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Original poster

Advice on what to do about the huge bill the lettings agency has given us after check out inspection

56 replies

TammisTwap · 29/01/2018 21:47

Has anyone successfully disputed their bill after moving out of a rented property? Or unsuccessfully? If anyone has any advice I'd be grateful..

We moved out of a rented house in November after renting it for 2 years 7 months for £1295 pcm.
Today we got an email with the details of the checkout inspection.

The management agency wants a total of £2125, so they are keeping our deposit of £1295 and want an additional £830. The bulk of it is for "a full clean of the property" for £340, and "redecorating due to excessive wear and tear" £1170.

Apparently the garden/yard needs £100 spent on it.. it's no more than 4 square metres and the grass was cut and hedges trimmed before we moved. I just don't see what needs doing in it - one photo shows a close up of a weed the size of my palm.

We are appalled at the amount, and the notes the woman took, saying that the house was left in a bad condition and was dirty throughout.
The report says there was "debris" on the floor of every room, and every surface. We cleaned it perfectly well, well enough to move into (although I did miss the inside of kitchen drawers) and I can't believe that a cleaner (if paid approximately £10 per hour) could spend the best part of a working week there. None of the cleaning or decorating has been done, it's just estimates.

We took photographs - of each room as a whole, the agency also took photos - close ups of scuffs to the walls etc. I could post them if it would be any use?

There are some things we accept we are liable for, one of the children smashed a lamp that was purchased at the same time the property was 10 years ago (it's an ex show home) but we are being charged £75 for the broken shade.
Yes there are scuffs to the walls, I don't know if they count as fair wear and tear or not..

When we were in the property, the back door stopped opening one day, maintainance repaired it but we were billed over £1000, when we refused to pay (as we didn't do anything other than use it as a door) the agency woman who does our inspections said she would take us to court over it.. she never did, but I believe this hugely inappropriate bill is her attempt to recoup some of the cost of the door - although it is not mentioned on the list of things we are being charged for.

We have said we don't agree with the inspection results, and have been told to email them.. but I don't know where to start... or if there is even any point... we do have photos of the state the place was in when we moved in, which was grubby, with tat under beds etc. Not a big deal but my point is that it was never immaculate to begin with.

Is there any point in laboriously noting down our objections ? Or will they just keep the lot anyway? What about the extra £830 ? What happens if we don't pay it? Would we go to court?
I genuinely believe we only owe for a few things that were accidentally damaged by the 3 children; a hole in the plasterboard which happened when it was opened too hard, and the broken lampshade.
I am worried the agency are trying to cash in on us. We bought a new house so we don't urgently need the deposit in order to put it down on the next rental, but we'd obviously like some back if possible

OP posts:
specialsubject · 02/02/2018 13:15

Not necessarily - many landlords (me included) use the agent address. Bloody glad of that when the dealers moved in...

Tenants can however ask for the actual address.

BTW staggered at the idea that the agent thinks tenant can be charged more than the deposit!

Original poster
TammisTwap · 02/02/2018 13:24

I can't thank you enough for the advice I've got here. The landlords name is on the tenancy agreement but the address is given as c/o the agency.
I wrote the agency an email asking again for their address and added a screen shot from the shelter page, and immediately got a reply saying that the landlord had agreed to keep just the deposit and waive the £830.

It was only 3 minutes after I sent the screen shot so I don't believe they even asked the landlords. As someone here said - I expect they are trying to keep some of the money for themselves. I'm shocked that these people are not regulated!

OP posts:
InternationalHouseofToast · 02/02/2018 13:31

Keep going OP. I haven't rented for years but from what I've read on here the landlord can't keep your deposit for reasonable wear and tear. Go back to the deposit scheme again and keep on with your appeal.

spinn · 02/02/2018 13:34

Go for the full deposit. Do not allow them to keep it, there is nothing concrete in their costs deduction.

Cleaning - does the inventory identify that it wasn't especially clean? Do your photos show that it is in equal or better condition now?

Garden - as above

Decorating - as above plus fair wear and tear for 2.5 years tenancy with children.

Offer to cover the lamp if you wish (worth google to see how much it cost and then deduct an amount for each year old it is - there is guidance online for how many years old things should be before being replaced).

You could make an offer if you really want to but I would say you are in a good position to get all of the deposit back.

Have it all in writing, challenge every deduction by email and give. A clear deadline as to when you will be taking it to the dps.

spinn · 02/02/2018 13:35

Also attach photos to the email that show how it's better condition etc

(I've been on both sides of this battle and won both times to take the full deposits)

Bellamuerte · 02/02/2018 13:45

Have they provided date stamped photos to show they were taken after your tenancy ended? If the photos aren't date stamped it's impossible for them to prove they were taken after you moved out. And the photos should be within a reasonable period of your check-out otherwise weeds could have grown and dust could have collected which weren't there when you left and therefore aren't your responsibility.

I'd also expect a proper itemised quote from a named company for cleaning etc - NOT an estimate. And insist on being provided with a receipt from the cleaning company for any cleaning that you agree to pay for. I would argue that scuffs are "fair wear and tear". You may be liable for the lamp - in which case I'd want to see a receipt for the purchase of the new lamp and would expect to pay only a portion of that price as the lamp was 10yo.

SouthLondonDaddy · 02/02/2018 13:55

Many moons ago an agency tried to charge me, the tenant, a renewal fee when my contract became a rolling tenancy. They had become very aggressive, treating litigation debt collectors and what not.

The conversation went something like:

Where in my contract would I have agreed to pay you this renewal fee?

It's in the contract!

Where?

Ahm, hum, but it's our policy!

Well, my policy is that those who demand payments which are not due can shove said demands in an orifice of their choice...

Grin
SouthLondonDaddy · 02/02/2018 13:55

*threatening litigation

ButtMuncher · 02/02/2018 14:00

Please continue to dispute it - we've had issues with our previous letting agency and disputed their claims and we got it back once TDS got involved as they could see the agency had done such a poor job of managing the property in the first place that the small minor issues were waived in the face of the colossal ones (we had tonnes of emails backing up our continued pursuit to get the downstairs toilet fixed after nine months, for example).

Good luck Thanks

Canklesofglitter · 02/02/2018 14:00

We've had a nomadic couple of years following several job moves and have rented three different houses. Every single one has tried it on when we left, claiming wear and tear and cleaning costs despite every house being handed back in a much cleaner state than when we moved in. We've never paid a penny as they've always backed down when we challenged them.

Contest EVERYTHING.

It's highly likely that their evidence will not be good enough for the TDS. We learned this the hard when we rented our house out to a "professional" family who trashed it - doors damaged, tiled floors smashed, shower enclosure cracked, water damage caused by them not switching the cold water feed off when they removed their dishwasher at the end of the tenancy. The letting agency's photos weren't deemed enough and we were awarded £710 to pay a £2000 bill.

AdalindSchade · 02/02/2018 14:01

Omg what absolute chancers. I really despise most letting agents to be honest, as a business model it is vile and so are most of the people working in them.
Don't let them shaft you!

specialsubject · 02/02/2018 14:05

Raise a dispute because there is no reason to keep your deposit.
Get landlord info and advise him of his crooked agency.
Unnecessary hassle but worth it for £1300.

Marcine · 02/02/2018 14:09

Definitely contest everything, I bet you get the lot back!

BeardofZeus · 02/02/2018 14:09

We rent property through our employment and even then the move in/out inspections show how much of the money involved is through chancing their luck and hoping you pay for it to all go away... you have a good case, especially with the agency’s receipt of acknowledgment of the state of the property at move-in!

coffeeforone · 02/02/2018 15:47

we disputed with the deposit protection scheme, the agent didn't even bother to respond to our dispute, so we automatically got the money back after a set period of time (a couple of months I recall)

specialsubject · 02/02/2018 15:51

What is bizarre is that deposit deductions go to the landlord to fix damage. So unless the agency is thieving the money, ( not impossible) this whole stunt is pointless. The money will be used to pay for work and no one gains.

The money can be lodged by the agent but should be ring fenced and not released until the deposit scheme agrees, and then to the landlord.

hollowtree · 02/02/2018 15:56

Challenge it. We had a really shit exLL who just kept our whole deposit. We left because Environmental Health condemned the place!! Took him to court, got it back 3 times over.

bouncydog · 03/02/2018 06:26

Challenge them with the before and after photos. My DD was in a similar position with her student let ( which is very common) and the agency tried to keep all of her deposit. We challenged them and they were very quick to negotiate and in the end could only keep back enough to repaint a bedroom where she had put blue tac on the wall instead of white tac and left a mark. We got an alternative estimate for the repainting and knocked them down from £300 to £80!

19lottie82 · 04/02/2018 06:38

Don’t even bother with any further communication with LL or agency.

Just log in online with the deposit company and put in a claim for your full deposit.

If they try to make any claims you will receive a notification and you can dispute them online. The deposit scheme will then make a decision.

myusernameisnotmyusername · 04/02/2018 12:34

Stand up for it. Don't give up! When we moved out of our house in south London to Birmingham the landlord took ages to do an inspection. By this time the garden was overgrown- he said we'd planted Japanese knotweed, there were mice which he blamed on us (we got rid of some just after we moved in and told him and then got a cat), he said there was a wasps nest in the loft which he kept padlocked and loads of other stuff he tried to blame us for. We went through the dps and he kept calling shouting abuse and messaging making crazy offers of money without any reason why he'd come to that figure. In the end the dps reviewed the check in and out report and awarded us all of our deposit back! We were so pleased we'd persevered. Good luck. I'd posted on here too at the time and got some really good advice which encouraged me not to give up.

myusernameisnotmyusername · 04/02/2018 12:35

Oh and if isn't in a deposit protection scheme they could be liable to give it you back straightaway as I believe it's illegal not to use one now.

damnderek · 05/02/2018 00:28

How's it going op? The fact that they immediately tried to waive the £830 says they're absolute bloody chancers.

Going to the TDS means you don't have to engage any further with the fuckers.

Needmoresleep · 05/02/2018 06:14

Landlord here. Challenge each item charged.

The landlord will need to provide evidence for his expenditure on each item. It's a tedious exercise. My (one) experience was that they were unwilling to offer much for landlord time. I got £20 even though tenant had broken contract and done a flit saying he had left keys on the table and I could 'help myself to contents of fridge' and keep things left behind.

It took ages and I was left out very of pocket.

Say you will dispute. You have a time limit. Contest everything. It is for the landlord to prove. You could ask agent if Landlord, in parallel is willing to recalculate deductions. If he has any sense he will come up with a far more reasonable proposal.

glitterballbag · 05/02/2018 06:20

Yes I did and got let of some of an unfair cleaning bill.

scaryteacher · 05/02/2018 23:54

As a l/l I'd be pissed off about the plasterboard, and want it fixed.

It took me 17 days to clean my rental in Belgium when we moved last summer, not because it was dirty, but because you are expected to hand the property back in a pristine condition, and will be charged if it isn't, and they look to find fault if they can. Cleaning properly takes time, and that was with a friend who cleans for a living in the UK.