Sorry for the late reply - were very busy. It was a private agreement with Landlords-On-Line contract from July 2006 till July 2008. He said he replaced things, although the neighbours said he did not - green house. There were no inventory to start or to end with, just verbal giving over. The last day of July, the wife went through the property, pointing out the last few things she wanted done, which were done the first day of August 2008. Nowhere they indicated the vast deduction at all. Hope to still hear from you after such a long time away.

Sorry, new to site and did not know where to find response - still awaiting some help.

Please help - Urgent I have rented a property through 'friends' from church which I knew for about 2 years from July 2006 till July 2009. I was happy and loved the property and never kept any evidence. I never received a copy of the contract which was from 'Landlords on Line'. I've paid a full deposit of £1100 and the LL claims deductions such as cleaning, redecorating the house (painting of one bedroom full and a further wall from a 5 bedroom, 2 reception room, 3 bathroom - property), as well as cleaning time for removing all plants from garden and changing it; deductions for damage to a door which was totally damaged through the weather/rain and rotten wood - replacement; as well as cleaning the carpets which they initially said would be replaced after my moving out - they changed their minds and wanted me to pay for cleaning after 2 years. HE NEVER KEPT IN MIND THE FAIR 'WEAR AND TEAR' that would be expected. They left curtains in tatters, and told me I can use my own - dispose of theirs as that was what was in the house when they bought the house . Upon me moving out, I asked them if they want to keep my curtains, they replied to replace theirs - which I obviously did not have and I felt forced to leave my expensive curtains and blinds there . I did not sign any inventory at the start of the tenance and trusted it all to go well - as we are very clean and takes care of all our rental properties to the best of our ability and to anyone's standard. My friends which were regular house guests are all willing to give witness statements . LL fabricated loads of false photo's evil:which were clearly not what we left and also wants to claim blocked shower/bath water drainage - which was a structural issue they've had work done just before I've moved into the property. The property was vacant for almost a year before we took up residence. He wants to make us out as the worst tenants, but I have evidence through prior and recent landlords AS WELL AS regulary house guests and my sister and daughter which shared the house with me. The LL came in on the 19th July 2008 12 DAYS BEFORE WE WERE TO VACATE THE PROPERTY and took various pictures WITHOUT MY PERMISSION of the property and garden and included it in the counter-claim form which he send off to the courts. After that time we cleaned the garden 3 times, removing all unwanted plants and weeded properly. I went through small claims court and only received the documentation the day before all our statements had to be handed in to the court. The LL's wife was at the property over the last week and issued instructions of all needed to be done before we handed over the keys - without any indication of all the deductions they wanted to make. 3 weeks after we moved out, they replaced a pump from a washing machine - which they claimed we broke. The day we handed over keys, the washing machine was put back and in full working function. We had permission from the LL to rent from a well known company - dishwasher as well as washing machine and tumble dryer special. It all costed only about £18 per month - which was why we rather rented than used an old machine which we would have been responsible for upkeeping. It was working when we stowed it away in the garage as indicated by LL's. They took pictures - don't know when and where - about a bath half filled with mucky water - claiming I've left it like that - an utter false statement and claim . Please refer me to legal cases and help ! I'm devistated as we loved the property and did lots of smaller maintenance issues. We only informed LL's always by phone and was also always instructed by phone on what to do as they were on the South Coast and we on the Northern Boundaries of the M25. PLEASE HELP!

Please help - Urgent:confused: I have rented a property through 'friends' from church which I knew for about 2 years from July 2006 till July 2009. I was happy and loved the property and never kept any evidence. I never received a copy of the contract which was from 'Landlords on Line'. I've paid a full deposit of £1100 and the LL claims deductions such as cleaning, redecorating the house (painting of one bedroom full and a further wall from a 5 bedroom, 2 reception room, 3 bathroom - property), as well as cleaning time for removing all plants from garden and changing it; deductions for damage to a door which was totally damaged through the weather/rain and rotten wood - replacement; as well as cleaning the carpets which they initially said would be replaced after my moving out - they changed their minds and wanted me to pay for cleaning after 2 years. HE NEVER KEPT IN MIND THE FAIR 'WEAR AND TEAR' that would be expected. They left curtains in tatters, and told me I can use my own - dispose of theirs as that was what was in the house when they bought the house:rolleyes:. Upon me moving out, I asked them if they want to keep my curtains, they replied to replace theirs - which I obviously did not have and I felt forced to leave my expensive curtains and blinds there:cool:. I did not sign any inventory at the start of the tenance and trusted it all to go well - as we are very clean and takes care of all our rental properties to the best of our ability and to anyone's standard. My friends which were regular house guests are all willing to give witness statements:). LL fabricated loads of false photo's :?:evil:which were clearly not what we left and also wants to claim blocked shower/bath water drainage - which was a structural issue they've had work done just before I've moved into the property. The property was vacant for almost a year before we took up residence. He wants to make us out as the worst tenants, but I have evidence through prior and recent landlords AS WELL AS regulary house guests and my sister and daughter which shared the house with me. The LL came in on the 19th July 2008 12 DAYS BEFORE WE WERE TO VACATE THE PROPERTY and took various pictures WITHOUT MY PERMISSION of the property and garden and included it in the counter-claim form which he send off to the courts. After that time we cleaned the garden 3 times, removing all unwanted plants and weeded properly. I went through small claims court and only received the documentation the day before all our statements had to be handed in to the court. The LL's wife was at the property over the last week and issued instructions of all needed to be done before we handed over the keys - without any indication of all the deductions they wanted to make. 3 weeks after we moved out, they replaced a pump from a washing machine - which they claimed we broke. The day we handed over keys, the washing machine was put back and in full working function. We had permission from the LL to rent from a well known company - dishwasher as well as washing machine and tumble dryer special. It all costed only about £18 per month - which was why we rather rented than used an old machine which we would have been responsible for upkeeping. It was working when we stowed it away in the garage as indicated by LL's. They took pictures - don't know when and where - about a bath half filled with mucky water - claiming I've left it like that - an utter false statement and claim:evil:. Please refer me to legal cases and help:???:! I'm devistated as we loved the property and did lots of smaller maintenance issues. We only informed LL's always by phone and was also always instructed by phone on what to do as they were on the South Coast and we on the Northern Boundaries of the M25. PLEASE HELP!

This case is now already on it's way to the court. I've rented a property from 'friends', moved in on 26th June 2006 formally from 1st July 2006. We worked ourselves to the bone as place stood empty for more than 9 months - garden full of weeds, place painted, but old carpets and the curtains left, in bad condition. Due to being friends, did not bother to take pictures, moved in, placed all my own curtains + blinds in and covered bad spots in carpets with my own loose carpets to protect and make it look more acceptable - I was happy :grin: As we entered first winter, problems with rear exit became apparant and small maintenance problems were done by myself. Always just imformed LL by phone, never in writing - as I trusted my 'friends' from Church. They've visited on few occations to pick up post which they never redirected. I showed them some of evidence of work done, but never took pictures or kept official record. After getting new job, could not afford staying 70 miles from work and had to move. My regular cleaning people (general cleaning inside and window cleaning outside) has been given notice as there were too many packing going on and we (my sister and daughter - who were sharing the house with me) decided to clean place by ourselves. I had to go away on an extremely important trip, but had house sharers to do all work. We're all very clean and tidy in person - have various friends willing and already given statements to that effect. Carpets would have been replaced before we moved in, but I knew how much it cost the LL to fix the broken shower etc. I said it's fine to leave it and it could be replaced upon my moving out. I've decided to clean the downstairs carpets though, but not the neglected upstairs - which I asumed would have been replaced. On the 19th of July (12 days before our move-out date), the LL's were there to have a look at what should be done and took pictures of the garden and various items. Upon the last week, the LL (wife) was there every day, stating which areas she thought needed more attention which my House-sharers cleaned to request. All of their wishes were met and keys were handed back. The trouble started and they did not want to return my deposit, £1.100 and only wanted to return £126, claiming maintenance costs and cleaning costs which were totally unfair. Upon further communication and trying to solve issues through mediation, LL admitted claiming for things he did not replace 8-) and was willing to return a mere £550 - which was still not fair. Last week, 27th March I received counter claim of almost £2000, including his bills - I was in a state of shock and realised the photo's of the garden taken 12 days before our official move-out date was used. Also further fabricated pictures - surely not from the place we've rented - with false evidence - in black and white. They've being totally untrue about whole issue and I'm lost! Please help - what's my chances? I've borrowed money from my son to afford my current rental deposit. I never received a copy of the official agreement - no inventory was signed - the times the came to visit/inspect were not stated, but they were happy - we have no evidence of what the place looked like when we moved in, except for witnesses - we have limited pictures of the house from after we left, also only witness statements. Are there any cases I can look up or evidence of similar unfair withholding of deposits?

Hope someone helps me,need to start new thread in regards to similar problem

I'm also in a sticky situation and wants to start new thread, but has no clue. My deposit also being kept - someone, please help!