landlord after deposit--advice

mortysnorty

Hello. We are about to move out of our rented property. We have had a very rough time with our landlord who didn't bother to protect our deposit until we demanded that he did--he claimed all sorts of rubbish about not having to do it blah, blah, but was forced to by us (and the law i dare say!|). Anyways, we think that they were very intent on keeping the whole deposit at the end of out tenancy as they are very shady characters as we have discovered. Anyways, the property is in reasonable condition. It needs a jolly good clean (kids..) but with our previous property we had it deep cleaned and the LL had it deep cleaned again and charged us for it. This was prior to DPS schemes. We suspect this might be the case again as we know the LL will try to get everything that he can and he has emailed us before suggesting that the standard of cleanliness is not to his standard (it is not bad but there are things everywhere..structurally fine and nothing that a clean won't fix). Anyways, my question is whether we should bother cleaning the property by professionals as LL might claim anyways or do we do it and challenge LL if need be through the DPS? Adding to the fun is the the LL has never returned the inventory list though he has referenced it. He has chosen not to forward the original to us despite requests but did forward a list of household items (but not the one we signed). We suspect that is because my notes on it made it clear that the property was not professionally cleaned before our tenancy (ie food in fridge, dirty pan in oven etc). So, do we get it cleaned professionally or just a light job ourselves knowing that it is likely that he will try to claim anyways? And what do we do about the inventory? Would the LA have a copy (do date they have not said that they do not but are not coming forward if they do). Thanks!

BitterAndTwisted

Clean the place thoroughly and take dated photographs of everything. If the landlord chooses to have the place professionally cleaned he will need to justify the deduction via the arbitration process. If you think any deductions are unjustified then just dispute them and explain why. WHY DIDN'T YOU MAKE A PHOTOCOPY OF YOUR INVENTORY BEFORE YOUR SENT IT BACK WITH YOUR NOTES ON IT? Can you dredge up a witness to verify that the property wasn't cleaned before you took on the tenancy?

mortysnorty

stupid. yes. But...either way. Either he doesn't forward it and then will have to justify it in the arbitration with the copy we did sign (which shows that we disputed a properly cleaned house) or he doesn't go with the inventory and then he has nothing and cannot prove a thing about the condition of the property and what was in it. It is not in his benefit to deny the inventory and withhold the copy is it?

BitterAndTwisted

He either withholds the copy of the inventory with your notes on and then has nothing to back up his claim for deductions or he discloses it which confirms the property wasn't clean when you moved in. Either way, you win IF you ensure the place is properly cleaned before you move out.