Only partial Refund on Deposit from Letting Agents - Advice welcomed.

thebaroness · 12 January 2008 at 10:14PM

I moved out of a rented property on the 30th November 07. The place was as clean as it was when I moved in on 1st December 2006 but the Letting agents returned my deposit minus £120 which was used for a "full professional clean" and to replace some lightbulbs. I admit there were some lightbulbs missing as the fittings in the hall had 6 lightbulbs each, so some had gone out but i had not replaced them as the place was still very brightly lit so it shouldn't have caused a huge problem. I wrote a letter to the letting agents to tell them i do not agree with the charges and stated why I thought i was entitled to a full refund of my deposit. This was the 2nd Jan, sent 1st class. They should have received my letter but i have received no contact from them.

My questions:

How long should I wait until following it up?

Do you think it would be better to call rather than write? Although I would prefer to write as my dealings over the phone with them in the past haven't been positive as the person you speak to never seems to do anything about the call and nothing seems to get logged. Also, I want to remain professional and I think if I were to call I would get angry at them if I got the same poor service as before.

When following up my letter, what exactly should I say? How can i take it further if they're not responding to my letters?

Thanks in Advance.

Loretta · 12 January 2008 at 10:26PM

thebaroness wrote: »

I moved out of a rented property on the 30th November 07. The place was as clean as it was when I moved in on 1st December 2006 but the Letting agents returned my deposit minus £120 which was used for a "full professional clean" and to replace some lightbulbs. I admit there were some lightbulbs missing as the fittings in the hall had 6 lightbulbs each, so some had gone out but i had not replaced them as the place was still very brightly lit so it shouldn't have caused a huge problem. I wrote a letter to the letting agents to tell them i do not agree with the charges and stated why I thought i was entitled to a full refund of my deposit. This was the 2nd Jan, sent 1st class. They should have received my letter but i have received no contact from them.

My questions:

How long should I wait until following it up?

Do you think it would be better to call rather than write? Although I would prefer to write as my dealings over the phone with them in the past haven't been positive as the person you speak to never seems to do anything about the call and nothing seems to get logged. Also, I want to remain professional and I think if I were to call I would get angry at them if I got the same poor service as before.

When following up my letter, what exactly should I say? How can i take it further if they're not responding to my letters?

Thanks in Advance.

i would write and say, I refer to my letter dated... and I am surprised not to have received a response.... As it is now ..... since we moved out of..... I need to finalise this matter and must ask for a reply to my letter dated... by (7 days)

If you don't receive a reply my next letter would be 'I am disapointed not to have received a response to my letters dated...... in which I explained that I think the deduction of £120 for a full professional clean is unreasonable. If I do not receive your cheque returning the balance of my deposit, £120, by .... 7 days I will have no option but to issue a summons through the County Court for the return of this money which I believe I am entitiled.

Keep this moving, if they answer and give reasons you can write back if they don't answer or answer saying you are not having it and that's that I would fill in the form for the summons an send them a copy to show you are serious and see what response you get, if nothing happens or you are not happy just do the summons.

You only have to read the many posts on here about this problem to see that it is very common.

clutton_2 · 13 January 2008 at 12:25AM

do you have an inventory on check in and check out ?

Lavendyr · 13 January 2008 at 11:23AM

If there was an inventory and it listed the light bulbs being present, then they have every right to make deductions for replacing those, including labour/time expenses. In future that's something to remember - it costs you very little to replace light bulbs but they can deduct frankly ridiculous amounts from your deposit if you don't get them replaced, so you may have to take that one on the chin this time.

However, deducting for a professional clean sounds a little over the top. It depends on the inventory and how the place was described as being when you moved in. If it was described as having been professionally cleaned, you will have been expected to have left the house clean to a professional standard (note that does not mean you were expected to pay for a professional to do it, although in many cases it is easiest to do so, simply to have proof that it has been done professionally). They cannot use your deposit to better the state of the property, though.

I would conduct absolutely everything in writing and deliver by registered post to ensure you have a full paper trail of everything from now on.

Good luck

thebaroness · 14 January 2008 at 12:08AM

Clutton - I had an inventory when i moved in, i'm unable to locate this at the moment. The letting agents would have had a copy returned to them. I was not present at the final inspection and the only communication I received stating there was a problem was when they sent my Cheque minus the £120.

Lavendyr - I do not believe lightbulbs were on the inventory and I do think there were some missing at the start of the tenancy. As i mentioned, this wasn't really a problem because we're talking a couple missing out of a dozen. However, if they want to charge me for them they're welcome to do that. That said, the invoice i received from them put replacement lightbulbs and professional clean as 1 item costing £120 so it'd be interesting to see how much they decide lightbulbs costs.

I have two letters from the Agents here with information regarding what to do when leaving the property. One which i recevied when i moved in which states that on leaving the property it should be left in a "satisfactory condition". The second i received shortly before moving out and is very detailed but basically lists generic items (appliances, cooker, floors etc) and how they should be cleaned. Nothing mentions professional clean. As an example:

Walls - Reasonably clean and free of stains/mould. Tild areas wiped over. Dado/picture rails and skirting boards dusted.

The whole place was clean, and I believe it was vacated in the same state as when I moved in. I believe i'm in the right but just need to know the best way to go about following it up.

I've decided to wait until Wednesday (14 days since my letter was posted) and then i shall send a follow up letter (registered post this time) similar to that described by Loretta.

Thanks to everyone so far for their help. Anyone else with any advice, please post!

thebaroness · 28 February 2008 at 5:26PM

Update:

I sent a follow up letter following the advice i received here. That was ignored, just like the first. So I filled out all the forms and sent all the documents to TDS to file my dispute. Just received a call from someone at TDS. They couldn't find my tenancy so had to ring my Letting Agents to check if it had been registered. Apparenly it has not been registered as when my tenancy was renewed on the 1st April I never returned the signed documents to them. As such they considered the tenancy to be a periodic tenancy rather than an AST and periodic tenancys are not covered by TDS.

I considered the contract to be valid as they were taking a higer rent as agreed in the renewal documents. The lady I spoke to said it may be considered a verbal agreement as they never advised me in writing that my contract was running on a periodic basis. She's going to speak to them again and get back in touch.

Basically, if my letting agents argue that the contract was never valid then surely they owe me the overpayments i've made in rent? The increase was £25 a month which i paid for 6 months. So now i may be in a position where they actually owe me £270 (Rent and Deposit). It's ridiculous how they can just pick and chose which rules they follow though. They don't have to protect my deposit but they were more than willing to take my money. That makes me really angry.

Loretta · 28 February 2008 at 6:08PM

thebaroness wrote: »

Update:

I sent a follow up letter following the advice i received here. That was ignored, just like the first. So I filled out all the forms and sent all the documents to TDS to file my dispute. Just received a call from someone at TDS. They couldn't find my tenancy so had to ring my Letting Agents to check if it had been registered. Apparenly it has not been registered as when my tenancy was renewed on the 1st April I never returned the signed documents to them. As such they considered the tenancy to be a periodic tenancy rather than an AST and periodic tenancys are not covered by TDS.

I considered the contract to be valid as they were taking a higer rent as agreed in the renewal documents. The lady I spoke to said it may be considered a verbal agreement as they never advised me in writing that my contract was running on a periodic basis. She's going to speak to them again and get back in touch.

Basically, if my letting agents argue that the contract was never valid then surely they owe me the overpayments i've made in rent? The increase was £25 a month which i paid for 6 months. So now i may be in a position where they actually owe me £270 (Rent and Deposit). It's ridiculous how they can just pick and chose which rules they follow though. They don't have to protect my deposit but they were more than willing to take my money. That makes me really angry.

You need to just get on with this, you moved out in November, it is now February. If the LA knew what they were doing or had any intention of doing the right thing they would have done it by now.

I would send a letter before proceedings, giving 7 days to return you money, enclosing a copy of the completed forms for the County Court showing you mean business and then it is up to them to chose what they want to do. If they don't want to return you money just let the Judge decide, that is what they are there for. It is clear that the LA thinks that if they ignore you you will just go away

thebaroness · 28 February 2008 at 7:17PM

The problem now though is that I don't know whether my renewal contract is valid or not. I don't know whether i'm just entitled to the deposit or to overpaid rent plus deposit. If the TDS are able to adjudicate in the matter i'd rather that than going to the small claims court. I'm really waiting on TDS now rather than the Letting Agent. If they say it's not under their jurisdiction the i'll send the letter with completed forms as you suggested.

Only partial Refund on Deposit from Letting Agents - Advice welcomed.

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