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Deposit Deductions...sorry long!
talulah25
Posts: 311 Forumite
Myself and my fiancee rented a house for 8 months. When we moved in the place was in a 'lived in' condition. We were the first tenants in the house and the landlords had moved out when we signed the lease.
We mentioned nothing of the fact that there were screw holes in the walls, several screws still hanging out of the walls, many lightbulbs blown, all carpets badly needing washed (and one carpet quite badly stained with small oil spots over the whole carpet) and the whole place just generally needing a good clean. The LA advised us that if we replaced the lightbulbs we were to provide them with the receipts and the costs would be re-imbursed to us. This was all noted on the inventory which we completed with the LA on the day we moved in.
We had our move-out inspection on the day the keys were handed back. I spent a full day cleaning the house but inadvertently forgot to wipe down two shelves in a kitchen cupboard that I had been keeping some bits and pieces in after I packed everything else up. The LA mentioned that there were some crumbs in the cupboard, which I apologised for, but said "I dont see the landlord having much to say about this given the condition she left the place in for you to move in", she then went on to talk of her shock at how the house had been left for us to move into and said she could only surmise that as we had been the LL's first tenants they simply werent aware of the standards expected for a newly let house.
Nothing more was mentioned, she accepted the keys and I left the house never to return...10 days later, we receive the deposit cheque...minus £179!!!!! Attached to the covering letter from LA are two invoices. One from a cleaning company for a £70 'house clean' and the other from an electrician for 14 lightbulbs (£39) and TWO HOURS LABOUR to install them!!!!
TWO HOURS!!!! The majority of these lightbulbs were small halogens from kitchen light-fitting which take 2 mins to 'pop-in' and irrespective of time we were told if we replaced them we would get the money back.
My question (sorry to drag on so long) is are these deductions reasonable??? I was under the impression that as the house was not professionally cleaned when we moved in we had no obligation to have it professionally cleaned when we moved out.
I have emailed the LA with details of our deduction discrepancies and they have forwarded this to the LL, we have not cashed the cheque as we feel to do so would be an indication of our acceptance of said deductions. Does anyone think we have any legal rights here to get LL to change their decision?
**Incidentally this is Scotland so no deposit protection scheme to use for arbitration**
We mentioned nothing of the fact that there were screw holes in the walls, several screws still hanging out of the walls, many lightbulbs blown, all carpets badly needing washed (and one carpet quite badly stained with small oil spots over the whole carpet) and the whole place just generally needing a good clean. The LA advised us that if we replaced the lightbulbs we were to provide them with the receipts and the costs would be re-imbursed to us. This was all noted on the inventory which we completed with the LA on the day we moved in.
We had our move-out inspection on the day the keys were handed back. I spent a full day cleaning the house but inadvertently forgot to wipe down two shelves in a kitchen cupboard that I had been keeping some bits and pieces in after I packed everything else up. The LA mentioned that there were some crumbs in the cupboard, which I apologised for, but said "I dont see the landlord having much to say about this given the condition she left the place in for you to move in", she then went on to talk of her shock at how the house had been left for us to move into and said she could only surmise that as we had been the LL's first tenants they simply werent aware of the standards expected for a newly let house.
Nothing more was mentioned, she accepted the keys and I left the house never to return...10 days later, we receive the deposit cheque...minus £179!!!!! Attached to the covering letter from LA are two invoices. One from a cleaning company for a £70 'house clean' and the other from an electrician for 14 lightbulbs (£39) and TWO HOURS LABOUR to install them!!!!
TWO HOURS!!!! The majority of these lightbulbs were small halogens from kitchen light-fitting which take 2 mins to 'pop-in' and irrespective of time we were told if we replaced them we would get the money back.
My question (sorry to drag on so long) is are these deductions reasonable??? I was under the impression that as the house was not professionally cleaned when we moved in we had no obligation to have it professionally cleaned when we moved out.
I have emailed the LA with details of our deduction discrepancies and they have forwarded this to the LL, we have not cashed the cheque as we feel to do so would be an indication of our acceptance of said deductions. Does anyone think we have any legal rights here to get LL to change their decision?
**Incidentally this is Scotland so no deposit protection scheme to use for arbitration**
0
Comments
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Can anyone help?0
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It's midnight on a Saturday - have patience!Can anyone help?
I'm no Scottish expert, but I imagine step one is to write requesting your entire deposit should be returned and present
a) your reasoning and
b) supporting evidence (inventory; emails from agent? etc)
Then negotiate further if necesary.
Finally, Sheriff's court if you cannot reach agreement.
Meanwhile, speak to the agent. It sounds like they are sympathetic, but of course as they are employed by the LL they have to do what he says.0 -
Thanks G_M, and yes thinking about it I shouldn't have expected many sensible replies at that time on a saturday morning lol!
I have emailed LA detailing our discrepancies and our reasoning behind disputing these expenses so that they can forward this to LL. I totally appreciate that the LL has the final say in the deductions from the deposit and suspect that the LA is aware of how unreasonable the deductions are.
Im pretty sure the LL dont want to spend much, if any money on the upkeep of the house, in fact they want rid of it, even offered us first refusal to buy it when we handed in our notice. As the housing market is particularly slow in the area they have more than likely decided not to market it until things pick up and have continued to rent it. I believe that they charged us for the cleaning and maintenance as they want to keep costs down for themselves.0 -
OK if no-one knows whether they can make these deductions, can anyone recommend somewhere I can find out???0
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Sorry to bump this again, please does anyone know or know where I could find out?0
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Search the threads on here. There are LOTS about deposit deductions!0
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