Deposit refund

brockley10

Hi,

I have recentley mooved out of a rental property, it was unfurnised but white goods were left as a gesture of good will but were not on the inventory, during my tenancy of 2 years i replaced the washer and dryer for a combined washer/dryer because the ones they left kept breaking down, also replaced the fridge freezer because of a leak, when i left i took them with me now the landlord is holding my deposit to replace them. can they do this?

Cannon_Fodder

What was the agreement in replacing the machines? If you did not involve him, and/or put a clear arrangement in writing, for all he knows and all you can prove to the deposit scheme is that machines that were there, no longer are...it could even be classified as theft, I guess.

You should have kept the broken machines for him to repair in his own time, if you planned on taking the new equipment with you.

I may be siding with the landlord too much. I'm sure other opinions will follow.

rrf494g

hence the need for everything in writing . . .

You could say the appliances were never there, you could say they were there but damaged. If the landlord did care about the machines why were they not on the inventory? Any landlord should know that anything not on the inventory "isn't there". On a moral basis I think if you simply take action to get your deposit money back, and tell the truth all along the way, justice may prevail. Very old second hand appliances have little value. Or am I being naive?

BitterAndTwisted

They weren't listed in the inventory so who is to say that they were there at all?

Has your deposit been protected in one of the schemes and has your landlord indicated that they are seeking to make any deductions from it?

N79

rrf494g wrote: »

hence the need for everything in writing . . .

You could say the appliances were never there, you could say they were there but damaged. If the landlord did care about the machines why were they not on the inventory? Any landlord should know that anything not on the inventory "isn't there". On a moral basis I think if you simply take action to get your deposit money back, and tell the truth all along the way, justice may prevail. Very old second hand appliances have little value. Or am I being naive?

Rubbish - not being on the inventory does not mean that "something isn't there" if they clearly exist.

Picture the scene in court. LL claims that there were appliances but that they not included on the inventory (for whatever reason). Does the T:

1. Submit a defence that the goods never existed (perjury ie a risk of a spell trying not to drop the soap);

or 2. Admit that the goods existed.

Without an inventory it is usually impossible for a court to resolve a difference of opinion over the state of repair of an object (which is, of course, subjective) but it is very easy for a court to try to resolve a statement of fact, such as whether an object existed.

For the OP, this one will come down to the exact wording of your contract and what was agreed at the start and when the replacement occurred. This could go either way. If there contract is silent and the items were not on the inventory then by default they should still be in the property now however, your LL should probably have paid for them to be repaired. If this is the case then you should note that the LL is not entitled to the cost of purchasing new appliances but may only claim the equivalent value of the old appliances. If they were many years old then this is likely to be a nominal sum (10 year old fridges which work are usually only worth GBP 20-40 for example, maybe even less).

Pretending the items did not exist has all the panache and believability of a 3 year old's excuse for why they are covered in chocolate!

clutton_2

N79

i never knew you had such a keen SOH !!


""perjury ie a risk of a spell trying not to drop the soap"


and

""Pretending the items did not exist has all the panache and believability of a 3 year old's excuse for why they are covered in chocolate! "

have me in stitches !!!

mrstinchcombe

Why would you get rid of the white goods? They were not yours to trash asmaybe he could have repaired them.

Lessons learned, pay up

kerri_gt

Did you discuss replacing the white goods with the landlord when you did replace them? If you had he may have either agreed to pay to repair or had to replace at his own cost - not yours, or if you really wanted to buy your own at that time he may have agreed to that as long as it was in writing so you could take them with you when you move.

Do you have the original receipts still? You should be honest and say what happened (and if you hadn't previously spoken to the landlord about replaceing the appliances, apologise and explain perhaps that you didn't want to bother him about the broken appliances and that you thought you were helping by arranging the removal etc yourself.)

Really, you shouldn't have gone ahead without changing anything in a rental property without prior agreement. I would however query though, why the goods weren't on the inventory in the first place (even if they were just left as a gesture of goodwill - or because someone couldn't be bothered to remove them)? Who did the inventory, was it the landlord or a 3rd party company?

brockley10

I never discussed replacing them no, when i viewed the property there was also a dishwasher but when i moved in it was gone as they had given it to a relative they said they were leaving the rest as no one else thet knew wanted them and that they had no intention of returing to live at the property. treat them as your own and if they break its up to you to replace them they said, i have since found out that they are intending to rent the property out again instead of selling it wich is what they told us now it seems the goal posts have been mooved..

brockley10

mrstinchcombe wrote: »

Why would you get rid of the white goods? They were not yours to trash asmaybe he could have repaired them.

Lessons learned, pay up

what was i suppoosed to do keep them all in my garden

sequence

It must have been annoying not having working appliances but you can't just throw the landlords property away.
In future you need to confirm/sort these things out in writing.