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Deposit dispute
Shelly1986
Posts: 33 Forumite
Hi everyone,
My sister moved out of a rented property in October and has yet to receive her deposit back. It was a furnished house, private landlord, deposit was protected correctly. She contested the first letter back in November which was for £2,500 which included things like new sofas, painting front door, re-plastering and repainting walls etc. House was immaculate when we left.
Luckily we had taken hundreds of pictures of the house and videos so they knocked it down to £500 for "general wear and tare". She protested this, so now they have sent her another letter deducting new random things from her deposit, like a corkscrew, a lamp, cushions etc that come to about £400. None of these items are on the inventory, she has never seen them, and do not appear in any of the photos we took when she got the keys. They did say she took a wooden spoon, and we can't spot it in the leaving photos, so are happy to pay the £10 they want for it, but can they just add things on like this months after she left?
Additionally they were threatening to sue her over breaching her contract by smoking in the garden. However, she doesn't smoke! There were a few butts in one corner, but if they looked over the 3ft wire fence they would see about 1000 from the next door neighbors on the floor.
I hope you can all help her please as she's going to give birth any day now and the landlord wants an answer by the weekend
My sister moved out of a rented property in October and has yet to receive her deposit back. It was a furnished house, private landlord, deposit was protected correctly. She contested the first letter back in November which was for £2,500 which included things like new sofas, painting front door, re-plastering and repainting walls etc. House was immaculate when we left.
Luckily we had taken hundreds of pictures of the house and videos so they knocked it down to £500 for "general wear and tare". She protested this, so now they have sent her another letter deducting new random things from her deposit, like a corkscrew, a lamp, cushions etc that come to about £400. None of these items are on the inventory, she has never seen them, and do not appear in any of the photos we took when she got the keys. They did say she took a wooden spoon, and we can't spot it in the leaving photos, so are happy to pay the £10 they want for it, but can they just add things on like this months after she left?
Additionally they were threatening to sue her over breaching her contract by smoking in the garden. However, she doesn't smoke! There were a few butts in one corner, but if they looked over the 3ft wire fence they would see about 1000 from the next door neighbors on the floor.
I hope you can all help her please as she's going to give birth any day now and the landlord wants an answer by the weekend
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Comments
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Why doesn't she do it by the deposit scheme process instead of wasting time with the landlord?0
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She's worried that the landlord will sue for all these stupid things they keep adding on, and that it will cost her more than her deposit. Money is a bit tight at the moment for her as she's on maternity leave. How likely is it they can sue?0
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See previous post0
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The LL can take your sister to small claims court but in order to win the LL would need evidence. What evidence could the LL possibly have? Even if there's evidence of fair wear and tear they get nothing, nada, zilch, diddly squat for that.
Get your sister to log into whichever deposit scheme her money is with and claim the full amount back.0 -
Shelly1986 wrote: »She's worried that the landlord will sue for all these stupid things they keep adding on, and that it will cost her more than her deposit. Money is a bit tight at the moment for her as she's on maternity leave. How likely is it they can sue?
Dodgy landlords often rely on people being too scared to stand their ground and just give in. It sounds like the landlord has nothing to stand up either in court or a deposit protection dispute, so they are trying to intimidate your sister.
As posted previously, she should go online to the deposit protection company and claim the full deposit back, NOW.Let's settle this like gentlemen: armed with heavy sticks
On a rotating plate, with spikes like Flash Gordon
And you're Peter Duncan; I gave you fair warning0
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