Unfair deposit deduction

Logicaled · 13 October 2016 at 11:17AM

All,

To keep it short, finally got a email from my estate agents/landlord asking to take £100 from the deposit for 'kitchen unit damage', and below is the link to the image that shows the evidence for the deduction,

http

/imgur. com/a/FEfdK

Now both damages shown are on one of the kitchen units, behind the cabinet door, one shows the edging of the laminate cabinet peeling up and one corner of the cabinet damaged slightly on the edge, cabinet in question is below the sink.

Now i believe £100 is not reasonable for this damage shown to me in the check-out report, what are your thoughts?

Two other reasons why im reluctant to agree to this deduction is one, there was no picture of the inside of the cabinet taken on the check-in inventory, as i believe the corner damage is prior to me moving in.

My second reason why i'm reluctant to pay is a separate issue to the deposit is, the landlord never took a gas safety check in 3 years, which i understand is a different matter but its just sods law hes trying to be unreasonable.

Any opinions?

Guest101 · 13 October 2016 at 11:35AM

dispute it with the scheme that holds the deposit

report the lack of GSC to the HSE

Pixie5740 · 13 October 2016 at 11:40AM

I can't get that link to work even when I remove the spaces.

How did the damage occur? How old are the kitchen units? The onus is on your landlord to prove the deductions are reasonable and he is not entitled to betterment. If you believe the deductions are unfair then dispute the deductions using the deposit scheme, it's why the schemes were introduced.

See Deposits: Payment, Protection and Return for further information.

As for the GSC, you're right that's a totally separate matter. If the lack of GSC bothered you that much you would have written to your landlord requesting one during your 3 year tenancy and reported him to HSE if he still refused to have an inspection carried out. I am not condoning the landlord's actions (or rather inaction) on this matter just pointing out that there's no point starting a bun fight about it now.

Logicaled · 13 October 2016 at 11:44AM

Make sure you remove both spaces infront of the colon and after the .

Damaged occured just from taking the washing machine out hit the side of the cabinet corner and took little chip away.

I have found the same cabinet on B&Q for £35.

I was only notified of the GSC issue in the last days of the tenancy due to the Estate agents bringing it to my attention, while in the tenancy i knew nothing of it.

Pixie5740 · 13 October 2016 at 11:48AM

I thought I had removed both but I can view it now.

http://imgur.com/a/FEfdK

If you've damaged then you have to pay for the damage. Whether £100 is fair is another matter. Have you told the landlord that you have found the same unit for £35?

G_M · 13 October 2016 at 12:14PM

Did you cause the damage?

As for the GSR, you were clearly not bothered about the risk to your life during the period of your tenancy, so why bothered now? It is unrelated to your deposit issue.

nomoneytoday · 13 October 2016 at 2:51PM

£35 from B&Q
£5 for delivery / petrol
£40 for fixing and fitting
+VAT comes to around £100, so not unreasonable to me.

Presumably you could have fixed it prior to checkout for £35 yourself though?

glentoran99 · 13 October 2016 at 2:53PM

nomoneytoday wrote: »

£35 from B&Q
£5 for delivery / petrol
£40 for fixing and fitting
+VAT comes to around £100, so not unreasonable to me.

Presumably you could have fixed it prior to checkout for £35 yourself though?

are you charging extra VAT on top of what is already paid to b&Q and the petrol station?

Pixie5740 · 13 October 2016 at 3:22PM

nomoneytoday wrote: »

£35 from B&Q
£5 for delivery / petrol
£40 for fixing and fitting
+VAT comes to around £100, so not unreasonable to me.

Presumably you could have fixed it prior to checkout for £35 yourself though?

The landlord is not entitled to betterment i.e. he does not get new for old. Some money has to be deducted for the use the landlord has had from the existing unit.

AndyBSG · 13 October 2016 at 4:39PM

He can't charge you for the cost of a brand new replacement door because of the rules on 'betterment'

So, if a cupboard door is meant to last 10 years and it cost £100 then if it's 6 years old he can only reasonably expect to charge £40.

The pictures don't show the whole unit but from what I can see they're of a very cheap type and look to be pretty old so the argument could also be made that they're at the end of their life anyway under betterment.

Just raise a claim with whichever deposit scheme it was held with that £100 is a spurious amount and does not reflect the true vale of the damage caused under betterment rules. Don't waste time disputing it directly with the LL or LA.

The Gas safety certificate is a separate issue though and needs to be raised seperately

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Unfair deposit deduction

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