Landlord has kept back £250 of my deposit

[eggyeggy]

My tenancy ended on 13th October and I heard nothing about my deposit until I contacted the letting agents a month later. They contacted the LL who said he didn't know how much he'd spent on cleaning/lino repair (small tear from movers 😒), as he was waiting for the invoice.

They asked if I'd accept £850 back for now, which I accepted as I needed the money by this stage! However, I'm still waiting for the rest, or for details on what's been deducted.

I had the property professionally cleaned, and got a certificate for this at the end of the tenancy.

Can anyone advise what I should next please?

He needs to submit his expenses for the repair to justify the deduction . Did the estate agents offer £850 verbally or via email? Keep evidence, If he doesn’t get back to you with proof of spending £250 on the repair contact the company he used to hold the deposit and raise a case. He can’t just make up a figure.

was it not protected in a TDS?

If it was, raise a dispute with three relevant scheme

If it wasn’t then by accepting the £850 I think you have an uphill battle to collect the rest because they might argue you had accepted the proposed deduction

It's probably £250 to repair the Lino if they've had it done properly - that's likely a minimum call out charge or they may have had to replace the whole section

I’d agree, you don’t get much time of a workman and materials for £250.

You shouldn’t be paying for cleaning, but £250 doesn’t really touch the edges in even the smallest work. How annoying for you that the floor was damaged moving out. Did you have removal men? if so, they will be insured and you should get the money back. Otherwise, you probably have to suck it up. However, they should have informed you and actually deposits are meant to be returned within 10 days I think or the reason why not given.

Is there an agent? Put in writing to the agent and/or LL that you’d like to know which deposit scheme your deposit is held within and why you have had to chase for its return and you need justification for them keeping anything, with evidence of spends.

Workmen cost an awful lot. Anything beyond wear and tear can be charged to the tenant.

To give you some idea of figures, when my tenant moved out after 4 years, I spent £2.5k having the place decorated (I expect to redecorate after a tenancy of that length - it’s wear and tear, not damage). The tenants child had crayoned on the radiators. I didn’t charge them for that although it was damage, but that added £800 to my decoration bill. Where they had drilled holes in the wall for a curtain rail and then removed it leaving holes that I needed to get filled and decorated, that was an extra £150 and would have been more if the workmen weren’t already there. Very small jobs cost a lot. With floors, unfortunately a small tear is difficult to repair so it doesn’t look like it’s been patched. The whole floor might need replacing and could cost thousands. A new tenant won’t be pleased with a patched floor and it can spoil the whole appearance of a room.

Deposits are such a tricky thing. It’s a huge amount for a tenant and usually it’s really needed by them as they move out and are needing to pay a deposit on a new property. However, the deposit of typically between £1k and £2k really goes almost nowhere in dealing with even small damages. Very frequently LLs spend more on damages, and this isn’t about doing basic between-let maintenance that they need to fund themselves and not out of deposits.

The amount of £250 deduction sounds quite small to me if a specialist repairer has been needed. However, proper deposit processes must be followed and if they aren’t you might be entitled to all of it back.

Not wishing to derail the thread but thanks for putting the landlords view Wombat. When I rented my house out it was newly refurbished- walls skimmed and repainted, new flooring throughout, new kitchen. When the tenant left she’d drilled holes in the living room wall for pictures, stained the LVT red with juice, and best of all ( only discovered well after she’d left) drilled a whole through the roof tiles for a TV cable, causing a leak when the weather turned rainy . She was a tough negotiator and I kept £100 of deposit only. Putting all this right cost way more. It is an emotional issue and I suspect tenants feel their months and years of paying rent are the landlords compensation for the west and rear/ damage they cause.

if the deposit wasn't in a deposit protection scheme you can sue for 3x your deposit (this is easy to do via small claims court, Shelter or CAB can help).

if it was in a deposit protection scheme he needs to give evidence and have your agreement before any deduction is made.

if the only undisputed damage was done by the removers then it should be covered by their insurance, not paid for by you.

I think if you accept what they proposed then you can't then go back on it.
If you weren't happy with what they were saying you needed to go through tenancy dispute scheme.

How long were you there? Lino could come under wear and tear as a certain amount of wear and tear needs to be expected. If you had been there 5 years and the lino was down that long they may we have to give the remainder back.

Tenants don’t realise how much repair a redecoration costs we had a tenant move out the whole flat had to redecorated and new flooring throughout, cost over £2000. He had been there for 18 yrs so no complaints that was fair wear and tear.

Check the t&cs of your deposit scheme contract and make sure the landlord has supplied full details of expenses. Wear and tear is expected and they can't withhold your deposit without good reason as evidence.
Did you take pictures post clean before you left?

I do some work for a Letting Agency and deal with rents and deposits.

The deposit will be held in a scheme and the LA should not return andy money to the Landlord until you have agreed the amount. If you don't agree then you need to raise a dispute with the company that protected the deposit and the LA has to give you full details on that. The LA then has to transfer the deposit to the deposit protection company for them to hold.

Then the deposit protection company will ask for evidence of damage and cost to repair etc and will make a decision. Once disputed neither the LL or the LA decides on the amount.

So first thing tomorrow, contact the LA, ask what is happening with the remainder and then if not happy, ask them for the relevant info to raise a dispute.