Tenancy deposoit

[Rustyfeet]

Aibu to be really annoyed!

Our landlord tried to claw back every penny of our deposit for things that where there before we moved in! So ofcourse we went through the DPS resolution. I filled in the for. Straightaway. Tomorrow will be 14 days and they still haven't responded. So I can then start a statutory declaration process, but there's a catch! It needs to be signed by a solicitor/magistrate/commissioner of oath.

So now I'm going to lose more money getting a solicitor to sign a piece of paper because the landlords too lazy!

Surely this isn't fair. Especially as the DPS have the check in and check out report!

Is there anything else we can do? We moved out one month ago now.

What's even more annoying is we lived there for 5 years. Never made a late rental payment. Got on with all neighbours. Went through tenancy inspections every 6 months and the estate agents enver found anything wrong. And it's all maintenance issues he's trying to claim.

Has multiple properties in the borough and lives overseas. Clearly isn't in desperate need for the money as he's obviously forgotten to pursue his claim!

So I guess my best bet is to stay quiet. Apply for the statutory declaration. Hope he doesn't bother and then hopefully get my money back?

Just paid the 50 quid add it to your costs and ask for that to be covered by the Landlord

When I rented I didn’t pay the last month of rent and would tell them to keep the deposit.

Landlords keeping the deposit because of a cobweb and a tile that was chipped before you moved in is too common.

At this point it’s pretty much a scam.

Pop over to the money saving expert forum, there's a housing section with lots of landlords who advise tenants with issues like this.

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/house-buying-renting-selling

The last time I had to get a Statutory Declaration signed the charge was £5.
The main issue was finding a solicitor to do it. It’s irritating, but very straightforward and worth doing to obtain your full deposit.
Someone above mentioned claiming extra costs from the landlord. You could do that in court but the DPS can only deal with the original amount of the deposit. They have no powers to order additional payments.

Thank you everyone!