Landlord and deposit.

[Tootsiroll]

Can anyone offer some advice on how to handle this situation I'm in with my landlord?

Long story short he's trying to keep a big chunk of my deposit to redecorate the bedroom and replace some window coverings which he said was damaged by damp and mold. His reasoning is I was drying my clothes on the radiator and not ventilating the room properly.

I've never dried clothes on the radiator, I always put my clothes on an airer and place a dehumidifier next to it and use the laundry setting to blow air over the clothes and remove the moisture from the air and I never did this in the bedroom but in the kitchen. I still do this now in my new home.

The bedroom did have a minor issue with damp when I first moved in which I put down to the broken seal of the double glazing. It was logged with the management agent but the landlord never got it fixed and I never really pushed for it as it didn't bother me. The few spots of black mold that appeared in the first year were removed and they never returned as I know the importance of ventilation and not letting the humidity get too high.

The thing is the landlord now isn't the original one. This guy bought the flat about 12 months ago.

I'm not confrontational by nature and I don't know how to defend myself against his claims. I was honestly quite shocked when I got his message as I thought I did a good job of keeping that place to a high standard while I lived there.

Is your deposit protected?

It's in the Deposit Protection Scheme as far as i'm aware.

I did some reading online and it mentions some sort of free dispute resolution but my worry is I can't really prove anything. He can claim I dried my clothes on the radiator but I can't proove I didn't. He can say the paint was damaged by me and I can claim the "damage" is where I removed the mold five years ago to the previous landlords satisfaction.

If your landlord is making the claim he's the one who has to prove you caused the damage.
Do you have texts or emails from your previous landlord about removing the mould?

In cases with no ‘proof’ the DPS will act in your favour and return the deposit. The bar for LLs to prove it’s your fault is set very high.

Go straight to dispute resolution. Offer any correspondence you’ve ever had about it. Take a photo of your dehumidifier with its laundry setting.

You can prove there was a damp issue when you arrived.
You can photograph your airer and dehumidifier in your kitchen
You can show all and any correspondence regarding cleaning the mould.

It all shows likelihood. He has nothing to show you dried clothes on the radiator. The fact that you own an airer and dehumidifier indicate it is unlikely you used the radiator.

Definitely say you dispute it and ask the deposit scheme to adjudicate. They will see redecoration as something he should do after a number of years anyway. If you have a record of your messages to the agent/landlord re the broken seal, provide them too. I'd say he would be lucky to be awarded anything.

Op, you can also ask for details of the deposit scheme that you money is in. My partner had this issue when his house changed hands a few months before he moved out. The new landlord had failed to put his deposit into a scheme and quickly dropped any 'claims' ge was trying to make. Because there are hefty fines for not putting a deposit in a scheme quickly and he obviously realised this.

Tell your landlord you are going to make a claim and that you have evidence that there was mould when you moved in. Hopefully it will shake him into returning your deposit, if not definitely make a claim. The items you mention are wear and tear and would need redecorating before new tenants move in anyway, so landlord is just trying it on, painting over mould isn’t addressing the issue.

Your landlord can't just decide to do what he wants with the deposit.

It is protected and the deposit scheme will make a decision based on the evidence the landlord has to provide.

If he has not protected the deposit, he is breaking the law and will need to pay you compensation...

It sounds like the CF is trying to take your money to pay for the maintenance/repair works that he needs to do.

www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/if-your-landlord-doesnt-protect-your-deposit

This. I'm a LL. They will side with you but you have to step on that path. Don't be defeatist. The onus is on the LL to prove what he is saying is true and he clearly cannot do this.

If I happened to get a copy of the Inventory performed four days after I moved out that stated the bedroom was clean and all four walls were recorded as "minor marks" or "no marks".....could he then say he didn't notice at the time but it became apparant at a later date?

As above. We had a landlord who tried to claim various amounts of our deposit for different things. He kept calling us offering different amounts. We ceased communicating with him and left it to the DPS. We got everything back minus some cooker knobs that melted when the grill caught fire.