Landlord withholding deposit longer than agreed + no inventory!

[Project]

Hi all - hopefully you can help.

Both myself and a friend took on a 12 month lease of a via the agent Keatons in East London, with a deposit totalling £1,000 between the two of us (500 each). No inventory was signed or even offered to us when moving into the property.

Anyhows, skip forward 12 months and we move out on the agreed date of 30th June 2007. The contract specifically states that the landlord would agree the total deductions with the tennants and return what was left of the deposit within 3 weeks. It has now been 24 days and she has called us to say that she is still inspecting the property but has already deemed that she would be deducting money for both bedrooms and the bathroom to be repainted, a new wardrobe because the doors didnt close 100%, and a new bed due to a small tear in the material above the springs.

Where do we stand on this, due to there being a) no inventory to prove that these faults were not there at the time of moving in and b) her late with the return of the deposit?

I am not too familiar with the legalities of this stuff so would be grateful for any assistance.

Thanks

[blitz]

The landlord cannot legally make deductions to your deposit without a signed inventory. The landlord would need to prove that you damaged the property
having proof that it was in good condition before you moved in.
Also they cannot deduct even with an inventory for fair wear and tear.
Tell you landlord that she cannot make a deduction without a signed inventory and you require the deposit within 7 days. If s/he refuses when asked send her a LBA (Letter before action)

[Project]

I just had an hour long conversation with her. She really wouldnt listen and kept talking over me (she is a lawyer by trade). It was extremely frustrating. To sum up, these were her arguments. Apologies if its long but I am also writing this as a reference of the conversation in case I forget anything later on.

- The wardrobe fell over when the new tenant put their clothes into it. I told her I couldnt believe this as it had been fine for me the entire year.

- There are things which would only have been spotted by the new tenants as she failed to spot them in the initial review of the property - ie the wardrobe... I mentioned that surely the review of the property should be done before you sign up an agreement with new tenants.

- She got very annoyed when I brought up the issue of the Inventory. "thats not the way I do things" she said. She said she was a very relaxed landlord and expected her tenants to be the same way. She cited various previous tenants who had got their money back within days in full as reason for me to believe this.

- She claimed that because we did not supply the council tax reference number until just yesterday, she was able to keep hold of the deposit in case we owed anything (we are students so didnt pay council tax anyway)

- She wanted us to give her the full 30 days to properly account for everything before she gives us the final expenses. This is despite the fact that there are already new tenants in there who could for all means by damaging things and just saying we did it.

- She was surprised that it said 3 weeks for the deposit to be returned in the contract. "I havent checked the contract to be honest but we usually deal with 30 days - that is customary"

- She brought my RACE into it, saying that I was her first black tenant and it was funny how I am the first to object to any deductions. She is black too. She was making a clear distinction between my race and my forthcoming regarding the matter.

- She said that I was being "mean" and untoward about it, by playing the inventory card. I explained that I didnt mean to cause any offense, just that I disagree with some of the charges and I would like to know how she would account for things when we hadnt agreed on their initial condition upon moving in.

- She asked me if I believe I should have my money back - I said yes. She said would you have let somebody move into the flat after you left, "given the state that it was in". She pointed to her needing to use an industrial cleaner for the oven etc and a mark on the carpet. I said this was definitely like this when we moved in so didnt feel the need to clean it professionally. She said what would you realistically expect to receive back from your deposit - I said to be honest, most of it. I accept the paintwork in the bedroom and a thorough cleaning of the oven. She laughed.

- She said that the bathroom needed to be repainted. I objected to this due to the fact that she used an inadequate paint around the shower area instead of tiles. The paint wasnt waterproof. The paint absorbed condensation/droplets etc over the year and began to flake in some places. I said I believe this was general wear and tear, due to its proximity to the shower (its all but impossible for it not to get wet).

- She said that the new tenant found the tear in the bed. I again raised the issue that its unfair of her to be bringing up issues after somebody else has move in.

- She said shes got enough money for the £1,000 in deposit not to mean much to her. She said that its not worth arguing over such a trivial amount of money. I said as we are both students, £1,000 is anything but trivial - we appreciate that there may be deductions but feel the majority of the deposit being deducted would be unfair.

as a note - the property is 5 years old as is all of the furniture in there, including the wardrobe which she has replaced with a brand new one.


As you can see, the basis of her claim appears to be one of goodwill. i.e. - I am a nice landlord and dont enforce things like late payments, you should return the gesture. She was getting very upset about it and I actually felt bad and thought I should end the conversation there, let her finish what she needs to do and wait for the final bill before I take it any further.

[Joa]

You have basically answered most of your questions in your second post. I would only reitarete blitz' advice: no inventory= no way of proving anything. Also, her statement that she hasn't really seen a contract yet she is prepared to argue finer points of it, makes me wonder what kind of lawyer she is....
Finally- if you need further assistance, your Student Union should have an advice service. Most of the SU advice centres are excellent and very well used to dealing with deposit queries. Go and see them if you need your leeter to be proof-read as from now on you should keep all comms in writing.