Rent Deposit

Noobie2011

Hi All,

I am due to move out of my rented house in a month or so and am wondering what position I may be in if the deposit does not cover any repairs in the house.

Basically I have paid nearly £1000 in deposit due to having 2 dogs in the property. I have kept the house clean and tidy for the nearly 6 years I have lived here however when I first got my dogs as puppies they liked to chew and as a result I the below damage:

- 2 Kitchen cupboards chewed in the corners
- two side shelves chewed
- small hole in the carpet on one of the stair steps
- small hole in the kitchen door
- also due to them being very active and running in the back garden the grass has big bare patches

There are other bits of damage like a few scuffs on the wall, doors etc which will be fixed by re-painting.

Now I am not the type of person to just leave and put the LL right in it as they have been good to me but wanted to know what options to take.

Option 1 - Repair the damage myself to a satisfactory level giving me more chance to retrieve most of my deposit. Risk here is they are not happy with the repairs and take my deposit anyway

Option 2 - Leave it to the LL to sort and concede that my deposit is gone. Risk here is the repairs the LL will do will come to more than the deposit and I am not sure what happens then.

Any advice welcome

thequant

Noobie2011 wrote: »

Hi All,


Option 1 - Repair the damage myself to a satisfactory level giving me more chance to retrieve most of my deposit. Risk here is they are not happy with the repairs and take my deposit anyway

Option 2 - Leave it to the LL to sort and concede that my deposit is gone. Risk here is the repairs the LL will do will come to more than the deposit and I am not sure what happens then.

Any advice welcome

depends on the level of damage, if we are talking about having to physically replace some things, then this is risky. As you may not do it to the LL's taste or standards. And run the risk of a perfectly good repair job, being replaced at further cost


Option 2- if this happens the LL will then ask you for the excess above your deposit, if you agree then you pay. If you don't you go to court (not as scary as it sounds)


One thing to bear in mind, is that after 6 years, they will be a substantial element of wear and tear, and also the LL can't use your damage to gain betterment for himself.


This where the courts are crucial if you can't come to an agreement with your LL, they will make an assessment of wear and tear, betterment and most importantly what is reasonable.


It sounds like you want to be reasonable about this, so why don't you get the LL round, show the damage and start the discussion.

pmlindyloo

Just to add a bit about betterment.

When assessing the amount of money to be deducted from your deposit this has to be negotiated on the basis on what the inventory said when you started your tenancy.

So if the cupboards, for example, were old and tatty when you first began your tenancy then the landlord cannot claim for 'betterment' - i.e charge you for the cost of new cupboards. The amount charged would be based on the age and condition of the cupboards. Ditto the carpets. Some LLs try to charge for the replacement of new for old. This is not allowed.

It sounds as if you are on good terms with your landlord so hopefully you can come to some agreement which suits you both.

Of course if there is some dispute then you should first use the arbitration process of your deposit protection scheme. This is what they were set up for - to make a decision in the event of disputes.

Noobie2011

Thank You both and sound advice.

I will likely speak to my LL or the agents acting on his behalf and see what we can do to avoid any lengthy disputes later on.

Also something I forgot was we made the LL and agents aware a few years ago that we were going to replace the living room, hall, kitchen and bathroom with Laminate flooring which we did. Now in my opinion it looks a lot better but just wondered where we stood with this. Could the LL or agent force us to put carpet and vinyl back down if wanted?

pmlindyloo

Noobie2011 wrote: »

Thank You both and sound advice.

I will likely speak to my LL or the agents acting on his behalf and see what we can do to avoid any lengthy disputes later on.

Also something I forgot was we made the LL and agents aware a few years ago that we were going to replace the living room, hall, kitchen and bathroom with Laminate flooring which we did. Now in my opinion it looks a lot better but just wondered where we stood with this. Could the LL or agent force us to put carpet and vinyl back down if wanted?

Did you get written permission to do this?

G_M

Option 3

Invite landlord round to tea. Have a list of these issues ready, and after softening him up with (home-made?) cake, show him the chewed cupboards etc and ask what he'd like you to do/what would be acceptable.

Takeaway_Addict

G_M wrote: »

Option 3

Invite landlord round to tea. Have a list of these issues ready, and after softening him up with (home-made?) cake, show him the chewed cupboards etc and ask what he'd like you to do/what would be acceptable.

this by far, bypass the agents who are likely to have little flexibility