Would I have a case in getting my deposit back?

[toptramp]

I moved house from one rented hopuse to another back in August. My landlord kept the deposit because their was a stain on the carpet and he wanted to recarpet the house.
I bumped into the current tenant yesterday and we were talking about how hard it was to keep taht carpet clean. I mentioned that I had made a green tea stain that wouldn't come out. She said that she had put a rug over it. So he obviously hasn't recarpeted. Shall I find out for sure? If he hasn't recarpeted I might go to citizen's advice an dtake him to a small claims court.

Doesnt matter whether he recarpeted or not - he kept the deposit because you stained his carpet. You didnt take care of his property. You should have arranged for the carpets to be professionally cleaned, then you would have got your deposit back. Seems simple enough to me.

He told me that he would recarpet and we did get it professionally cleaned as he specified. I just think the lying thing is out of order and he shouldn't have kept the whole deposit as we calculated the replacement as far less than the cost of replacing the whole thing. £500 for a stain; no way.

I think you would have been liable for replacing the section of carpet you stained, not the whole house anyway.

He wanted to take the deposit to do the whole room AND stairwell which was not stained as he wanted the perfect match! He arranged to meet up so we could discuss and agreement and he didn't turned up. I let it go as I hate greedy people and don't want to talk to them but now I have heard this I think it's worth reporting the lying thing. I am going to warn his current tenant what he's like and I will go to cab just to check.

Call CAB. He is wrong. He can't keep your whole deposit for one stain. Time for a solicitor.

You admit you were responsible for the stain. I cant really see how you think you would be able to get your deposit back.

You were liable for the cost of the damage, not liable for 'betterment' - ie recarpeting the stairs too to match.

Also if the carpet was a few years old you should only pay a proportion of the cost, ie if a carpet was deemed to last 15 years and it was already 10 years old then you'd pay 5/15ths of the cost for just that room.

You need to speak to someone who knows tenant law so I'd advise you contact Shelter or CAB.

Also if your ex landlord didn't register the deposit in a scheme and you moved in after April 2007 you can take him to court and claim three times your deposit back for not doing so - it's against the law to not register deposits.

(all the above true if you are in England and Wales, not Scotland. I'd also advise the MSE house buying renting and selling board for this query)

It's also not true in Northern Ireland, BTW. The stuff about deposit schemes, at least.

What PPP said. £500 for a carpet stain? No way.

My parents raised a dispute with their chancer landlord through the deposit scheme which found in their favour. It found some carpet marking to be fair wear and tear IIRC.

Were you not in a deposit scheme?

No way should one stain cost you the whole £500 deposit. Definitely talk to CAB. But, don't focus on the lying -- that's not really the issue. He could still be planning to recarpet when the current tenant moves out. Although, given he was able to re-rent even with the stain, he can't claim that it's cost him money in that sense.

I would go to CAB. I would surely think that carpet stains, to a certain extent, would come under fair wear and tear (unless the carpets have been completely trashed, which doesn't sound like the case here). I'm fastidious about my carpets and still haven't managed to avoid a couple of stains here and there so I think it's unreasonable for him to expect never to get a stain on his rental carpets! I think he's trying his luck and hope you get at least some of your money back.

I stained the floor in the kitchen in a rented place I lived in, when I moved out I had £10 taken out of my deposit to go towards a new floor when they replaced it.

The most expensive part was the letting agents 'admin fee' of £25

If, as PPP points out, your deposit was secured under one of the the three schemes, then contact them and ask for them to address. There should be a dispute resolution service provided.
If you weren't in a deposit protection scheme and have already vacated the property then it is most likely a matter for the small claims court. Is there any reference in your tenancy agreement re damages to the property?

Exactly what PPP said. The LL has to take into account the age of the carpet, how big the stain is, etc. He cant just charge you for a full new carpet and definately not for replacing the stairwell carpet!

We have just taken our previous LL to dispute resolution - the inventory clerk said the house was basically fine but he wanted to keep £1800! The Dispute Service found in our favour and we got the whole lot back.

It doesnt cost anything and is a fairly straightforward procedure so you wont lose anything by giving it a go.

I'm a LL, and if someone ruined my carpet, and it couldn't be cleaned, I would expect it to be replaced, and if the stair carpet matched I would want that to be done too. However I think its very likely that you could get a close enough match.

It doesn't really matter that he hasn't replaced the carpet for the next tenants, fact is you ruined his carpet and he will have to replace it.

I think he's probably pushing his luck and you should have negotiated with him

I am a LL and to be honest, a stain in the carpet would be general wear and tear. Did you use the deposit scheme or was it a private let? It is very hard as a LL to actually withhold the deposit when tenants leave as in the eyes of the law the deposit belongs to the tenant. I have had tenants leave my house with worse than a stained carpet and I havent taken the whole of the deposit.

I dont blame you for being annoyed........if a private let though I doubt you will be able to do anything - a small claim court could indeed say he owes you the money but it doesnt actually enforce payment.

You should try though as I dont believe he should have been able to keep that deposit!

Thing is what the LL would want isn't what the law states.
Absolutely the OP should be charged if it's considered damage, but only for the damage made.
Betterment is not allowed by law.

What sort of contract did you have was it an assured shorthold tenancy? If so he had to put it in a deposit scheme and that deposit scheme should ahve acted as an arbitor (this only applies if the contract started after 2007 I think). Secondly he cannot just keep the entire deposit. He could keep enough to clean it, not enough to replace the carpet as it was no brand new. he shoudl also have supplied a receipt for the cost of this. You have good grounds for getting your deposit back, but it may be a cas eof going to the small claims court which whilst not expensive could eb tiem consuming.
If you had an AST that started after 2007 and he did not put it in a deposit scheme then technically he is liable to pay you back three times the amount fo the deposit, although courts do nto always stick to this. Your best better would be to call shelter. theyw ill be able to tell you what sort of lease it was (if does not have to say AST to be an AST), and give you advice. Alternatively your local council shoudl ahve a tenancy relations officer.

oldmacdonalds,
What you are saying you woudl want is actually against the law. You cannot claim for anythign other than gettign ti back to the state it wa sin when they moved in plus reasonabel wear and tear. You cannot claim to try to get the carpets a good match. You can also not take money from the deposit and not actually do the repairs, this would be fraudulent - you would have to provide proper receipts for the work done.

Kelly, im not saying I would expect the tenants to replace the stair carpet, I'm saying im sure a match can be found and he is pushing his luck.
Its all very well quoting the law, but in reality usually some sort of a compromise can be made. Maybe it hasn't been a convenient time to fit a new carpet or maybe he has a friend who can do it cheaper.
I've never provided receipts for work that was done. I have negotiated cleaning fees and carpets are always professionally cleaned before new tenants and I would expect them to leave it in the same state. If they keep it clean, professional cleaning not really necessary, but if they have ruined it, I would expect to replace it. Why should I have to pay for it, tell me?

Compromise is great if you have a LL that also wants that... this one has just arbitrarily taken the entire deposit because he wants to!

Ime the estate agent (dep scheme) keep hold of that deposit until an agreement is reached.
If its a private agreement, that deposit should be protected until the agreement reached.

Personally I would never pay deposit direct to landlord without guarantees.
I got the impression here that the op didn't really put up much of a fight and just let it go.

If they damaged it apart from normal wear and tear then the deposit should be used to pay for its repair or cleaning up to the standard they got it in plus normal wear and tear i.e if they ruin a five year old sofa you cannot claim for a brand new one. That is the law, and you cannot tell people that you want to compromise on the law.
And you should give people receipts when you take their money for work. Why should they just accept your word. And it is none of the tenents problem if the ll wants to use a friend to do the work, he has to show he has to replace the carpet, provide quotes from different people, and ensure they only pay to restore the carpert to how it was before they moved in. Even if they ruined the carpet, if it was a few years old he cannot legally claim the full cost of a brand new carpet. That is the law.

PPP HAS NAILED IT RIGHT ON!