Landlord charging tenant for heating repair

Chubacka

hi, i'll keep this story as short as possible:

Just finished a one year contract with a letting agent at the end of november, had the checkout inventory inspection, everything was ok and left it at that and waited for the return of my deposit.

It got to mid december and hadn't heard from the letting agent, so i called them and they said they couldn't get hold of the landlord and that they needed his agreement to release the deposit and they will get back to me. It got to nearly the end of december, so i called the letting agent again, saying i will now be seeking legal advice.

The next day they returned half my deposit, but withheld the other half saying the landlord wishes to charge for broken heating. The letting agent said i was in the wrong for not reporting the fault at the end of the tenancy and that i would be liable for 50% cost of the repairs.
I told the letting agent that it was working when i ended the tenancy and that this fault was not recorded in the checkout inpection ( done by a company the letting agent hire) but they just replied saying they can't release the money without the landlords permision.
I'm furious as the heating was working when i left!

The letting agent said they will forward it to the TDS if no agreement can be made between me and the landlord. Should i agree to the TDS resolving this or should i go straight to the small claims court?

N79

You need to go through the TDS resolution first as LL is unable to return the deposit before this.

N79

Chubacka

Do you mean i can't take the landlord to court yet because he doesn't have my money - the deposit scheme has it?

i think the rules of the tenancy deposit scheme mention that you don't have to use their services and can go straight to court if you wish. Just unsure what to do...

Soot2006

Should i agree to the TDS resolving this

Yes.

Assume you have copy of check-out, saying everything OK in flat?
Any idea when they first noticed heating broken? You will have to argue it broke *after* you left.

Chubacka

thanks for your replies.

I have a copy of the checkout inspection, which lists damages and fair wear and tear items, and there is no mention of broken heating. It was done by a third party company that the letting agent uses and i would have thought it was more or less concrete evidence, but the letting agent just seem to be going along with what ever the landlord says. I was also present when the inspection was done.

They say they first noticed the broken heating when the new tenant moved in (they moved in about a week after i vacated) and because the new tenant reported it the day they moved in it must have been me who broke it! I wasn't told about any of this till nearly a month after i vacated.

If the heating had broke while i was still living there the landlord would surely have had to pay all the costs. Feels to me as though his trying to grab the money to reduce a costly bill?

silvercar

TDS was set up to resolve disputes without the need for you to go to court.

Go through the TDS scheme. Why would you want to incur court costs when there is a scheme that is designed to be straight forward to use and avoid unnecessary time and costs?

Chubacka

As the letting agents are the ones who send all the info to the tenancy scheme, i was worried about them falsifying the information in the landords favour?
Highly illegal i know, but i wouldn't put it past them.....the landlord is a big business man and probably one of their biggest clients.

At least in court i can represent myself? Plus trying to charge for heating repairs when the landlord is responsible by law seems highly illegal - surely a staright to court matter?