MY previous landlord wants to detuct £40 from my deposit because there was dust on the skirting boards.

[TurtleyAmazing]

I have just recieved an email from my property manager regarding my deposit for the flat we moved out of a few months ago. now i was expecting SOME deductions of my deposit as i did scuff and mark the walls a little, not a lot just everyday wear and tear sort of thing.

I can't say i was expecting her to deduct a total of £210 though!

this is the email i recieved...

vacuum all carpets £40
skirtings were dusty £40
oven and extractor fan to be cleaned £60
clean the grout in the shower £40
scuffs on walls £10
small dent to the kitchen door £20

now, i have many issues with this. i used to hoover or sweep my carpet every single day without fail. it was a horrible carpet which just collected dust and grit and i couldnt stand the feeling of walking on it barefoot without giving it a good vacuum first. the very last thing i did before walking out of the door the final time was vacuum the whole flat. so i can say with 100% certainty that this is total BS.

£40 for some dust on a skirting board is fucking disgusting! how anyone can justify that i don't know!! it doesn't need painting just simply dusting.

I have never ever used the oven extractor. i opened it when i first moved in saw the dirty grimmy muck behind it and never opened it again. as for the oven itself when we moved in the glass door was so caked in shit you couldn't see into the oven through it. i scrubbed and scrubbed that thing for hours until the glass became clear so if anything the oven is in a better state now than it was when we moved in.

grout in the shower £40 the flat had a bad mould issue, the shower cubicle was damp and mouldy when we moved in the grout was possibly a bit worse when we left so i sort of understand that deduction although that was not our fault.

scuffs and dent to the door £30 yes, i scuffed the wall and supposedly dented the door thats fine i will glady pay the money for that.

she has also sent me the inventory for the flat with pictures of all the damage we had supposedly done. we didn't recieve one at the beggining of our tenancy though so she is swearing blind that all these problems were caused by us yet they truly was there when we moved in, we just have no way of proving it.

if you have made it this far thankyou
what would you do in this situation?

Just noticed re deposit scheme. You would know if it was in a scheme, the scheme write to you to advise.

Info on how to check here www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/if-your-landlord-doesnt-protect-your-deposit

If they haven't done it you are quids in, they can be ordered to pay you up to 3 times the deposit amount.

You should have received details about the scheme they'd placed it with within 30 days of your tenancy beginning.
If they've waited months to inspect the property they can't charge for hoovering or dusting. Nor could they prove that the grout wasn't in better condition when you moved out - a few months is plenty of time for mildew to take hold in a bathroom. They should really have done an exit inspection with an inventory that you had signed, confirming the condition of the property when you moved in. Without that they really haven't got much. They can't prove that the oven was clean, or the cooker hood. They can't prove that there wasn't already a dent in the door. CAB can advise. There is a dispute resolution service, but you may need to be registered with deposit protection for that (and your LL has a big fine if they didn't register the deposit). Otherwise you can take advice about getting your deposit back from small claims court. It may just be enough to let them know that you know where you stand. The minute I told by LL that I knew that she had to either return my deposit or register a dispute within 10 days and she'd already waited 15 days to do an inspection, I got an e-mail saying she was returning my deposit in full.

You need to sue the fuck out of them.

Get compensation above + beyond the bullshit deductions these shit stains are trying to steal from you - it doesn't sound like they protected your deposit.

england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/tenancy_deposits/tenancy_deposit_protection_schemes/deposit_protection_and_tenancy_deposit_schemes
england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/tenancy_deposits/getting_your_deposit_back/court_action_to_get_a_tenancy_deposit_returned

Do you have the Tenancy Agreement?

This is why I always don't pay the last months rent in lieu of deposit.

I never trust landlords to give back the deposit. Ime they never do.

Deposit is usually six weeks though, so you are still out hundreds. And if the landlord isn't a thieving bastard he should have protected your deposit up-front.

I wil have to ask DP if we ever recieved any kind of document from the deposit scheme. I know i haven't seen one but wether he has and
its stored with all his junk somewhere i don't know.

she still hasn't got back to me regarding the inventory they did (but we never recieved nor signed) at the begging of the tenancy im assumng this is because they know its all bullshit and if they gave us a copy they wouldnt be able pocket our cash.

Ooh yes I hope you can pursue a legal case against them, they have broken so many rules.
Also, if they make deductions they have to provide invoices. They can't just make up arbitrary figures, deduct it and never do the work. I would love to know which cleaning company is going to invoice £40 for cleaning skirting boards.

if you didn't agree and sign the inventory it is worthless.

weatherall glad you aren't my tenant. If you were and you did this, you could then wreck the place and I would have nothing to pay for the damage.

this is all what the deposit scheme is for. When you rent a place, you check that the deposit is lodged and ask for the information on it. As a landlord, I double-check this and ask for a copy of the information. Because that is my legal obligation.

it is not a matter of trust. It is a matter of law.

'all landlords are crooks'. yadda,yadda,yadda..

ehric

all these deductions were presented to me in an email stating

i am going to deduct the following for your deposit:

insert info from OP here<

no letter, no invoices just a quick short email explaing they are going to take my money.

You need to send them a nasty letter, assuming that the deposit isn't protected, and I'm guessing it's not, saying that you will sue within seven days for 3 * the deposit amount. I would be looking for the deposit returned in full plus compensation in some amount (maybe the £210 they have tried to steal from you?), I wouldn't settle just for deposit return at this point, thieving bastards like this need to be taken down a bit.

weatherall - your approach is not on either and you are in breach of contract when you do that.

Your deposit should be protected and you will get it back providing you have kept to the tenant's obligations in the tenancy agreement.

Turtley there are two main deposit schemes and you should contact them and check whether they have your deposit registered - they should be able to check using the address of the rented property, but you will need to be a named tenant on the AST. Deposit Protection Service - 0330 303 0030. Deposit Protection Scheme (branded as 'My Deposits') - 0844 980 0290.

Please go to the CAB on this.

Well I would e-mail her and say that you dispute all the charges, point out that there is no signed inventory, and no evidence of her having placed your deposit in any scheme, and that unless deposit returned in full immediately you'll be going to small claims court. If deposit has been placed in a scheme you can use their dispute resolution services. Good luck.

x post with aga whose advice I think is better than mine!

Op please ring the numbers of the dps (posted above) you need to find out ASAP if your deposit is secure!

Again thankyou to everyone i will be calling those numbers later, i will wait till DP is home though as i can use his work phone (contract paid by work) instead of racking up a bill on my phone.

i'm really crap with wording though so have no idea how i would word a formal letter before taking them to small claims if it goes that far. i dont want to cock it up with poor writing skills

We had this - our charge was ridiculous and she basically wanted to charge us for having the entire flat repainted after we had lived in it for two years (the walls were untouched). She also claimed that the floor was dirty when, like you, the last thing I did before leaving was sweep and mop it. The icing on the cake was charging us some silly amount which I can't remember for 'stealing' her washing up bowl which never existed - we used our own and took it with us! And, get this, she sent my DP a mardy text a few days after we had left complaining that we hadn't left any of OUR pans or cutlery behind to be used as she had just turned up with her baby and had no way to heat up his/her food! Very petty and odd, I have to say that we are a lot more wary of landlords now although I'm sure most of them are perfectly nice.

In the end, we did a lot of research into the legality of what she could and couldn't claim for (some of her claims were sent without evidence, for example, and her 'stolen' washing up bowl wasn't on the inventory) and sent a long and very formal letter to the agent we were communicating through and they had the amount reduced by about a half - still not as much as we would have liked, mind.

pregnantberry

my jaw hit the floor when i read this..

she sent my DP a mardy text a few days after we had left complaining that we hadn't left any of OUR pans or cutlery behind to be used as she had just turned up with her baby and had no way to heat up his/her food!

please tell me you're pulling my leg?

Turtley - use the services of the CAB; they have trained advisers who can help you to write an effective letter and who will be able to give you up-to-date legal advice. You will probably need to ring your local CAB office and make an appointment.

Thankyou wow i will do that.

www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/consumer_w/consumer_taking_action_e/consumer_legal_actions_e/consumer_going_to_court_e/consumer_taking_court_action_e/step_one_write_a_letter_before_action.htm

Sorry don't know how to make it clicky

Unfortunately not! She had always seemed perfectly reasonable before but that made her seem a bit unhinged!

Yes, challenge it. I'm a landlord and I would not deduct anything if the property is as you say. Scuffs and marks are wear and tear imo and ad for dust and dirt: the property should be cleaned anyway between tenants.