Hello again!! So I sent that letter two weeks ago. He had until today to reply... and hasn't. I'm hoping this is going to help my case ANy thoughts on what I need to do now? Do I send him a brief letter informing him I am taking the case to small claims? And how much detail should I go into on the application? Below is what I have so far to write on the web application (do I get the opportunity to attach all the correspondance and license agreement etc do you know? 'I wish to claim the full amount of the deposit (£375) which was given to the defendant on January 22nd 2010 as part of the License agreement (held between me, **** and the Landlord, ****) for (the address), plus court charges of £35. Since vacating the property on the 22nd July 2010, **** has not cooperated with my efforts to resolve this situation amicably. He initially offered £114, after deducting unneccessary, unfair and disproportionate charges, of which he did not give explanation. Nor do many of these charges correlate with the details of the License Agreement. He failed to reply to my letter detailing why I was not prepared to cover such charges, within the 14 day period I allowed. I feel this was an adequate period of time. I had tried to reach a resolution by agreeing to share some costs, however, due to his inability to respond, I now wish to claim the full outstanding deposit amount.@ Many thanks again!! Sam x

Thank you SO much!!! That sounds fab I have made all those changes!! Thanks again

This is the first draft of my reply letter!!

Following your recent letter briefly detailing charges deducted from my deposit, I have sought legal advice. I have been advised that these charges are both unnecessary and disproportionate. I have been advised that if I do not receive a refund of the full deposit amount within 14 days of the date of this letter to take further legal action. Below are some points you may wish to consider with THE LANDLORD: 1. You should have provided to me a detailed list of deductions that you intended to make, and the reasons for these. This would allow me to contest any grievances and come to a reasonable agreement with you. You have not done this. 2. Landlords may change the locks to the property, following the departure of a tenant, at their own discretion. However, they are not entitled to charge the tenant for this. As I vacated the property on the agreed date and left my original set of keys (of which I assure no copies have been made) with yourself and LETTING AGENT this is not a valid claim. 3. The bedroom and communal areas were deemed acceptable following a final inspection, to which LETTING AGENT is my witness (I also have dated photos to prove this). I should not be charged for any cleaning of the communal areas; in addition your charge of £85 is, once again, unreasonable. The house was not professionally cleaned prior to the license agreement commencing and therefore I am under no legal obligation to pay for this to be done on vacation of the premises. 4. Similarly the mattress was also not professionally cleaned before commencement of our agreement. I was prepared to pay for this, and made reasonable effort to do so, to keep our situation as amicable as possible. However following your recent communication, I am no longer prepared to do this, and am under no legal obligation to do so. 5. With regards to the deduction of £50 to cover the replacement of cutlery, may I remind you of communication (over text message) that we had prior to my vacation of the property; you asked if I had the handful of items that were missing (around 4 if I recall), I replied that I did not have them, nor did I know where they were. I can confirm that I did not take these items of cutlery. I am also confused as to how you can justify charging £50 or around £12.50 per item of budget cutlery, when an identical 24 piece set is on sale in Ikea for £19.99 (i.e. £0.83 per item). I will not be covering this cost. 6. I am not required to pay for replacement batteries. I’m sure you can remember that throughout my time at ......., I provided all batteries for the communal areas and also gave you extra batteries for your own personal use. I took the batteries that I had provided as I had only recently changed them and required them in my new property. 7. I am not aware of any rent arrears, as this issue was not raised after paying my final rent instalment to you, although you were aware of my intended vacation date. This is the first communication I have had over this matter. However I have been advised that you forward a statement up until the 22nd July with clear explanation. Of course if a simple error as occurred on my part, I apologise and you should deduct this from my deposit. Whilst I am writing, I would respectfully request that you and .... do not contact me via text message or telephone. If you require a more prompt response than the postal system will allow, I am happy to communicate via email. However I see no further issues and look forward to you fulfilling the last obligation as per the license agreement, and forwarding the full deposit amount I am owed. I will of course return your original cheque by recorded delivery if you request this, otherwise it will be destroyed appropriately. Many thanks in advance.

Many thanks for this!! It helps a lot. I have written a letter detailing, in turn, each charge and challanging his justification for this. I will also add that I require the full amount in this time frame before taking it further! Thanks!!!

They gave no justification just stated how much and what for. The place was spotless when i left! I have managed to speak to the letting agency and they said that everything was fine as they inspected it. He is also sueing the Letting Agency for not letting him have my new address. Although he seems content with having my parents address now. As for the cutlery, he asked a few weeks before I left if I had seen a few missing items (around 4- he is that petty to count forks!), I had a look for them and said i didnt have them, and didnt know where they were. we both use the stuff so don't know how he can charge me 2.5 times the cost of an identical 24 piece set!! The Agency, although not legally involved with me, have said i should be fine, but does anyone else have any words of wisdom?? Thanks!!!

Hi guys! I really don't know much about the differences between all these different agreements, but basically I lived in a house where the landlord, moved away, his tenant (and friend) remained in the house and I moved in. We had a license agreement between the three of us. They then turned quite nasty after I said I wanted to leave (after 6 months) being very horrible indeed (details of which I won't go in to!). I moved out over a month ago, I didn't want them to have my new address here so gave them my parents (the letting agency have been helping me, although they have no contractual obligation, they felt they were harrassing me, and didn't want them to have my new address either, the Landlord and other tenant refused to use my work address.) However my mum has received a letter from them today, with a cheque for about £115 (my deposit was £375) with deductions for £80 to have the lock changed (which was not in my agreement), £50 for cutlery (WHAT!!!) and stupid things like £5 for batterys from remotes (really petty!) and £85 for cleaning, even though the letting agent who carried out the inspection said everything was fine! They have said they can provide receipts, which is fair, but I don't see why I should incur these charges. I took pictures of everywhere before I left, but they are on my digital camera so don't know how these would hold up if it did go further. Any advice?? I'm so glad to be out of there and really want this all to be over, I'm starting to think that I don't actually care about the money, but why should they get to keep it??? Many thanks in advance for your help!!!

Hi. I really don't know much about the differences between all these different agreements, but basically I lived in a house where the landlord, moved away, his tenant (and friend) remained in the house and I moved in. We had a license agreement between the three of us. They then turned quite nasty after I said I wanted to leave (after 6 months) being very horrible indeed (details of which I won't go in to!). I moved out over a month ago, I didn't want them to have my new address here so gave them my parents (the letting agency have been helping me, although they have no contractual obligation, they felt they were harrassing me, and didn't want them to have my new address either, the Landlord and other tenant refused to use my work address.) However my mum has received a letter from them today, with a cheque for about £115 (my deposit was £375) with deductions for £80 to have the lock changed (which was not in my agreement), £50 for cutlery (WHAT!!!) and stupid things like £5 for batterys from remotes (really petty!) and £85 for cleaning, even though the letting agent who carried out the inspection said everything was fine! They have said they can provide receipts, which is fair, but I don't see why I should incur these charges. I took pictures of everywhere before I left, but they are on my digital camera so don't know how these would hold up if it did go further. Any advice?? I'm so glad to be out of there and really want this all to be over, I'm starting to think that I don't actually care about the money, but why should they get to keep it??? Many thanks in advance for your help!!!