Spill the beans... on getting deposits back from landlords

tired_dad

Been renting as a LL for over 10y. Never had to withhold any part of the deposit. Some LL's are bad as are some tenants.

satori

As a tenant, I would recommend trying to use the DPS rather than The Dispute, for the following reason:
With the DPS, the deposit monies are paid into an account which is held by the DPS. With The Dispute, the landlords just 'register' the deposit, the monies stay in their own account. Therefore, if the landlords go bust, your deposit is lost.
Even if the property is repossessed by the lenders, with falling property prices, the sale proceeds may not cover the lenders' loss, and they have first charge.
That happened to me a couple of years ago. Not only was my deposit lost, but although I was not expelled from the property (there were several flats involved, which helped - tenants solidarity!), I never got a contract with the new landlords. The lettings agency to which they outsourced rent collection etc. (Sequence/Allen & Harris) dutifully raised our rent every year, while giving us a lot of 'encouragement' to leave: they accused us of being behind with the rent, called us (at least once a week) and wrote to us (at least once every fortnight) to demand inspections of the properties (one after another...). What's more, the inspection had to take place the next day, or the day after. I've since been told, by my new lettings agency, that they should have given us 48 hours' notice, instead of a 48-hour deadline.
Incidentally, Sequence/Allen & Harris don't seem to treat their staff very well either: they were all contractors, who did a couple of hours' work for them, now and then!

Ionkontrol

I havent rented for over 12 years, but back then we always never paid the last months rent, as you would never get your deposit back anyway regardless of how well you left the house.

Woo_Moo

Thanks for all your advice peeps. I am about to rent out a property for the first time. The last tenant, left after leaving over 2 months rent unpaid and the house really grotty. Also a horrendous water bill has turned up unpaid ! Strange how they managed to buy a new car but not pay their essential bills. This is a property only 2 years old so modern and easy to clean. I an hoping to get deposit back from DPS in Bristol, but not exactly straightforward !!
I will learn from all your advice !!

Innys

Woo_Moo wrote: »

Thanks for all your advice peeps. I am about to rent out a property for the first time. The last tenant, left after leaving over 2 months rent unpaid and the house really grotty. Also a horrendous water bill has turned up unpaid ! Strange how they managed to buy a new car but not pay their essential bills. This is a property only 2 years old so modern and easy to clean. I an hoping to get deposit back from DPS in Bristol, but not exactly straightforward !!
I will learn from all your advice !!

Don't pay the water bill as it is not in your name (I assume). The water company will need to chase your former tenant, not you, for the unpaid monies.

Your experience demonstrates the problem with the posting before yours. If tenants don't pay the last month's rent, relying on the deposit to cover it and then trash the place, the landlord is left holding the baby.

Some lessons for landlords are:

1) Get reference details and take them up.

2) See and talk to tenants before you grant them a tenancy. You will then get an idea if they are suitable. For example, I recently met some prospective tenants and they wanted me to pay for any light bulbs that blew during the period of the tenancy......

3) Insist on the largest deposit you can, a minimum of 6 weeks.

4) Place it in a DPS and retain evidence of this.

5) NEVER let tenants get into arrears with the rent. If they do, deal with it immediately and if that means taking them to Court, so be it.

6) Don't count on the deposit covering any shortfall in rent.

7) Have an independent inventory done at the start and end of the tenancy. Take your own photos, if you feel necessary and e-mail them to the agent and the tenant.

8) During the course of the tenancy, deal with problems the tenants may have with the house immediately, if you can.

9) Otherwise, leave them to the own devices but periodically visit to ensure they aren't subletting or have turned the place into a cannabis farm (!)

10) Finally, be firm, but fair. In particular, don't get taken for a mug.

lisaluvz

Well this is my first post but just felt the urge to say something as this has been on my mind and has made me feel quite sick really. As we are renting at the moment and have my suspicions I may find it difficult to get my deposit back (a month and half's rent) in the end just because of the lack of care and maintenance on our property. Lettings Agents seem to want to screw you over left right and center. Taking all money they can from us. Their fees are ridiculous, we paid something like £300 just for their admin fee at the beginning of the tenancy for 6 months! And it's another £60 soon enough to renew it! We have to pay for it to be professionally cleaned in the end as well, god knows how much that will be, but do they do anything but sit on their !!!!!! and laugh probably!

We can't afford to buy or get a mortgage so what other choice do we have but to pay quite a lot of rent actually for a place with no central heating either! We have gas fires and naively thought they'd be more efficient than they are at heating the house. When we moved in, in winter, first time renting a property, we had to wear hats in bed and gloves inside (no joke) it was that freezing! But did they care, heck no! They even told us we had to leave windows open and buy a dehumidifier to stop it getting mold, which it already was in bathroom anyway! I can't remember taking a picture of that so they will probably do us on that one!!

I just think they are getting away with taking money off poor people and not reinvesting that rent in maintaining the property. What annoys me even more is that they are probably living in nice big warm houses (especially landlord with their multiple investments!) If they can afford to buy houses and rent them out they must have the means to keep them in decent condition for people! Really that should be a law in itself and to provide adequate heating!!
Oh we've had a few dodgy builders round who bodge a job every time, stuck some "foam" around the front door only for it to fall off a few days later! Fix a leak in the toilet as it came gushing through the kitchen ceiling, even though there had obviously been a patch there before! Let the garden get so wild but have the cheek to tell us to keep it weed free and say to us that the landlord will not want to pay for any maintenance on the trees, we have enough for a forest practically in a small garden!!

But we consider ourselves to be decent honest people and want the place to look nice so have put alot of effort into doing so already! There is quite alot of "paint patch jobs" actually throughout the house and the carpet is so thin and scruffy. I sound like I am moaning alot and it's like a hell hole, and you'd say if you don't like it why don't you move out? It's not as easy as that, moving is so stressful and hard without a car! There was a similar place near by that came up for rent (with central heating) and we asked to see it but they (different agent) wouldn't even let us because we weren't earning something like £18,000 a year!?! Even though the rent was the same and we are managing just fine on it where we are at the moment. We do quite like the house itself and location is perfect but maybe I am ranting because I feel it could be so much better and on the surface it is. It's only when you live somewhere you start to notice its faults!

I am so worried really I didn't do a thorough enough check on the inventory in the first place, I didn't know what I was doing!! They only gave us a week to send it back, so much was going on at the time! They just cover their backs on everything and I mean everything, they even said we couldn't change our utility provider and had to go with the one they wanted even though WE HAVE TO PAY THE BILLS not them!!

Unbelieveable, but when you're desperate for a place what can you do! They have all the rules for us to bide by but none for them. We had wall and loft cavity insulation put in as well for free, because it had none (to see if it would make a difference in the heating issues) I just don't know if we can survive another cold winter!! So we are really doing a good job in boosting the landlords property value! At the end of the day do you think we will get anything in return, probably not just more stress and money worries! It's just not fair or right.

InScarlet

Hi! I wonder if anyone can help us!? We moved out of our previous property in May as our landlord was moving back from her native country. Early June we received an email from our agent stating the deductions that were going to be made and we contested and managed to come to an agreement later on the 19th June (Month after we had left.)
I replied back on the 19th with bank details and etc for the deposit to be returned. A week went by without hearing anything from the agent and after numerous calls and emails. She released the money on the 25th June according to her email and she notified us that it would take 5 working days. Post 5 working days we no sign of deposit. Called and emailed her again and she left a voicemail on my phone stating it would take up to 10 days from the 25th June.
So I decided to follow up on the whole deposit issue on the 5th July by emailing her only to receive an automatic reply that she was out of office until the 9th July. Not long after I received an email from another of her employee's stating the money had ONLY been released on the 3rd of July and that now it would take up to several working days.
Is there anything we can do to get our money back? It's quite a large amount.
As far as we are aware the money was held with the TDS.

skevvybritt

Just to add onto this, has anyone had any experience with going to the TDS with regards to improvements you've made to the property? We have just moved out of our flat (been there for 3 1/2 years), and during that time we completely revamped the garden (which was being used as a junkyard), and turned it into a usable, beautiful space. We have no doubt that this has improved the value of the property, and it would certainly have cost them a significant lump of money to get this done professionally.

Landlord has now informed us that they want to take a third of our deposit for cleaning - since we live in London that's a lot of money. We're going to contest it, not least because we think that's a ridiculous amount to pay for cleaning.

But my question is, will the TDS take the improvements we made into account when calculating how much of our deposit the landlord is entitled to, or will they simply look at the validity of the cleaning claim?

Any previous experience with this sort of thing would be much appreciated!

jojo2910

We have two opposite experiences. The first house we rented had a very thorough inventory, noting exactly where stains were and every single item in the house. We were inspected every 3 months regular as clockwork. We knew exactly what was expected upon return of the keys and got our full deposit back.

The next house we rented next, and left only last week, we lived in for 2 years and the deposit was only half a month's rent, which we thought low at the time, but accepted. The inventory was very vague and stated just carpets and light fittings. The house was not perfect when we moved in but existing stains were not noted anywhere. During the two years we did not have a single inspection.

When we left last week we expected to be pulled up on the state of the carpets and were prepared to hand over some or all of our deposit to rectify. This we had no issue with. I have an issue with the manor in which we were treated. The agent, made us feel like scum, picked us apart and made me cry. He wanted to feel like the big man and us the little people. We verbally agreed they could keep our full deposit towards the carpets. We know the property has already been rented to our neighbours.

We had a letter yesterday from the deposit scheme which stated they landlord wasn't going to keep any of the deposit for the house, so we presume it should be coming to us. Realistically I expect it to go into the pocket of the agent.

We've bought a house and so glad not to have to deal with the likes of that agent again.

Granariesgirl

Hello,
I haven't had experience of renting in the UK for many years but have been both a tenant & a landlord abroad. Wherever you are, the "golden rules", many of which have been already listed above - but one more time can't hurt!
TENANTS:
1) ALWAYS do a full inventory with photos on entering the property & list EVERY little thing, even if the Agent/ Landlord huffs & puffs... tell them it is as much to protect them as you! 2)Keep 2 copies of this inventory - 1 with someone reliable (parent etc.) who won't lose it (just in case YOU do!).
3) After the inventory, go over the property again in your own time, noting anything important that might have been missed & if you spot anything send a copy (with photos) to your agent & landlord BY RECORDED DELIVERY & keep the delivery slips.
4) Notify IMMEDIATELY if repairs need to be done, first by phone, then by email, then by registered letter. If agent doesn't react to your email then copy in landlord for letter. Keep copies!!!
5) Keep records of all repairs / improvements you have undertaken (bills, photos etc.)
6) ALWAYS pay your rent on time - if you're having problems pay as much as you can & notify Agent/ Landlord by letter if you will be a little late (RBS /Natwest, anyone?) or have to pay in installments - by this you are showing your intent to pay & your good faith.
6) On leaving do a full inventory with the Agent/ Landlord with photos, using your entry inventory as your guide (have it with you). Do not let ANYONE ELSE represent you unless you want to get shafted! Note any problems / improvements there & then & get other party to sign a statement either noting the problems & your proposal for a solution (ie "dirty kitchen" - tenant will clean) or saying all is well. If there are problems & you want to deal with them, don't hand back the keys until they have been dealt with & accepted.
7) ALWAYS factor a "snagging day" into your moving plans - it often works out cheaper than what could be retained from your deposit.
8) If you don't get your deposit back within the legal timeframe, don't mess about with phone calls - cover your !!! with paper (recorded delivery & copies to Agent & Landlord) & don't let weeks go by between contacts. If you have to go to court, do it - it's the only way to discourage dishonest Agents/ Landlords.
9)Use the Internet & consumer associations to know your rights & your obligations. Make sure you follow the letter of the law & respect your tenancy agreement - however there is no harm in checking that the agreement is legal (some clauses if illegal are null & void).
LANDLORDS
1) If you rent out a sh*tty property, don't expect good tenants! Make it as clean, safe & habitable as you would like to find it if YOU were the tenant. You are also protecting your investment by maintaining it: if you have to sell suddenly you'll be glad not to have to shell out for all the repairs in one go or lose a lot of money on the sale price.
2) Check your property regularly if you can - just a quick drive by the place can give you an idea of what it may be like inside. Then if you are worried, you can ask for an inspection.
3) Don't always take the Agent's word for it - if there are no problems for 6 months in an older property (leaks etc.) either you are lucky or the agent is ignoring them! If the rent is always late, is it the tenant or the Agent? Check personally: ask the tenant if there have been any problems & how fast they have been dealt with; ask the tenant if they have problems with paying the rent.
4) Do a proper, thorough inventory on entry & exit - if you have any doubts, note them & give the tenant a chance to make good (24-48hrs should be enough) before charging them. If you do charge, send them a copy of the bill so they can see the expense is justified. Chase up the Agent to see that they have had any necessary repairs done & returned the deposit to the tenant.
5) Get a good non-payment insurance if you can - may seem a lot off the rent but boy, is it useful when you have a problem!
6) Respect your tenants & obey the Law - a good Landlord USUALLY gets good tenants & even if it comes to a court case, it will hold in your favour.

My experience? 8 years, 5 properties, 1 (excellent) agent, full landlord insurance & 12 tenants (they never want to leave!) who have so far been very good. One day I will get a bad'un, it's the law of averages, just hope it's not too nasty when I do!