Deposit protection

doug3101

I have just thought of something - Any 'tweaks' or advice on the following would be great.

Dear LA
With regards to your e mail dated 01/05/2013. you stated that the LL would be prepared to pay £355 towards redecorating if I released £500.
This proposal was NOT made 'without prejudice' and no time frame was placed on this offer at any point in your e mail. it is my belief that I am now able to take this settlement at any time in the future (as I have not rejected it) even if the LL pursues any claim for more than this amount.
With this in mind I will be contacting the DPS requesting that £355 be released to my account as it is no longer 'in dispute'. The remaining £500 will still be held until a resolution, by whatever means, is reached.
If you know of any legal reason why this can not be done then I respectfully ask that you contact me within seven days.

G_M

This is the deposit scheme, and its dispute resolution service we are talking about?

Not a court. Fancy terms like "without prejudice" are meaningless.

If you have reached an agreement with the LL about what amounts should be released to each of you, then you each inform the DPS, and they release the money accordingly.

If you give differing figures to the DPS then clearly no agreement has been reached and they will place the matter in dispute.

doug3101

G_M. The matter is in dispute. I paid £1125 into the DPS of which £855 is at this moment in time disputed, £270 has been repaid to me. This was after the LL, at first, said that we had damaged his property (which we didn't and we can obtain statements from the cleaning company disproving his claims) and wanted more than our deposit could cover. He then said he would accept £855 on the strength of one quote for painting and decorating. He then said that he would accept £500. I do not think it is unreasonable of me to use 'fancy terms' when I am of the opinion that someone is trying to bully me into paying money that I genuinely feel I should not give them. I have bent over backwards trying to find a solution. The problem in all of this is the LA, and me thinking that everything was a bit informal.. Will they stand up and say "actually, yes we did say they could paint" They won't will they!

benjus

G_M wrote: »

Not a court. Fancy terms like "without prejudice" are meaningless.

Again, don't know what DPS's policy is, but TDS states:

We will not take into account the contents of any documents marked ‘Without Prejudice’ unless a written waiver is provided.

http://www.thedisputeservice.co.uk/resources/files/Guidance%20notes%20for%20the%20completion%20of%20Dispute%20Application%20and%20Dispute%20Response%20forms.pdf

This maybe has no bearing on the point in question here, but I thought it was worth pointing out.

doug3101

Thanks Benjus. I think I will just send the letter asking for the other £355 to be returned anyway. If they won't release it then I am sure they will have to prove why.

doug3101

This whole sorry affair is once again back on!

I sent a letter to the L.A over a month ago basically saying if they did not make a claim then I would take action to get my money back.

I received an e mail from the L.A basically saying to contact the L.L direct as they were no longer entering into any more correspondence as the matter was 'clearly a dispute between landlord and tenant'
I wrote to the L.L direct reiterating what I had told the L.A. and received no response.

I started a single track and on the 13th day the D.P.S received a reply saying that they had received a response and it would have to go to ADR (my solicitor advised me of this as if I had made a court claim it probably would have been kicked back to them)

This is the crunch bit....we have been given photographic evidence that the L.L has had these areas painted. Now then, if the L.L claims for the painters quote and does not actually point out this work has been done and prove expenses, does this improve our position. In my mind its fraudulent as he has probably slapped a bit of paint on that cost about a tenner and wants to take us for about 150 quid! Also in another room he claimed needed a full repaint (which it didn't!) has just had replacement windows fitted. I am starting to realize what is going on!

GwylimT

A landlord is more than within his/her rights to get a professional to give them a quote and to then carry out the work themselves, my wife had a tenant who burnt the living room floor as they hadn't used the fireguard, she deducted from their deposit how much it would cost to have a professional come in, sand the floor and then treat the surface so the burns were no longer visible.

In the end I did it myself, my wife was within her rights as a landlord to do this. Just as if a tenant ruined one strip of wall paper a landlord could deduct the amount it would cost to have the entire wall professionally papered, the landlord isn't obliged to then carry out this work.

Guest101

doug3101 wrote: »

Hi all,

My family moved out of a property on 15th March (rented via a letting agency) as the owner said he had decided to sell up. We did some painting work during our tenancy after we had got verbal permission from the LA.

At the checkout the owner turned up and was furious that some rooms had been painted, it seems obvious that he was never informed that we had done any painting. unfortunately the checkout procedure was not completed due to an unholy row breaking out. Also the LA had another appointment and had to leave.

The next day I thought it would be a decent gesture on my part to offer to put the painted rooms back to their original colour at my own time and expense (made 'without prejudice' with no admission of liability). This was rejected and after 10 days of us moving, I was told that the owner was going to take us to court for repainting and other 'damage' that we had done to the property as he felt our deposit would not cover the expense (our deposit was £1125.00)

I replied by saying we deny damaging his property and we would see him in court to fight his claims. After a few more weeks I received another communication saying that the owner had reconsidered and would only like us to pay for the redecorating and we were given a quote for £855.

At this moment in time I have received £270 from the DPS and the rest is in dispute, I have stated that the rest can only be payed by court order or mutual agreement.

I again reiterated my offer to supply paint and my time to put the rooms back to their original colour, the owner responded a week later by saying he was prepared to accept £500 and he would pay the other £355 and this was his 'final offer'.

I again said I was only prepared to supply paint and my time as I had no guarantee that if I handed over any money (not that I was prepared to) it would be spent paying the painter who supplied the quote to do the work. I put in my last communication that if I had heard nothing by the 10th May 2013 or the owner had not started any proceedings then I would seek advice on how to get my deposit back via a court order.

I received a letter on 10th May saying that my offer of paint was rejected as we breached our contract by painting.|Also the owner would be taking further evidence to court and be asking the magistrate to take into account the shocking way we left his property and how dirty it was. We did pay a cleaning company to do a one off clean after we had moved our stuff out.

I know this is long winded (and thanks for persevering!) But, the owner has huffed and puffed and threatened this, that and the other but not actually done anything. He actually moved his step son in the day after we moved out.

All I want to know is how do I get my money back? It's my opinion that all the owner wants is some cold hard cash and not an amicable resolution to the problem. If the house was left in such a bad state (which it wasn't) why has he not taken steps to take me to court (although he seems more than willing to try and counter claim if I try to get my money back through any legal process)

We have also heard that it is possible that the owner never planned to sell but he just told us that to move us on and get the aforementioned step son in. We also have a letter from the LA that states " Mr ***** has decided to sell the property and will not be renewing your tenancy. He has agreed that if you find alternative accommodation he will break the contract with no financial penalty to you as tenants"

In hindsight it was foolish not to get written permission to paint (it is in our contract) but the LA seemed really nice and we thought it was OK. The LA now seems to be backtracking a bit too!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

At that point you shoudlve refused to move before your full deposit was returned, and your moving fees paid. You had the upper hand, but you dropped the ball. Shame you didnt ask on here then.

Speak only to the DPS and see what they decide.

doug3101

Quick update...DPS ruled that the LL could prove nothing..All MY money returned

DRP

doug3101 wrote: »

Quick update...DPS ruled that the LL could prove nothing..All MY money returned

Congrats op. Any further details about the dps decision?