Landlord witholding deposit

[nicola198282]

Hi,

 

I moved out of my rented house two weeks ago and my landlord is witholding my deposit of £1800 as he says that there is damage to the property that needs rectifying. The damage he refers to is a small chip in a glass door that occured when we fitted a new, secure lock to the back door and some scuff marks on the wooden floor.

 

Whilst we do not dispute that this damage is there we are concerned that our landlord is making what is quite minor damage sounds much worse than it actually is and is trying to get more money from us than is necessary.

 

Our landlord asked us to move out for 5 weeks over the Olympic period as we lived near to the stadium. He and his wife moved in for this time and undertook some work to the house. He saw the damage to the floor and back door when he was living there and mentioned it to us when we moved back in but didn't seem overly concerned by it. When we moved out in July and then back in again at the end of August no new inventory was carried out. Would he be able to prove that the damage was caused by us when he lived there for 5 weeks?

 

We think he is being greedy; on moving back in he increased the rent by £300 pcm so it wouldn't be out of character.

 

I hope someone can offer some advice! Thanks, Nicola

[Lea_HTH]

What type of let did you have?

 

Is the deposit protected? If yes, just open a dispute. If no, then inform the landlord that he has 7 days to return it or you will proceed to court action for the deposit plus a penalty of 1-3 times the amount as per the law.

 

Your LL is going to have an extremely hard time proving the damage was caused by you when he was in the house during the term of the tenancy and did not bother to do an in/out inventory at that time.

 

The increase in rent is also odd during the term of a tenancy.

[raydetinu]

was the tenancy agreement an ast?

Why did you move out? did he pay compensation?

Rent cannot be increased during a contract period or within the first twelve months.

you need to make a claim for your deposit fron the protection scheme or if not protected, write to LL asking for it back or you will seek court action to recover.

As said above it should be protected and subject to compensation to yourselves, but that may take some to enforece.

[nicola198282]

Thank you for your replies. We had an AST that ran from Feb 11 to Feb 12. At the end of December 11 the landlord indicated that he wanted to do some work on the house during the summer but was vague about exact dates so when our tenancy expired in February we refused to sign another one until we had confirmation in the form of a written contract of his arrival and departure date, and that he would be responsible for bills, breakages etc. We finally had this in June and never did sign another AST, our tenancy was referred to by the lettings agents as a monthly rolling contract.

 

In August when moving back into the house the landlord informed us that he had undertaken various rent appraisals with different letting agents who told him he could achieve another £80-£120 per week for the house. He told us that he wanted us to sign another contract for 6 months with the same letting agents we were using for another £40 per week but that he wanted to swap to Foxtons after the 6 months.

We moved out as we were already paying £1300 pcm for the house which is 2 beds; I am glad we did as I have seen it advertised with Foxtons for £1700 pcm!

I have emailed him today to explain that I expect a full return of the deposit; if I open a dispute how long does it take on average to receieve the deposit back?

Thanks, Nicola

[raydetinu]

when did you actually leave and were the correct notices given?

I pressumw from this the deposit was protected, but you have to claim it back from the scheme, they wont know you have left until you tell them.

So if you have not done so tell them now.

You should get it back within 14 days unless LL wants to make deductions, and if you do not agree the amount etc., they should still release the amount not in dispute.

You can then use their ADR service if LL agrees etc.

Suggest you look on their website to view dispute procedure.

Netheir you or the LL have to accept ADR and can go to the court to resolve.

Any deductions must be fair and take into account fair wear and tear etc.