Rental House deposit

BitterAndTwisted

Maybe something along these lines:






Dear Landlord and named agent,


RE: PROPERTY ADDRESS GOES IN HERE

After having been in the property for X amount of time, and considering how amenable and co-operative we were about granting access for marketing and viewings during our tenancy we are most dismayed that now the landlord is proposing to sell the property and the cost of rectifying most of the defects are now being claimed from our deposit purely to present it for sale rather than being a legitimate claim for damage caused by us.

The decorating: The presence of mould was brought to your attention during the landlord’s periodic inspections and this we believe was caused mainly by defective extractor-fans in the bathrooms, which we informed you about in writing, as despite the property being heated and ventilated adequately we were not able to prevent said mould appearing.

We dispute that the alleged total cost of £1000 for completely redecorating the property should be borne by us alone. There were references in the check-in inventory about the presence of signs of mould and it’s possible in retrospect that the property may have been cleaned before our viewing to diminish signs of it without the cause having been addressed properly.

All rental properties will require decoration from time-to-time at the landlord’s expense in any case, so even if we were fully culpable for the mould by our lifestyle, which we dispute, an allowance should be made for wear-and-tear depending on how long ago the property was previously decorated. Mould appearing on a couple of ceilings would not necessitate the entire property requiring redecoration but we think it’s highly suggestive of the landlord’s motive in claiming for it.

The soiled mattress: We know that we did not soil it. Furthermore the check-in inventory notes that the mattress was not inspected thoroughly. We didn’t notice any staining ourselves until some time after our tenancy started when we turned it while changing the bed-linen.

We dispute being charged for the total cost of £1700 for replacement. In fact we dispute being charged anything at all for damage we did not cause. If we had soiled it, the landlord would not be able to claim the total cost of replacement in any case, just the useful life that we might have deprived him of it. I have never heard of a rental property being supplied with £1700 mattresses and do not believe the landlord’s claim is a true reflection of either the original cost or the value of its current condition.

The replacement tap: There were no damaged or non-functioning taps in the property when we left it and we dispute that should one of them have become damaged would require a replacement costing £75 in any case. We would be grateful of you could clarify in precisely what way this tap was damaged and would like sight of the estimate for its replacement.

The landlord’s attempted claims on our deposit appears like opportunism to us in order to persent it for sale at our expense and we think this is completely unreasonable and unfair.


Send a copy to both the landlord at the address on your tenancy agreement under the bit that states “for the serving of notices” and to the landlord care of agent. Keep a copy for when you need to forward it to the TDS arbitrators.





Or, of course, you could choose to keep it really short and sweet and say "We do not agree to any of the landlord's spurious deductions and would be more than happy to go through the TDS arbitration process".

Be warned that should the landlord fail with the arbitration he still has the right to take you to court if he thinks he can win.

Emeralds65

Dear bitterandtwisted!!
I can't thank you enough for your effort and help. I am more than obliged.
I will proceed along the lines you have suggested and use your letter with a few additions and subtractions, but no way i could have written it the amazing way you did it.
Thanks very much again and I will keep you updated with the progress.
Thanks a lot and hope all the best for you!!

Emeralds65

Dear All,

I am writing the letter as described by "bitterandtwisted" but i have one question before i finally send it off.
Couple of days before i got the £1000 deduction for redecorating in written, upon verbally informed by the estate agent about this £1000 deduction wanted by the LL, he said the LL can no where get even close to getting £1000 from us for the damp, he said the LL wasn't thinking straight and suggested we offer him £150-200 because even though we were not responsible for the mould we should have at least cleared up the stains so we didn't get the blame. He knows that because he was also present at the last property inspection couple of months before we left.
My question is, can i quote whatever the estate agent said? Is it possible that he will back out of what he said and bringing up whatever he said will only bring me shame .
Can his words be used in our favour in front of TDS or court though they were said on the phone.
Thanks!!
Thanks!

Emeralds65

Bump!!can anybody please help e out f this confusion

BitterAndTwisted

I would not quote or respond to anything that was conveyed to you verbally. All of that can be denied later when it suits. Don't forget that the agent is acting as the landlord's agent and not yours.

Emeralds65

Okay thanks for advising me, its just that I thought I can show what their intentions were, but I guess in the end its all their plan and they are in it together.

Emeralds65

Dear All,
After writing them the detailed letter as what bitterandtwisted suggested they have come back to us after 11 working days and our email about whats the response, the EA has now replied that after reading your letter Landlord still wishes all that money and we can raise a dispute with TDS, thats it no reason nothing.
We sent a detailed letter in the post and wrote it in the email but there has been no attempt to clarify anything, they have just let us know we can raise a dispute with TDS, also i have asked whether we can have the quarterly inspection reports that were carried out, but the EA said she is not allowed to share them with us she will only share them with TDS and the landlord will respond to TDS.

It seems they have now got an exact idea to what points and proof we have got cz we sent them all in our letter like photos etc but they didnt give us any response so we have no idea as to what to say which might help us with TDS.

I have no idea now what to do except to raise it with TDS and pray for my luck
Extremely stressed!!!

BitterAndTwisted

You provide the TDS with your correspondence when the issue goes to arbitration. They might decide that you'll have to pay the landlord a few quid for the mould you didn't clean off but he won't get away with charging you with the entire cost of complete redecoration or the full value of this alleged gold-plated £1700 mattress.

Don't be stressed. The TDS arbitrators are not fools.

Emeralds65

Thanks bitterandtwisted!

I cant believe that they wouldn't want to respond to our letter, i was expecting a bit more than the one liner of "raise it with TDS"
I also dont think its fair that they are not willing to share the inspection reports with us, i mean how will we get the idea what was happening at the backend while we were living there, we always welcomed them at the inspections willingly, never once we said no to anyone who wanted to visit and i can tell that there were loads of visits, but nobody wrote to or talked about if we were doing anything wrong so we assumed everything was fine with them and never saw the need of asking for the inspection reports while we were living there but now I think they could have been a great evidence as off course mould doesn't build up in a month, it takes its time.

BitterAndTwisted

It doesn't matter how long the mould took to develop, what matters is what the cause was and whether you were responsible for it. The purpose of landlords periodic inspections is to ensure there are no outstanding maintenance or repair issues which the tenant may not have noticed or reported. They are not a log of what their opinion is of the tenant's lifestyle. You do not have an automatic right to see copies of the inspection reports as they are not prepared at your expense or for your benefit.

They've told you they want your deposit. You have signified that their claim is unreasonable. The agent may well agree with you but it's not they who will be getting your money. Going via the scheme's arbitrators is the obvious thing to do, so make sure you do it.

When did you get onto the TDS site and claim the whole of your deposit back?