Letting agent acting as though they did not receive my inventory

IAmTheWinner

The letting agent for the property I'm renting did not send me a complete statement of condition & inventory in any reasonable timeframe (it took 2 months from my move-in date). In spite of this, once I did receive these from them, I sent it back with amendments to the statement of condition which was not complete; they now seem "not to be able to find" the statement of condition & inventory at any of their offices. Further to this, they have put major delays on informing me of this, to the degree where I threatened a formal complaint (replied 2 weeks late); presumably they've done this to interfere with my lodging such a complaint before the tenancy is up in early October (since their complaints process is lengthy).

The really dodgy thing is that there is a company whom they partner with to do the checking of inventory and statement of condition. I was with this woman when she spoke her verbal statement of condition into a voice recorder, and not everything she said was stated on the inventory which the agent sent! Thus my many amends -- which they are now acting as though they didn't receive.

I am not sure whether I still have the PO receipt for when I sent this letter, which I believe I sent by registered mail. If I do have the receipt, presumably that is proof that they must have received it and have no excuses. I also have scans of the fully amended document, from the day I sent it off -- I am not sure if this would stand up as proof since I did not email it to myself or anything like that, so the date may be questionable.

Otherwise, what options do I have? I believe this agent may be trying to take advantage of me to pay for the poor state which the place was in when I moved in -- since the statement of condition does not match what the lady who recorded the condition (by tape recorder) from their partner company, recorded verbally while I was in her presence.

Should I mention to them that I have the scans? Like most of us I would rather not go to court, but if I have to I'd like to have some kind of a trumpcard to play.

IanIan

If the statement of condition & inventory cannot be produced, the Agent will not be able to make a claim against you if the Agent thinks the condition of the property is worse than when the tenancy started. So stop worrying! In similar situations, I know of folk who have simply not paid the final month's rent, to ensure the sum held on deposit was minimised and the Agent couldn't make spurious demands on the deposit held.

IAmTheWinner

Thanks for your reply IanIan.

My major concern here is that they are going to default to saying that the statement of condition is the one they hold, which they sent a copy of to me for my amendment (but very late). And that they will further claim that they sent me a copy of this and that I did not return it, hence they defaulted to the original.

Furthermore it's worth mentioning that I am locked into a 6 month for which I paid both the deposit and the full term tenancy up front. So I cannot withhold anything, and it will inconvenience me greatly if I have to go through a tribunal to claim on the deposit.

Also I saw at (sorry can't post links, replace commas with dots) www,thelawforum,co,uk/hidden-fees-letting-agent-are-they-legal

...recent case law now says you cannot bring a claim as a tenant if your tenancy has ended.

Perhaps I am taking that out of context, but that's a bit scary?!

...So it worries me the longer I do nothing about this situation. I stand to lose a substantial amount of money off this deposit.

prudryden

The Inventory/condition Clerk/Company will have a copy of the written report and will probably have kept the recording as well. Their name and address should be on the report assuming that the report wasn't done by the Letting Agent which would be abnormal for the bigger agencies.

milliebear00001

I am not sure what you're worried about really. If the agency can't produce an inventory with your signature on it, then they can't prove what state the property was in when you took it over, and therefore can't claim anything against you.

IAmTheWinner

milliebear00001 wrote: »

I am not sure what you're worried about really. If the agency can't produce an inventory with your signature on it, then they can't prove what state the property was in when you took it over, and therefore can't claim anything against you.

@milliebear, Well my concern is that there was a short one page check in form that I signed when that person came to do the voice recording of the state of the flat. I couldn't get her to go away unless I signed it. Certainly it was not a full statement of condition that I signed, however I am fearful that that's exactly what it represented.

I just spent some time looking for the name of their company but I don't know who they are exactly. Or I'd get in touch with them directly.

milliebear00001

IAmTheWinner wrote: »

@milliebear, Well my concern is that there was a short one page check in form that I signed when that person came to do the voice recording of the state of the flat. I couldn't get her to go away unless I signed it. Certainly it was not a full statement of condition that I signed, however I am fearful that that's exactly what it represented.

I just spent some time looking for the name of their company but I don't know who they are exactly. Or I'd get in touch with them directly.

What exactly did this document say?

IAmTheWinner

milliebear00001 wrote: »

What exactly did this document say?

They're sending over a scan shortly -- shall post back here.

prudryden

If the Inventory/condition clerk/company was independent, then you would have had a chance to point anything out to them at the time of the check-in report. Your signature at the time of the check-in doesn't mean you approved the subsequent report. If the clerk was independent, then your signature is not totally necessary to make the report valid.

milliebear00001

prudryden wrote: »

If the Inventory/condition clerk/company was independent, then you would have had a chance to point anything out to them at the time of the check-in report. Your signature at the time of the check-in doesn't mean you approved the subsequent report. If the clerk was independent, then your signature is not totally necessary to make the report valid.

The OP states the inventory was done by a representative of the agent's 'partner company' - hardly independent.

We need to know exactly what you signed OP.

IAmTheWinner

milliebear00001 & prudryden -- thank you both -- I am still awaiting these details, which I hope they will send ASAP on the morrow. I will shoot back here as soon as.

millibear your comment re "hardly independent" is what's been on my mind ever since signing that paper (whatever it was). The good news is I found their contact details so I could attempt to find out from them directly, what I signed.