Or is my horrible landlord?

[clare8allthepies]

Need some impartial advice as I've been so pee'd off with them for so long I fear I may have lost all perspective

DP and I were with previous landlord for 10 years, 9 in a 1 bed flat then after DD was born we moved to a 2 bed with the same landlord (private company not individual).

Our initial agreement was 6 months followed by a months notice to leave. After we'd been in the 2nd flat 8 months we got a letter saying we should have signed up for a further 6 months and it was either commit to another 6 months or let them know we would be leaving. We did this and again at the end of the first year as we had no plans to move and were going to try and save for a deposit for our own place (which was going to take some time)

Out of the blue, just after we had signed up for another 6 months, DP got relocated with his work. Contacted landlord to say they would try to relet and if they could we would stop being responsible for rent from the day new tenant moved in and would just charge a £50 admin fee.

We moved (couple of hundred miles away) and had to return our keys by recorded delivery as landlord could not get anyone out to do a handover. I asked pretty soon afterwards when we could get our deposit back as we were quite stretched paying rent on 2 propertied at the same time. They said they could not do anything until the end of the tenancy. I asked if they could at least do the inspection to make sure everything was ok so at least we would be reassured that when we did get it back it would be the full deposit. They said no, they were not allowed to? and would have to call me to get my permission before they even entered the property.

Got a call 2 weeks back from my old neighbour to say someone had moved in on 13th Jan. A week later got an e-mail from my previous landlord to say they had let my flat and the last day we would be liable for the rent was 15th Jan. They said they had had to replace the front room carpet and would be charging me £288 for this as well as unspecified 'painting charges' and the £50 admin fee.

Carpet wasn't exactly clean - I was going to get one of those machines from the hire shop to give it a going over before we moved but it never happened, it was a thin cheap carpet in a tiny room though.

Today the check came through for £309, so £230 ish for the half a months rent we were due so only £80 left out of a £500 deposit????

Is there anything I can do to challenge this or am I going to have to accept its their word against mine? Am still sitting here fuming about 3 hours later

Sorry for the long rant BTW

They get VAT relief for wear and tear of carpets anyway don't they??

Thanks I had a reply saying that it was £288 for replacing the carpet due to marks and £90 for repainting again due to marks. I have replied asking if the carpet could not have been cleaned and if £288 was the full cost of a new carpet.
I also challenged the painting costs as when I first tried to clean the walls the cheap paint just washed off, so there's no way you could live there for over a year and not leave any marks! It wasn't like there was drawing on the walls or anything!
I keep changing between thinking 'I can't be bothered with this any more' to getting really annoyed at them and thinking 'I'm not letting you off with this!'

He's charging you for wear and tear, he can't do that. The Shelter web site has some very useful information on it.

england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/how_we_can_help

and this is useful

I would reply asking them to justify how the marks on the paint were not considered to be fair wear and tear.

And pursue the deposit scheme point.

Did they tell you which deposit protection scheme they used? If yes, raise a dispute with the scheme. You will most probably get the money back.

If they have not protected the deposit, you will have to take them to court. Shelter can give you advice on how to do this. As others have said, besides getting you the money back, a court can also order them to pay you compensation of up to three times the value of the deposit for not protecting it.

Hi OP, or for that matter, anyone in a similar situation. If you PM me, I'll put you in touch with my mum; she's a rental law specialist and relishes the chance to get her hands on bad landlords. She'd give you a bit of free advice over the phone and maybe write you a letter if you needed it.

Please don't let dodgy landlords get away with it, they'll walk over the next person and rip them off. Sometimes just tipping the council off about poor practice will be enough. Please do drop me a line.

Thanks for all the info, they did tell me who the deposit protection agency was. Looked at their info and looks like my landlords are taking the piss. It does say that you should try to sort it out with the landlord directly before raising a dispute so thats why I've gone back to them asking for further clarification. If no good then I think I will go down the dispute route (and may well take you up on your kind offer slowginny)

Hi Clare, do get in touch, your contract sounds suspect, especially the 6 months renewal bit. It should be a rolling contract where after the initial 6 months, you're on a months notice, not a locked in 6 months. Assuming you left the place in a reasonable state, you should get everything back. A short, sharp letter might sort this out. Get in touch if you'd like a hand.
It pains me to see folk get treated this way, especially in a recession.

Hi thought I would update, tried to discuss it with my landlord but they weren't having any of it so contacted the agency (only to find out they'd told me the wrong one but I found the correct one in the end). Submitted a dispute weekend before last and got an email this afternoon from ex landlord saying all the evidence photos they'd taken to show all the 'damage' had not developed (who doesn't use a digital camera these days) so they were going to return the full £378 to me.

Thanks so much to you all for your kind advice, if I hadn't had it then they woould definitely have got away with it - wonder how many previous tenants they've ripped off in the past.

OP - well done, and well done to all the advice from MNetters.

I am a landlord and had to on one occasion withold part of a deposit from a tenant who left owing rent. The Deposit Protection Scheme is pretty strict with landlords and they do have to provide evidence of why they want to do this. I would always advise people to use their dispute service if you think you have been unfairly treated, it weeds out this kind of sharp practice.

Yes, the lovely person at the deposit protection agency seemed very surprised at some of the things they've done, especially the enforced 6 month thing. It's turned out ok for us but we could so easily ended up with piles of debt.

Fantastic news and I'm really pleased for you. We rented for ages in London and never had a problem with deposits but it was always a heart-in-mouth moment as you waited for the cheque :(

Goes to show the power of MN