Unprofessional Letting Agents - Advice

[Sunrays22]

Hi all,

Bit of a weird one here but I'm looking if anyone has any advice or similar experiences.

We've recently bought our first home and moved out from the private rental we were in for approx 5 years. The rental was pretty old and needed some TLC but it was much loved and we had our first child there so essentially became our first family home.

Fast forward a few weeks and we are currently going through a deposit protection scheme and the landlord has been particularly unreasonable with some of the requests which we have disputed. One of these however is regarding the paint work in the property. It was pretty tired looking bog-standard Magnolia and we also had some issues with mould throughout the tenancy which we rectified ourselves. However as part of the 'evidence' for this paintwork claim an internal email has been submitted between two of the letting agency staff with one saying the paint at the property is like a 'crack den' to quote the email!!!

Bearing in mind that our check out report and inspection from the letting agents (obviously not conducted by this particular colleague) does not say anything of the sort to support this and states the property was in a good condition with some wear and tear and does NOT require cleaning (which the landlord is trying to also claim for I should add!).

I'm beyond upset and cannot stress enough that this was a standard, tidy family home we lived in for 5 years and clearly not a drug den as has been described!! I find it completely unprofessional language to be honest and am considering complaining to the branch manager but wondered if anyone had any advice on what to do?

Thanks

Waste of time reporting to the manager. Leadership starts at the top. Go to the NAEA or NRLA, but even that may be a waste of time.

Is the letting agent in Bristol?

I've no clue to be honest, I can only assume it's been forwarded to the LL 😕

I'd probably agree, I just think it's completely inappropriate and the fact it's been used as 'evidence' has made my blood boil!
No it's in South Yorkshire

Did you take any time stamped photos when you left? If you did they together with the checkout report will support the return of your deposit.
Have you spoken directly to the deposit scheme ? Keep calling them , get the name of a contact.
And the language of the LA is unprofessional but ime some of these offices are staffed by immature, bored adults who still think like teenagers. When I as a LL I had some real WTF moments with them. Gave up using an agent.
And any LL knows you get a cleaner in and refresh any paintwork that needs it, clean the carpets and windows after every tenancy. Shouldn’t be a LL if you wouldn’t live in a property you rent out.