Landlord taken 50% of security deposit!

[lottsm]

AIBU to ask for help I feel sick to my stomach! Any advice right now would be greatly appreciated- my heart is absolutely racing!

I've just finished third year at a university in London. I moved out of my rented flat on Wednesday and just received an email saying he will be deducting £890 to cover costs and damages. We left the flat in decent condition (gave it a hoover and wipe down) but he is claiming it was in a dilapidated state. I treated his flat with respect throughout the year. I know we should've taken pictures but we also hired a cleaner for 2 hours (not end of tenancy clean) who could possibly verify this.

I should note that I moved out on 4 months before my tenancy ended because my flatmate was so unbearable to live with. In the email, it stated he will need to repair the washing machine because my flatmate broke the handle and replace my flatmate's mattress for being dirty (I slept on airbed when I was there!).

A new microwave has also been quoted for, when I saw the microwave on Wednesday I was shocked at how bad my flatmate had let it become but a bit of kitchen spray and elbow grease would sort it out- it does not need replacing at all. He has also quoted £400 for end of tenancy cleaning whilst I was given estimates of around £160 (including carpet clean)

I really think he is trying it on and looking to kit out his (dated) flat with new items. What can I do? And is there any way I can make my flatmate cover the costs of the damage she is clearly responsible for. We have a joint tenancy so I honestly think I'm screwed.

The deposit was given to me by parents and they are expecting it back in full. My flatmate is loaded. We have a joint tenancy

Not read the full thread but question 1 is are you in a deposit security scheme? If not you should've been. It's illegal for your money to not have been in one. When we moved from the south to the Midlands our previous house was inspected about six weeks after we moved out. Lots of things were mentioned- mice, Japanese knotweed, wasps nest in the (padlocked) loft. We were accused of a bike going missing out of a shed and our landlord would call us making ridiculous demands like offering us £400 then £800 with no breakdown of what the money was for. He could've claimed for the carpets to be fair but he just snatched money out of the air. Anyway eventually we let the deposit protection scheme deal with it. They looked at the evidence and awarded us our full deposit of £1600. It took a few months but it was completely worth it. Hope you manage to sort it out but stand firm if you believe he is claiming too much.

lottsagain

I get that strict parents are scary REALLY trust me on this but if there's a chance their deposit isn't coming home to roost then they need to know sooner rather than later and the truth is that they're likely to help- even if it is only to see their funds again.

I'm not saying let them take over but they do need to know

As a landlord I have experience of this.

When you moved in there should have been an inventory with full description and photographs.

If it's not in the inventory it didn't happen.

So, for example, if the landlord says the washing machine was broken, and it wasn't listed in the inventory at the start of the tenancy as being in full working order (ideally with a photo showing a handle that looks intact), then there might as well have been no washing machine left on the property because it wasn't listed.

The microwave would similarly need to be listed and photographed inside and out, and described as being in full working order. If the inventory has this missing then it didn't happen legally. If it did happen then of course you need to pay, not you need to have the make and model and see what like for like product is available. You can't buy a better one as a replacement. You also have to use an apportionment formula where the length of the expected lifespan is taken into account and divided by the time the landlord had it in the property.

https://www.atdhomeinspection.com/advice/average-product-life/

For example, if a microwave should last 9 years and the landlord bought it for £200 only 5 years ago, then you have to divide the £200 by 9 years making it cost of £22.22 per year. Because the landlord had it for the first 5 years there is only £88.88 left to pay. Not £200. And certainly not £400!

Any arbitration will know this and govern by it, especially if you remind them of this in your reply. If you had the deposit in a proper tenancy scheme you have free arbitration. If the landlord didn't put it in a deposit scheme he is in a whole heap of legal trouble - I think the fine alone is 1-3 times the deposit taken!

it would be so much easier to find out if the deposit is protected and take one of the two advised courses of action according to the result.

does sound like the flat was left in a bad state, the question is did it start that way? The landlord will need to prove that.

A point for future if you rent again - my experience of renting as a student has been that student landlords focus most on the kitchen and bathrooms as these are the 'ickiest' rooms to clean. If items in these rooms aren't thoroughly cleaned (such as microwave) and the rooms themselves not cleaned then in it acts as a red flag and landlords might then scrutinise the rest of the property more thoroughly. Think about the people moving in after you, if you were them would you want to sift through other people's grime and muck, no matter how small?

Really, I sympathise, but the lesson here is simple: if you're not prepared to spend the time it takes to clean a property thoroughly (again, in my experience it takes a minimum of a full day and usually more) or if youre not able to because of catching the train then you should pay someone to do it and get receipts of all work carried out. And beware the cheapest quote - there's nothing worse than trying to cut corners with a budget cleaning company only to have to fork out again because they've not done it properly.

I can relate to you as a London uni graduate who also rented whilst at uni, but I really think you went about this the wrong way.

I think you really need to err on the side of caution in a situation like this. £1780 is a fair amount of money for a deposit, so the risk of losing that money would be enough for me to go the extra mile when leaving. EG the microwave being dirty - you could have just cleaned that yourself instead of leaving it for someone else, just to make sure it was done properly. When I lived in halls, my flatmates left the kitchen a state (think leaving food in the fridge, not cleaning their cupboards out, leaving kitchen stuff they didn’t want anymore). I took it upon myself to really clean the kitchen out as I didn’t want anything taken out of my deposit, even though it wasn’t my mess. It’s just about being a mature adult and thinking about the bigger picture, especially if you desperately need that deposit refund.

All you can do now is dispute this via the deposit protection scheme. Upload receipts and photos. Take this as a lesson for the future - make a detailed inventory checking in, and take good photos when checking out. Vet the people that you will be living with in the future so you don’t end up with shite flatmates again etc.

Also as others have said, he won’t be awarded the cost of a brand new item if something does need replacing. They will only award what is necessary to make it whole again

I'm a LL. Go to the deposit scheme people as PPs have said. The LL has to prove the list is reasonable. If they can't you get your deposit back.

Just call them and let your LL know you have appealed it. My expectations are that they don't have pictures nor the money in the scheme.

He can't just state how much he's keeping. When a tenant of mine didn't pay any rent for 6 months and was removed by bailiffs I had to give documentary proof to the deposit protection scheme before I could claim his deposit. And he will have to prove you have left the flat in a condition that warrants him keeping half your deposit.

As pp have said your first stop is the deposit protection scheme he placed your deposit in. If he didn't do this he's committed an offence for which he will be penalised.

Did he give you details of the deposit being protected? If not take him to court for not protecting it and you will win and get all the money back. I've done it

I've just had my share of the deposit come into my account. he has already made the deductions which I am disputing.

OK - have you actually disputed the amount with the scheme/agent then?

If you dispute it then you get the undisputed amount straight back, while the rest goes to arbitration (where you enter your evidence and explanation, and the landlord enters what he wants to deduct and why).

Or has he returned what he thinks, thus suggesting it wasn't in a scheme?

We didn't formally dispute it with the scheme or agent. I am currently waiting on the agents to get back to me on whether or not the deposit was placed in a protection scheme. I have searched the three schemes and all have come back with no results.

I also asked the landlord which scheme he used via email, he hasn't returned my email which is unlike him.

unprotected deposit - short and curlies time!

Shelter have information on their website about how to deal with unprotected deposits. You get to sue his sorry arse and you will win. There is no defence. Bit of work but that's how you get the money back.

if you are renting again please check this kind of thing and read the how to rent guide, available on gov.uk. Dodgy landlords prey on uninformed tenants.

You should have had an email at the start from the scheme, stating that they had your deposit and how to get it back at the end. You HAVE to also be given a particular set of information, within a certain time of the start of your tenancy.
If you didn't, it seems much more likely he hasn't put it in any scheme, which is illegal.

Also, even if he has used a scheme, whether the flat was clean enough isn't relevant for his claims for new microwave etc. They will assess solely on whether he can prove that you lot damaged the items he's claiming for, beyond wear and tear - if he can't show they were in v good condition at the start with an inventory which you signed in agreement back then, he's unlikely to win.

Go to Shelter and look at next steps for an unprotected deposit. I expect it involved the small claims court.

Inform the LL, with the agents cc'ed, that unless you get either a) details of the deposit scheme before the end of the week, or b) a full deposit returned or negotiations entered into, that you will proceed as if the deposit has been unlawfully retained.

An unprotected deposit is so amateur on your landlord’s behalf - you can easily take him to court if this is the case.

If your landlord is smart enough to get legal advice regarding this, any decent solicitor will tell him to return your deposit in full as the possibility of a 3x deposit penalty by the court isn’t worth it.

It sounds like he’s trying it on.

Thank you all so much for the advice you are giving me.

I definitely feel foolish for having been so incompetent in making sure everything was in order. I just went through my emails and I did not receive anything from a protection scheme.

I've always found my LL to be very meticulous/on it, what are the advantages of not signing up to a scheme? I'm surprised he would overlook this.

It's a legal requirement to protect deposits in these schemes. There's no choice about it. The advantage of not doing so would be being able to get away with retaining chunks of deposits from tenants who don't realise this. Risky though, as getting caught could - and perhaps will this time - cost him.

When your deposit is put into a scheme you should have been notified which deposit scheme it was put into.

Sounds very much like he didn't do it.

Would speak to Shelter or Citizens advice about what to do next. You should also make it clear to him you're not accepting his decision on how much of your deposit he's returned to you.

It costs the LL nothing to place the deposit into a scheme so there is no benefit in not doing and a risk that he/she will found to be breaking the law and then have to shell out three times the deposit.

Some bad LLs might risk it if they are dealing with the kinds of tenants who are likely not to know what the law is and then they can, like your LL, make up their own rules about how much they are going to return when the tenant leaves.

Landlords (especially for student housing where tenants might not know better) may try to unlawfully keep the deposit, ie with no justifiable basis. Some landlords might see a deposit as ‘their’ money regardless of it being specifically kept for security/damage, and say whatever to try and justify keeping this. So a £1000 deposit may be kept with ridiculous reasoning like ‘it cost me £1000 to clean out the microwave’ or ‘I now need to replace the cheap 5 year old microwave with brand new £1000 one’.

Sadly a lot of people might not be aware of their rights so these sorts of landlords can get away with squeezing extra money out of tenants that they are not entitiled for. This is why it’s a legal requirement for deposits to be protected, so tenants have more rights and the access to an unbiased dispute resolution process.

I’d imagine this is profound in London where loads of people are desperate for somewhere decent to live that fits their budget, eg international tenants like EU students who might not know that they can fight this. Some landlords in London are people that are just trying to make a quick buck so will prey on naive tenants

I would tell your parents about this in a ‘the landlord is dodgy and trying it on, he didn’t even protect the deposit’ way, they will probably take your side

Sounds like a reasonable amount if those things need replacing and the inconvenience if replacing them.

If your flat mates have damaged or dirtied things then ask them for the money to replace that taken from your deposit.

Also it’s suspicious that the money he wants to keep is 50% of the total deposit, like what are the chances that the repairs came to an even 50%? It sounds like a number he plucked out of thin air, very convenient. In a dispute, he would have to justify his costs so would need invoices etc before he can retain the deposit from you.

It got nothing to do with whether or not it's a reasonable amount Poloshot. The LL can't, in law, just decide what part of the deposit to keep and then keep it.

The deposit must be placed in a deposit protection scheme and before he can keep any he has to justify that amount to the dps who will okay it or not.