Advice please - regarding Tennants security deposit

[bumrar]

Hi all, hope I'm putting this in the right forum!

I've recently moved out of a rented property (first rental, new to all this..). The estate agents are claiming we have caused damage to the property, which isn't unreasonable - carpets need cleaning (spilt a couple of drinks), scuffs on a wall needs painting in a utility room (kept bikes in there). The estate agents have sent us a 'schedule of damage and unreasonable wear and tear report', with a form to tick, sign and return.

The options on the form are:

-I/we agree with the schedule of damage and unreasonable wear and tear report.

-I/we agree to the unprotection of our security deposit with mydeposits.co.uk. I/we understand that by agreeing to the deposit being unprotected, I/we will be unable to raise a dispute with mydeposits.co.uk at a later date.

-I/we disagree with the schedule of damage and unreasonable wear and tear report and dispute the charges listed below.



can anyone explain what the second one means? should we be ticking it or not?

we agree with the damage report, but on the following pages is a list with boxes for estimated costs for repairs, which is blank. If we agree the report, are we agreeing to allow the landlord to take whatever he deems reasonable off us? should we have been provided with an estimated cost?


any advice anyone can give would be muchly appreciated.


Ste

[itsnotarace]

Have you handed the keys back or is there still time to put this right yourself, or at least get a quote of your own?

[bumrar]

we've handed the keys back unfortunately - it all became a bit rushed when I got asked to go to Spain for a month with work and decided to move out and back to my parents before going to save some pennies. So, although we were aware the carpet was a bit dirty and there was a small mark on a wall, we didn't have time to attend to them and hoped it would pass as general wear and tear.

Ste

[N Dentressangle]

Plenty of info here:

http://www.mydeposits.co.uk/tenants/tenant.htm

and on the links they provide.

[Kudos]

Could it be classed as reasonable wear and tear? How long were you there?

[bumrar]

Thanks for the link - very useful site, can't find an answer to my query. Im not trying to dispute wether it is wear and tear or not.

Is it normal practice to agree a damage report without any indication of repair costs?

[N Dentressangle]

bumrar said:

Thanks for the link - very useful site, can't find an answer to my query. Im not trying to dispute wether it is wear and tear or not.

Is it normal practice to agree a damage report without any indication of repair costs?

I think the mydeposits.co.uk people say they will help with queries - worth contacting them?

http://www.mydeposits.co.uk/contact_us.htm

[Wings]

The first process for any landlord is to register, protect a Deposit, then when the tenancy comes to an end, or when the tenant vacates the premises/tenancy, then the Deposit is unprotected. When the Deposit is unprotected, that being at the time when either the tenant’s Deposit is being refunded in full, or where deductions for damages have been agreed between tenant & LL/L. Whilst there is a dispute on the damage, and the costs for the same, then mydeposits will act as an mediator between the tenant and LL/LA.

To settle any dispute there will have to be a starting and ending point, that being two inventories, when the OP/tenant took up the tenancy, and the ending point/inventory, when the OP/tenant vacated the premises. If there is no opening inventory, then there is nothing to compare, no proof that the tenant has caused any damage etc.

With mydeposits. co. uk a Deposit must be protected for every Fixed term tenancy agreement, so if a new fixed term tenancy is drawn up/entered into, then the first protected Deposit must be unprotected, then immediately reprotected when the new fixed term tenancy is drawn up/entered into.