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Original poster

Landlord kept some of our deposit back!

31 replies

HaveAGoodDay · 05/08/2014 20:05

Okay so we've just moved from private rented property from which we were there for several years.

We only ever had a contract for the first 6 months. We paid a deposit of £450 when first moving in.

We've been excellent tenants, always paid our rent by dd on time every month & really looked after the house, painted when need to. There were repairs that needed doing & the landlords favourite response was 'leave it with me' - well nothing was done, we never gave him any hassel. We were waiting 2 years for a skirting board to be replaced after he ripped off the damp rotting peice, it still hadn't been done when we left.

Anyway. When my hubby went to hand the keys over and collect the bond money back, the landlord was very rude & pointed out that the sofa he left for us wasn't in the same condition as it was when we first moved in so he was going to keep all our bond money. The sofa he put in the house was in fact one that he was going to skip, it belonged to his mother & as she has just bought a new 3 peice, she wanted rid of this one, but as we didn't have one, he put it in the house for us. To be honest, several years later with 2 kids under nine, its had some wear and tear.

So my husband and the landlord argued for sometime, I wasn't present but my husband said the landlord wasn't best pleased about us leaving & really didn't want to give us any money back. Eventually he paid us by cheque £300, taking £150 off for the sette saying it'll cost him to skip it.

I'm not happy, neither is my husband. But I can't help feeling something isn't right, the landlord is just being downright pathetic about it all. The day after we moved out my husband literally spent nearly all day cleaning the house top to bottom so it was spotless even the oven.

OP posts:

MrsPnut · 05/08/2014 20:08

Wasn't your deposit in a protection scheme? It's against the law for a deposit not to be protected now and for the very reason you've recounted.

I'd contact him and tell him that you're taking him to the small claims court for the rest of your deposit because of his failure to adhere to the law.

hollycomputer · 05/08/2014 20:09

Did your tenancy pre-date the tenancy deposit schemes?

hollycomputer · 05/08/2014 20:10

Sorry, x-post.

That sounds unreasonable to me.

ajandjjmum · 05/08/2014 20:12

I think that if your deposit is not held in the scheme, the landlord has to pay you something like three times the amount? Might be worth mentioning that to him.

Original poster

HaveAGoodDay · 05/08/2014 20:34

Okay, we moved into that rented house in 2007 so I'm not sure when that tenancy scheme came into effect?

But I am pretty sure our deposit was not in a protection scheme - we never heard anything from him about it at all. He reluctantly wrote the cheque in front of my husband, it just goes to show it's come out of his own bank account!

We have no real address for him, he used to live next door, but moved a couple of years ago to build some new houses, so unsure of his address, although I think hubby says he lives in one of the houses he built & might have an idea where.

OP posts:

butterflybuttons · 05/08/2014 20:43

so in that case you can sue him for 3x the amount of the deposit.

VeryLittleGravitasIndeed · 05/08/2014 20:43

OP the landlord can't do that. First, the deposit must be in a deposit scheme - the fact that it's not gives you the right to take him to court and you could get 3x your deposit back. Second, he can't keep back any deposit to cover "normal wear and tear".

www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/if-your-landlord-doesnt-protect-your-deposit

VeryLittleGravitasIndeed · 05/08/2014 20:44

Ah x post. It depends when in 2007 you moved in.

tribpot · 05/08/2014 20:45

The deposit protection scheme came into effect on 6th April 2007, can you remember when in the year you moved in? Info from gov.uk here.

The landlord sounds extremely dodgy and you should take advice on how to proceed (I've assumed you're in England but there are partner sites for the other home countries). It doesn't sound like the sofa ever complied with fire regs, how old was it when you moved in?

Did you ever have an inventory and condition report from when you moved into the house? If no, there is no evidence to support his claim that the furniture is not in the same condition as when you moved in anyway. And frankly some wear and tear is to be expected, not to mention accounted for in the landlord's tax bill.

PartyFops · 05/08/2014 20:49

Could he be charging you to remove the old sofa which is now not worth keeping? Could you not remove it for him along with the rest of your belongings? Was the rest of the property furnished?

Twunk · 05/08/2014 20:51

I'd take him it small claims if you moved in before the tenancy protection schemes. You have a very good chance of getting your money.

PartyFops · 05/08/2014 22:06

Did he gift you the sofa?

Original poster

HaveAGoodDay · 05/08/2014 22:26

Thanks for the replies so far, the info is interesting!

It was in June 2007 when we moved in. We live on the UK.

There was no inventory and condition report. The property was what I would call part furnished - only the sofa & a washing machine was placed there, along with curtain poles if that counts!

I remember something else he said to my husband. He mentioned in his defence that he replaced the washing machine twice for us when they broke down & my husband replied, exactly, they broke down because they were refurbished old washers, not guaranteed to last 6 mths, to which the landlord replied that when he came by one day, he saw the washing machine & not even another sock could fit in so wasn't prepared to spend money on a decent washer!

Absolutely gobsmacked by this, I'm asking my husband, since when has the landlord ever done our washing? And more importantly, when did he 'pop by' to be able to make this judgement? Did he come when we were out & see if he could fit a sock into the already full washing machine? My a$$ he did!

And, another time, when he replaced (so these things he did replace as they were essentials) was the oven, again twice. When he replaced the 2nd one, he'd already been hinting at more rent for a while beforehand. We basically said we couldn't really afford to at the time. Anyway he was talking about my kids etc & mentioned my youngest & starting school. Then he mentioned the rent increase again. I said again that we were penny pinching as it was.. Then he said, ' why don't you get a part time job or something then?'!!!

I wasn't working then as my youngest was just about to start school. But for the landlord to suggest what I do with my life, was bang out of order. My husband was ready to take his face off after I told him that.

As far as him keeping the rest of the deposit, it's clear he had no intention of giving anything back, he's obviously peed off at us going as he's loosing his extra income. I just thank god we're not living there anymore & not paying him another penny. There was so much going wrong with that house & all he's going to do is bodge it up for the next tenants.

OP posts:

TravelinColour · 05/08/2014 22:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

tribpot · 05/08/2014 23:02

Er, so he expected you to be grateful that he'd replaced / repaired items which were included in the tenancy? I'm gonna email my tenant and ask her why she's never said thanks for the annual gas safety check I have done on the boiler. (Let me guess: this guy never did one of these either).

He has no right of unauthorised entry to the property except in emergency, so if he actually admits to having been in there one day you have him bang to rights on that too.

However, the main thing now is to sue his arse for the deposit. I believe scheme-dodgers are not viewed favourably by the courts, he's going to lose and be fined, as he should be.

Original poster

HaveAGoodDay · 06/08/2014 10:25

He did arrange the annual gas safety check on the boiler, however the boiler hardly ever worked - the amount of times we couldn't get hot water - kids getting a cold bath, i couldn't get hot water out of a tap anywhere! the plumber told us a new boiler was needed but all the landlord instructed him to do was fix it cheap as possible. We know because we've actually made good relationship with the plumber & he's installing a combo boiler in our new house!

One early morning, about 5am, the carbon monoxide alarm went off constantly. My husband was concerned especially after all the frequent trouble we got with the boiler. So he rang our landlord. We slept downstairs & opened the windows.

As it turned out it was a false alarm. But the landlord brought it up with my husband when they were arguing, the landlord saying how dare he ring him st such a time in the morning and was he stupid!

My husband wants to just draw a line under it all. Which to be honest sounds probably what I should do. We're happy now we have our own place. We had rented before & got our deposit back no problem & even that landlord told my husband one day when he saw him that not all tenants were
like us, we were best ones he had.

OP posts:

specialsubject · 06/08/2014 10:57

landlord broke the law. Don't you want him to face the consequences?

tribpot · 06/08/2014 11:12

Even if you're prepared to write the money off, this person is unfit to be a landlord. I would find out what would be involved in reporting him for failing to hold a deposit in a scheme.

butterflybuttons · 06/08/2014 11:25

I am astounded you are letting him get away with this.

Also I bet the old sofa he palmed off on you didn't meet any fire regs either. Another law broken.

inabeautifulplace · 06/08/2014 11:41

On the basis of what you've posted, this man will keep the £150 he's taken from you because he thinks he's entitled to it and you don't have the bottle to get it back. Effectively, you or your husband are working a few days for free, to benefit a man who failed to maintain the property and felt free to enter as he saw fit.

Please prove me wrong. This happened to me when I was young and naive, it still pisses me off. On my last rental I was FULLY prepared for all this bullshit. When the agent called detailing what they thought they could extort from my deposit, I refused and gave reasons why. Full deposit returned, you robbing bastards!

BoulevardOfBrokenSleep · 06/08/2014 11:53

This is ridiculous, he's taken £150 straight from your pockets to skip a sofa that he put there in the first place?

You gave your kids cold baths because he couldn't be arsed to fix the boiler properly?

He thought that potentially killing your whole family with carbon monoxide was not his problem?! (A court wouldn't see it that way, he'd be doing time)

Yeah, I bet he thinks you're great tenants, most people wouldn't put up with being treated so shittily. Like tribpot says, completely unfit to be a landlord.

specialsubject · 06/08/2014 12:28

all the legal measures are in place to protect you against exactly this kind of situation. Please use them.

Sunnyshores · 06/08/2014 12:30

I agree sometimes its not worth dragging on the negative feelings. BUT he shouldnt get away with this, he gives all of us landlords a bad name. Taking him to court over the deposit is really easy - you fill in a form and thats it, you wont have to appear in court. But I do appreciate its prolongs the bad feeling. SO..

Just send one last letter (although I see you dont know where he lives?).
The plumber must send him a bill to be paid? Anyway, just say - It has come to our attention that you did not protect our deposit as the law requires and thus we can take you to court and claim our deposit x3 back. We are however willing to forget about this if you refund us the £150 you have illegally deducted.

Then leave it and move on with your happier life!

FreckledLeopard · 06/08/2014 12:33

If it's 150 that's in dispute, by all means go to the Small Claims Court. However, you'll have to pay to make a claim (which you can in theory claim from him) - and there's no guarantee he'll pay you, even if you win.

If I were you, I'd write a Letter Before Claim (which you'll need to do regardless) and see if he offers to settle. Otherwise, for the sake of 150, it will be a hassle to go to court, with no guarantee that you'll get anywhere.

joeandella · 06/08/2014 12:34

Sue him for not putting the money in the deposit scheme.

Rule of thumb, any furnishing/device older than 5 years is worthless.

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