Advice from Landlords please

[blamethecat]

We are tenants and have been there over four years, the house is being put up for sale and we have been given notice to leave. The landlord has advised he is re-carpeting and decorating once we leave before putting it up for sale. What I would like to know is how best to protect our deposit ? Obviously we will clean (probably have a proper end of tenancy one done) and repair any damage we find along the way, the paint work and carpets were already fairly worn/ in need of replacing when we moved in but I don't want to end up paying out for them.

Why do you think you might lose your deposit? If anything,I woduo have thought the LL would be less fussy about any normal wear and tear .

I assume you have a proper tenancy agreement with inventory and photos of the property when you moved in ?

Proper tenancy and inventory, but every time we have moved the landlords have tried to deduct silly money for something i.e. £50 for fingerprints on an oven or £150 for decorating a room which they then didn't actually do !
The inventory doe state carpets worn/ paint work chipped/dirt/marked etc.

Has your deposit been protected and do you know where it is?

You are not liable for new replacement - if that carpet is already at replacement point (as you could reasonably argue, given the landlord plans to replace it), then even if you ruined it, you shouldn't have anything to pay.

As both a landlord, and a tenant - contest anything unreasonable, do not offer anything unreasonable (because the service will probably accept that offer, even if your landlord didn't). Keep all evidence of your landlord's intentions.

I've found the deposit schemes very, very fair (and yes, I've been on both sides of claims with them) - for example, a tenant (poorly) gloss painted my kitchen cupboards. Because they weren't brand new (although very close - a couple of years), I could only claim 50% of the costs to replace them. On the other hand, I had a landlord try to retain almost all of the deposit, for things like dusty light fittings, and a carpet they alleged hadn't been cleaned (it had) - they read the inventories, and the invoice, and took it down to 1/10th of the amount the landlord wanted.

Deposit is all protected and we have the paperwork for it (long time tenants so we know to check these things !) .
Thanks for replies, it has reassured me.