Unreasonable deduction from deposit & TDS

lovehackney

Hello,

I have recently left a rented property and I am trying to get the deposit back from my landlord.

1) The deposit was incorrectly registered for the first 5 months of the tenancy - I have read about courts awarding three times the deposit sum for unprotected deposits, what about incorrectly registered ones? (It was registered at the wrong address). I don't want to seem money grabbing but my landlord was a nightmare and so I don't plan of giving him any concessions as he is being unreasonable (see below)

2) He is trying to claim £90 + VAT for a replacement shower seal (the little bit of rubber that goes on the bottom of the shower screen). I have two issues with this:
a) the cost is extortionate (he claims £15 material costs + £75 labour costs, for an unskilled labour 5 minute job)
b) I never had a shower seal. He has a signed photo by me (unfortunately) showing a shower seal, however I was made to sign the inventory before moving in. Upon moving in I noticed significant water damage to the side of the bath (it is a shower over the bath), clearly caused by water leaking as there was no seal. I submitted this photo to the landlord upon moving in, which he accepted. Also, I think it is somewhat unfair to expect someone to notice a missing shower seal - do people really check this?

Maybe I am being unreasonable but I would appreciate some other thoughts on this.

Thank you

Pixie5740

If you don't agree with the proposed deductions then log into TDS and claim your full deposit back. Then if you and your LL can't agree on deductions it will go to arbitration.

However, if you signed an inventory then you might be on a hiding to nothing. Once you moved in did you mark up the inventory and send it back to the LL?

I'm not sure if you can make a claim because the deposit was registered with the wrong details. I think it's just late and non-protected deposits that you can claim compensation for.

lovehackney

Thanks Pixie.

Once I moved in, I didn't change the original inventory but I did submit a photo of the bath panel where you can kind of see there is no shower seal (but admittedly not definitively). Checking for a shower seal just didn't even occur to me.

pmlindyloo

lovehackney wrote: »

Hello,

I have recently left a rented property and I am trying to get the deposit back from my landlord.

1) The deposit was incorrectly registered for the first 5 months of the tenancy - I have read about courts awarding three times the deposit sum for unprotected deposits, what about incorrectly registered ones? (It was registered at the wrong address). I don't want to seem money grabbing but my landlord was a nightmare and so I don't plan of giving him any concessions as he is being unreasonable (see below)

2) He is trying to claim £90 + VAT for a replacement shower seal (the little bit of rubber that goes on the bottom of the shower screen). I have two issues with this:
a) the cost is extortionate (he claims £15 material costs + £75 labour costs, for an unskilled labour 5 minute job)
b) I never had a shower seal. He has a signed photo by me (unfortunately) showing a shower seal, however I was made to sign the inventory before moving in. Upon moving in I noticed significant water damage to the side of the bath (it is a shower over the bath), clearly caused by water leaking as there was no seal. I submitted this photo to the landlord upon moving in, which he accepted. Also, I think it is somewhat unfair to expect someone to notice a missing shower seal - do people really check this?

Maybe I am being unreasonable but I would appreciate some other thoughts on this.

Thank you

When you say it was registered at the incorrect address how incorrect was it? eg the wrong number or a completely different address. Did you notify the landlord of this?

Can't see a judge being impressed if it was just the wrong number and you did not notify the landlord - mistakes are made.

mynameisdave

Who fitted the shower seal? A plumber or the landlord. Plumbers don't work for free and if the LL has paid a professional to do it, perhaps to satisfy a condition of his insurance, its not unreasonable for that cost to be considered.

Whether the cost should be met by you or the landlord can only be decided by a judge if you do not mutually agree and as others have said the inventory might not help you although if the landlord has accepted the photo and you have more than your word on this it may swing back in your favour.

G_M

Sounds like an admin error. The deposit was registered (so complied with the Act). Unless you can argue the deposit that the LL registered was someone else's, not yours, you cannot use this to claim the penalty.

Many contrators would carge £50 just to come out and start work (travel time, petrol etc) so £75 labour is feasible. Yes, I agree it's a lot for a 10 minute job, but contractors don't do jobs for £10 - it just isn't worth their while.

As for whether the seal was ever there in the first place, well, that is a matter of proof on the balance of probobility. You claim it was not there. Landlord claims it was. Who would a judge believe, given that the you signed a photo showing the seal.....

lovehackney

Address that was registered was completely wrong - another property entirely.

Hmm doesn't sound too good regarding the seal, I can only hope the water damage to the bath panel goes in my favour if it goes to a dispute.

Interestingly, I have moved out early and offered to sign a surrender tenancy form, he said I wasn't allowed to surrender tenancy, I said ok but I need to return keys as I will be away when the tenancy ends. Today he informs me that someone is moving in this weekend (tenancy ends 8th August officially)... Funnily enough when I said that I wanted to go back to the property, which is still technically mine, and I would hold on until the 8th august, he went quite quiet about trying to claim for the shower seal, despite saying he needed an answer immediately.. So we shall see!

It's landlords like this though that give them all a bad name. Sooner you have to be regulated the better.

Thanks for all the opinions!

jjlandlord

Why should landlords be regulated? Whatever the regulations, that wouldn't prevent tenants from signing without checking...

Pixie5740

jobaz7 wrote: »

Hi, I wonder if anyone can give me some advice.
My son has just finished his tenancy from his student uni house.
The landlord has deducted money from his deposit with no communication with us. He was in a shared house 2012/13 with the same landlord and she carried over the deposit to his new tenancy house in 2013/14. There was no inventory in either house, despite my son requesting one, and was told she doesn't do them. Naively as 1st time tenants we accepted this.
After leaving the second house she has deducted money for a new toilet seat ( which she says had glue on the lid ) and a new kitchen cupboard door ( which she says had a split in ) from the first tenancy in 2012/13 and a hefty £75 because we left some black bin bags and cardboard for recycling. She claims the bags had maggots and there was loads of cardboard. My husband double bagged the bin bags and there was a small amount of cardboard packed neatly together ( we did take a photo of this).
She has sent no evidence of purchasing items or of rubbish removal, and just informed us she has taken the money.
Could the seat and cupboard door be wear and tear or is she entitled to buy brand new ones?
Not sure what my next step is or if we have one.
Thanks

It might be better to start your own thread but as a started for 10...

1) Was the deposit protected?

2) The onus is on the LL to prove deductions are valid, without a proper, detailed inventory that's difficult for them to do.

3) Where in the UK are these student properties. There are different processes for getting the money back for Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

lovehackney

jjlandlord wrote: »

Why should landlords be regulated? Whatever the regulations, that wouldn't prevent tenants from signing without checking...

I agree, but if I could have reported that I was forced to sign the photos before being allowed they keys, it would probably have deterred the landlord from doing so.

Yes I shouldn't have done it, but when someone is forcing you to, and without the keys you don't have anywhere to go, it's quite a difficult situation to be in.

Anyway, the landlord has agreed to return to deposit in full, I'm guessing because he realised he was trying it on and I wasn't going to back down.