Can I sue the Landlord for not putting my deposit in scheme?

far2812

Hi All

I have had awful problems with my ex-Landlord/Agent.

To cut a really long story short, they have deducted £450 out of the £750 bond for carpets smelling of cigarette smoke! My late father came to live with us and was sadly diagnosed with lung cancer and died whilst we were at the property. As my father smoked and it was in our tenancy agreement that no smoking in the property - I wrote to the Landlord via Agent with a specific request that under the circumstances would it be ok for my father to smoke - they agreed.

I spoke with the deposit protection scheme regarding the reduction in the bond monies being paid and they advised me that the Agent was 4 weeks late putting the deposit monies in a scheme as per the new law. They were supposed to have done it within 14 days of receiving the bond but it took them 72 days.

DPS advised that I can now sue them for not dealing with the bond properly and can claim £3,000 from them!

Has anyone heard of or tried to do this?

Grateful for any advice !

Fiona
x

Welshwoofs

Had you had the carpets professionally cleaned when you moved out to remove the smell of smoke? What did they say the deduction was for - professional cleaning or replacement? Was it just the carpets that were the problem, or were there issues caused by the smoke too which may have added to the cost? (I say that because every single house I've ever been into where a smoker has lived has had discoloured ceilings from the smoke drifting up).

If you feel that the amount of deduction was unfair I'd look to get that sorted out rather than be looking to make £3k out of them just because they were late putting your deposit into a scheme and you've learnt you can make them suffer because of that. Without knowing the details of the deduction, on the face of it they don't seem like too bad LLs/agents if they were willing to allow you to move a smoker in, even though it was specifically against their terms.

Jowo_2

Fiona - was there a signed inventory/schedule of condition in place at the outset of the tenancy and do you have written proof that the ban on smoking was subsequently lifted? Is it only for smoke smell or were there any burn marks? Are you able to provide any evidence that you tried to return the property to the landlord in its original state, such as having the carpets and soft furnishings professionally cleaned?

My understanding is that in theory, a tenant can take a landlord to court for faililng to protect their deposit or protecting it late but from reading information on this, many judgements are made in favour of the landlord if they retrospectively or in a delayed way, protect the deposit. This is down to the poor wording on the legislation apparently. Therefore seek further advice on the chances of you succeeding in getting awarded the penalty and go through the DPS dispute/arbitration service for the deduction if you can.

If not, you could consider taking the landlord to court for the sum that has been deducted at the very least via the Moneyclaim online site and you have to be able to demonstrate this is a last resort and you've tried other ways of resolving it. The Shelter website has good info on how to do this. The HM Court website or the Shelter website will also have sample templates for a letter before action whereby you give the landlord a short period of time in which to refund the money or you'll take them to court.

far2812

Thanks very much for your responses. Yes there was a signed inventory - it stated (which I had added on) that there were marks on the carpets. There were no burn marks on the carpets.

In fact the Agent had been around and inspected the property when we left it and said that she was happy with it - it was only when the new tenants moved in that they complained about the smell of smoke.

I have a letter with authorisation for my father to smoke from the Landlord.

Also, the Agents had sent me a letter saying that we had been "dream" tenants, as we had painted the whole house so it was fresh for when we moved in - put new lino in etc and updated the house in general which we did not expect any recompense for!

I'k just very angry with them - it was the deposit protection scheme themselves who advised me to take action against the Landlords for late deposit dealings....

DVardysShadow

I think you have to take it on the chin to the extent necessary at least to get rid of the cigarette smell. You have the letter giving permission for father to smoke, which was compassionate, I suppose - but to extend that compassion to excusing the smell of smoke is pushing it too far. The new tenants came into what the presumably thought was a no smoking property and they are not unreasonable in wanting the smell of smoke gone. So you should now take responsibility rather than dumping this onto the LL

clutton_2

cigarettes really pollute a property and teh smell gets into every fabric in the house and is very expensive to get rid of

Cannon_Fodder

If they allowed the smoking then they are out of order to then charge for its effects. Its up to the Landlord to consider the new tenants, when making that decision.

Maybe point out the deposit issue to them, and suggest they repay you to make it quits...? With a "save court costs on both sides" type hint...

Regshoe

I'd have to agree. If you allow smoking, for whatever reason then I would have thought you would have to allow for a certain level of "wear & tear" style damage, i.e. yellowing of paintwork and smell, but not burn marks etc. In the same way that walking on carpets will slowly reduce the condition of carpets so will smoking damage furnishings and paintwork.

I suppose you could counter argue that the paintwork and furnishings aren't "damaged" just dirty, that it would be the tenants responsibility to ensure they are cleaned. Not certain what the law would say - never looked into it as I have no intention of letting anybody smoke in my house.

Cannon_Fodder wrote: »

If they allowed the smoking then they are out of order to then charge for its effects. Its up to the Landlord to consider the new tenants, when making that decision.

Maybe point out the deposit issue to them, and suggest they repay you to make it quits...? With a "save court costs on both sides" type hint...

theartfullodger

Dear Far2812 - hope it works out, but maybe next time check on what will happen for fag smoke...

Cheers!

Lodger