LL keeps arranging viewings without notice

sartois

RAS wrote: »

Go to the scheme and claim back all the deposit. They then have to justify every single deduction.

Do your photos show

Chip near bath: £144 (don't know about this)
Heavy chip to corner entrance where my bike was stored: £150 (possibly my fault not sure)
Scratch marks to right hand of basin: £150 (not sure about this).

Do you have receipts for the professional clean?

Just looked at my photos and somehow didn't capture any of that. The cleaner was cash in hand so no receipt. The inventory states that everything was cleaned to a domestic standard. The sink surrounds is plastic and any light cleaning caused scratching. I can only dispute based on the vagueness of the check-in report I think.

At the end of the day I don't particularly care about those parts... potentially they are my fault. My main objection is the £824 in void rent / breach of tenancy.

Annie1960

What exactly do they mean by void rent? You gave the proper notice, did you not? Any void thereafter the the LL's responsibility.

What did you do to breach the tenancy? I can't see what you have done, and what financial loss does this cause the LL?

I think the deposit protection scheme will see through this nonsense.
Someone posted a link on this forum recently to the cases published by one of the deposit protection schemes, and the scheme usually found in favour of the tenant.

You don't need a solicitor to challenge this. I'm not even sure solicitors are allowed to operate on a 'no win no fee' basis except in specific areas, such as personal injury.

Pixie5740

sartois wrote: »

Thank you. It is the LL. They had a proper independent inventory taken on the way out, just not on the way in so I will be arguing against things that are described as 'good'. The main one is obviously the crazy charge for rent after my tenancy had ended.

Who is Top Daddy? Just tried searching but couldn't find him on here. I have a letter before action I have just found from Shelter which I can use to get the ball rolling. I will give MyDeposits a call too I think to start accumulating the evidence as well as submitting a claim for all the deposit back.

Well tough titties for the LL then if they don't have a proper inventory for the start of your tenancy. How can they prove you caused damage when they can't prove the condition of the property when you moved in?

As for the rental void claim, as long as you've paid all the rent due then any rental void is the landlord's problem and is one of the risks/expenses of BTL investments.

I think the user name might actually be topdaddy.

Good luck and keep us posted.

RAS

What they mean Annie is that they demanded immediate and frequent access to the property to show round new tenants.

When they entered after being told that it was not acceptable on a particular occasion the OP told them they had to ask nicely and limited their access. He also changed the lock (at which point they threatened illegal eviction) to stop them going in when he was not there.

Viberduo

In my bad experiences with landlords its almost like they spend time reorganizing furniture when tenant moves out to show so called damage like one I had last year who moved the sofa so the fabric underneath looked bulging then said it was torn, then another photo moved a computer chair to middle of the room despite the room looking clean in the picture he took he said it was a mess because of the chair, or the reflection on a oven door was streaky marks.

Many landlords seem to want a property to look as like no one ever lived there and everythings brand new when tenants move out even if a property was in a state when a tenant moved in!

I too am shocked about the lost rent deductions.

Annie1960

RAS wrote: »

What they mean Annie is that they demanded immediate and frequent access to the property to show round new tenants.

When they entered after being told that it was not acceptable on a particular occasion the OP told them they had to ask nicely and limited their access. He also changed the lock (at which point they threatened illegal eviction) to stop them going in when he was not there.

Yes, and the OP acted appropriately in doing these things. The LL's behaviour was certainly unreasonable, and may have even been harassment. I can't see why the LL would win in this situation.

sartois

So just spent ages filling out the evidence from the Mydeposits portal... reading the small print at the end it seems that the LL does not even have to take part in this and if they refuse then I have to take them to court. This begs the question that as the LL keeps the deposit rather than sends it to mydeposits, what is the point of this particular scheme? For example if they reject the ADR then what's the difference between protected and not protected if they can just refuse to take part...

If they did happen to agree to it, is the decision legally binding or is this something else they can choose to agree to?

I am wondering if it would be better just to speak to the court to see if I can push it through small claims and then get the letter of intended action on its way (they were late protecting my deposit), or should I complete the dispute with mydeposits and hold off on the court thing and hope that (a) they rule in my favour and (b) the LL does the right thing and pays up.

SerialRenter

sartois wrote: »

So just spent ages filling out the evidence from the Mydeposits portal... reading the small print at the end it seems that the LL does not even have to take part in this and if they refuse then I have to take them to court.

A judge would take a very dim view of a landlord who refused to use the arbitration service, the courts are already full enough without cases that could be solved with arbitration going through them.

You can of course chase for the non protection, but do still go through the deposit arbitration too.

Annie1960

If the protection was late, you can claim for your deposit back plus between 1-3 times the deposit amount. This would need to be done through the courts, but a letter before action letting the LL know you intend to do this may encourage him to comply with the deposit scheme process.

rpc

Annie1960 wrote: »

If the protection was late, you can claim for your deposit back plus between 1-3 times the deposit amount. This would need to be done through the courts, but a letter before action letting the LL know you intend to do this may encourage him to comply with the deposit scheme process.

Or, perhaps, rather than just "use ADR or I'll seek the 1-3x penalty" you could try "agree to return my deposit in full or I'll seek the 1-3x penalty"#

Note that ta claim for non-protection cannot be allocated to the small claims track, so the fees are higher and costs can be claimed too.