Post-Monarch review finds too many passengers flying unprotected READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/post-monarch-review-finds-too-many-passengers-flying-unprotected

To break this down firstly its a private landlord; Tenancy agreement started on 1st October 2012, deposit of £595 paid. Tenancy ended Mid March 2014 - Rent fully paid up until end of March 2014. No deposit protection scheme information sent. No inventory checklist for property done. Handed keys back 19th March, heard nothing wrote on 26th March requesting return of deposit, wrote again on 10th April requesting return giving LBA 14 day letter. Received a letter today, it states that: 1. I agreed a new AST on the 4th June 2013, and the deposit scheme sentence has been crossed out and she has written on that the deposit is taken to cover any damages on completing tenancy, and the tenant has agreed that this money will be held by the landlord and not a tenancy deposit scheme. As this is a copy I never got given the original one I signed, she conveniently kept it, I was never told this had changed and have not initialled next to the rewording, and when I did resign I never noticed this - I am usually pretty careful at reading stuff, I am not convinced this is the original front copy of the agreement. 2. In her letter she states that tenants were due to move in on the 1st april but were unable to as the whole house needed a good clean, small bedroom needed redecorating, kitchen and bathroom filthy, cooker needed deep clean as did the fridge, gas hob was broken and had to be replaced, blind missing from small bedroom, carpets needed cleaning and garden unkempt. Invoice is attached. There is no invoice attached but I presume the work amounts to the full deposit as there is no cheque included either. As no inventory was taken I cannot argue with her. I agree the carpets should be cleaned that's normal practice, the garden was pretty much a state when I moved in so no change there, I never had a problem with the hob, I left the property in the same condition as when I moved in. So any advice gladly appreciated. Regards, Joan

Please can anyone help as I can't function on another sleepless night... we moved out of our rented property on Sunday 23rd March We've always thought we had a decent relationship with our LL and although the decision wasn't our own we moved etc to accommodate them returning to the property themselves, our previous 12 month AST had expired and nothing put in place, they gave us 2 months notice. When we moved in we mutually agreed we could redecorate 2 of bedrooms, all at our own cost, they now wish to withhold some of our deposit to pay for them to be redecorated again to suit their own personal taste, they are claiming this is what we agreed, neither of us have anything in writing. They have since been in touch again with a list of very minor or completely made-up issues with the property, mostly being general wear and tear or stuff they agreed we could do... we welcomed their inspections every 6 months and they never had an issue with us putting the coat hooks behind doors etc They have told us that our deposit is not and never was registered into a protection scheme We need our deposit back to be able to move to another property but also because we believe that money is rightfully ours! We are good tenants, rent always paid in full on time etc My husband wants us to move back into the property, (we have realised that my mum still has a set of the keys) and he believes we are within our rights to do this, I'd don't want to aggravate the situation, I just want our deposit back, if it makes a difference our rent/deposit was £995pm and we lived there since Sept 2011, we found the property through an agent but it has not been managed by them. I am in the process of preparing a LBA but would REALLY appreciate any advise, suggestions and recommendations many thanks for your time

Our AST agreement states that our deposit of £250 will be held under the terms of the DPS custodial scheme. We gave notice and have left the property. The DPS have confirmed that our deposit has not been protected with them. We spent days cleaning before moving out, and borrowed a carpet cleaner. I returned the keys and kept tight lipped as the landlady inspected the property to avoid an argument. Landlady made a comment that the house was clean, pointed out that she would have to put right the fixings we had put up for pictures, and some damage to the wallpaper where the cat had scratched. We inspected the level of the oil tank and she finished the inspection saying she would withdraw the deposit and return it. We then received a letter stating that she could not tell us how much of the deposit she was returning as she would need to see if a professional carpet cleaner could remove stains we had left in the carpet. These stains were not mentioned in the inspection. She lists a number of other things including light bulbs that need replacing, and broken fire bricks in the stove, these was not mentioned in the inspection. No amounts are discussed, so we do not dispute and the letter concludes that she will write to us following the carpet cleaning. 15 days after the date the carpet cleaning was scheduled we write to her and ask for an update the response is quick deductions are as follows: £70 for cleaning the carpets £40 replacement of bulbs and cleaning bathroom £15 replacement of bathroom shelves £75 50% contribution to replacing of fire bricks in the log burner. The total cost was £149.95 £50 towards cost of redecoration quote was over £200 and I have only taken £50 from you towards this cost. Magically £250. This came with the a cheque for £30 for unused heating oil that we had paid for. The DPS have confirmed that our deposit has not been protected with them, and we have written to the landlady to ask for a DPS reference and to ask if not the DPS how our deposit has been protected. We have not yet put in writing how we disoute the deductions. She has texted us now a few times asking us what we despute to which we have simply asked for a DPS ref from her records. Any request has been side stepped and she has neither confirmed nor denied protecting our deposit. We were unaware that the fire bricks had cracked and over a year ago a chimney sweep at her expense had come to sweep the chimney and instead condemned the log burner saying it needed a metal baffle plate fitting and a co alarm. She never had this work done so we have been unable to use the stove. Now that we have left we are apparently joint responsible for replacing the bricks. The stove company's website states that the bricks purpose is to insulate the stove for better combustion and do not need to be replaced if they crack. We dispute £40 for replacing bulbs and cleaning a bath as excessive, and we had already cleaned the property to a standard we felt matched that of the state we moved in. The inventory has no record of state of cleanliness. We broke and damaged two glass corner shelves during our tenancy. They were put up resting on wooden battens fixed with sticky foam pads, over time these pads have lost their sticky, and were therefore rather precariously balanced in place, a guest knocked one and it fell and broke, I knocked the other and it fell and chipped. It was when I knocked the other that I realised how inappropriate the fitting was. We did not replace them as with young children we did not want more accidents. In researching a fair price for replacement it is clear that this type of shelf should come with more robust clamp type fixings. Is it fair to see this as ware and tear considering that they were not installed correctly? We dispute the need to clean the carpets as we had already cleaned them and any minor marks (though she describes them as major) should be seen as fair use over two years of family life on cheap carpets. £50 towards costs of redecoration seems at first reasonable. Though the whole house is in need of a once over anyway. My question is having stated that these are her deductions from the deposit, if we dispute some of them does she have any right to claim that there are further cost (for example for redecoration) that we are now liable? (the fact that she has returned £30 for oil would suggest to me that this is her final claim of what we owe.) As our AST agreement states that the deposit is to be protected under the terms of the DPS custodial scheme, (the terms state that the deposit must be lodged within 30 days of receipt). I do not see how she could protect the deposit late and avoid a penalty in court. Any opinion as to where we would stand with counter claims of additional costs? Any opinion gratefully received.

Hi Everyone I'm new to this forum and wanted to get some advice regarding recovering my tenancy deposit. It was not protected, although my tenancy was not particularly straightforward and I'd be grateful for some advice on the issue. I'm finding this forum very difficult to navigate - is there a particular section I can start a thread on advice recovering a tenancy deposit? Many thanks. Regards Mark