Tenant deposit dispute – NO deposit protection scheme

[cvaj2]

Hi can anyone help?

I recently left a property approximately a month ago which I had rented along with some fellow students through a private landlord. Following leaving the property, I learnt from one of my former housemates that the landlord planned to withhold £40 of my deposit (originally £150) due to a stain on the underside of my mattress and that he was going to pass on the remaining £110 cash to my former housemate to return at a later date to myself. I am adamant that this stain was none of my doing. During the tenancy I did not flip the mattress at any point. So further to this I checked with the 3 government back deposit schemes to see if the landlord had registered with a scheme – it turns out he has not.

So I then emailed the landlord expressing my concerns with the action he had taken in regards to not providing any invoice, and his method of return of the deposit, as well as that the stain on the mattress was none of my doing and that I felt it was unreasonable that I would have checked the underside of the mattress at the beginning of the tenancy. Adding to this I expressed that he had not protected my deposit as required by law and I therefore requested he paid returned my £150 within 2 weeks.

He has replied to this with the following message:

Dear XXXX,

My response to your letter is as follows:-

I will be sending your bond cheque for the full amount of £150.00.

You now have a choice; I will buy a new mattress which will cost around £100.00.

I have a signed inventory check letter which is dated 30th June 2011.This document will be produced, along with photographic evidence to show there was NO stain or damage to the bed in your room, prior to your tenancy.

It is signed by the person who occupied the room.

You can re-imburse me £100.00 and I will not go on to seek recourse for a whole bed.

I will be sending the evidence to your parents, who are probably not aware of your current position.

I dont think you or your parents would like the slur of a county court judgement on your record which will adverse effect on your future prospects.

In the tenancy agreement that you were asked to read before signing it states that you are ALL jointly and severally responsible for any damage in the property, how would it look if I took all of you to court to pay for an item that just you have spoilt. I'm sure the other tenants parents won’t be happy about that.

As you stated in your letter you would prefer to settle this amicably. I leave you to decide which way to go.

Yours Sincerely

I am now unsure of the action I should take. I reiterate I am adamant that the stain is none of my doing, and the signed inventory that he is referring to; had no mention of a mattress with any stains. He is now also threatening to seek recourse for the whole bed if this goes to a small claims court – there were a couple of broken slates underneath the bed which I declared with him before leaving and he agreed to there being no problem with this.

I have not seen any of the other evidence he claims to possess as of yet.

If he pays back my deposit does this not mean that he is accepting that there is no chargeable damage?

Would any court judgement have an effect on any future prospects?

Originally I just wanted to use the threat of no deposit protection as leverage to get my deposit back and would like to avoid the ‘slur’ of court. If he returns my deposit can I still take him to a small claims court for not originally protecting it?

Ultimately I would just like to take no action against the landlord for not protecting my deposit and just receive my full deposit without any charges. Is there any way of going about this?

Any other further advice would be much appreciated

Please note that I am student, and I have notified my parents contrary to his belief – not that this should make any difference.

Regards

[The Carpet Cleaners]

It seems to me that you called his bluff with your court threat, and now he has returned the bluff call with one of his own.

 

Why don't you take the £40 hit, call it for the damaged tiles if you like, and ask him for the £110 back personally. Then you will have the majority of your money and be able to move on.

 

The alternative is to let it all go to court, forgetting the photographic evidence etc you will have to pay costs if you lose, and by lose I mean if you do not win 100%. The costs of taking LL to court for non protection are not cheap either. If LL take you to court as he is suggesting, again if you do not win 100% he will claim all his costs against you. So the court route bluff seems to have backfired....

 

So in a nutshell .............. Talk to the LL............ Negotiate... In a negotiation there are no losers.. only winners....... You both get what you want if you are realistic.

[flynnsmum123]

Is a LL allowed to tell a tennants parents/relatives anything like stated in the email?

[The Carpet Cleaners]

depends if they were guarantors I would think.

[flynnsmum123]

i wasn't sure,surely if the OP's parents aren't guarantors that email could be seen as threatening? i know if my landlord sent that to me i would be p#ssed.

[The Carpet Cleaners]

me too...But think it is a game of bluff and double bluff going on. Op didn't seem to like my answer anyhow and asked the same question on another site later in the day of my answer.... got told roughly the same there though by someone else...