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Landlord refusing to give us bond back


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In November 2007 me and my partner moved into a cottage which was privately rented costing us £500 per month in rent and £500 bond.

Last week we moved out and the landlord is refusing to give us our bond back despite on the day of us handing the keys back he said everything was ok and I signed a piece of paper where he stated we would get the full bond back.

Since then he has been round to our new home and said we will not be getting the bond back due to the following reasons :

1) The stairs carpet needs replacing (this carpet was already tatty when we moved in and is the only carpet in the house)

2 ) A hole in the floorboards in the loft bedroom (due to a bad leak that was coming in through the roof when we moved in causing the floorboards to become damp)

3) Damage to £200 worth of sofa covers which I put in the loft and once again he says they have become damp and will not be able to be cleaned (due to the leak through the loft)

4) Bedroom door which admittedly needed repainting after our dog got locked in the bedroom by accident and panicked and scratched the door.

 

We offered to replace the door and the floor boards but he refused.

We were also willing to replace the stairs carpet which to be honest would cost next to nothing for this amount of carpet.

 

As for the sofa covers i'm sure if they were dry cleaned they would be fine.

 

We never signed an inventory when we moved in.

 

Should he be making us pay for damage to sofa covers even though the damage was due to this leak and should he really have left them in the house if they were worth so much.

 

Also for at least 6 months the only form of heating we had in the house was a coal fire. The heating in the kitchen, bathroom and spare bedroom broke down and he did not repair them.

 

6 months after we moved in he finally got the leak from the roof fixed but it had caused alot of damage in the spare bedroom as it had leaked through...we spent at least £70 sanding the walls, putting damp proof paint on them and repainting the whole room which he said he would reimburse me for...he has not!

 

We also replaced the lock on the front door as the original lock was seizing...he didnt pay us back for this either.

 

Can anyone please advise on what we can do about this and if he was within his rights to keep our bond?

 

Any help would be appreciated

Many Thanks :)

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If you have a signed piece of paper then he has no right to change his mind. My ex-neighbour's landlord just tried exactly that (charging over £100 for a professional clean because some of the radiator caps were dusty!), but fortunately the letting agent took my neighbour's side and told the landlord to repay all the deposit.

 

The second point is that you have not said anything about your deposit being protected. If it has not been protected you could sue for a 3x deposit penalty.

 

Write saying that you resent the fact that he has gone back on his word, and that if you have to go to court you will sue for the deposit plus the 3x penalty (assuming the deposit is protected). Don't discuss anything else by conversation as he is clearly bullying you.

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Thanks for the reply :)

 

Our deposit was not protected, it was paid in cash to the landlord when we moved in and was not done through an estate agent. However he did say his solicitor is dealing with it and it would be a week until we received the bond back...obviously things have now changed as he has said we will not get it back. :confused:

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Write to the landlord and tell him that according to the housing act 2004 he was legally obliged from 6 april 2007 to place your deposit in a recognised deposit protection scheme.

 

Since he has not done so, you are entitled to the full deposit returned to you, plus as compensation he must pay you 3x the deposit.

 

As you are a reasonable person you would be willing, as a gesture of goodwill, to simply accept the refund of your bond (if you are) and not pursue him for the extra £1500 which would be awarded if you took this to the courts.

 

This is conditional on him paying you this in cleared funds within 7/14 days.

 

 

If you are not willing to do this then you need a form N208 which can be obtained from The requested resource (/HMCSCourtFinder/tiles/Her Majesty's Courts Service -Forms and Guidance) is not available. It costs £150 to lodge the claim which is added to the money they owe you.

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Ok well i wrote a letter to my ex landlord last week requesting the bond back within 7 days otherwise I will take him to court.....so far we have had no word from him!

Funnily enough now we have moved house we have just received a certificate from the deposit protection scheme to 'prove' this deposit IS protected...funny we never had one from the ex landlord...wonder what he will do next...ignore it or try and get out of it!!!! :confused:

What do I do if I hear nothing from him???

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If you hear nothing then you need to issue, use form n208 as per the link in my previous thread.

 

dont forget that if he has not protected your deposit (and you will assume he hasnt if he has not told you where it is) then you need to claim your full deposit, plus 3x the deposit so a total of 4x the amount of your deposit.

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Well, we've had a response!

He is offering us the bond back less £200.

He says he had to pay £80 for a cleaner, £40 to replace the stairs carpet and £100 for a joiner to fix the floorboards in the loft which now apparently were not caused by the leak but by a friend of ours who stayed with us, leaving the velux windows open when it rained.

He says we were subletting, however it was a friend who stayed a while, paid us little and he knew about her and is now using the word 'subletting'!

He says we can accept his offer or go to court and he has taken pictures of all the damage too.

So what would you do???

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If you have the time, go to court... he clearly hasnt protected the deposit, so this means you are entitled to, in my opinion, your full deposit back and 3x as penalty. The subletting IMO isnt really an issue as there hasnt been any financial loss to the LL, and the other deductions seem unreasonable also (as there was no inventory, he cant prove that things werent how they are now when you moved in). I'm not a lawyer, but I'd say, if you have the time, go to court.... its a pretty simple process, and sounds like he's trying to scare you out of it.

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Did you mention the 3x penalty before. If not I would write:

 

"With respect, I do not believe the deductions you propose are justifiable as the carpet was already in need of replacement when we moved in...etc.

 

If you had properly protected our deposit according to the Housing Act 2004, we would have now had access to a free resolution service that would have enabled us to discuss these issues.

 

Since you did not do so, the only recourse we have is a court claim which will result in the awarding of three times the deposit (£1500) to us as penalty for failure to protect the deposit, in addition to any unjustified deductions and court costs.

 

Alternatively, I request repayment of the deposit within 14 days."

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THe way I see it is that if the deposit wasnt protected, the LL cant make any deductions from your deposit, as there has been no recourse to dispute afforded. I'm sure a judge would agree that the whole reason why the scheme is in place is to provide an arbitration service to tenants. The LL hasnt given you this opportunity so must pay the full amount pack.

 

I'd chase for the full amount.

 

I'm in the same situation myself, had only a small amount deducted (£100) which we want to dispute, so am sending my N208 to the courts today. Will keep you posted.

 

End of the day a claim under the S213/214 is an absolute claim... so all of the deposit...

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Have just noticed that you say there was no inventory

 

No inventory .... No Deductions

 

And they can't charge for a brand new carpet - only like for like taking into account wear and tear

 

but then again ... No Inventory - no deductions as they have nothing to compare it against!

 

Plus everyone else is right - sue him for the 3x your deposit as he didn't protect it (as is required by law)

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He has now paid us a cheque for the £500 less £150 for what he sees as damage we caused.

We have put the cheque in the bank as i owe my mum it for the bond she lent us on our new home.

Should i have done that and should i maybe still take it to court?

Not sure???!!

Thanks for all your adive guys :)

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He has now paid us a cheque for the £500 less £150 for what he sees as damage we caused.

We have put the cheque in the bank as i owe my mum it for the bond she lent us on our new home.

Should i have done that and should i maybe still take it to court?

Not sure???!!

Thanks for all your adive guys :)

 

If he wrote something like "This cheque is provided in full and final settlement" then you could be on sticky ground in going for the remainder now you've accepted it. Any other form of words then it is perfectly OK to accept it as part settlement as far as I'm aware.

 

In either respect I think you should pursue with a letter such as the one I suggested. The threat may have the effect of getting more money out of him.

 

Recently my neighbour's landlord unilaterally held back over £100 pounds which she got back partly by hinting the deposit protection rules that he'd not followed.

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