Emergency Help Needed With Unreturned Deposit

[arisola]

Dear Dearalls,
I would appreciate it if you could give me some advice on the following matter.
My partner and I moved out from the flat in June, in good faith that our £1200 would be returned asap (little did we know). After sending continuous emails to the landlady she finally replied in September saying that she was appauled by the state we left the flat in. She basically claimed that we left it dirty, with burned out bulbs, cigarette stains on the bathtub (!), burned carpets etc etc. She stated that after she had all that replaced she would refund our deposit. Quite politely I then replied that we agree on having the house cleaned professionally but none of the rest and that if she persisted we would take legal action. Initially she got shook up and she said that if we paid the bills (which we had) she would give the deposit back minus the cleaner's fee. however after 20 or so days, she contacted us and said that she doesnt care about anything (bills, cleaners, etc) but only for the replacement of the bathtub. I told her to send me a quote and she did send me one for £1071 (195bath+876installation! !).
I send her an email saying that we would not mind paying for the bath but not for its installation and yet again threatened with legal action, but so far no reply as such!!
Unfortunatelly for us she has statements from witnesses (god knows who) that with our actions we deapreciated the value of the house and that she has photographs of the condition we left it in...The house was left in an intact condition and noone was there to inspect it when we did actually leave, while as I mentioned before, she took over 4 months to reply to our emails. We hold the tenancy agreement and all the emails that we sent her (and her few replies).
We would really appreciate your input as to what we can do. We have now ceased caring about the money per se and we only seek to see some justice done! Do we stand any chance of getting our money back?!?!
Thanks in advance for the input and time...
Aris+Maria

[demon_x_slash]

Did you and your partner have an entry-and-exit inventory? Photographs of cleanliness/damages? I would have thought that after this length of time, without those, she would be unable to prove that what she is saying is true (that you caused the damage). I would give her 14 days in writing to refund, then consider MCOL.


...Plus - why would it cost £800 to install a bath?

[blacksheep1979]

unless you signed agreeing to the pictures/state of the property it won't carry much weight. If you still have copies of the emails/letters with you being more than reasonable and offering cleaning and the new bath that should also hold you in good stead. The time is past for idle threats, send a letter recorded delivery giving 14 days to return the deposit and failing that apply to the small claims court.

[Jhawc24]

There is a template letter here, plus read through the ARLA regs - very interesting.

Unfair deposit deductions

Also some good advice here Shelter: Advice and support .

Good luck, Joan

[MrShed]

Without meaning to be cynical....but why did you agree to pay for the bath if you feel you did not damage it?

[arisola]

Massive thank you shout out to Jhawc24, blacksheep1979, demon_x_slash, and to MrShed (we only agreed paying to show good faith to resolve the issue out of court, and because we assumed that the cost would be more or less equal to cleaning the flat). We had an entry invenotry, that simply stated the number of items that were on the flat, not their condition (we do not have that in our possesion). No exit inventory as noone was there to inspect, and it was only after 3 months that she replied and nagged about the condition of the flat....we have never been shown the supposed photogrpahs, and ofcourse never agreed or signed anything as we have never actually met the woman!!! Two questions to clarify:
Is the letter in this link Unfair deposit deductions the LBA? If not where can I find a template for that?
I also asked her to confirm her address as this is stated in the contract, which she hasnt. I will email her the letter, and also post it to the address I am provided with in the contract, but if she does not actually live there, can she claim in the court that she never received it...
Again thanks to you all....You give us some faith that we might actually see some light in the tunnel...

[Jhawc24]

The letter is just a template for you to adapt to meet your needs, you just reiterate your request for return of deposit less any agreed amounts in your LBA letter.

All letters I have sent to my ex landlord have been by signed for; however most prefer to use special delivery as Royal Mail don't always have the signed for, signed for! If that makes any sense.

Good luck!

[demon_x_slash]

The letter before action can be any letter advising the opposite side of impending legal action. You just need to put Letter Before Action at the start of the template letter and adapt it to your situation. Stick to the facts, give as many dates, times, and so on, that you can - shows that you're on top of the situation and know what you're talking about - and state step by step exactly what you intend to do if your money is not refunded. I.e.: If you do not reply to this, we will allow another 14 days, if no response, we wll be claiming, etc.
She was legally obliged to give you her address during your tenancy. If she's not forthcoming, do a search on the property through Land Registry, they'll have it on file. As Jhawc24 said above, send by Special Delivery, because RM's service is rubbish. At least with SD you're reasonably sure it's going to get to the right person.

Oh, and obviously, keep copies of everything. Do everything by paper too; avoid phone conversations as unless you're recording them it's your word against hers.