Deposit Dispute

[spinningfish]

Hello all

I moved out of my rented accommodation on 18th December, and after chasing my deposit, the letting agents have finally emailed me back today. They are requesting £275 to be deducted from my deposit, which seems an awful lot for what they are asking.

I have added their email to me below in italics, and my comments about each item in red below each of theirs.

“We have carried out a final inspection at the property, and there are a few things that the Landlord has had to rectify.

• The bedroom walls had been painted with a non waterproof paint on top of waterproof paint, and all the walls were peeling. The Landlord has therefore had to strip all walls, apply sealer and repaint with emulsion
• We did ask permission to paint the walls, as they were a bit rough, and that was granted. However, the extractor fan in the bathroom never worked, and as there is not a window in the bathroom, and the window above the door was missing, all the steam went straight into the bedroom. The bathroom never dried completely. It was very horrible and very mouldy.

It then took the letting agents three months to replace the extractor fan, after repeated requests via email – all documented.
At the same time, our only storage heater in the flat failed, which took four months to be replaced. Again via email – all documented.
I also have an email to the letting agent expressing my concerns at the peeling of the wallpaper in the bedroom, and cited the damp from the bathroom as the cause. The response was that I would not be liable for this from my deposit.
Now they have decided the reason the wallpaper peeled is due to me! This I dispute.
Also there was rising damp in the bedroom cupboard, which I pointed out to the letting agent on the final inspection

• The door handle had to be refitted to the water tank cupboard
• In this case, the thread of the bolt coming through the cupboard door was too short and worn. I believe this to be general wear and tear. It literally fell off!
• Curtain rings had to be replaced to curtain poles, both in the bedroom and the lounge
• These were in the kitchen drawer, as pointed out to the letting agent! I had tab top curtains. I’m certainly not into pinching plastic curtain rings!!
• Rubbish left in outside store cupboard had to be removed
• There was paint and cardboard, which was already there when we moved in. I did leave the paint of the repainted bedroom colour out of courtesy. It doesn’t always pay to be nice.
• Work surfaces and oven in kitchen had to be cleaned
• These were fully cleaned when I left! The oven wasn’t brand new and nothing could be done about some baked on marks.
• The Chubb key was not handed back to us when you vacated the property
• Oops. Yes I still have this and need to post it back!!
• The Landlord has therefore requested us to deduct £275.00 from your deposit monies, leaving a balance of £320.00 to be paid back to you.

I look forward to hearing from you with your comments.”

What are my legal rights regarding this, as £275 is a lot of money!

Also, I was there for the final inspection and nothing was ever mentioned to me about any of this! I left on the 18th December, and after repeated emails they have only got back to me today, so how was I supposed to rectify anything?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance

Mr Fish

[Matt989]

Im no expert but I would ask for a break down of the balance as this does not seem like £275 worth of faults!

[knoxvillain]

your deposit is YOUR money so your landlord is legally obliged to account for it correctly. Ask for copies of invoices/quotations (not estimates) for EVERYTHING. Challenge anything you don't agree with. Get an idea of how much you think they should reasonably get to keep and ask for the rest back.

[spinningfish]

OK. I emailed them to request the invoices and quotations, and also to dispute the wallpaper, as above.

I requested this on the 12th January, and have heard nothing at all. At what point should I follow this up, and what should my next course of action be?

Thanks!

Mr Fish

[RCBanks]

In my own ongoing case I have given my letting agency 10 working days to respond to my letters. If you haven't heard anything after that, write a second request that is strongly worded but be careful to stick to the facts and don't make any accusations. The third time you write (if necessary) might have to be a letter before action (LBA). Be sure to keep a full record of any contact (emails, letters, phonecalls).

Am I right in thinking that no cheque has been issued to you so far? If so, does your contract say anything about how long it should take for the return of your money?

If you were there for the checkout I would ask how these issues later came to light. I think I'm right in saying that a tenant should be allowed the opportunity to recify such issues if they are identified in final inspection before full vacation. Perhaps someone with more expertise here on the forum could advise.

Be sure to get those invoices for items that have been replaced and for the cleaning work. Did the landlord do the decorating work himself? If so he can only charge a fixed amount per hour. Knoxvillain and others will be able to tell you more, I'm sure. Good luck.

[spinningfish]

I called the Letting Agents today, and they advised me that I need to take up my dispute directly with the Landlord, even though they were the managing agents.

They agreed to send me £320 of the deposit, but are still sending £275 of the deposit to the Landlord, even though I have still not received any invoices, or even a response to my original email.

I also got this email from them:

"Further to our telephone conversation today and recent
e-mails, I am writing to advise you that we will be sending you a return of deposit cheque for £320 (£595.00 minus £275.00).

The balance of £275.00 will be sent to your Landlord, Mr A Thiefman, who you should contact to discuss reimbursement due to the deductions he has made.

Mr Thiefmans telephone number is : XXXXXXXXXXXXX

If you have any queries at all, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Miss Letting Agent"

Apparently they passed my original email to the Landlord, so should I send it again, or take the next course of action?

Thanks

Mr Fish

[spunkeyrich]

hi,

I had to take my landlord to court over the same sort of principle. He wanted to take £400 off of my deposit of £525 due to 'repairs' and 'storage of items left at the property'

Now, the Agent agreed with me that I should get my money back as they had not done an inventory or report of condition, and in over the year I was there even after inspections from the Agent and Landlord, nothing was ever mentioned to me as to the repairs needed. Indeed at final inspection there was also no mention. In fact it was a bit of a mess when we moved in. wish i have taken some photoes.

The dispute is between yourself and the Landlord, not the agent. Looks like you have documented everything. Ask for the copy of the report of condition before you moved in.

I finally got my full deposit back including court fee, The Landlord tried to enter into communication with me on a number of occasions to try to justify the amount, sent a letter to him asking for full payment with LBA. and ask for proffessional quotes on the items listed. If some of the damage was caused by a fault of the property which you informed them of then they are responsible for any repairs needed.

My Landlord tried lots of things to make my claim difficult, he informed me he does not live at the address i wrote to him but i wrote recorded deliver and guess what? he signed for it. He wrote to me posting pictures of the home taking photoes of what i had left, including toilet roll, bar of soap, washing up liquid, kitchen rolls and some cleaning items and tins of paint that were at the property when i arrived.

anyway most Landlords are only in the business to make money and this is one way of making extra. Stick to your guns and there is always a point that they will give in when you are serious. They dont want a county court judgement against them as it would make it difficult for thier credit facilities.

rich