Landlord deposit deductions help

[Sl2107]

Hi everyone,

this is my first time posting on her but I need some advice.

We recently ended a tenancy of a property we have lived in for the past 4 years. We had a break clause that meant we could give two months notice at any time. Our landlords have always been lovely but since saying we want to go they have started to be picky. Our tenancy was due to end on the 30th of July but we moved out on the 27th of June as that was when our new tenancy started (couldn’t push it back).

the landlord sent us an email to say he will let us hand the keys back on the 15th July instead of 30th which meant we only had to pay another two weeks rent and then a load of other things about how he thinks our respect for his property has diminished even though we have had walls re plastered, laid new flooring in the living room as when we moved in it had slate tiles which was freezing!, but then he went on to say that if the property isn’t up to scratch he will then charge the extra rent from the 15th to 30th as well as make deductions from the deposit if he needs to. We have kept the house in good shape apart from one carpet was a bit stained which has now been professionally cleaned but my main question is, can he actually charge us rent for two weeks we don’t have the keys for the property after telling us we can leave on the 15th? I have never had this before when leaving a rented property and never had any issues with getting a deposit back but I feel like they are going to be difficult.

sorry it’s a bit long winded!

I think he's really shot himself in the foot asking for £275 for lack of meter readings. He will never be able to justify what that cost was intended to cover, and the deposit scheme will now look dimly upon him in general.

Try not to worry - from the sounds of it you'll get it back.

@Silverfinch i was thinking the same! Hopefully he responds soon and doesn’t just leave us waiting

I vaguely remember when we let our property the way the agent explained it was the landlord can't claim for their own time. So for example, if they pay a glazier to replace a window that's fine to claim so I can't see how he can justify 275 for taking a reading!

@Itloggedmeoutagain i know I have no idea, he emailed us the same day we handed the keys back with what he thought were issues and didn’t ask for them I just genuinely forgot. Luckily I took the photos of them. Honestly it’s the last item listed on his list of things claimed and when you add up everything before the £275 is what’s left so he has literally just used it as an excuse to get all of the money

What else is he claiming for?

No no no. As an inventory clerk I hear this all the time. You have an inventory. He can show you received it. Therefore it is valid. Or no tenant would sign one and would claim all of their deposit back regardless of dilapidations.

Take a deep breath and send your pictures, with date embedded, use FastStone or similar ( free app) to make the date appear on the pictures.

Add any other communication you have to support your point.

Refute any part of his claim, settle anything you might agree with and specify the amount you disagree with.

But don't try saying that as you haven't signed it the inventory is null and void. That is not correct.

@SamphirethePogoingStickerist i was stating that to @Angelswithflirtyfaces Sorry she said she had no inventory at all.

I have l time and date stamped photos and a signed inventory which is what I’m basing my arguments off. The inventory is not detailed and is quite vague.

@KyaClark he is claiming for 2 hours of professional cleaning, 2 hours of gardening as there is ‘weeds’ in the garden even though the inventory states the garden as having various weeds and plants and we deweeded the garden before we left! He is also claiming for carpets professionally cleaning and some blinds we replaced as the ones in there kept falling down as they had bits missing off them but we have in writing him agreeing to us replacing them and never stated we should put the broken ones back.

Hey, does anyone have experience with disrupting through the deposit protection scheme? Landlord had agreed to use dispute resolution service but it says

amount agreed for repayment to landlord 0.00
amount agreed for replayment to tenants £350

and then the rest of the deposit amount is in dispute. Does this mean we are being paid the £350 or the landlord is?

Disputing*

OP that just means they will be £350 coming back to you, and the rest is held in dispute until the adjudicator returns a decision. Just send in your evidence, he’s taking the piss and the DPS will find against him. Keep your nerve, it’ll be fine. He probably won’t send any evidence in, because he doesn’t have any. I went through this with my last landlord and I got all my money back.

i’m sure some landlords do this just because they know some tenants will feel too intimidated to dispute. some landlords are absolute scum.

We just had the email to say it’s coming back to use. I was just confused as he claimed the whole amount I wasn’t sure how the £350 was decided. Yep I agree I imagine they do do that as some people won’t bother!

We once had a landlord try to keep our whole deposit - he wanted to replace kitchen worktops and all sorts with it!

We disputed and what it came down to is:
Landlord can't withhold deposit for things he wants to do, he actually has to have done it and provide the receipts - so if he is saying he's spent £100 on a gardener for example, he needs to have the gardener's invoice as proof.
Landlord has to have a detailed check in and check out and ours had neither (we had photos of when we left showing it was in good condition though)
Landlord can't use your deposit to replace things with brand new unless you completely trashed a brand new item - so if he says he needs £100 for a new rug because you have damaged a 10 year old rug then he's not going to get very far.

We got our whole deposit back.

@Connie2468 did you have to submit evidence? If you did how did you time and date stamp your photos to show they were from that actual day? It comes up on an iPhone at the top so I have screenshot my photos with that in the top but not sure if that is good enough. I am glad you got your whole deposit back! It’s rubbish I have just been looking for old emails which are all signed ‘thank you for being brilliant tenants’ until the day we handed our notice in lol

I didn't time or date stamp anything, I just sent the photos and a description/explanation.

@Connie2468 i won’t worry too much about that then thank you!

Our landlords tried to claim about 80% of our deposit. We went through the resolution service and ended up getting it all back minus £60 due to a stain on a carpet (carpet was already 10 years old and in the box room). They'd tried to claim for repainting walls and filling in picture holes, discoloured floor grout, and all carpets. We had photos showing shelving in front of the wall they claimed had picture hook holes plus they were selling it and had used old photos which clearly showed their picture frames on that wall!

Remember that a certain amount of wear and tear is reasonable, especially if you have been there 4 years.

In your experience is one thing, the law has changed. 2019 saw new regulations and laws around what tenants can be legally charged

I used to be an inventory clerk and it was that whatever the condition was (professionally cleaned etc et ) you had to provide the same - with receipts both sides.

@Mariposa80 we have the opposite. They have claimed it isn’t fit to rent but listed it as available a few days after we handed the keys back with pictures of how we left it whilst the landlord was out of the country the day that we handed the keys back so they haven’t even had the intention to do the work they are claiming the money for before someone else moves in! I have just sent off all my evidence it’s just a waiting game now hopefully we get the majority of it back if not all.

I can’t believe they took money for a 10 year old carpet!

He really is shocking isn't he. Trying to claim £275 because you didn't send him meter readings. Total cowboy!
No, he can't charge extra rent for a period when you weren't in the property and had given the keys back.

He also can't claim for expected wear and tear.
You might find this useful: www.mydeposits.co.uk/tenant/

@Sl2107 - I would get this thread moved to the Property section as there are some very helpful people on there.
Reply saying that you dispute everything and will be opening a dispute via the DPS for the full amount to be returned. At least you have everything in writing.

@rainingsnoring I am hoping this is going to go on our favour with him charging that for a meter reading! I honestly think he doesn’t know what he is doing because it’s the first time he is renting a property. I assume he just thinks he is entitled to everything! I think he has now realised he can’t take the other two weeks of rent! Luckily we have opened a dispute. I didn’t agree to anything and I have just submitted my evidence so we will see what happens from there.

He sounds like a total idiot. The meter reading claim is just insanity! Hopefully they'll see he's on the make and you have sound evidence to give them anyway.
Did you find out when it's available from?

@HumourReplacementTherapy i know! Couldn’t believe it haha. It was available ‘now’ a few days after we moved out and he said he wasn’t in the country from that day until the 1st of august so there is no way he had anything done to it before letting out again

Your LL sounds like a chancer and that the deposit scheme will side with you based on evidence

If he cannot show the invoices of necessary work done because of damage you didn(not natural wear and tear) before he tried to withhold from your deposit then he will lose his case as well as the random extras!

It sounds like you have good evidence that his agents have advertised the flat for re rental immediately without any repairs at a higher monthly price ! What a chancer!!