Deposit Deductions Dispute

[WindFlower92]

Hi mumsnet, first post! Annoyingly it's a bit of a frustrating one to do with our previous landlords.

We'd rented a bungalow for about three years, and have just bought our own property. Our deposit for the bungalow was £1,050; we've just had contact from Leaders about this, saying that not only will we not get this deposit back, we are being charged an extra £96 to cover all the cleaning costs. We've been given a general 'quote' which you can see below-

Cooker clean. £50 plus vat
Carpet clean £90 plus vat
General cleaning £235 plus vat
Garden front/back £580 plus vat
Total costs cleaning etc £375 plus vat
Total costs gardening £580 plus vat
Total = £1149.00 including Vat

We've emailed back, asking for specifics for the 'general cleaning' and 'garden'. I've looked online and it seems that deductions can only be made for anything that has been removed or destroyed. They've emailed back today saying that the garden is in a worse condition, and have repeated the quote back to us.

My question is where do we go from here? For context, when we arrived the garden was covered in bindweed and we had to work for months to get rid of it. It's a very large garden, with paving slabs for the patio that allow lots of weeds to come up, and the rest is grass which also had plenty of bindweed running through it. I'm 8 months pregnant and we're just coming out of winter, so maintaining the garden wasn't my priority! Before we'd left we'd tidied most of the garden up; it definitely wasn't perfect but pretty much left as it was when we arrived, which was described both times on inspection (before and after moving in) as 'overgrown and very weedy'. Having looked online, I can't find any mentions of what deductions can be made for the garden, so if they do come back to us with specifics, what is reasonable for them to ask for? Likewise with the 'general cleaning'; what is it reasonable for them to deduct?

Finally, their last response told us to get the TDS involved if we still weren't happy; has anyone been through this process, and what does it involve?

Sorry for the long post, would be grateful for any help!

Find your copy of the check in inventory. Did you check everything was as described and flag up anything that wasn't at the time.

If you did not receive a copy of the inventory then they can't charge you for cleaning, etc because they can't prove the condition when you moved in and the landlord isn't entitled to charge you for betterment, i.e. having the house returned in a better condition at the end of your tenancy than it was at the start.

Had you cleaned? Did the tenancy agreement state you needed to clean the carpets, get the place professionally cleaned, etc? I'm afraid that if you ignored an incorrect inventory and haven't abided by the terms of the tenancy on end of tenancy cleaning, etc then you will find it difficult to stop deductions. If I were you, I'd raise a dispute because chances are the charges are excessive and it's clearly the only way you can get them to back down in this case. I can't see how they can charge more than the deposit, unless that's a device to ensure they get all your deposit if the deposit service dispute system reduces what is owed.

We had checked the inventory and agreed with it all - inside and outside the house. I've just called the agents now to ask for exactly what 'cleaning' means but she wasn't able to tell me; will be able to send the detailed quote over tomorrow apparently. So at the moment I don't know exactly what they want the money for.

Nothing stated that we needed to get it professionally cleaned, and we did clean the property before leaving. We didn't repaint, so there are marks/indents left by furniture on carpets and walls, but it's by no means messy.

Thanks for the reply, I think we will go to TDS as they are adamant that they are in the right!

The TDS (in my experience) usually sides with the tenants - the onus is on the landlord to prove a) the condition at the start of the lease b) the current condition c) the liability itself. There is no downside to you in going ahead so I would.

If your tenancy said it had to be professionally cleaned when you left, they will be looking for a spotless house.

HOWEVER, I went to TDS to dispute Leaders fees, and ended up paying £100.

You need photos of the property as per the check out report, to prove the condition now vs the inventory report. If you were not given an inventory with photos when you move din, the agency cannot prove the condition is worse than when you moved in.

It's worth disputing.

I disputed through DPS and received a full deposit refund. I had taken photos and compared to inventory and disputed the cost breakdown e.g. £30 to clean and fridge was disproportionate. Go through each item and say why that charge is unfair.

Any photos from check in or check in or check out? Sounds like outrageous costs honestly. Most lettings agents & landlords chance it thinking you wont dispute as you'll need the money back ASAP. Go straight to the TDS submit all your evidence & see. They usually side with the tenant as pp have said. (For good reason)

Thanks guys, we have pictures from both check-in and check-out, and I can't see that the landlords have much of a leg to stand on. The descriptions that go with the pictures also indicate that it needed work before we moved in. I called Leaders up to ask what exactly the money was going towards and all she could tell me was that it was going on the 'whole garden', and that they were getting quotes done today. Which sounds a bit suspicious to me! I've got to wait until tomorrow to open up a dispute with TDS as it's only been 9 days so far, so hopefully they'll agree with us!