Unfair deposit deduction

[Nick1_S]

Hi all,

I am in a bit of a situation, partly due to my own making i must say.

In 2004 i moved in with 2 other ppl. We had an inventory and i would describe the house as fair condition for rented property.

Over the next 3 years, ppl moved out and new ones moved in. I was the only person there the whole 3 years. The agent did not perform an inventory anytime that someone moved in or out.

We moved out in May 2007. About a month before, my partner who was living with me in the house, had a meeting with the agent and the landlady as she was back from abroad and wanted to see the housse. So she had a look around and said she was very happy and loved what we had done with the garden as it was listed as a 'jungle' on the inventory.

We cleaned the house up and my partner was present at the inventory. As the clerk went round she was spotting things like cobwebs and marks etc which my partner cleaned as they went round.

So we were pretty happy that we had met the landlady and she was happy with the condition of the house and that we also had the chance to go round the property and clean the little things we may have left.

But, we were then told we had to pay maintenance of over £200 and the landlady wanted £300 for cleaning costs, which she calculated herself for 2 ppl cleaning at £7 per hour. She also wanted money for a carpet and also for removing some items (bed, sofa) that she had verbally agreed to keep in the house at our pre meeting.

The points i believe are in my favour are:

1. There was never an inventory taken when anyone moved in or out of the house during the tennancy. Its unfair the last 3 ppl get lumped with it all.

2. It transpires that at the time of the pre meeting, the landlady was thinking about continuing to rent the property. But after we had moved out she decided to move in to live there herself. It is believed that her standard of what was acceptable changed from being a landlady to actually living there. She has even stated this in a letter to us.

3. On the day we left, workmen entered the house and were there for days afterwards doing work on the house. Why would you clean a place before letting workmen in?

We totally disagree with the cleaning costs, although some of the maintenance items are fair.

We have tried to resolve this with the agent who have really been dragging their feet and have only jumped into action after i mentioned legal action.

Where i have not helped matters is that in my initial letters i agreed to some of the cleaning for goodwill but did not state i disagreed with the maintenance. Now i am contesting the whole of the cleaning but agree with the maintenance. So my initial letters were confusing. My last two cleared up exactly what i want to claim and why. But there response has been that i have agreed in writing to both over time and they are more or less right.

Has this completey damaged my case? The facts remain for me that the whole cleaning bill is infair.

any thoughts?

nick

[MrShed]

In the initial letter, did you state that it was a goodwill gesture? And also how much of the cleaning you would accept on this basis?

Were you on a joint tenancy, or was the property let on a "room by room" basis, with communal areas? If a joint tenancy, was a new tenancy signed at the time of the new tenants moving in?

[Nick1_S]

Thanks for your reply.

No, I stated i would agree to a certain amount of the cleaning. It was not stated as goodwill.

It was a joint tennancy between the three of us initially, however as new tennants came and went an inventory was never perfomed. The tennancy was renewed every year, so for most tennants they were on the tennancy at some point. But they were not on it as soon as they moved in, only when the year came up if you see what i mean.

[MrShed]

I doubt you have too much of a problem with that wording - it is vague enough that you can argue that the certain amount was very small.

You should have had your deposit returned at the termination of the first tenancy, then repaid after inventory etc for each year. When did you last renew?

[Nick1_S]

when i say certain amount then i did state x amount so i guess i am screwed there. Like i say at the time i did not realise i would be paying the maintenance to the letting agents as well. Its only on refelection that i think the maintenance costs are valid but that the landladys own cleaning costs were not.

so i geuss it is confusing on their part as i have agreed to one and then the other.

Still the facts are the same. £300 or thereabouts cleaning costs are ridiculous, but i dont know if i have any chance in court. The only thing i have is that an inventory was not performed each time a tennant came or went. We renewed in march 2006 for 12 months i think, but will have to check.

[MrShed]

What was the amount you stated?

[Nick1_S]

2/3rds, so around £200.

so the letting agents wants this for the landlady and then 250 for maintenance and some other bits i cant remember but it all totals up about £600 in all.