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Advice please - return of deposit

My sister and I jointly shared a house for approximately 3 years. We recently decided to part ways and moved into our own properties. Upon the 'walk through' with the landlady she advised that she had never had a tenant leave a house in such pristine condition and assured us that our deposit would be refunded. The deposit was in a scheme, however we did get a letter during our tenancy to advise that it had been moved to another scheme. I did contact the estate agents who promised to give me details of the new deposit holders but they did not get back to me. I was not overly concerned as they are good landlords.

However, over two weeks after we moved out, I have just received an email from the LL to say that they believe that the carpets, although looking spotless, need some kind of a special 'citrus rinse' to keep them cleaner and that the carpet cleaner we used was not great. This will cost a further 120.00! I am not prepared to pay this. Am I obliged to? Also it is now well over 10 days since we left and no word on the deposit - what are my rights now? When is the deposit due to be paid? Is there a time frame? What if the LL is adamant that we pay this extra carpet cleaning cost - can I dispute it? If so, how? Many thanks for any advice. I am seriously fed up with this nonsense.

Comments

  • tbs624
    tbs624 Posts: 10,816 Forumite
    edited 1 May 2013 at 8:40PM
    If your LL has not supplied you with the deposit scheme's specific "prescribed information" then you may pursue the matter to court and the court must award you a penalty payment from the LL of between 1 and 3x the deposit equivalent. You may also apply for your court costs.

    Letting the LL know this, in writing, may help her focus on returning your tenancy deposit in full as a starting point. Keep copies of all correspondence.

    Edited to add - see here for relevant Court of Appeal case late 2012
  • Homeagain
    Homeagain Posts: 553 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    Thanks again for this reply. I have now managed to locate the deposit holder and put in the usual claim (a month has passed). Now the website says they 'are awaiting landlord/agents' advices' or something to this effect. It would seem that they are adamant to take off 120.00 for the further carpet cleaning. I am not happy to pay this at all - what should I do - this is a lot of money for me and I believe it to be unfair.
  • Ms_Chocaholic
    Ms_Chocaholic Posts: 13,384 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If you have an email from the LL to say that the carpets are spotless then I can't see she will have a leg to stand on
    Thrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
    You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time
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