Landlord/agent not failure to return deposit
Discussion
I'll try to keep this brief; moved out of a flat in September 23', deposit amount was in the region of £3000 pounds. The landlord raised some items for deduction and we couldn't come to an agreement, so we are currently in the dispute process. The disputed amount totals about £1300 and we're awaiting a judgement on this, which is fair enough.
The undisputed sum however (about £1700), has so far not been returned, despite multiple chasers to the agent which have fallen on deaf ears. As an aside the agent (who are representing the landlord in the dispute) have claimed the money has been returned in their dispute evidence. I have pointed out this is not the case but in any instance am keen to get the non disputed money back as soon as possible.
Currently I'm in a bit of a bind, the two most obvious options at this point are a) to send more chasers, b) wait until the outcome of the adjudication for a final amount to be returned or c) a letter before action, but it feels like I'm missing an option somewhere in the middle. Any advice/experience on how best to proceed would be much appreciated.
The undisputed sum however (about £1700), has so far not been returned, despite multiple chasers to the agent which have fallen on deaf ears. As an aside the agent (who are representing the landlord in the dispute) have claimed the money has been returned in their dispute evidence. I have pointed out this is not the case but in any instance am keen to get the non disputed money back as soon as possible.
Currently I'm in a bit of a bind, the two most obvious options at this point are a) to send more chasers, b) wait until the outcome of the adjudication for a final amount to be returned or c) a letter before action, but it feels like I'm missing an option somewhere in the middle. Any advice/experience on how best to proceed would be much appreciated.
Edited by DartyBistard on Wednesday 10th January 09:32
Once the deposit return is disputed the agents have nothing to do with its release really. The scheme it is lodged with usually release the deposit only once any disputes are resolved. They do not release the un-disputed amount early.
It might vary from scheme to scheme or they my make a partial return with the other parties consent.
It might vary from scheme to scheme or they my make a partial return with the other parties consent.
Edited by nikaiyo2 on Wednesday 10th January 11:15
Thanks for the responses so far. Suspect as a few have suggested that they are awaiting a final settlement figure before releasing any funds - but then why say differently to the dispute service?
Deposit is protected under an insured scheme with TDS, so as I understand the landlord holds the money but it's insured in the scenario they won't/can't repay it.
Zone 2 in London explains why the deposit is high. I've never had direct contact with the landlord, always through the agent, couldn't contact them directly if I wanted to. A visit in person is off the cards as I've moved away from the area.
They're claiming for various items that I would consider wear and tear given we were there for two years, and then (in my opinion) inflating the prices massively. As an example, he's proposed a deduction of £90 for two lightbulbs, with a material cost, callout fee and parking for an electrician(!!).
Frankly by the time we left the property a few issues where mounting up, not through any neglect or mistreatment on our part, more just age related and wear and tear items. My position is the landlord is going for the cynical cash grab and using our deposit money to fund the necessary spruce up.
Deposit is protected under an insured scheme with TDS, so as I understand the landlord holds the money but it's insured in the scenario they won't/can't repay it.
Zone 2 in London explains why the deposit is high. I've never had direct contact with the landlord, always through the agent, couldn't contact them directly if I wanted to. A visit in person is off the cards as I've moved away from the area.
They're claiming for various items that I would consider wear and tear given we were there for two years, and then (in my opinion) inflating the prices massively. As an example, he's proposed a deduction of £90 for two lightbulbs, with a material cost, callout fee and parking for an electrician(!!).
Frankly by the time we left the property a few issues where mounting up, not through any neglect or mistreatment on our part, more just age related and wear and tear items. My position is the landlord is going for the cynical cash grab and using our deposit money to fund the necessary spruce up.
Arbitrators generally use a sliding scale for wear and tear from 1- 10 years
Decoration for example should be done every 5 years by the landlord and carpets 10, so they normally award a percentage based on that.
Light bulbs and consumables are generally the responsibilty of the tenant, but £90.00 is taking the piss
Decoration for example should be done every 5 years by the landlord and carpets 10, so they normally award a percentage based on that.
Light bulbs and consumables are generally the responsibilty of the tenant, but £90.00 is taking the piss
lightbulbs...did you not make sure you replaced these as they went? Given then the owner may not be local and may actually have to pay somebody with a minimum call out charge to attend, supply and fit I dont think £180 is actually that unreasonable.
I had a dispute on an apartment I rented and a cleaning fee over the fridge which the landlord said was "foody", in the end I went back in, emptied a full bottled of flash with bleach into it so it them smelled of bleach for the inspection. Every mark or point they wanted to withhold something for I could show was present at when i moved in but it should never have come to it.
A lot of landlords unfortunately still see the deposit as an income stream and dont want to accept anything as being normal use, wear and tear.
Take a look at the list, see what you can do yourself and work out how much it would cost you including travel / accomodation etc you may find its closer to to the amount they want then you'd think.
I had a dispute on an apartment I rented and a cleaning fee over the fridge which the landlord said was "foody", in the end I went back in, emptied a full bottled of flash with bleach into it so it them smelled of bleach for the inspection. Every mark or point they wanted to withhold something for I could show was present at when i moved in but it should never have come to it.
A lot of landlords unfortunately still see the deposit as an income stream and dont want to accept anything as being normal use, wear and tear.
Take a look at the list, see what you can do yourself and work out how much it would cost you including travel / accomodation etc you may find its closer to to the amount they want then you'd think.
Hmm, we'll have to agree to disagree on £180 for two lightbulbs being reasonable. If they're the responsibility of a tenant during a tenancy then it stands to reason that they don't need an electrician to fit them, but that's an aside.
For what its worth I have offered the LL a sum to settle the matter but they weren't willing to be flexible so off to resolution it is.
My current issue is how to recover the undisputed money as it has been a while and these dispute processes can drag on a bit. One last email and a mention of the 'Ombudsman' may spur them into action but lets see, I'm not holding my breath.
For what its worth I have offered the LL a sum to settle the matter but they weren't willing to be flexible so off to resolution it is.
My current issue is how to recover the undisputed money as it has been a while and these dispute processes can drag on a bit. One last email and a mention of the 'Ombudsman' may spur them into action but lets see, I'm not holding my breath.
doesn't matter who it is electrician or plumber, there will be a call out or set number of hours minimum charge. I'm in yorkshire and wouldnt expect to find anybody willing to come to my house to do any work for less a than £70 even for a 2 minute job. I expect anything remotely london based to have a 50% premium over us poor northeners.
a local company charges the following for end of tenancy services: https://yorkshirecleaningdevils.co.uk/end-of-tenan...
Perhaps its worth speaking to a company offering similar service local to the property about the items on the list
a local company charges the following for end of tenancy services: https://yorkshirecleaningdevils.co.uk/end-of-tenan...
Perhaps its worth speaking to a company offering similar service local to the property about the items on the list
DartyBistard said:
Hmm, we'll have to agree to disagree on £180 for two lightbulbs being reasonable. If they're the responsibility of a tenant during a tenancy then it stands to reason that they don't need an electrician to fit them, but that's an aside.
Obviously they don't require an electrician - but they do require somebody.I am landlord for a property, and it's rented through an agency. If my tenants moved out and left bulbs that didn't work, then somebody needs to replace them. I am local, so could - but then again, why should I?
The agency could - but if they need to attend the property for anything that's not already in the contract (e.g. inspections) - then they also make a call out charge (around £60 I think).
I think the cost is reasonable for somebody - who gets paid for their time - to attend the property and do <something>. The fact that it's a trivial something that would cost a few £ if you did it - or knew somebody local who could do it for you - is irrelevant unless that can actually happen.
DartyBistard said:
Hmm, we'll have to agree to disagree on £180 for two lightbulbs being reasonable. If they're the responsibility of a tenant during a tenancy then it stands to reason that they don't need an electrician to fit them,
Maybe there isn't a "requirement" for an electrician to fit them, but as others have said if the person doing the inspection were an office girl (not demeaning office girls obviously) who wasn't confident doing so & didn't have any to hand what are they going to do?They will phone the "company electrician" and get a quote, which will cost as above & would be reasonable under the circumstances of needing a call out to do the job.
In my view the pragmatic and simplest solution would be to supply two lightbulbs to the incoming tenants, which I'd happily pay for, and ask them to fit them. The lightbulbs are an example of the type of charges that have been raised - arguable to say the least.
We'll see who the adjudicator sides with; I'm happy for that process to run its course and if the verdict is that my counter arguments are unreasonable then so be it.
In any case it's a bit of a red herring to my original question, which was how to recover the undisputed monies. The agency has actually replied to my most recent email promising to return this ASAP, so lets see.
We'll see who the adjudicator sides with; I'm happy for that process to run its course and if the verdict is that my counter arguments are unreasonable then so be it.
In any case it's a bit of a red herring to my original question, which was how to recover the undisputed monies. The agency has actually replied to my most recent email promising to return this ASAP, so lets see.
For future reference, the way you avoid these problems is you unexpectedly run into some tempporary financial issues which will cause this month's rent to be approximately 1 month late, 1 month before you want to move out. No need to worry about your credit file for 1 month as they don't get recorded until 2 full months have passed, and as far as a reference goes if you need one, you can easily argue that there was a dispute over the 'wear and tear', whilst showing them your otherwise perfect payment record.
Unfortunately more LLs are greedy a
holes, as Andberg said above: "A lot of landlords unfortunately still see the deposit as an income stream and dont want to accept anything as being normal use, wear and tear." 
. You have to learn how to play the game, or be played.
Unfortunately more LLs are greedy a
holes, as Andberg said above: "A lot of landlords unfortunately still see the deposit as an income stream and dont want to accept anything as being normal use, wear and tear." . You have to learn how to play the game, or be played.Speed Matters | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff