Complete deposit retention. Is it fair?

nigem

My student son has been sharing a flat with 2 others for the last 6 months only. The others have been renting for the whole year. When he moved in the place was untidy and messy...typical student life.
He has now moved out, leaving his room tidy and clearing up his stuff from the communal kitchen and sitting room. His flatmates were late moving out, left some stuff behind (an old mattress for one!) didnt do their washing up or clear fridge and didnt hand their keys back.
Understandably the agent wants to retain all their deposits, to cover cleaning,redecorating completely because of some scuff marks, new locks etc.
Does my son have any hope of getting some of his money back? The flat was in no worse condition than when he moved in, his own room was left as he found it, and he personally handed in his keys.
He may just have to learn a hard lesson about who to share with, but I feel he should get a percentage back as compared to the others.

theChimbles

nigem wrote: »

My student son has been sharing a flat with 2 others for the last 6 months only. The others have been renting for the whole year. When he moved in the place was untidy and messy...typical student life.
He has now moved out, leaving his room tidy and clearing up his stuff from the communal kitchen and sitting room. His flatmates were late moving out, left some stuff behind (an old mattress for one!) didnt do their washing up or clear fridge and didnt hand their keys back.
Understandably the agent wants to retain all their deposits, to cover cleaning,redecorating completely because of some scuff marks, new locks etc.
Does my son have any hope of getting some of his money back? The flat was in no worse condition than when he moved in, his own room was left as he found it, and he personally handed in his keys.
He may just have to learn a hard lesson about who to share with, but I feel he should get a percentage back as compared to the others.

I fear your son will have to put this down to experience. I can't see him getting a penny back.

A bit late now, but what he should have done is withhold the last month's rent to net off against his deposit. A month isn't long enough for him to have been thrown out. This is what I've done with each of my rented houses, both at uni and privately.

Student landlords are notoriously bad for doing this. My Dad did a law degree a few years back and he was given loads of training cases where students were pursuing the landland for withheld deposits. The advice was as given above - don't give them chance to withhold it.

G51shopaholic

Did your son sign new lease with other two tenants?

The deposit is treated as ONE whole deposit, it is NOT split into three.

Your son should have had an inventory check, condition check etc done when he moved in and therefore he would NOT have been held responsible for damage done by others.

Agent has used the deposit to cover expenses incurred in returning the property back to the standard it was BEFORE the tenants moved in.

Depending on the length of time the other two had lived in the property, you could argue that the "scuff" marks are fair wear and tear and therfore are not deductable.

From what you say I made a list of deductions below:

1. Tenants moved out late = Rent payable for those days.
2. Other tenants left stuff = Cost of having this removed/dumped
3. Other tenants didn't hand in keys = Cost of new locks
4. Scuff marks = Agent charging for redecoration - this is the one I'd challenge on grounds of fair wear & tear.Your s

If your son simply took the place of someone else for the last 6mths of a lease, then it is a bitter pill to swallow and if this is the case and the agent was aware, then the agent is at fault for not completing his move-in ie Inventory check, condition check list.

I worked as a Letting Manager for over 7yrs in Glasgow

G51shopaholic

theChimbles wrote: »

I fear your son will have to put this down to experience. I can't see him getting a penny back.

A bit late now, but what he should have done is withhold the last month's rent to net off against his deposit. A month isn't long enough for him to have been thrown out. This is what I've done with each of my rented houses, both at uni and privately.


I assume you left the properties in good condition?

I worked in letting for 7yrs and luckily only had to deduct 100% of the tenants deposit on a few occasions.
1 was for tenant allowing there children to use the walls and radiators to express their art - crayons and metal paint doesn't wash off.
The other was a very high end let where the tenant had two dogs and had removed expensive carpets and fitted cheap ones, only thing is she took the expensive carpets with her!

The deposit is exactly that - it is security against damage.:money:
I conducted check-ins with FULL inventory/condition checklist.

Where the tenant is a student or not it is important to do a proper check when you move in and it will save problems later.

tbs624

OP - did your son sign up for the whole of this property under the one AST (assured shorthold tenancy)for all the occupants, with " joint and several liability", or did he simply have an agreemment for individual room occupancy plus use of the communal areas?

Did he take over a tenancy from someone else who had left mid-term?

Did the LL/LA scheme register this tenancy deposit and provide the Ts with the scheme's prescribed information?

Was there an inventory in place, signed by all parties

tbs624

theChimbles wrote: »

IA bit late now, but what he should have done is withhold the last month's rent to net off against his deposit. A month isn't long enough for him to have been thrown out. This is what I've done with each of my rented houses, both at uni and privately.

Poor advice. This leaves the T open to court action by the LL for recovery of unpaid rent. The deposit is there primarily for dilapidations costs.

Should you need a LL reference in the future your breach of contract will do you no favours and a CCJ plays havoc with any future credit applications.

LL of course has to be able to justify any proposed deductions and T is able to challenge via the deposit scheme or the small claims court

may_fair

nigem wrote: »

Understandably the agent wants to retain all their deposits, to cover cleaning,redecorating completely because of some scuff marks, new locks etc.

Aside from the issue of whether your son had an individual or joint AST, and whether an inventory/condition report was/wasn't carried out at check-in, note that T is not liable for fair wear and tear.

Minor scuff marks to paintwork would be wear and tear, and, even if the paintwork were actually damaged, the LL cannot claim the full cost of redecoration, only a portion.

For example, let's say that when the tenancy began, the decor was two years old and was expected to last approx five years before requiring redecoration due to normal wear and tear. And let's say the tenancy lasted a year. If, at end of tenancy, the decor was found to be damaged (e.g. a big red wine stain on a wall), the LL's loss would be two years' worth of use (i.e. 40%), and LL could claim 40% of the cost of redecoration.

nigem

My son moved in 6 months after the other two tenants, after a previous tenant moved out. I need to check that he had a separate inventory, detailing the condition of the flat on that date as I assume he cant be held liable for the previous occupants portion? Also, I dont know how it works as on his arrival there was washing up to be done and food in the fridge etc.

may_fair

nigem wrote: »

My son moved in 6 months after the other two tenants, after a previous tenant moved out. I need to check that he had a separate inventory, detailing the condition of the flat on that date as I assume he cant be held liable for the previous occupants portion? Also, I dont know how it works as on his arrival there was washing up to be done and food in the fridge etc.

You need to find out whether your son had a separate tenancy contract for his room, or whether there was a joint tenancy with all three students on a single contract.

If the latter, you also need to find out whether the contract began when he moved in, or whether he was added to an existing joint tenancy contract.

nigem

He said the previous tenants name isnt on the contract, so assumes it was a new 6 month contract.
The contract also said that the deposit will be with TDS but so far I cant find it.

G_M

He said the previous tenants name isnt on the contract, so assumes it was a new 6 month contract.
The contract also said that the deposit will be with TDS but so far I cant find it.

Sorry. This does not answer the question.
What is on HIS contract? His name only? Or all 3 students on a single contract including him?
What is the start date on his contract?
What was the Term of the contract (6 months?) and what was the end date?