Rental deposit dispute

Zooboo

Hi I'm after some advice about a rental deposit dispute . We moved out of property on 19th sept i handed keys back in at office no joint check out was done letting agent said they would visit the property next day and do check out and then contact me if any issues as i had already agreed to pay for for carpet cleaning as apparently this is something they do at end of every tenancy and she said she would call me with quote which she rang me with a week later at £80 to which i agreed.

I then submitted my request for deposit back via the scheme it is registered in minus the £80 agreed to which almost two weeks later they responded by phoning me and saying they wanted £90 for cleaning which they had already had carried out and £30 for a blocked drain that we had in february this year of which i refused to pay in april due to it taking 2 months to come out out and sort it i never heard back after my refusal to pay so assumed all ok and they had seen sense in trying to charge me .

I asked for proof of the requirement to clean as i don't believe it needed it & invoice 11 days ago which they agreed to send and expressed my displeasure that it had taken them so long to let me know and also that they had gone in and got someone to do it without telling me , i still have not heard anything so i called this morning and the person dealing with it is not in so i left a msg for them to call me tomorrow .

I then check my e-mail this evening and see they have rejected my deposit repayment request and are requesting still the cost of the cleaning and the blocked drain so i have rejected it i will not agree to anything without proof as it is MY money not theirs .

Just after some advice of where we go from here i shall be ringing them tomorrow , was hoping we could sort it out professionally but seems i may be being taking for a ride its not the first time they have tried to con money out of me.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Benji

You can either ask the deposit scheme to adjudicate or sue the landlord for your deposit back.

The former should be quicker and it is free, but the landlord may choose not to accept ADR, in which case you will have to use the courts.

sandsni

Was the blocked drain due to something you or others in your house had put down there?

All in all, £120 isn't a huge amount to deduct, and you'd already agreed to the £80 so you must have admitted you were responsible for some of the issues. Not sure why you're disputing over another £40.

Zooboo

Hi i'm Not disputing another £40 I'm disputing the £90 cleaning costs plus the £30 drain issue . I agreed to the cost of carpet cleaning as they told me thats what they do after every tenancy and £80 seemed reasonable given that we had lived there 4.5y yrs and they were cream carpets. They never mentioned when they rang with quote for carpet a week later any issue with the cleanliness of property .

The blockage was caused by it overflowing when we had heavy wind & rain the grid lifted off and allowed recycling can to get stuck down there so i guess could say partially our fault but to leave us 2 months paddling through water to get through our front door with two young children is unacceptable in my opinion and this what i told them back in april when they requested the £30 they said the would call me back when i said no and never did .

It is unfair I feel to come back now in october and ask for it again

Vectis

Did you block the drain? If not, how did it happen? It's usually something which has been put down the drain which causes the blockage.

It's usual to clean the property at the end of the tenancy. From the sounds of it you didn't do it - hence you agreeing to have the carpet cleaned. I wouldn't have thought £90 was excessive these days to clean a property.

They don't have to ask your permission to clean the property. Your tenancy had ended. It should have been left in the same state as when you moved in, less any fair wear and tear.

From what you've said here, I can't see what you're complaining about?

sandsni

TBH, if it was just a can down the drain, I'm not sure why you couldn't have sorted it yourself rather than wading through water to get to your door while you waited for the agent to sort it. I've waded through water to clear drains when I saw they were not letting water get away. It's not that difficult, although messy, but £30 doesn't seem that unreasonable if they had to get someone out (and pay them for their time) to do it. When you refused to pay at the time they probably decided it wasn't worth their time chasing you and they would just deduct it from the deposit as an unpaid bill.

You've already accepted that you were liable for the carpet cleaning, and £90 isn't unreasonable for that.

If you're really not happy, keep raising disputes with the deposit protection scheme. It'll go to the arbitration process and they will decide whether the deductions are reasonable. If the LL can provide invoices for the work they'll likely rule in his/her favour.

Zooboo

I have already explained how drain came to be blocked we tried to do it ourselves but couldn't.

Actually i left the property very clean just because they are saying it needed cleaning does not mean it did they are yet to provide evidence or invoice to back this up.

I agreed to the carpet cleaning as already stated as after 4.5 yrs and a cream carpet i would not be immaculate i agreed to this before they had actually seen carpet as they said it was for hygiene the reasons they did after every tenancy

The total they want to deduct is £200 I'm not just going hand over £90 for cleaning without any proof it needed it or that has actually been done who would neither the £30 all I'm asking is to be treated fairly and professionally which so far they have not done

sandsni

In the OP you said the deductions were £30 for the drain and £80 (which they increased to £90) for carpet cleaning. Which makes £120. Now you say they want to deduct £200. What was the other £80 for?

As I said, £30 is a reasonable charge for drain unblocking.

You say you're not prepared to just hand over £90 without proof, but yet you agreed to £80 carpet cleaning before the agent did the check-out, so at that point you must have felt it was a reasonable charge. Maybe you thought you were getting off lightly since you had seen it and they hadn't? Maybe the carpet cleaning company have upped their charge since the LA last hired them so it cost £90 rather than £80.

As previously stated, you are free to keep disputing until it goes to arbitration at which point the LL will have to provide evidence that the deductions are valid. If, as you think, he doesn't have such evidence, then the scheme will find in your favour.

But, if you are likely to ever require a reference from said LL, then it might be worth trying to come to an amicable solution.

amiehall

Guys you've all got the wrong end of the stick I think.

The £80 agreed is for carpet cleaning. I think on top of that, there's a £90 general cleaning charge added plus the £30 for the drain. So an unexpected £120 plus the agreed £80 making £200 deducted in total.

Blackpool_Saver

You don't call out the landlord to faff with a drain, you get a big stick and a hose pipe and sort it out yourself like I did when I moved in here.

You will need to put your case together and go to dispute, done it loads of times, buckle up and get on with it

sandsni

amiehall wrote: »

Guys you've all got the wrong end of the stick I think.

The £80 agreed is for carpet cleaning. I think on top of that, there's a £90 general cleaning charge added plus the £30 for the drain. So an unexpected £120 plus the agreed £80 making £200 deducted in total.

Ah, you're right ameihall, that makes more sense now. Still not outrageous, obviously depending on what way the property was left. If there are check-in and check-out photos it will help the deposit scheme arbitrators to decide whether the cleaning charges (along with the rest) were warranted.