To expect more of my deposit back?

[Woopdiedoo]

When I went to view my previous property, it already had tenants that were living there on a 12 month tenancy but were leaving early. I told them my ideal moving date and everything was rushed through to the point where a proper inspection was not carried out. I was basically given an report that listed everything as new (which must have been the case before the previous tenants had moved in) but it was far from accurate. Some quite major things had been changed and these were not listed.

Additionally, the property was filthy and I spent the first week cleaning everything. I had five days to report any discrepancies with the estate agent but as the list would have been endless I was very general, eg. Dirty or paint chipped.

I moved out 2 months ago and they have now prepared a report saying they wanted a large proportion if the deposit claiming I had damaged the property where I hadn't. Luckily I had taken a few photos so that they now only want half the deposit. However, I feel that us unfair since a lot of what they are claiming is damaged was already that way when I moved in but due to the amount of cleaning I had to do, I didn't have the time to photograph everything before the 5 days was up.

I am also annoyed by their response. It was clear from the photos that the house was disgustingly dirty, so in their responding email they have said, 'we will not charge you for any cleaning that is required as this would be unfair'. I am fucking insulted by this since I left the house immaculate and very clean so there shouldn't be any cleaning required. I did cause a small amount of damage (kids) but have admitted this and don't think it equates to half my deposit.

AIBU to expect more of my deposit back or should I just accept the money and move on. I also borrowed the deposit initially off a family member and they obviously want it back.

I'm afraid your experience is very common. My sister, who has more experience of renting, tells me that the drill is to withold your last month's rent in order to effectively reclaim your deposit. Otherwise kiss it goodbye... sorry.

I have learned from bitter experience to trust letting agents only as far as I could spit them. Unfortunately I doubt you're going to get your full deposit back without independently verified proof of the property's condition when the last tenants left (and unless you have a time machine, that isn't going to happen!!). It's not fair but next time make sure that you do get a proper inventory, which you've signed to say you agree with its representation of the property's condition, before you move in.

Are you dealing with the landlord or a letting agent?

1, I'm sure you already know this but you should have provided a very very thorough returned inventory to them within days of moving in.

1. argue, argue, argue. Im my experience if you re beligerent, patient and firm enough you eventually get your way.

Example- when leaving our last tenancy the agency demanded £100 for a professional clean of the oven (which we had left in a far, far cleaner state than we found the delipidated, disgusting thing in). a long drawn out 'calmly angry' conversation later and they reduced it to £50. We left it a couple of weeks and then we phone back, talk about them withholding money illegally, discuss small claims/other legal action, bring up every other way they had been crap (and boy did we have grounds...). And they agree to dropping the charge to £25. -this conversation also involved the owner of the agency. We then left it for a few months- deposit not automatically returned to us by agency. We phone the deposit protection scheme direct and explain our dispute- whole deposit returned in full.

Now we were lucky on 2 points, firstly we didn't need the deposit back immediately and secondly my DH is like a dog with a bone and won't let any injustice lie if he thinks it can fix the problem!

It was exceedingly tedious, but we won in the end!

I wouldn't ever withhold rent in this situation. It's extremely dodgy territory and a resulting CCJ won't be helpful to you.

Muso is right - every single person who has moved out of a rented house recently, including me, has had a similar situation. In my case it was a landlord rather than letting agency dealing with it, and I told him I would fight him every inch, that I had photos and proof that what he was claiming was false (ie that I had left the carpets dirty, the garden in a mess, when in fact I left them better than before) and in the end he just caved and gave me my whole deposit back. A letting agency is likely to be more insistent because they have more time and energy to pursue it.

I was willing to risk losing my whole deposit rather than just hand it over without a fight. If you're willing to do the same (and can afford it) it's worth fighting because these scumbags just keep pulling the same con over and over and it's fucking ridiculous.

The DPS will be holding the deposit, they get in touch with you as well as the Landlord/Letting Agent. If you've received nothing from them then it is highly likely that your deposit has not been dealt with legally. If this is the case not only can you get your deposit back but you may also get compensation.

Ask them who is holding the deposit and see what they say!

Is your deposit held in a tenancy deposit scheme?

Thanks for the replies. I had moved due to a relationship breakdown so needed to move quickly (we've reconciled now though). I don't have much experience of renting, the only other time I did I got the full deposit back.

The landlady is abroad but travelled back to help do the report. She was meant to come while I was still living there. I am dealing with the estate agent. I'm just pissed off because they are making me out to be a bad tenant when I feel I looked after the property and actually improved it in areas.

I guess it's lesson learned though, extra money for them. I think I trusted them more than I should have as the landlady initially took pity on me and was offering to buy a tumble drier etc which impolitely declined.

It is the law that EVERY deposit is protected in a Tenancy Deposit Scheme. If you haven't received written confirmation with details of this from your Landlord stating which scheme is protecting your money then chase it up with them.

Sounds frustrating, but there is no way I would ever move into a property without a full inspection beforehand and a correct inventory. Mind you, even when we have done that, at the end of our rental period we've still had to fight to get our deposit back from some landlords. Mainly because they wanted to charge us for a professional clean on an already immaculate house.

Sorry, x-post. It is being held in a scheme, I have a code got it etc. I think I will email them again then and see what they say - worth a shot I guess.

I take it your deposit it registered with one of the schemes?

If so, no, don't agree to give up some of the deposit. If you didn't damage the property, leave it in a poor state & there are no rent arrears then you are entitled to all of it back. Make this clear to the scheme & provide the photos etc. I expect they'll agree with you.

If your agent/LL had not protected the deposit then they are in a whole heap of trouble. Not least facing the possibility of having to pay you back 3 times whatever the deposit was. (EG: If it was £500, they'd have to pay you £1500).

So ask them who the deposit is with & get in contact with them. This is YOUR money, don't forget that.

I'm
Wishing I had been more detailed in the report now but I naively thought that surely they would accept what I was saying since the property obviously wasn't new after having tenants in for all those months.

I also wish I'd taken many more photos but I felt I was not picking and stopped after about 100.

*nit picking

If it's in a scheme say that you wish to open up a dispute. The onus is then on them to prove that the deductions are valid, they should return the balance of the deposit that is not in dispute whilst this is being carried out.

Contact your scheme and inform them of what is happening. Don't give up without a fight!

That sounds frustrating, but in hindsight you probably should have made sure you signed an up-to-date inventory just after you moved in. (Sorry - very unhelpful to say that) I think you should write a letter though, detailing everything you have said here and incuding photos. Bullet point all the things you did e.g. the clean, any improvements.

Finish with a note to say how disappointed and let down you feel as you considered yourself to be a very good tenant, and furthermore you left the property in a much better condition than when you moved in. Point out that the inventory you were given was obviously out of date (due to the changes you mentioned) which was remiss of the estate agents. Maybe say you will take further advice and get back to them. (Then either see the citizen's advice bureau to see if you could take this further, or else chalk it up to experience.

Sounds really annoying for you though.

sorry - re read your post and see you have already written. No harm in another email though!

Have a look at the TDS website. I successfully disputed a landlord's claim on my deposit.

Did you sign the incorrect inventory with the "new" stiff listed?

New stuff

If you didn't tell them that there were problems at the beginning of the tenancy, then they have no way of knowing if you are telling the truth or not,so I'm not sure what you expect.

It's your responsibility to protect your deposit too, you can't just expect that they will know that there were problems when you gave them a chance to tell them about any, but didn't.

How much money are they keeping and how much damage did your dc do? Could you be underestimating what it will cost to repair the damage you have admitted to?

Thanks again for the replies.

Yes, I did list the discrepancies but only in general terms. Absolutely everything was listed as 'new' so next to it I just wrote 'dirty' or 'marks/stains' or 'missing'. In the case of where things had been changed I write what the change was ie. there was a different fireplace and a massive inbuilt tv cabinet shelf unit in the living room.

The damage that I accept I did was a) my son put up some posters in his room (against my permission) and it took some of the paint off but the walls were already very marked and chipped; and b) there was a loose spring in the bottom of a chair and the removal men dragged it a but away from the wall and it snagged the carpet although this particular carpet was fraying very badly at all the edges and was probe to snagging and fraying.

They want to charge me for very minute things such as a small burn mark on the Lino which was there when I moved in but I didn't photograph it at the time. Incidentally, the same Lino had a big tear in it (again there when I moved in) but they accept this was already there and are not charging me for it. They want money for marks on the carpets that apparently don't appear in my photos. There are plenty of stains on the photos and I also cleaned the carpets. Again, the walls were very marked and dented but they are charging me for 'other' marks. I took general photos showing the damage, it did not occur to me to photograph every mark or chip as I'd have been there all week when I also needed to clean it and unpack.

There were other small problems such as I didn't have a back door key for 2 months despite telling them during the first week and I also reported a wall switch which was hanging off the wall. It remained that way even when I moved out.

I think I severely underestimated just how detailed I would have to be in the report and photos. I think it's obvious that the previous tenants did not look after the property and now I'm having to fork out for it. They want £250 got all this damage and I'm meant to be grateful that the landlady has decided to do some of the work herself thus saving me money.

The deposit should be held in one of the Tenancy Deposit Schemes, all of which offer an 'Alternative Dispute Resolution' service (ADR).

You should ask the deposit scheme to enter into the ADR process, but unfortunately there is a massive loophole in this legislation that means that the Landlord has to agree to enter into the process. If they refuse, then there is very little that you can do (but the deposit stays with the deposit scheme).

You can take them to the small claims court to try to reclaim the money, but if you lose, you will have to pay the fee which I believe is £81 for claims of less than £1,000 (unless you are on a low income in which case it is free).

Its a rubbish situation, you have my sympathy.