the ingoing inventory and comparing with the outgoing inventory (no photographs) and taking my own photographs with a date on to show the condition when I left.
One picture was for a plastered over hole in the wall, which was there when I moved in, which I apparently caused during my tenancy. I proved it was not me by showing the before and after pics.
Long story short..... I prepared a big statement, sent it off as my evidence to the DPS. They came back a few months later and found in my favour of me, short of a couple of hundred quid for some additional cleaning. All through the process the Landlady suggested I should settle with her for constantly diminishing amounts, threatening me with small claims court up until she finally lost.
What i'm trying to say is don't be afraid to raise a dispute. If you accurately represent yourself with correct costs you have a very good chance of winning. Once decided upon, the LL can't argue back either...
On leaving the cottage, the Landlord decided she was going to sell it. So she withheld all of the deposit, and asked for another £1400 to repair the place and make it the most 'Cute little cottage in the Cotswolds' as per her advert once it was up for sale.
I obviously told her where she could stick the request and demanded my deposit back!!
After raising a dispute with the DPS, I spent a weekend creating a spreadsheet, getting photographs from the ingoing inventory and comparing with the outgoing inventory (no photographs) and taking my own photographs with a date on to show the condition when I left.
One picture was for a plastered over hole in the wall, which was there when I moved in, which I apparently caused during my tenancy. I proved it was not me by showing the before and after pics.
Long story short..... I prepared a big statement, sent it off as my evidence to the DPS. They came back a few months later and found in my favour of me, short of a couple of hundred quid for some additional cleaning. All through the process the Landlady suggested I should settle with her for constantly diminishing amounts, threatening me with small claims court up until she finally lost.
What i'm trying to say is don't be afraid to raise a dispute. If you accurately represent yourself with correct costs you have a very good chance of winning. Once decided upon, the LL can't argue back either...
Edited by super7 on Monday 26th June 15:53
zedx19 said:
https://www.depositprotection.com/disputes/overvie...
Your daughters deposit will be in a scheme like this, go through their mediation process, assuming your daughter is telling you the full story (no offence).
Hopefully!! Big, big fines for the Landlord if it's not though... Your daughters deposit will be in a scheme like this, go through their mediation process, assuming your daughter is telling you the full story (no offence).
super7 said:
Many years ago I rented a cottage...... £800pm with a £1600 deposit. Deposit was paced in the DPS and I had the account number.
On leaving the cottage, the Landlord decided she was going to sell it. So she withheld all of the deposit, and asked for another £1400 to repair the place and make it the most 'Cute little cottage in the Cotswolds' as per her advert once it was up for sale.
I obviously told her where she could stick the request and demanded my deposit back!!
After raising a dispute with the DPS, I spent a weekend creating a spreadsheet, getting photographs from the ingoing inventory and comparing with the outgoing inventory (no photographs) and taking my own photographs with a date on to show the condition when I left.
One picture was for a plastered over hole in the wall, which was there when I moved in, which I apparently caused during my tenancy. I proved it was not me by showing the before and after pics.
Long story short..... I prepared a big statement, sent it off as my evidence to the DPS. They came back a few months later and found in my favour of me, short of a couple of hundred quid for some additional cleaning. All through the process the Landlady suggested I should settle with her for constantly diminishing amounts, threatening me with small claims court up until she finally lost.
What i'm trying to say is don't be afraid to raise a dispute. If you accurately represent yourself with correct costs you have a very good chance of winning. Once decided upon, the LL can't argue back either...
^^^This, very much.On leaving the cottage, the Landlord decided she was going to sell it. So she withheld all of the deposit, and asked for another £1400 to repair the place and make it the most 'Cute little cottage in the Cotswolds' as per her advert once it was up for sale.
I obviously told her where she could stick the request and demanded my deposit back!!
After raising a dispute with the DPS, I spent a weekend creating a spreadsheet, getting photographs from the ingoing inventory and comparing with the outgoing inventory (no photographs) and taking my own photographs with a date on to show the condition when I left.
One picture was for a plastered over hole in the wall, which was there when I moved in, which I apparently caused during my tenancy. I proved it was not me by showing the before and after pics.
Long story short..... I prepared a big statement, sent it off as my evidence to the DPS. They came back a few months later and found in my favour of me, short of a couple of hundred quid for some additional cleaning. All through the process the Landlady suggested I should settle with her for constantly diminishing amounts, threatening me with small claims court up until she finally lost.
What i'm trying to say is don't be afraid to raise a dispute. If you accurately represent yourself with correct costs you have a very good chance of winning. Once decided upon, the LL can't argue back either...
Edited by super7 on Monday 26th June 15:53
Not me but my daughter rented a flat and they tried it on with her trying to get a new carpet for the bedroom and various other smaller things.
I did as the above did and sent back pictures comparing moving in with moving out photos and the stain was there when they moved in. My daughter was only 20 when she moved out and the landlord had been a complete ar$e the whole time and treated her appallingly. I wasn't about to let him get away with that. Happy to pay anything due but not a whole recarpet of a room!
[quote=zedx19]https://www.depositprotection.com/disputes/overview-timeline
Your daughters deposit should be in a scheme like this,
OP first check and confirm that your daughter's deposit monies is protected.
This landlord would advise informing the agent/landlord, that unless the deducted monies are refunded in full within ten (10) days, then the writer (your daughter) will seek to recover the monies through the courts, together with her legal costs.
The contents of the OP's post is what gives landlords and agents a bad name, needs local press,media publicity
Your daughters deposit should be in a scheme like this,
OP first check and confirm that your daughter's deposit monies is protected.
This landlord would advise informing the agent/landlord, that unless the deducted monies are refunded in full within ten (10) days, then the writer (your daughter) will seek to recover the monies through the courts, together with her legal costs.
The contents of the OP's post is what gives landlords and agents a bad name, needs local press,media publicity
Triumph Man said:
zedx19 said:
https://www.depositprotection.com/disputes/overvie...
Your daughters deposit will be in a scheme like this, go through their mediation process, assuming your daughter is telling you the full story (no offence).
Hopefully!! Big, big fines for the Landlord if it's not though... Your daughters deposit will be in a scheme like this, go through their mediation process, assuming your daughter is telling you the full story (no offence).
Also a landlord. How long was she in the property for? After a few years, even stuff like marks on the walls and stained carpets are no longer chargeable under the DPS. If she's been resident for 2+ years then what landlords can claim as damages get reduced a lot.
The only thing I'd be concerned about is the toilet, the landlord might decide to be an a
hole and say your daughter's flushed sanitary products / wet wipes down it. The rest of it is clear-cut, here's a photo of the drawers, here's a £1 lightbulb to replace the one that doesn't work, if it's electrical then it's the landlord's issue.
(edit: assuming your daughter hasn't flushed tampons/goldfish/hopes and dreams down the toilet!)
The only thing I'd be concerned about is the toilet, the landlord might decide to be an a
hole and say your daughter's flushed sanitary products / wet wipes down it. The rest of it is clear-cut, here's a photo of the drawers, here's a £1 lightbulb to replace the one that doesn't work, if it's electrical then it's the landlord's issue.(edit: assuming your daughter hasn't flushed tampons/goldfish/hopes and dreams down the toilet!)
Edited by Second Best on Tuesday 27th June 04:44
Second Best said:
Also a landlord. How long was she in the property for? After a few years, even stuff like marks on the walls and stained carpets are no longer chargeable under the DPS. If she's been resident for 2+ years then what landlords can claim as damages get reduced a lot.
Under 2 years.Thanks all for the advice, will pass on to her.
As a landlord I wouldn't dream of attempting to get money for any of that, and I would hope that the DPS is involved and would arbitrate fairly on her behalf. I expect to have to fix a few minor things inbetween tenants, especially after 2-3 years.
I rented my first flat in 2004 from an estate agent, turned out to belong to the manager of the estate agent and I only found this out after my application was in because they were going to hold my deposit direct. Even as a naive young lad moving 200 miles from 'home' to a new city for a job, I had the foresight to agree condition despite them never offering it to me. It was an upstairs flat and the stairs carpet was beige, so the carpet was obviously dirty as nobody ever took their shoes off except me and my guests. my mum scrubbed those stairs to the best condition i'd ever seen before I moved out. As I was only 1 mile down the road I asked to be there for the inspection, she didn't invite me, and then tried to screw me for a new stairs carpet because it was dirty...... She stupidly forgot that I had agreed with her the stairs were dirty when we moved in, and I reminded her she signed the same condition report I did! I never got an apology but i got my deposit back...
Scum landlords like that treated the deposit as a free income every time a tenant moved out. To this day, I suspect she used that same excuse to screw every single tenant for a new carpet that never got changed - a 'gimme' if you will. Mine, and the landlord described by the OP are the ones that needed stamping out with changes to the system, but i suspect they just changed tactics normally and prey on the people with no right to be here and thus no legitimate recourse.
I rented my first flat in 2004 from an estate agent, turned out to belong to the manager of the estate agent and I only found this out after my application was in because they were going to hold my deposit direct. Even as a naive young lad moving 200 miles from 'home' to a new city for a job, I had the foresight to agree condition despite them never offering it to me. It was an upstairs flat and the stairs carpet was beige, so the carpet was obviously dirty as nobody ever took their shoes off except me and my guests. my mum scrubbed those stairs to the best condition i'd ever seen before I moved out. As I was only 1 mile down the road I asked to be there for the inspection, she didn't invite me, and then tried to screw me for a new stairs carpet because it was dirty...... She stupidly forgot that I had agreed with her the stairs were dirty when we moved in, and I reminded her she signed the same condition report I did! I never got an apology but i got my deposit back...
Scum landlords like that treated the deposit as a free income every time a tenant moved out. To this day, I suspect she used that same excuse to screw every single tenant for a new carpet that never got changed - a 'gimme' if you will. Mine, and the landlord described by the OP are the ones that needed stamping out with changes to the system, but i suspect they just changed tactics normally and prey on the people with no right to be here and thus no legitimate recourse.
Edited by tvrfan007 on Tuesday 27th June 08:55
Triumph Man said:
zedx19 said:
https://www.depositprotection.com/disputes/overvie...
Your daughters deposit will be in a scheme like this, go through their mediation process, assuming your daughter is telling you the full story (no offence).
Hopefully!! Big, big fines for the Landlord if it's not though... Your daughters deposit will be in a scheme like this, go through their mediation process, assuming your daughter is telling you the full story (no offence).
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff