What happens when a landlord/estate agent disputes deposit.

[Peppadreamer]

I'm gutted at how this has played out and I'm hoping for some advice on what the process will be.

We lived in our rental for 10 years. We were model tenants, never any complaints or issues and we maintained the property to a high standard.

The property was a btl and as soon as the mortgage was paid, the LL decided to sell. This was a very stressful time as we have children at the local school and family houses are like gold dust where we are. We managed to find a new home and gave the EA our 2 month notice.

The house we lived in was a new build, approx 25-30yo. There has NEVER been any maintenance or decorating completed by the LL since the day it was built. They didn't even paint the walls or change the carpets when we moved in.

The kitchen and fittings were tired and dated but still in good condition so we didn't mind. We had the place professionally painted and the carpets professionally cleaned every few years to keep the place looking good.

As we left, we had a professional end of tenancy clean carried out and had all the walls freshly painted. We completed a walk around with the EA. They told us the place looked amazing considering how old it was and the lack of maintenance from them. No issues were flagged.

We have since been waiting for our deposit and have noticed the house is on the market. There has been absolutely no upgrades throughout, it is being sold exactly as we left it.

The EA have waited the full 30 days before they decided to raise an issue with the deposit scheme. They want a chunk of our deposit for cleaning costs.

This has been a kick in the teeth tbh. The issues highlighted are from tired fixtures and fittings or general wear and tear of appliances that have been in place since the property was built. Things that should have been maintained by them but have never been touched.

I have disputed their claim as I don't agree that the place wasn't "clean" and thankfully I took photos of everything before we left as proof.

What happens next? It's honestly so upsetting that we left the property in better condition to what we received it. They have made us wait the full 30 day period before responding to our repayment request, further delaying us receiving our money and they are wanting us to pay them for the lack of maintenance on their property.

This is not a landlord bashing thread, but these types of landlords are absolutely the ones that give good landlords a bad name.

one could equally say these sort of posts are what make tenants look bad since deposit protection was invented purely for their benefit.

read and follow the dispute process for your deposit with whichever of the 3 deposit protection schemes it is registered with. You offer evidence to the scheme's arbitrator that counters the LL's check out inventory claim. The arbitrator makes the decision.

1. Deposit Protection Service: Simply tenancy deposit protection
2. My Deposits Deposit protection scheme | Tenancy service for landlords and agents
3. Tenancy Deposit Scheme TDS | Award-Winning, Government-Approved Tenancy Deposit Protection

Don't be obtuse.

I was coming on here for advice on the dispute process as I've never experienced a landlord withholding a deposit.

Thankfully most others have been very helpful (including other landlords)

It was a total money grab from the LL/EA as they know there was no issues with the property. If there was they would have highlighted them on the final inventory walk around.

They are obviously banking on private renters being desperate for their deposit back and held out to the very last second to dispute my claim. Hoping I'll just agree to the "small" cleaning costs as I desperately want my money back. It's seems like a ploy as most people wouldn't argue such minor issues.

There's absolutely no way on this earth that a 10 year tenancy won't have general wear and tear and for them to expect it to be in a better condition than it was let after a long period is just ridiculous. Especially considering there wasn't as much as a lick of paint from them EVER.

If you bought a new car, would you expect it to be in better condition in 10 years to what it was when you bought it? No of course not. A house is no different.

They have literally listed in their sale that the kitchen and house fixtures and fittings are dated but have been well maintained to a high standard. How can they then go on to try and claim me for them when they are using it as a selling point?

It's utter greed for a LL that has multiple BTL and they are obviously trying to claw back any money they can for the period that the property was unoccupied, from when we left to the point of sale.

How does all of this show tenants in a bad light? I maintained their property when they didn't. I have actually increased the value by painting and professionally cleaning regularly. We even had new blinds and curtains fitted in every room as the old blinds were black with dirt and fell apart. I have paid their mortgage off and they kicked me to the kerb when I was no longer useful. And now they are scrounging for pennies that wouldn't make a difference to their life of wellbeing.

Please do enlighten me on how the tenant is the bad guy in this scenario and not the LL?

your question was: "what the process will be".

the answer to that is contained in the respective guides I provided for you
Have you read them? If you have then you are now in possession of the facts of the process.

my dig at tenants is because you should have found out about that yourself years ago when your deposit was protected, not wait until the last minute to ask about disputes.
The protection schemes were invented for the benefit of tenants, not landlords, but as happens all too often tenants are too obtuse to educate themselves and would rather rant about LL instead. .

Okay Slumlord, you win.

Btw, it's not my job to find out about this 'years ago' the deposit scheme is in place to do this for me. 🤣 thankfully it exists to protect people like me from slumlords like you. These things are not as black and white as you're making them out to be. It's not a case of reading a letter and ticking a box. Others have explained this multiple times.

Never once in my life as a long term renter have I ever had a LL raise any issues with my end of tenancy, especially not for cleanliness. But I guess I've been luckily never to rent from a slum lord.

I've obviously got your back up with my post, it's not personal sweetheart.

You're making out that I was wrong to come on to chat forum and ask for advice on this. A lot has changed in the 10 years since I signed that rental contract. Have you heard of the RR act? My post is the exact reason the property sub on MN was made. It's great that there are helpful LL and tenants that have been through similar that have been able to give me the advice I need.

since you have resorted to personal insults at me it is great that you have shown yourself up to be incapable of thinking for yourself and needing spoon feeding on such a simple issue as how the process works, as explained on website produced solely for the purpose of educating tenants.
PS I am not a LL, I just happen to be someone who has seen LL&T queries answered before and have the ability to remember things.

you would have been sent lots of info on your actual deposit scheme when you paid your most recent deposit. Sensible people would have retained that for future reference, since it covers how to get your deposit back when you come to that point.

As stated, my most recent deposit was 10 years ago and the only one I've ever had issues with. I now own my home thankfully. So many laws and rules have changed since I paid the deposit and the procedures vary depending on what scheme the deposit is saved with.

You also need to factor in the country and local laws that apply there.

It's blatantly obvious from your posts that you are a LL. Let's not play pretend here 😉 no one would be this invested in "protecting" rouge LL's otherwise.

Of course I have saved the 10 year old deposit info to claim my deposit back. How else would I be having issues with the dispute if I didn't have this information?

You're just here goading for a bun fight and it's backfired massively.

I've already had all the help and info I needed from this post. Why did you feel the need to pop on a day later and put your unhelpful 2 pence in, slating tennants for having some protection in these circumstances and backing LL and how hard done by they are due to the scheme, when my issues were already answered and resolved?

If there's one thing guaranteed to get MNers going it's rouge landlords! 😉

Crumbs @Wot23 are you ok? You seem to be tilting at windmills.

I think those are the ones running a house of ill repute . . .

Good luck OP

Sounds like you have a strong case to dispute it. If did this for my daughter (I was guarantor) and put a counter claim in for my time, I had over 100 before and after photos and won.

😆😆😆

Don’t agree, he is trying to claim “betterment” which is not allowed. Chat GPT is very good for this kind of advice.

It shouldn't be a long process. You mention there was no exit inventory; was there a Check-In report with photos when you moved in?

Although it is likely moot even if there was, as what you've described would arguably fall under fair wear and tear for a 10yr tenancy.

When I've had deposit disputes, I've claimed from the scheme and received all of my money back shortly after. Landlord's tried arguing but I could always disprove their claims with evidence. A receipt for cleaning will hold a lot of weight(, although I always cleaned myself apart from carpets).

Just respond to the adjudicator when requested and it should go your way. Hopefully very soon!

It doesn't sound like it's anything for you to worry about. I previously had a dispute with the landlord and deposit protection scheme are very reasonable (albeit slow!). If you have photographic evidence of leaving the property in a good state and the landlord hasn't been able to supply evidence to the contrary, it is only a matter of time before they release your deposit. From memory, it took about three weeks for DPS to resolve the dispute in our favour.