To think getting a rental deposit back shouldn’t be so hard and bewildered as to what to do

Recommend speaking to Shelter if this is your first time disputing a deposit. They've been really helpful in the past at getting my deposit back from a dodgy landlord. Lots of landlords bank on people not pursuing getting their deposit back, so it's easy money for them. In reality, if you challenge them, they'll back down eventually as they have to provide sufficient evidence to support their claims for deduction and very often they don't have it. In the case of the stained carpet, they would have to have a receipt proving the carpet was new or had been professionally cleaned prior to your son moving in.

It would be quite unusual for a Landlord using a Lettings Agent NOT to have the deposit protected but not impossible.
No need to panic though. Speak to the Agent tomorrow, they should be able to provide details of where the deposit is held but they will probably only tell your son rather than you

Your ds should have been given details of the deposit scheme within the first few weeks of the tenancy starting,

Well you request it back but the landlord can contest it, then you both provide your evidence. But the landlord has to prove the tenant has done damage beyond wear and tear and what the condition was at the start of the tenancy and can only take what it would cost to correct it, not improve the property. It’s not as simple as the landlord can take what they want, but the dispute resolution thing is useful if tenant and landlord cannot agree.

After previously renting in London for many years, I would never take advice on tenancy matters from either a landlord or a letting agent. I have only experienced them making their own rules up. A letting agent is paid for by the landlord and works for the landlord not the tenant. I had to educate myself from Shelter on my tenant rights who are the tenancy experts. They have loads of helpful information on their website. I hope you get your issue sorted x

They might just mean for you to use the DPS portal to ask for your deposit back

I had this with a DC at Oxford. I had taken photos yet it still took 8 months and the threat of a small claims court (pre changes to law on tenancy) to get the deposits back for 7 people. There are several things parents need to ensure their children do - take dated photos of the state of the property regularly and certainly when mould grows/paint peels off as well as checking that a proper check-in with photographs has been done. Any complaints should be sent by email to the lettings agent or landlord, with photos atttached - my lot lived near it, so used to just drop in or leave notes, so no email trail.

This also needs to be rammed home to students by their unions. Affordable rentals are often in short supply - my DC had to find one for the following year in their first term. They prioritised near clubland over sanitation, easy maintenance, sufficient heating, access to uni etc. Then (the young men especially) they didn't treat it respectfully because it was just a damp, unattractive place with a broken boiler, no double glazing, rats and a tiny garden covered in scaffolding from next door building works. I'm all for students learning how to cope by themselves, but too often it's the parents who pay the deposits.

www.mydeposits.co.uk/tenant/

Go to my deposits and try and login there. There’s an option to check if your deposit is with them

I would email the letting agent and ask them to confirm which deposit scheme that your son’s deposit is held with, and what the deposit ID is. With this information you will be able to action the return of the deposit. By what you are describing sound like just the letting agents own portal.

Total property use mydeposits

The three government approved tenant deposit schemes are -

1. Deposit Protection Service (DPS)
2. MyDeposits
3. Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS)

Which scheme is it with? You can contact them to ask for help getting to the bit where he requests his deposit back. Does he talk to the other tenants?

So was it in a registered deposit scheme? If so, it is up to ll to prove deductions or return it within a fixed period. If not you can make a legal claim for 3x deposit.

Sorry just to add because I'm not sure anyone has yet, but the landlord should also be asked to prove he's even replaced the carpet that he's proclaiming to need the money for!

The general state of the property is indicative of a poorly maintained house and it’s highly unlikely that the carpet was new. Carpets in rentals are deemed to be needing to be replaced, I think, every 7 years.

Agree. They one time I had a proper inventory clerk check me out I was pleasantly surprised at how much wear and tear they expected. She would say things like that mark's fine, it's due a repaint anyway and similar with the carpet. A place will get more worn over the course of a year and that is reasonable. (Of course proper cleaning should also be done, and a lot of people don't!)

But stick to your guns. Ask the landlord to confirm when the carpet was put in and I suspect any independent adjudicator will judge the condition as normal for its age. And always take photos on moving in and confirm issues to the landlord via email.

I am a landlord and i had time stamped photos when my tenant moved in. Can't remember now but it might have been a condition of the deposit scheme

As per everyone else has said. Ask for the deposit scheme, go direct. If he hasn’t used one, he’s in trouble.

It’s also worth noting, landlords like this often don’t do other things correctly either. Worth checking with the local authority if the house in question has been licensed correctly with them as HMO with all that entails. If it isn’t/wasn’t whilst he was living there, he can claim back the full years rent under a RRO.

How bloody frustrating

Have you any evidence of contacting them regarding the damp?