Dispute over deposit deduction

ra08001

We are arguing with a our former landlord over a deduction to our deposit.

We took out a lease for a year, with no break clause. With the landlord's permission, we broke the contract after 8 months because we bought our own flat. A new tenant moved into the flat immediately, so no rent was missed.

The landlord is demanding a deduction from the deposit for cleaning, which we accept, and also for the pro-rated portion of the letting fee for the last few months, which is in the AST. However, they are also demanding £250 for a bed which we asked to be removed before we moved in, on the grounds that they would not have removed it had they known we would only have been there for 8 months. Do they have any right to claim this? As far as we know, the new tenant did not want the bed replaced, so the landlord has not yet had to replace it. The landlord got the bed and mattress from Ikea and paid about £400 for it, but hasn't told us how old it is or supplied any invoices/receipts.

Thanks for any hep you can provide!

benjus

Is the bed mentioned in the check-in inventory or the tenancy agreement? Did the LL make it a condition of accepting an early surrender of the tenancy that you would pay £250 towards the bed?

If not, you can tell them to get lost and go to the deposit protection scheme's resolution process.

ra08001

The bed is in the check-in inventory, but we have a document from the letting agent saying that one of the conditions of our moving in was that one bed would be removed.
The landlord is claiming that paying for the bed was a condition of early surrender, but we never received any correspondence to tell us this. The letting agent is convinced we were told, and he sent an email to confirm this, but we we received nothing, and any record of that email can't be found as 'it's not on their computers any more'. (genuine excuse!)

casper_g

You asked them to remove the bed from the property. Presumably they removed it from the property and disposed of it, but the disposal was their idea not yours!

They could just as easily have removed it and stored it elsewhere. For that matter, how do you know they didn't sell it to someone else after removing it from the property?

I can't see how you can be made to pay this £250, in the absence of a document stating you will do so as a condition of surrender. I would dispute the charge with the deposit protection scheme, if I were you.