Landlords shitty letter

[Redadmiralflyer]

We bought our new house and gave over a months notice to landlord on rented property. We moved in a bit earlier as we got the keys earlier than expected and let the landlord know.
The landlord did an inspection and originally wanted to only give us 200 quid of our 525 deposit back. I wasn't happy with this as some things were clearly wear and tear over a seven year period. Dd managed to spill paint on the cream fabric couch when she was a baby so we told the landlord to take costs out our deposit and we bought ourselves a new leather couch. The landlord told us not to worry about it and said because we had bought a new carpet and decorated living room ourselves she wouldn't charge. She also didn't want us to leave our leather couch when we left.

Fast forward a few years and she wants to charge us for couch cleaning which she told us not to worry about. £70 quid but hasn't provided a receipt.
End of tenancy clean £95 but no mention of the name of company or receipt.
Other things like missing or broken items, just made up prices for them.

She wrote us a three page letter and came to our new house. She says she won't contact deposit scheme unless we reply to the letter with an agreed amount.
The letter was shitty and full of digs.
Aibu to demand receipts and name of companies before agreeing to anything?
Our deposit is in a protection scheme but I don't have any account details or paperwork just a phone number. Will call them tomorrow. Some of the things in the letter are completely untrue.

[MilkTwoSugarsThanks]

Your landlord should have given you the paperwork for your deposit within a certain number of days (can’t remember- not very helpful!).

We’re you not given it or have you lost it?

[SusanTheGentle]

Contact the deposit scheme yourselves - there's all sorts of rules she needs to have followed and she may not have done. Don't agree anything with her until you know more eg did she give you a list of deductions within the correct timescale? She also should have provided you with the tenancy deposit scheme information herself with in a certain amount of time of you moving in.

[Redadmiralflyer]

I wasn't given any paperwork. When I go on the site it asks for log in details. I haven't been given anything like that. The deposit scheme have my email address and once emailed me a newsletter but thats all ive had. I believe it's there but i haven't got any details.

[CantThinkOfAUserNameNotTaken]

She can't make you agree to an amount. I'm sure someone knits the legal term but you need to insist on going to arbitration and you want your deposit back.

[GaryGilmoresEyes]

Our landlord tried that with us, we appealed through the deposit scheme and didn't have to pay. The judge pretty much called them liars. It took about four weeks.

[Redadmiralflyer]

I will ring the deposit scheme tomorrow and ask their advice. She has changed the amount three times.
There was a bit of a heated debate at the inspection. Things she wanted to charge us for, she was just listing off things willy nilly then chopped and changed several times and contradicted herself.
She was annoyed because she wanted us to tell her we were moving sooner. She made us come back and take some stuff away too. I left her a kitchen bin because she didn't have one and we bought new ones. It was in perfect condition but she made us take it away. She seems very spiteful and petty. I can't stand the woman. She often came in for a snoop when we were out when we lived there. Came in to find doors open that were previously closed etc and my postman caught her in the house one day too when we were out.

[forgetthepast]

She should have provided you full details of the deposit scheme. She is on shaky ground here and the deposit scheme will rule in your favour unless she can prove the deductions. Contact them and let them deal with it. If it turns out she hasn't protected your deposit head off to court as chances are she will have to refund 3 x your deposit.

[napmeistergeneral]

No no no. She can't refuse to contact the scheme or stop you from doing so. If her deductions are valid she has no reason to, either, as they will find in her favour. So attempting to force you into an agreement without reference to scheme arbitration certainly sounds dodgy. You are entitled to see receipts etc but in the first instance, you need to find your scheme, alert them, and follow their advice - not her demands.

[19lottie82]

You don't need her permission to contact the deposit protection scheme.

The first step is to find out if it is protected or not. If it is everything is decided through their website, she can't just make you agree to things outwith it.

[19lottie82]

PS forget the court can force a landlord to refund UP TO 3 x the deposit amount but that's quite rare, it's generally just the original deposit amount plus court related expenses.

[NoToast]

A Deposit Protection Scheme was great for my friend when she was in a similar situation. They insisted on receipts from the landlord and proper quote letters (and I think more than one) for any work that needed to be done. She got every penny back.

[MilkTwoSugarsThanks]

I suggest checking the number you have on Google - make sure it’s one of the legitimate deposit protection schemes.

[DeadGood]

Yep you absolutely can contest this. You should have received a letter from the Deposit Scheme yourselves. It would not have been issued or directed through the landlord. So it will be on you to call the Deposit Scheme, figure out what your details are etc. The landlord won't be able to help with that, nor is it in her interest to do so on your behalf.

Once you have all that info you can simply contest it. You will get your money back. To be honest it probably won't get that far, your landlady sounds pretty clueless about the law and what shaky ground she is on. As soon as you start making veiled, polite threats she will back off.

Things have changed a lot in the last few years in favour of tenants, she's in for a shock.

[cansu]

Typical. I had a similar experience. They couldn't give a shit about the house until you are leaving and then change overnight. We lived in ours for seven years in which absolutely no decorating or work was done. When we moved in it was utterly filthy and garden was a jungle. When I raised this I was told with a laugh that last tenants were friends and they didn't have time to do it. As soon as we informed them we were leaving, they started with such a load of bullshit. Our landlord even wanted to charge us for new carpets and a new fitted kitchen!! We went through deposit scheme and she ended up with just 100 out of an eight hundred pound deposit. Go through scheme and refuse to engage with her. I ended up texting my landlord and telling her that I would no longer speak to her as she was so unpleasant.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

After seven years, pretty much everything will count as fair wear and tear, so she is on dodgy ground. (This is what our letting agent told us - and we agreed - when we got our house back after it had been rented for some years.)

[manglethedangle]

Check the deposit schemes directly, there are three.

Then raise a dispute directly with the deposit scheme and let them sort it out. Your landlord isn't entitled to betterment, so for example, the couch, the damage was done x years ago so they would only be entitled to a % of the repair cost.

[pootlepootle]

the deposit protection people are definitely your friends in this. try to call them / email them without logging in if you don't have login details.

we had pretty much exactly the same situation - landlady wanted to keep our deposit even though she'd told us verbally that all was OK.

she wanted our full deposit. we got the whole thing back. it took around 3 weeks but was so good to have someone bring some sense into the whole thing.

[CaptWentworth]

LL doesn't need receipts from cleaning company. My property was left in a disgusting state by tenants, and I cleaned it myself. I took lots of pictures and sent the deposit scheme details of how many hours I cleaned, and damage done, and they found in my favour and tenants lost their deposit. Your landlord has to contact the deposit scheme with evidence to make a claim for the deposit.

[purplemunkey]

Definitely contest via the deposit protection scheme. I've rented for about 16 years now in a number of properties. Most landlords have been great but two have tried to screw is out of our deposits with made up costs and 'damage' claims.

First time I was a student and this pre-dated DPS schemes. Me and my housemates all list our deposits. Second time I was in my late 20s and money was in a scheme, got every penny back. DPS use check in and check out reports, plus genuine receipts. If none of these exist your LL doesn't have a leg to stand on. The LL we got everything back from after contesting tried to charge us for a new carpet (existing stain and state of carpet was detailed on check in report, so not down to us) and ridiculous money for a replacement tap - invoiced from his own bathroom & kitchen fitting company. There was nothing on check out report about a broken tap. He was fine while we were living there, fixed things quickly etc, but tried to take us for a ride once we moved out.

DPS was designed to protect tenants against this exact kind of behaviour.