Deposit deduction for gardening.

thebutlerforall

I didn't take any photos of the garden when she left only of the inside of house which was immaculate!
I can go back to get a photo of the front but won't be able to get in the back garden.
The garden isn't immaculate and is rough round the edges but I don't feel that's a significant issue as its not really damage as such.

DRP

thebutlerforall wrote: »

I didn't take any photos of the garden when she left only of the inside of house which was immaculate!
I can go back to get a photo of the front but won't be able to get in the back garden.
The garden isn't immaculate and is rough round the edges but I don't feel that's a significant issue as its not really damage as such.

if there wasn't a photo of the back then that is a non-issue thought, right?

thebutlerforall wrote: »

There is a photo on the inventory of the front block paving and the front grass. But that photo is still being used for the re let and isn't current and s years older than the year sis moved in. There's no photo of the rear garden lawn and borders. Yes it needs tidying up but its not a dump as I say. I wouldn't be unhappy as a landlord as I realise gardens are a pain for landlords and tenants!

but did she sign the inventory with the 'old' pic on it? If yes , then she is agreeing the photo represent the state of the garden at the time she moved in.

thebutlerforall

DRP wrote: »

if there wasn't a photo of the back then that is a non-issue thought, right?



but did she sign the inventory with the 'old' pic on it? If yes , then she is agreeing the photo represent the state of the garden at the time she moved in.

I can see what you are saying that as there was no photo of the back garden then she can argue that they've no evidence of what it looked like before and therefore can't prove its deteriorated.
And yes there could be a bit of a dispute about the front garden and drive then as it is on the front page of the inventory and so it will be taken that she's accepted it in that condition even tho its an old photo. Thnx.

thebutlerforall

I've had a look on the dispute service website. It says she'll have to show evidence of trying to resolve it before putting in a dispute. So I'm thinking of writing to the LA and stating my sisters reasons for the objection to the deduction and asking her to pass the comments to the Owner/landlord and say I await the reply. Then when they respond with the quote which I don't know how much it is yet as they haven't got it yet then we can say the objections remain and as we can't agree she'll now raise a dispute. Does that sound like the steps of the process we should take. It's a huge number of forms to fill in for the dispute but if sis feels its unfair and they won't back down then I guess that's the route. TiA.

benjus

thebutlerforall wrote: »

I've had a look on the dispute service website. It says she'll have to show evidence of trying to resolve it before putting in a dispute. So I'm thinking of writing to the LA and stating my sisters reasons for the objection to the deduction and asking her to pass the comments to the Owner/landlord and say I await the reply. Then when they respond with the quote which I don't know how much it is yet as they haven't got it yet then we can say the objections remain and as we can't agree she'll now raise a dispute. Does that sound like the steps of the process we should take. It's a huge number of forms to fill in for the dispute but if sis feels its unfair and they won't back down then I guess that's the route. TiA.

In my situation a couple of months ago it worked like this:

• Waited 10 working days after check-out. Nothing from Agent or Landlord about deposit
• Emailed landlord, agent and TDS requesting return of deposit (landlord immediately replied saying they wanted deductions, agent sent a vague list of intended deductions but nothing concrete)
• Waited another 10 working days; still no concrete list
• Send a written letter to LL and agent offering what I considered to be a reasonable amount to be deducted from the deposit (£50 compared to their proposed £1400)
• Waited another 10 working days; still no concrete list or reply to the offer
• Raised a dispute with TDS with a very extensive account of all the issues involved (and an account of my attempts to negotiate) which took ages to compile
• LL accepted the offer made in the letter rather than go through the dispute process

It might have been possible to do it slightly faster, but I wanted to show that I'd done my best to negotiate a solution before raising a dispute.