Court or ADR from MyDeposit

johnathan45

[Long post warning]

Situation:

1. Rental property advertised on rightmove. The advert shows an empty, vacant flat. We boon a viewing, but the flat is occupied by the former tenant with all his belongings and not in a condition as advertised. ( original advert available)
2. The letting agent informs us that the property would be cleaned and given to us in a good shape after the tenant vacates.
3. We put an offer which accepted. Deposit of £1200 paid.
4. On the day of signing AST, we find that the landlord had already signed her bits. The landlord has also done a rather basic inventory which lists everything as ‘fair’. We ask the agent if the property had been cleaned as it was promised to us and whether we can inspect it before signing the AST and the inventory list. The agent refuses to show us the property but claims that the property had been cleaned by the landlord.
5. We sign the AST and the inventory, get the keys and find that the flat is in absolute shambles. We call the landlord immediately and ask her to visit the property ( we have never met her in person to this day) and redo the inventory. She says she can’t but asks us to take photos instead. Which we do, making note of all the issues ( nails on the walls, carpet stains, filthy bathroom etc). ( email and text evidence available)
6. We also email the agent about the issue, who claims that they were not responsible for the cleaning, but it was the landlord. ( email available)
7. Resigned to our fate, we clean the flat ourselves and live there for 1 year ( the tenure of AST), regularly paying all the bills and rents( receipts available).
8. After 1 year, we give the 1 month notice to the landlord about vacating ( giving her plenty of time to advertise the property to ensure continuous rental revenue, if she wanted to) and vacate the property 2 weeks earlier than required as a good will gesture. ( email evidences available)
9. Now the landlord is refusing to return the deposit ( held in MyDeposit) citing the same reasons we complained about when we had moved in, such as carpet stains, nails on the wall etc. She is claiming works of £3000 plus lost rental revenue for 2 months! ( email available)
10. We reply to her email showing all the photographic evidence we had taken and the emails we had exchanged and also the emails to and from the agent and ask her to return the deposit again.


The landlord hasn’t come back to us after my last email with all the evidence. We now have 2 options :
1. Use the ADR service offered by MyDeposit – free and relatively quick ( about 2 months max).
2. County court action – costs money(£175) and is a lengthy process ( about 6 months).

At first we thought that using ADR was a no brianer, but we found out that MyDeposit is sponsoered by the National Landlord Association, a body which protects landlords’ interests, thus raising questions about its neutrality. Also, it claims that if ADR is used, it’s decision would be binding and we can’t go to the court if we are not happy with its decision.

Could the experts on the forum please guide us on our future course of action? We are not looking to make money by claiming compensation or anything. But we really deserve all of the deposit back as we had kept the flat in the best condition possible.

Thanks in Advance.

Pixie5740

Points 1 to 7 are irrelevant. It doesn't matter that you've never met your LL in person. I haven't met all mine and one that I did I really wish I hadn't. There's no law or regulation saying that rental properties must be cleaned prior to the start of a new tenancy. It might be good business practice but isn't enshrined in law.


8. What date did your tenancy start? Was it a fixed term AST? If so how long was the fixed term for? How did you give notice? Did you send a letter (paper + stamp) to the address for the serving of notices given in your TA?


9. If you think the deductions are unfounded and have evidence such as proof you served notice correctly and the photos taken at the start of the tenancy then raise a dispute with My Deposits.


10. Stop emailing the LA, you don't have a contract with them. Also stop emailing your LL and just raise a dispute.


Just use My Deposit's arbitration scheme, that's what it's for. The arbitrator is neutral and the LL can only claim deductions if they can supply evidence showing they are justified.

Guest101

Use ADR it's neutral.

Only mistake u made was a: not amending the inventory when u got to the place and be emailing rather than writing.

But that does not preclude u. The decision is not binding as far as unaware on you.

jjlandlord

Guest101 wrote: »

Only mistake u made was a: not amending the inventory when u got to the place and be emailing rather than writing.

Emailing is writing.
They have got a reply, it seems, so there is not even an argument as to whether it was received.

Guest101

jjlandlord wrote: »

Emailing is writing.
They have got a reply, it seems, so there is not even an argument as to whether it was received.

Bit of devils advocate, but a reply from who?

G_M

johnathan45 wrote: »

[Long post warning]

Situation:

1. Rental property advertised on rightmove. The advert shows an empty, vacant flat. We boon a viewing, but the flat is occupied by the former tenant with all his belongings and not in a condition as advertised. ( original advert available)
fairly common
2. The letting agent informs us that the property would be cleaned and given to us in a good shape after the tenant vacates.
in writing? If not, ignore - you'll not be able to sue for a breach
3. We put an offer which accepted. Deposit of £1200 paid.
holding deposit? Security deposit?
4. On the day of signing AST, we find that the landlord had already signed her bits.
Good
The landlord has also done a rather basic inventory which lists everything as ‘fair’.
Which may or may not be true - only way to check is.... to check!
We ask the agent if the property had been cleaned as it was promised to us and whether we can inspect it before signing the AST and the inventory list. The agent refuses to show us the property but claims that the property had been cleaned by the landlord.
Presumably agent was repeating what LL told them. Did agent state this in writing?
5. We sign the AST
That's how you create a tenancy. Since the LL has also signed, a tenancy was created
and the inventory,
Mad: :eek: Why on earth sign to confirm everything was 'fair' (as you say) without knowing?
get the keys and find that the flat is in absolute shambles. We call the landlord immediately and ask her to visit the property ( we have never met her in person to this day) and redo the inventory. She says she can’t but asks us to take photos instead. Which we do, making note of all the issues ( nails on the walls, carpet stains, filthy bathroom etc). ( email and text evidence available)
sensible. Did you get an accknowledgemnt back from the LL? Did the LL accept (in writing) your photos/comments as accurate? If you got no acknowledgmt/response, what did you do next.......?
6. We also email the agent about the issue, who claims that they were not responsible for the cleaning, but it was the landlord. ( email available)
Indeed
7. Resigned to our fate, we clean the flat ourselves and live there for 1 year ( the tenure of AST), regularly paying all the bills and rents( receipts available).Good for you
8. After 1 year, we give the 1 month notice to the landlord about vacating ( giving her plenty of time to advertise the property to ensure continuous rental revenue, if she wanted to) and vacate the property 2 weeks earlier than required as a good will gesture. ( email evidences available)
You mean 2 weeks before the fixed term expired?
No notice was required by you.
But you still paid rent up to the tenancy expiry date?
9. Now the landlord is refusing to return the deposit ( held in MyDeposit) citing the same reasons we complained about when we had moved in, such as carpet stains, nails on the wall etc. She is claiming works of £3000 plus lost rental revenue for 2 months! ( email available)
Raise a dispute!
1) use the photo evidence etc
2) lost rent cannot be claimed
10. We reply to her email showing all the photographic evidence we had taken and the emails we had exchanged and also the emails to and from the agent and ask her to return the deposit again.
sensible


The landlord hasn’t come back to us after my last email with all the evidence. We now have 2 options :
1. Use the ADR service offered by MyDeposit – free and relatively quick ( about 2 months max).
2. County court action – costs money(£175) and is a lengthy process ( about 6 months).

At first we thought that using ADR was a no brianer, but we found out that MyDeposit is sponsoered by the National Landlord Association, a body which protects landlords’ interests, thus raising questions about its neutrality. Also, it claims that if ADR is used, it’s decision would be binding and we can’t go to the court if we are not happy with its decision.
*ADR is independant.
* But yes, decision is binding

Could the experts on the forum please guide us on our future course of action? We are not looking to make money by claiming compensation or anything. But we really deserve all of the deposit back as we had kept the flat in the best condition possible.

Thanks in Advance.

Raise a dispute with MyDeposits
1) use the photo evidence etc
2) lost rent cannot be claimed

G_M

jjlandlord wrote: »

Emailing is writing.
They have got a reply, it seems, so there is not even an argument as to whether it was received.

I'm guesing the email in question was the one about the inventory, with photos.

OP does not say a reply was received confirming receipt of this.

johnathan45

Thanks for your input guys. I will be using the ADR route.

Just to clarify certain things,

1. There is no dispute on the rent or the dates.
2. All the emails have been acknowledged by the receiver.

I have realized I was being naïve in assuming certain things. My bad.

Also, I intend to use some text messages I’ve had with the landlord as evidence(by taking mobile screen shot, .jgep format). Is this standard practice or is there a better method available?

Regards,
John