Another 'landlord claiming unfairly from my deposit' thread

bebewoo

Don't worry, the TDS nearly always finds for the tenants, and quite quickly too.

tbs624

dodger1 wrote: »

The problem with forums is of course most people come on to have a whinge. It's all very one sided because the vast majority of happy tenants who have good landlords simply don't bother to come on and start a praising thread. Glad you have found a good one

My bolding. A minority of posters may come here simply to "whinge", as dodger1 describes it, but most are raising legitimate concerns and seeking support on the best way to get resolve.

There are, of course, "good" and "bad" amongst both LLs and Ts. In an ideal world PITAs from either side of the relationship ought to end up with their own equivalent but, unfortunately, there is often a mismatch.

tbs624

bebewoo wrote: »

Don't worry, the TDS nearly always finds for the tenants, and quite quickly too.

My bolding. On what is your assertion based?

Check out the TDS Annual Report 2012-13:

"Letting agents and landlords can also take assurance from new disputes data in the report showing a further increase in the share of disputed deposits awarded to landlords and letting agents, to just over half (52.8%)."

dodger1

tbs624 wrote: »

My bolding. A minority of posters may come here simply to "whinge", as dodger1 describes it, but most are raising legitimate concerns and seeking support on the best way to get resolve.

Fair point, I didn't word that very well. I meant people come on forums to ask for help when things go wrong (plus the odd whinger;)) but people rarely start threads to praise, either landlords or tenants.

Soleil_lune

joshw86 wrote: »

over half of tenancies amongst my acquaintances end with some manner of unfair deposit deduction.

I agree :T

RGreenthumb

Well the LL has finally been in touch (we've already raised our dispute with the scheme so it's largely pointless) and here are some highlights:

"I sent a reputable cleaner around and she said that you had no cleaning materials at all she had to use washing up liquid to clean the shower and cooker hood
and she wiped all the skirtings again with the washing up liquid"

"I personally cleaned the inside of the cooker and it was perfect, I think you have a short memory as I am 100 percent certain that you would have told us if there had been anything else wrong."

"I want £125.00 out of your deposit, if you agree or disagree will you let me know, otherwise I will send the photo's and you reply to the appropriate people."

And then it ends by saying "sorry for the delay in getting back to you"

Absolute madness!

DRP

RGreenthumb wrote: »

Well the LL has finally been in touch (we've already raised our dispute with the scheme so it's largely pointless) and here are some highlights:

"I sent a reputable cleaner around and she said that you had no cleaning materials at all she had to use washing up liquid to clean the shower and cooker hood
and she wiped all the skirtings again with the washing up liquid"

"I personally cleaned the inside of the cooker and it was perfect, I think you have a short memory as I am 100 percent certain that you would have told us if there had been anything else wrong."

"I want £125.00 out of your deposit, if you agree or disagree will you let me know, otherwise I will send the photo's and you reply to the appropriate people."

And then it ends by saying "sorry for the delay in getting back to you"

Absolute madness!

Very odd! She sound like a chancer - and not a very competent chancer at that! Why is she still sending you info? does she or the agent know you have submitted the dispute?

Please Keep the thread updated on how the DPS dispute proceeds. It really doesnt sound like your LL has a leg to stand on so good luck.

RGreenthumb

DRP wrote: »

Very odd! She sound like a chancer - and not a very competent chancer at that! Why is she still sending you info? does she or the agent know you have submitted the dispute?

Please Keep the thread updated on how the DPS dispute proceeds. It really doesnt sound like your LL has a leg to stand on so good luck.

Based on what I know of her she's definitely incompetent, but I suspect she firmly believes we owe her that money. I'm not sure she's got the nouse to be a chancer!

According to the TDS tracker they've requested the LL's side of the story so I think she's got the information through and decided she'd better try and get in touch. We've replied to tell her we're going through the scheme and she should submit all this evidence to them.

I'm just so glad to have got out of the rental market and into the property ladder!

allthingsmustpass

She picked a number she thought was low enough that you'd just cough up instead of have the hassle. Its a common trick. Fortunately a dispute via the protection scheme is simple and I invoke this at the end of every single tenancy I have, as they always, and I mean *always* lie and attempt to steal.

RGreenthumb

The latest update: the LL has requested an extension to the deadline initially given to her to provide her evidence. She apparently needs more time to gather her evidence.

This seems like a bit of a joke given that the reason we raised the dispute in the first place was the unreasonable length of time it was taking for them to return or communicate a dispute with is.

Argh!!!