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Original poster

Deposit return dispute - can anyone help?

23 replies

PurpleWithRed · 30/09/2015 17:04

The landlords are proposing to keep a proportion of my mum's rental deposit. The deduction for cleaning is a reasonable amount, the deduction for replacing a smoke alarm is not a reasonable amount (in my view).

However, the flat has now been sold and I don't believe the landlords have actually done the cleaning or replaced the £10 smoke alarm before selling the flat.

Do we still have to pay the deduction, if the work hasn't been done?

OP posts:

PosterEh · 30/09/2015 17:06

Was the deposit protected?

wowfudge · 30/09/2015 17:18

Providing the deposit has been correctly protected then your mum can dispute the deductions - they have to be agreed before the deposit scheme will release funds unless the tenant is getting 100% back.

If the deposit hasn't been protected your mum should contact Shelter asap for advice. It's a criminal offence not to protect a tenant's deposit though plenty seem to ignore this.

specialsubject · 30/09/2015 17:42

...and if the deposit wasn't protected then your mum can take the landlord to court for its full return, and possibly up to 3 times its value.

if it was protected she needs to raise a dispute with the scheme concerned.

whether the work was done or not is not relevant. But if you are being charged a lot for a battery smoke alarm, that can be disputed; they are indeed a tenner at most.

neepsandtatties · 30/09/2015 17:58

Also when we had a dispute (pre-desposit scheme) and took our landlord to the small claims court, the ruling went in our favour because apparently we as tenants should have been given the opportunity to 'make good' any damages the landlord was claiming for (in your mum's case, clean the house herself/appoint cleaners and replace the smoke alarm herself).

Original poster

PurpleWithRed · 30/09/2015 18:36

Deposit is protected but it seems unreasonable to charge us for work that hasn't been done and won't be done. We've asked for the undisputed amount to be returned and there is no problem with this.

OP posts:

wowfudge · 30/09/2015 18:38

Have you raised a dispute with the scheme about the deductions?

Original poster

PurpleWithRed · 30/09/2015 19:03

I've made a verbal challenge only, have not started a dispute as the letting agents are adamant that I have no case to answer - the deductions have to be paid.

I don't dispute the two problems they raised. I just dispute the cost of one of them (£109 to replace a battery smoke alarm stuck to the ceiling) and the fact that it is most unlikely the work will actually be done anyway as the flat is now sold and the new owner has moved in. Of course the agent says the work will be done when we've released the bit of the deposit to pay for it.

Can we ask to see receipts for the work? Sorry to pick your brains everyone!

OP posts:

caroldecker · 30/09/2015 19:29

Just raise the dispute - fuck the agents as they just want the money. If they try and defend the dispute they will need to provide evidence to the scheme anyway.

Jeffreythegiraffe · 30/09/2015 19:33

You should raise a dispute, the letting agents any make this decision.

Jeffreythegiraffe · 30/09/2015 19:33

*cant

wowfudge · 30/09/2015 19:33

Yes - raise the dispute. Did your mum break or throw away the original smoke alarm? I'm struggling to understand how she's been charged for it.

Jeffreythegiraffe · 30/09/2015 19:37

£109? That's a fucking joke.

I always thought end of tenancy cleaning was arranged and paid for by the tenant. That's how I've always had to do it, the deposit was nothing to do with it. We just proved it with a receipt.

Sunnyshores · 30/09/2015 19:39

If you have taken or broken something that was the landlords then you should pay for it. How the landlord then chooses to spend that money is up to them. So in this regard there will be deductions, but it does seem excessive.

You need to start a dispute, you can do this without the agents permission, they are just bullying you. Put in writing to the agent that you disagree with £x and are now raising a dispute - then dont deal with them anymore and phone the deposit scheme and start the dispute.

At this point you will get the deposit back, less the amount that is disputed.

specialsubject · 30/09/2015 19:46

this is why the deposit schemes were set up!

and yet another example of a dodgy agent. Remember they are completely unregulated.

as advised - ignore them and raise the dispute. £109 to replace a battery smoke alarm is ridiculous. A tenner plus a bit for the 5 minutes it takes.

Hissy · 30/09/2015 19:47

LL can only claim expenses incurred, not for things they won't have to put out because they have sold the property.

Dispute, dispute, dispute...

Hissy · 30/09/2015 19:52

They will not be able to claim for cleaning if they have not had to pay for it. Likewise decoration. It's not a legal requirement to have smoke detectors in a private house, and the only thing a normal landlord could ever charge is for the battery if he was reletting.

They have sold the house as it is, agreed a price based on its condition and they have accepted that price.

I have seen this con a gazillion times and it never wins. If you have an agent, talk to them. Call the dispute people.

specialsubject · 30/09/2015 19:54

Not relevant here, but as of midnight tonight it IS a legal requirement to have smoke detectors in a rental. So if the tenant has, er, lost the detector the landlord could charge for a new one.

Hissy · 30/09/2015 20:24

House is sold. If NEW owner is to rent it out, THEY will be responsible for a smoke detector.

Not the bloke who just sold it.

Sunnyshores · 30/09/2015 20:33

But if something was on the inventory, and now isnt there the tenant does have to pay for it.

specialsubject · 30/09/2015 20:36

indeed. But at a reasonable rate, and I fear that a £90 surcharge to refit the smoke alarm isn't reasonable.

have to wonder what happened to it...but that's a bit off-topic.

wowfudge · 01/10/2015 06:40

I wondered if it was a typo. Anyway - don't ask the agents for receipts, they'll cobble together something. Just raise a dispute for the lot and take it from there.

HortonWho · 01/10/2015 06:55

Look at her contract - some have a clause that says tenant agrees to pay for professional clean at end of tenancy so they may be automatically deducting that.

They can't charge for the full amount of a new item as landlord isn't allowed the "improve" at the coat of the tenant. If the smoke alarm was new, for example, and your mum lived there 2 years, they would need to show proof of receipt or inventory and then could only claim cost of New smoke alarm minus the two years of wear and tear to the smoke alarm. Not full cost of new item, as that would be improving the property at cost to tenant.

when you raise a dispute, the entire deposit is on "freeze" isn't it? Not just the disputed amount? Look at your paperwork - there's 3 different schemes. There is also a strict time limit on returning it by x time after end of tenancy, so I'm surprised a flat purchase has gone through. Or did you mean new tenancy?

Sunnyshores · 01/10/2015 09:51

DPS will return the undisputed amount and just hold the disputed amount.

You do need to call the deposit scheme urgently, the agent could have said they dont know where you are and be asking for the full amount back and there are deadlines for raising a dispute.

If you cant remember which scheme your deposit is in, you can find it here:
england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/tenancy_deposits/tenancy_deposit_protection_schemes/deposit_protection_and_tenancy_deposit_schemes

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