Undisputed deposit

ruga

Hello, I've been reading through the other posts about getting the deposit back, but I didn't seem to find something about the undisputed ones...

We left the property we rented on the 19th of October 2011, I was present at the inspection with the letting agent and she found everything fine. I didn't sign any check out inspection and to this day we don't have a copy of the report.

She said they couldn't release the deposit until LL agreed. He visited the property on the 22th of October and now he says that was left considerable dirty, with grease and dust in doors, window frames, floors and oven...

We remarked in our response letter that no issues were raised regardind the cleanliness of the property during the check out inspection (the agent checked every room and windows and even passed her finger through the racks of the oven!)

The landlord is withholding £286 for cleaning from our £600 deposit. We replied back saying we didn't agree and requested the receipts for the deductions and a copy of the check out inspection.

This saturday we got a letter from the letting agent (they are acting on his behalf) just detailing how much was spent per hour in cleaning and labour, but no copy of receipts or inspection report.

In their first letter, it said and I quote: "We shall therefore, be refunding £314 to you as soon as we received the signed copy letter to confirm your acceptance of the above costs"...

We of course didn't sign but so far we haven't got the undisputed deposit back... Is this right? Even if we don't agree, the amount we are not disputing should be sent to us right?

The landlord is selling the house and that weekend he went to see the house (he lives down south) he redecorated, painted and put new carpets ... We believe because he is desperate to sell the house (has gone down in price several times in less than four months) he wants to got some money out of us...

He wasn't present in the inspection of the previous tenant neither he has visited the property for about 3 years...

Anyway, sorry for the length of the post but I appreciate any help given...

Thank you,

P.S. The property is in England and the deposit is with mydeposits.

G_M

Sorry - I don't understand the post title:

Undisputed deposit

The LL is making dedustions and you are disputing them!

The landlord is withholding £286 for cleaning

We replied back saying we didn't agree

Use the mydeposits arbitration process.

ruga

Hi, an apology, now that I'm reading it is confusing!!

Yes, we do not agree with the deductions... But we have requested the amount that it's not disputed and it hasn't been given back...

Voyager2002

In practice, you will only get the undisputed amount back once the issue is settled. The agent's letter offered this to you on condition that you signed to agree with the deductions: obviously using it to exert pressure on you to agree. Since you did not agree, you are highly unlikely to see any of the money until the process is complete, and you get back something between the undisputed amount and the whole of your deposit.

BitterAndTwisted

When did your tenancy start?

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

G_M

Ah! Got you.

Sorry, it doesn't work that way.

Either you agree (on everything) and the deposit is returned to you and the landlord in the proportion you agree.

Or you don't agree, and you either go to arbitration or to a Small Claims Court.

Nothing in between is likely to work. I guess you can ask for the undisputed element, but I wouldn't hold your breath!

matthorp

When we had tenants leave, we also had disputed deductions. We asked the agent to return the undisputed amount of deposit to the tenant and lodge the remainder with the TDS. They then investigated the dispute and allocated and returned the disputed amount.

I cn't see why this can't happen in your case.

DVardysShadow

matthorp wrote: »

When we had tenants leave, we also had disputed deductions. We asked the agent to return the undisputed amount of deposit to the tenant and lodge the remainder with the TDS. They then investigated the dispute and allocated and returned the disputed amount.

I cn't see why this can't happen in your case.

You do know you are supposed to put the deposit in a DPS before the tenant leaves, don't you? Like as soon as you get it.

matthorp

The deposit was registered with the TDS as soon as the tenancy began. The deposit was held by the agents and the registration details were given to the tenants.

I am not be as experienced as many on this site, but I am not a cowboy landlord.

Insurance-based schemes

Under insurance-based schemes, the landlord or the landlord's agent holds the tenant's deposit and pays a fee to insure it (against the landlord illegally keeping the deposit). If the landlord doesn't pay the tenant the amount they are owed at the end of the tenancy, the insurer will pay the tenant and try to get the money back from the landlord.
If your tenants' deposits are paid in instalments as part of a rent deposit scheme, you must use an insurance-based TDP scheme.





The only two insurance-based providers are:

• MyDeposits
• Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS)

marra2

My situation is similar we left on 14th october and landlady faffing with what deductions will be made, so I did some research and because we never signed a checkout inventory probably because she was very nasty when we did it and she said she'd be in touch , if she has no signed checkout form with what needs repairing etc then she has no proof that anything dos need doing !
So last week I applied for the full deposit to be returned and am awaiting her response.

ruga

Hello, thank you all your your replies...

Yes, I suppose it makes sense... Until something is agreed... In the first letter the deductions were for £286 (deposit of £600)... We replied not agreeing and we got a second letter this saturday for deductions now of £200...

He is basically claiming that the house was not clean, but he wasn't at the inspection, it was me and the agent on the last day of the tenancy and everything went fine, no negative observations... He visited the house days later and he is now saying he found it dirty... And he is claiming £200 in costs for cleaning and labour!!

We requested a copy of the check out inspection and also receipts of the costs, but they weren't sent... There was an inventory at the start of the tenancy (July 2010) but it was just signed by me and my husband, it did state condition of the property (colour of the walls, condition of the floor and carpets, etc) but it doesn't say anything regarding cleanliness...

We are planning to write another letter, saying that we don't agree because if the house was so dirty, how come that the letting agent didn't notice that??

Anyway, I appreciate your comments...

Thank you very much...