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Legal matters

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Original poster

Taken to court over deposit, but work never carried out!

16 replies

Happy101 · 06/09/2019 23:32

Our landlord has decided to take us to court over a portion of our deposit. He claims over £400 for cleaning and £15 for a wobbly door handle and £100 for weeding. We disputed the amount as we felt the cleaning fee was too high, the wobbly door handles were discussed with him verbally and can be counted as wear and tear, and the wedding charge was never stated in the contract we signed. They have decided to bypass the dispute process and take us straight to court.

However, we received a message from the new tenants and turns out non of the work we have been charged for has been carried out, so the weeds are still present, the house hasn't been professionally cleaned and the door handles are still wobbly. With the new tenants permission we have taken dated photos of this. My question is where do we go from here? Do we get in contact with the landlord presenting him with this information and risk it being fixed and still taken to court, or do we hold the evidence and present it to court? Has anyone been in a similar position and can give us any advice?

Thanks

OP posts:

endofthelinefinally · 06/09/2019 23:33

Do you have photos?

seeleym · 06/09/2019 23:37

@endofthelinefinally did you actually even read the OP? It clearly says she has dated photos 🤦‍♀️

Sorry OP I don't know the answer for what would be best to do.

Original poster

Happy101 · 06/09/2019 23:37

@endofthelinefinally

yes we took photos of the still remaining work the other day, the other tenants moved in a couple of weeks ago.

OP posts:

endofthelinefinally · 06/09/2019 23:40

Sorry I missed that bit.

Original poster

Happy101 · 06/09/2019 23:43

any advice would be appreciated, begininng to get worried about this being dragged through the courts, we just don't have the money, and really need our deposit back.

OP posts:

Berthatydfil · 06/09/2019 23:45

Can you message the landlord to tell him you know the work wasn’t done- and will be telling the courts so would he wish to consider his position?

endofthelinefinally · 06/09/2019 23:46

Post in legal. You will get good advice there.
You can report your post and ask for it to be moved.

Cakedoesntjudge · 06/09/2019 23:48

Have you received the court papers yet? Most cases settle out of court as it's cheaper- litigation is expensive.

What were the terms of your tenancy agreement re the cleaning and the weeding?

HotPenguin · 06/09/2019 23:49

Are you in a deposit protection scheme? If so it's just a case of both sides sending their evidence and the deposit protection scheme makes the decision. I don't know where going to court comes into it. Are you in England?

Original poster

Happy101 · 06/09/2019 23:51

@HotPenguin

it was in the DPS and yes we're in England. apparently the landlord can bypass the dispute and go straight to court, which they have decided to do.

OP posts:

Original poster

Happy101 · 06/09/2019 23:52

no not yet, we're awaiting a court order, and we are thinking of doing that but we are worried they will then carry out the works, and still take us to court.

OP posts:

HotPenguin · 06/09/2019 23:56

Ok I have never heard of that. When it happened to me I just contacted the protection scheme. They didn't hear from the landlord within a couple of weeks so they just gave me back the full amount. I think my landlord was blustering and maybe didn't understand the process.

Original poster

Happy101 · 06/09/2019 23:57

@HotPenguin

How did you go about doing that? Just really confused by the whole thing and really didn't want to go through the courts.

OP posts:

runoutofnamechanges · 07/09/2019 00:13

I would move this to legal but can you give a timeline on what has happened so far?

When did the tenancy end?
What communication have you had with the landlord?
Has a dispute been raised by either you or the landlord with the TDS?
Is the amount claimed more than the deposit?
What does your contract say re cleaning/weeding etc? Did it ask for a professional clean? Whose responsibility is the garden?
What does the inventory say about the state of cleanliness/garden? If the inventory doesn't say it has been professionally cleaned and the garden is weed free, even if it says that in the contract, you don't have to return it in a better state than when you moved in.
Do you have evidence that you complained about the door handle?

manmanager · 07/09/2019 10:08

@Happy101

Stop all correspondence with the landlord. Go directly to the TDS scheme where your deposit is protected and request the return of your deposit. The landlord is trying bypass the TDS scheme and get you to pay up. The landlord can dispute the claim through the TDS scheme which is there to protect tenants. Any disputes can resolved by adjudicator .

HotPenguin · 07/09/2019 11:06

What manmanager said. Contact your deposit protection scheme straight away and just ask for the deposit back. You should have been given details of which scheme your landlord is using when you signed the contract.

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