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Help! Problem with getting rent deposit back!
xvsarahvx
Posts: 2 Newbie
I hope anyone can give me any advice on trying to get my deposit back from my previous landlady. Our deposit is not covered by the guarantee scheme as we signed in 2004, we didn't need to renew the contract and I'm not sure what to do next about getting it back.
Over 8 and a half years we have had bi-annual house inspections by the estate agent during which nothing was brought to our attention that was a problem. On our last inspection we told the agent that we were giving our notice and asked about any issues with getting our deposit back.
We moved out, handed over the keys and the same estate agent actually said well done and that we had done a great job cleaning the house.
Fast forward 2 weeks and we got in the post a photocopy of a piece of paper handed in by our old landlady. It went like this:
Garden - remove damaged hedge, £80
replace hedge & shrubs, £8 x 8 hedges
remove garden rubbish pile, £64
There are also more prices which I can't read which include clearance of all borders and lawn repair. That would be clearance of plants I put in the borders as they were just patches of soil when we moved in. I don't know what shrubs she wants replacing, unless it's the clematis we had to dig up as it eventually killed 3 or 4 conifers (not 8 that she's asking for).
House - Replace bed 1 & 2 carpets £300
Flea treatment & cleaning of all other carpets £130
Replace vertical blinds in lounge £120
Replace damaged bathroom floor £100 (bit of water stain to chipboard floor around edge of bath, bathroom was carpeted, not great idea, which leads to...)
Replace bathroom carpet £65
Replace toilet seat £28 (£28 bloomin quid for a loo seat!)
Replace bathroom radiator £120 (it got a bit rusty, we repainted it, still works and looks fine)
Replace lounge/dining room/kitchen curtains £80
"Mould treatment in all rooms. Damaged lounge carpet from mould" (little bit by window frame), "damaged kitchen floor" (cheapest laminate with a 10 year life, kitchen floor about 3m squared), "repair walls especially in bedroom 1" (are we responsible for cracks appearing in walls?). "Redecorate throughout - walls and paintwork included - 5 days + materials £120. Walls were painted red!" (we got permission from estate agents to redecorate), "Return bedroom 3 to original colour"
"Outside light broken - replace and fit est £70" (never used it, cheap plastic light from Homebase or wherever, plastic cover went brittle and broke into bits). "Lounge carpet replacement est at £420!!!" (is this the one that needs mould treatment and de-fleaing as well?!) "Gutters and pipes need cleaning £50, clean all windows, frames and sills, inside, outside and internal, 2 days labour, £200. "Some sills almost beyond repair" (is that our fault? That is only down to the age of the glazing, it's nothing we've done).
"TOTAL £2097"
We paid £700 deposit. Surely these things should be put down to wear and tear. We were there for 8 and a half years so surely it's expected to have to repaint and replace carpets? Everyone I've spoken to, including everyone at the estate agents thinks that this list is unreasonable, they even said privately that her partner thought it was a bit over the top. They have said that she is probably trying to charge us 2 grand and hope we settle for letting her keep the deposit. It feels like the landlady is trying to get us to cover the costs of redecorating before they moved in.
So the upshot is that we haven't been able to get the deposit back from the estate agents as he says he can't give it to either party while it's being disputed. We can't pursue the landlady for the money as she hasn't got it. Now the estate agent has phoned today and said that the landlady told him that the deposit is their money and that he confirmed this with his solicitor and that he needs to give it to them?? The advice from Shelter was that the deposit is still legally our money.
We worked out that we've paid her £71,400 in rent over nearly a decade and what she wants works out at £200-300 for wear and tear per year which isn't much but then I don't agree with her figures anyway.
Thank you so much for reading this and I hope someone can tell me what rights I have in this situation, at the moment it feels like we'll never see that money again.:(
Over 8 and a half years we have had bi-annual house inspections by the estate agent during which nothing was brought to our attention that was a problem. On our last inspection we told the agent that we were giving our notice and asked about any issues with getting our deposit back.
We moved out, handed over the keys and the same estate agent actually said well done and that we had done a great job cleaning the house.
Fast forward 2 weeks and we got in the post a photocopy of a piece of paper handed in by our old landlady. It went like this:
Garden - remove damaged hedge, £80
replace hedge & shrubs, £8 x 8 hedges
remove garden rubbish pile, £64
There are also more prices which I can't read which include clearance of all borders and lawn repair. That would be clearance of plants I put in the borders as they were just patches of soil when we moved in. I don't know what shrubs she wants replacing, unless it's the clematis we had to dig up as it eventually killed 3 or 4 conifers (not 8 that she's asking for).
House - Replace bed 1 & 2 carpets £300
Flea treatment & cleaning of all other carpets £130
Replace vertical blinds in lounge £120
Replace damaged bathroom floor £100 (bit of water stain to chipboard floor around edge of bath, bathroom was carpeted, not great idea, which leads to...)
Replace bathroom carpet £65
Replace toilet seat £28 (£28 bloomin quid for a loo seat!)
Replace bathroom radiator £120 (it got a bit rusty, we repainted it, still works and looks fine)
Replace lounge/dining room/kitchen curtains £80
"Mould treatment in all rooms. Damaged lounge carpet from mould" (little bit by window frame), "damaged kitchen floor" (cheapest laminate with a 10 year life, kitchen floor about 3m squared), "repair walls especially in bedroom 1" (are we responsible for cracks appearing in walls?). "Redecorate throughout - walls and paintwork included - 5 days + materials £120. Walls were painted red!" (we got permission from estate agents to redecorate), "Return bedroom 3 to original colour"
"Outside light broken - replace and fit est £70" (never used it, cheap plastic light from Homebase or wherever, plastic cover went brittle and broke into bits). "Lounge carpet replacement est at £420!!!" (is this the one that needs mould treatment and de-fleaing as well?!) "Gutters and pipes need cleaning £50, clean all windows, frames and sills, inside, outside and internal, 2 days labour, £200. "Some sills almost beyond repair" (is that our fault? That is only down to the age of the glazing, it's nothing we've done).
"TOTAL £2097"
We paid £700 deposit. Surely these things should be put down to wear and tear. We were there for 8 and a half years so surely it's expected to have to repaint and replace carpets? Everyone I've spoken to, including everyone at the estate agents thinks that this list is unreasonable, they even said privately that her partner thought it was a bit over the top. They have said that she is probably trying to charge us 2 grand and hope we settle for letting her keep the deposit. It feels like the landlady is trying to get us to cover the costs of redecorating before they moved in.
So the upshot is that we haven't been able to get the deposit back from the estate agents as he says he can't give it to either party while it's being disputed. We can't pursue the landlady for the money as she hasn't got it. Now the estate agent has phoned today and said that the landlady told him that the deposit is their money and that he confirmed this with his solicitor and that he needs to give it to them?? The advice from Shelter was that the deposit is still legally our money.
We worked out that we've paid her £71,400 in rent over nearly a decade and what she wants works out at £200-300 for wear and tear per year which isn't much but then I don't agree with her figures anyway.
Thank you so much for reading this and I hope someone can tell me what rights I have in this situation, at the moment it feels like we'll never see that money again.:(
0
Comments
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your post is far too long but a few pointers for you
1) the recent update in the law closed the loophole whereby tenancies agreed before <whenever> didn't need to be protected. So they are in breach of the deposit regulation by not having protected it.
2) The LL cannot charge for betterment. If you have been living in the property for 8 years the chances are that most of your things on the list have reached the end of their nature life and need replacing anyway - he cannot charge you for any of this.
3) Unless there is no requirement in the lease to keep the garden "tidy" (which would be unusual, or you dispute that the garden was actually in the state that LL claimed you are probably stuck with this.
HTH
tim0 -
Thanks Tim
I know the post was far too long but I didn't want to leave anything out in case someone asked a question. I'm just a bit worked up about the whole thing, I'd like to look back on the last house as our home for nearly a decade with happy memories of the children growing up but it's all been overshadowed. Thanks again!0 -
The agent is somewhat right, they are only acting as agent for the landlord, so the agent holding it is as good as the landlord holding it to be honest and makes no real difference to your approach, it is still the landlord you pursue.
You still have recourse to persue this in small claims court.0 -
Write a letter to the landlord ( I get it is a women)
Ask where the deposit was protected ? and inform her that if you do not receive the FULL DEPOSIT back within the next 7 days you will sue her for 3X the deposit.
Do not agree to any deductions what so ever for the garden or anything else ( she is trying it on)
Speak to the CAB or look on this website for help in writing a letter " BEFORE ACTION"
Good Luck the LL is taking the Pi--0 -
tim123456789 wrote: »
1) the recent update in the law closed the loophole whereby tenancies agreed before <whenever> didn't need to be protected. So they are in breach of the deposit regulation by not having protected it.
If you're referring to Superstrike Ltd v Rodrigues, it's only the case if a new tenancy has been entered into since 6th Apr 2007 or become statutory periodic on or after the same date, as the court considered that when it became periodic it was a new tenancy. I haven't heard of any binding decision to the contrary.0 -
Mr_Pitiful wrote: »If you're referring to Superstrike Ltd v Rodrigues, it's only the case if a new tenancy has been entered into since 6th Apr 2007 or become statutory periodic on or after the same date, as the court considered that when it became periodic it was a new tenancy. I haven't heard of any binding decision to the contrary.
but that was (presumably) one of the cases before the change in the law, that was the reason it was changed the way that it was
tim0
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