Landlord keeps stonewalling over deposit

Voyager2002

MrChips wrote: »

Also should we explicitly demand a return of the full deposit? He might (rightly or wrongly) say he is justified in making a deduction for whatever reason.

Thanks so much

Well, he has promised your GF a refund of the full deposit. If he were going to make any deductions, he should have informed her at the time she checked out.

MrChips

Well....we had a productive meeting last night. I was just now putting the final touches to the letter we drafted when an email to my girlfriend arrived giving a breakdown of the of the deductions made and stating that the money had been sent! Almost disappointing in a way as I was looking forward to sending him the letter

It remains to be seen if the money actually turns up, and with being a bank holiday weekend we'll have to wait almost a week to find out. Not sure if the other 2 former housemates have received a similar email or not.

He has seen fit to deduct half of the deposit though. £20 for cleaning curtains, £25 for cleaning carpets, £20 for cleaning the room and £270 for council tax.

Despite my girlfriend cleaning the room before leaving (and taking photos) he came round 90 mins before the new tenant was due with a carpet cleaning machine and ran it over the carpet (which was admittedly a bit dirty after a year of occupation). The curtains he had removed the day before to be cleaned and brought back and hung at the same time as he "cleaned".

Do these charges seem reasonable? Given that he spent most of the 90 minutes on the carpet, I don't see why there is an additional cleaning charge on top of this. I know this is all he did as I waited all day in the house for him to arrive (I'm not obsessed, honest )

Council tax is another matter - I need to look into this a bit further given the final paragraph of my original post.

Guy_Montag

Send the letter anyway - just in case the money doesn't show up, you can always say it was sent, just before the e-mail arrived. You're just covering you bottom in case the money doesn't turn up

The rest doesn't sound unreasonable, assuming the place was suitably clean at the start of the tenancy. You'll have to follow up the council tax though.

liz545

If he did the cleaning himself, rather than used a professional cleaning company, I think your exposure should be limited to the cost of hiring the carpet cleaner. A total charge of £65 for 1.5 hours' cleaning is far above the cost of hiring a professional cleaner! But OTOH, £65 is less than it would cost you to go through the courts, so it may be worth chalking it up to experience. With regard to the council tax, you NEED to see a receipt for this because if he hasn't paid the council tax the council may well pursue you for payment; also, next time you sign an AST that it specifies who is liable for paying the council tax - if the rent includes any bills, the contract should specify which bills to avoid this kind of problem!

olly300

If you have had no council tax bills, it was the landlord's responsibility to pay the council tax and he didn't warn you that he will be charging you council tax separately from your rent then the deduction is unfair. So you are entitled to chase him for the money i.e. write a letter before action demanding the £270 back. Also in the letter make it clear that it was a HMO which you doubt was registered as such with the relevant authorties at the time you were living there (i.e. if it goes to court he is not going to look very good.)

The property should be left in the state, apart from reasonable wear and tear, as it was rented in. If the landlord has to clean it then he is entitled to deduct reasonable expenses which the £20 is. However you are entitled to request a copy of any receipts of anything he purchased/hired to clean it. Therefore ask for a copy of the receipts for the hire of the carpet cleaner and the cleaning of the curtains.

If you work out that he deducted too much money or he refuses to provide receipts for the curtain cleaning and carpet cleaner hirer then write a different letter before action disputing the costs. Depending how much he deducted from the other housemates any further letters may have to be done separately.

MrChips

liz545 wrote: »

If he did the cleaning himself, rather than used a professional cleaning company, I think your exposure should be limited to the cost of hiring the carpet cleaner. A total charge of £65 for 1.5 hours' cleaning is far above the cost of hiring a professional cleaner! But OTOH, £65 is less than it would cost you to go through the courts, so it may be worth chalking it up to experience. With regard to the council tax, you NEED to see a receipt for this because if he hasn't paid the council tax the council may well pursue you for payment; also, next time you sign an AST that it specifies who is liable for paying the council tax - if the rent includes any bills, the contract should specify which bills to avoid this kind of problem!

He arranged for a cleaner to come to the house to clean the communal areas on an hourly rate of £5 an hour - if he thinks this is the going rate we should offer £7.50 :rotfl:

I think we should ask for a receipt for what he paid for cleaning the curtains, and advise him that £45 for 90 minutes of room cleaning (when we have photos showing the room was left clean) is a bit steep. If he thought the room was dirty, why did he leave so little time to clean it before the next tenant was due to arrive?!

The carpet cleaner isn't hired, it is his. He has a few houses and I guess enough tenants come and go so he bought one. Ironically a couple of days before my girlfriend moved out, he dumped it, unannounced, in the corner of her room. She rang him and offered to save him the trouble and use it to clean them herself to which his reply was "but I don't want you to". I can see why now, it justifies a few extra quid for him!!

Good point re council tax. I think we will say we want to see a receipt proving he paid it as we are worried about future liability. We can even "offer" to go to contact the council ourself for assurance to save him the trouble. Hopefully that should wake him up a bit.

MrChips

Thanks everyone for the input so far.

To clarify, we are happy to pay something for the 90 minutes of carpet cleaning as we admit these needed cleaning. The room we believe was left as clean as it was when she moved in so dispute this (and we have photos). The curtains we will pay for if he can produce a receipt. If he just took them home and chucked them in his washing machine we won't pay £20 for this!

The tenancy agreement did specify that my girlfriend should pay a share of the council tax to the landlord - all other bills are met directly by him. However she is a bit relucant to do this if he is just keeping it for himself as he isn't paying the tax. Either way we should see a receipt showing how much it is (so she can verify her true share) and to make sure there is no comeback from the council further down the line chasing her for the money. To that end we've drafted this email which we'll send tonight - pending any more bright ideas from fellow moneysavers.

Hello X,

Thank you for finally sending the breakdown - I was beginning to worry I would never see the money ever again!

I'd like to query some of the deductions you have made.

1) Council tax. Could you please provide a receipt from the council showing that this has been paid, and also how much the bill is. I need this for my records (I understand I could be held liable for the tax if there is a future dispute with the council) and also so I can check how much my share of the bill is. I am happy to contact the council for this information directly if this would be easier.

2) Curtain cleaning. Please can you provide the receipt for £20 showing where you got these cleaned.

3) Carpet and room cleaning. As before, please can you provide a receipt showing the cost of hiring the carpet cleaner. Also, please confirm what is your hourly charge for cleaning?

Due to the eleven week delay thus far, I think it is only fair if you can resolve these queries as soon as possible. I don't want this to drag on into June!

Best regards,

Mrs Chips

olly300

MrChips wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the input so far.



Due to the eleven week delay thus far, I think it is only fair if you can resolve these queries as soon as possible. I don't want this to drag on into June!

Change the last bit to:
"Due to the eleven week delay thus far, I think it is only fair if you can resolve these queries in the next 7 days. I don't want this to drag on into June!"

Then after 7 days issue the guy with a "letter before action" giving him another 7 days to provide his evidence then start a court claim for the single deposit money. This guy obviously thinks if he gives you some of the deposit back you will not challenge him for the rest.

MrChips

Good idea, thanks Olly.

nelly_2

Get a baseball bat and go break his shins....the theiving little sh1thead!