Landlord trying it on

Derwent1

And so the saga continues.
He is still trying for the work top and has still failed to provide photographic evidence, but has been told he can't claim for betterment.
And now he's saying he wants money to have the sky cables removed and the holes filled. He's saying he gave permission for sky on the condition we removed it, which never happened. It also turns out that it's his son and wife that moved in the day after we left, and it was them who inspected the property as he's abroad. How can current tenants be allowed to inspect the property?
And to top it off he's told the LA that we are banned from the property and from contacting the current tenants.

sandsni

As your tenancy has ended the LL is perfectly within his rights to refuse you access to the property. And if the LL delegated the inspection to a close family member that is none of your business.

Check with the TDS again. There's bound to be a mechanism for disputing deductions and forcing arbitration. Keep refusing the deductions until it goes to arbitration. Then the LL will have to provide proof of the damage he is claiming.

ihatemyhouse

LL is trying it on, wants you to pay so he looks good for the next tenants, claim your deposit back, and tell him to sue you, as LA is backing you and found no probs,

Derwent1

I have no intention nor have I said I want to access the property. My point was the people that inspected the property are the new tenants. He has tried to claim several things which have been rubbished by the LA and every time he loses his argument about one thing, he seems to find something else.
As far as I'm concerned, you can't find faults, which if were an issue, would of been noticed by the LA, 2 weeks after leaving and 2 weeks after having new tenants in.

I can't dispute deductions as he not come forward with any figures or evidence. All he's said is he will inspect the property next month when he returns to the UK.
I have no idea how I can claim my deposit back now. There is no option on the TDS website and the LA says the LL has 28 days to make a claim.

BitterAndTwisted

If you've got a copy of the agent's check-out report hang onto it for dear life.

It's true that the landlord has a number of days to make a claim but why would the landlord delegate responsibility to their agent if they didn't want them to carry it out?

Get onto the TDS site and it should give you guidance on how to claim your deposit back. Any undisputed amount should be returned to you. If you can't make sense of the site, phone them. As TDS is an insurance-based scheme rather than a custodial one who exactly is holding your money?

Derwent1

The LA is holding it and want to give me it back but they can't till the LL tells them how much he thinks he wants.
This was the first and last property he rented out so clearly has no clue what being a LL is all about. We looked after his property and retuned it in immaculate condition, hence why there was nothing on the check out report, and this is why we are so annoyed with the way he's going on.

LannieDuck

I've just had a look on the TDS website, and there's a phone number. Give them a call and ask them how to raise a dispute when the LL is seeking to make unreasonable deductions with which you don't agree.