Leaving a repossession..

Worriedmummy

Hello - I just wanted some advice about what will happen when we move out of our renting house, which is currently being repossessed.
Both the solicitors acting on behalf of the bank and the receivers have said that they cannot help me get my deposit back, so I am going down the single claim route (landlady done a bunk)...

What I want to know is - what kind of state do we need to leave the house in?

I don't mean im going to trash it at all, but I know my inventory mentions things like having the carpets and curtains professionally cleaned and trimming and weeding the garden.

I'm happy to leave it how we found it, but I think the professional cleaning is rather excessive for a house that will just be auctioned off... plus no one else has a copy of the inventory apart from me.

What would you do?

BitterAndTwisted

How do you know that no-one else has a copy of the inventory except you? Just because your landlady appears to have done a bunk does not mean they won't surface once the bank go through with the repo. if you leave the property in a different state to how it was a t the start of your tenancy your landlady would be entitled to make deductions from your deposit or take you to court for the money. Only you can decide how likely this would be.

It's true that the bank won't accept responsibility for your deposit. Depending on when your tenancy started it should have been lodged with one of the three deposit-protections schemes. Have you checked with all three" DPS, TDS and MyDeposits? If you check and none of them have a record of it I'd be minded to withhold the last month's rent and cross my fingers the landlady won't follow it up. I'd also not bother with any professional cleaning either, I'd just do my best and do it myself.

Worriedmummy

Can she really try and make a claim even if it technically isn’t her house anymore (well it won't be by the time we move)? How would she gain entry to check? ...I'm pretty sure she won't though... its actually a big company with 50 odd houses all being repossessed.
If anything the house is now in a better condition then when she handed it over to us... we've decorated (with permission) and tidied up the overgrown garden... If she did try and make a claim I'd simply point out that the boiler hasn’t been checked in the 18 months we've lived there.

It is only really the professional cleaning I'm querying.

Yes deposit is in secure account and I'm currently going through the single claim process.

BitterAndTwisted

You can't go through the single claim process until you have vacated the property. Until then the money isn't yours to claim. What secure account? Did your tenancy start before April 2007?

If the landlady really has done a bunk where are you going to claim the deposit from? Even a court-order won't magic money up from nowhere if no-one knows their whereabouts. Or, of course, if they have no money to pay you with.

Forget the professional cleaning. Just leave the property as you think you ought. There's only your own personal integrity to tussle with, really.

Worriedmummy

The deposit is with the deposit protection service. The money is there, we just know that the landlady is not available to authorize release hence the single claim process.
All the contact details she has given is for Grace Property Developments.. which has gone bump.
I haven’t technically started the process yet, but DPS have sent me the forms ready for when we vacate... we even have to get a solicitor to witness them which is annoying as it means extra cost to us when we haven’t done anything wrong!

chappers

I wouldn't worry, if your LL has done abunk then it is highly unlikely that the bank/recievers have a copy of your tenancy agreement/inventory, nor are they likely to be interested.