Dodgy Landlord help - getting deposit back!

boa_girl22

We're hoping to move soon but we're worried our landlords won't give us our full deposit back, as they're quiet dodgy.

To give you an idea, we rent through an estate agents so have no direct contact with the landlord, just them.

We moved in noveber, about a month later a lad moved in the flat beneath us.

For about 2 months him, and his friend who was living their unnoficially caused us hell.
They would have music on until 3 or 4am in the morning, so loud we couldn't hear our own tv on full.
They delt drugs from the flat, and left so much rubbish in the gardens that the neighbours complained because of rats, and enviromental health came out.
They even filled the pond with beer cans, dropped bricks into it and killed all the fish and frogs doing so.

We complained to the landlords about this, once.

A couple of days after noticing a few HMPS (prison service) letters few the door about court appearances, they moved out. (we still get these letters to our address for him)
We got a call from the agents saying "you should be pleased to know that due to all the pettiness from you the boy downstairs has decided to leave, he was greatly upset by the pettiness you caused and showed towards him"

now a girl, who regularly does the same thing, and has 10+ people round knocking on our door at 2am, lives in the flat below.
They throw things at our window, and slam their doors up to 20 times in a row to wind us up.
In 6 months we haven't said a thing.

Since november when we moved in we have been complaining to the landlord about a leak in the bathroom roof, so bad that mould was growing on the walls.
Now the wallpaper is peeling because of the damp, we both have ear infections from the mould and I'm starting to have an allergic chest problem because of it.

They still haven't seen to it.

We really want to move out, but we're afraid that we're going to get charged for the stuff in the bathroom or our deposit took, when in fact we've improved the flat, such as fixing the sink in properly which wasn't sealed, buying new blinds to replace the broken ones and fitting curtains, and painting over all the damage/grease in the kitchen (we didn't cause it).

our friends just say that if they try to, we need to take some of the stuff we know about the flat to the council, as its illegal in many ways.


- No access to water main
- No access to gas main
- No access to electric fuse box
- No access to the meter
- No seperate post boxes (we've had mail stolen)

But we don't want to resort to that... as we still could not get our deposit back.

What can we do???

BitterAndTwisted

Have you received any information from the agents or the landlord about which deposit-protection scheme your deposit is held in?

Was there a dual-signed inventory at the start of the tenancy?

Have you communicated with the agents about the water leak in the bathroom IN WRITING?

boa_girl22

No not in writing, just phoned, we even have a direct number for the maintenance guys.

BTW. The maintenance guys have been out about 3 times, each time they just said oh yes its leaking from x or y and did nothing.

No inventory done

do have a deposit secure scheme, will have a look soon who its with.

mynameisdave

Is the flat below you also owned by the same landlord?

boa_girl22

Yes, its a terraced house thats been converted into 4 flats.

BitterAndTwisted

No inventory means that no deductions can be made as there is no proof that any damage present at check-out occurred during your tenancy. If they try to make any deductions you dispute them with the scheme and then it goes to arbitration.

ALL communication with the landlord or their agents about repairs should always be made in writing. Keep a copy for your own records

boa_girl22

deposit is with mydeposits.co.uk and there is no inventory.

N79

boa_girl22 wrote: »

Since november when we moved in we have been complaining to the landlord about a leak in the bathroom roof, so bad that mould was growing on the walls.

Only one question really. How did you complain? If in writing then coupled with the lack of inventory then your deposit is safe (provided there are no breaches of your tenancy obligations).

If you did not complain in writing (which, in the eyes of a court means you did not complain) the there is a faint chance that the LL could produce evidence to substantiate a claim other than a non existance deposit (eg a receipt from a builder for a new ceiling dated just before you moved in) but in all probability your deposit is still safe. I would use the alternative dispute resolution in this case as a court may decide that a failure to report the fault has left the LL with a greater repair bill and thus could award against you. I doubt mydeposits will do this as they work from paper submissions only and will require LL to prove the condition at checkin.

Just follow the deposit protection scheme proceedures at check out.