Returning Rental Deposit Advice

AndyBSG

After some advice on getting my deposit back from a property I was renting.

The situation is that we vacated the property at the end of our tenancy period on 20th March and our deposit is held in a deposit scheme but on speaking to the letting agent they still haven’t been able to contact the landlord.

- The Landlady is retired and lives in Spain and the only way of contacting her is by E-mail which she rarely seems to check.

- The only ‘damage’ we are aware of is mould on one wall which we notified the letting agent about several times but no action was taken. I purchased a dehumidifier to try to combat it and also treated the walls throughout the tenancy with anti mould products.

- The letting agency have no proof that the mould wasn’t already present in the property and we reported mould on first moving in although it has spread during our 3 year tenancy despite our efforts(We left windows open even during winter, ran the dehumidifier several times a week, made sure we left the recommended 6 inch gap between walls and furniture to allow air flow, etc).

- The only thing approaching an inventory is photo’s and an E-mail we sent the letting agents when we moved in detailing all the issues we found.

- There was no official letting agency inventory.

- Our tenancy agreement states that if deductions to the deposit are to be made we will be informed within 10 days of the tenancy end date. That date has been and gone with no notification as it was the 30th March.

- Our tenancy agreement also states if there are no deductions or disputes the deposit will be returned within 30 days of the end of tenancy which is a week on Sunday the 19th April.

I spoke to the Letting Agency today and they were completely blas! about it saying they’ve not heard from the Landlady and will ‘drop her another E-mail’. I then pointed out that they had missed the 10 day period they had to notify us of any deductions and they also only had until next Friday to return the deposit according to their own letting agreement.

The response to this was “Oh, those time frames are only guidelines”

Now, I’ve gone through the letting agreement and nowhere does it state those dates are optional or have any ‘get out’ clauses and I’m pretty sure if I had turned round on the tenancy end date and said I was staying an extra day as the tenancy end date was “only a guide line” I’d have got told where to go in no uncertain terms!

So, my question is if the deposit isn’t returned in full by the Sunday 19th April cut off date can I simply present the tenancy deposit scheme with a copy of the contract and get the money pretty much straight away or am I looking at being stuck in a lengthy dispute process?

SerialRenter

AndyBSG wrote: »

So, my question is if the deposit isn’t returned in full by the Sunday 19th April cut off date can I simply present the tenancy deposit scheme with a copy of the contract and get the money pretty much straight away or am I looking at being stuck in a lengthy dispute process?

You don't even need to wait.

Just go to the deposit scheme straight away and put a claim in for the deposit. You can do it now.

There's no need to wait for any time period to pass or for the landlord to approve it.

AndyBSG

Surprise, surprise, after me chasing them yesterday and pointing out they had missed the 10 day cut off that is specified in their own tenancy agreement to notify us of any deductions from the deposit I received this reply yesterday

"Please find attached the checkout report which has been prepared and submitted by the Inventory Clerk.

We would like to advise you that your landlord may be looking to make deductions from your deposit in accordance with dilapidations noted within the checkout report. We are awaiting details on the cost of these deductions and will forward these to you as soon as they have been received. We will work with you both closely to reach a fair decision and, as soon as we have received written agreement from all parties concerned as to the deductions, we will release the funds.

While we look to obtain the landlord’s deduction costs, can I please request that each tenant replies to this email from your individual email addresses to confirm the bank details for where you wish for your share of the deposit to be sent once a final agreement has been made.

Please let me know if you have any queries in relation to this."

I have now responded with the below response

"Thank you for that report Grace.

Before we proceed I will first advise you that under the terms of our tenancy agreement it clearly states that we have to be informed of any deductions to the deposit within 10 days of the check out. The 10 days in question lapsed on 30th March so under the terms of the tenancy and the AST deposit agreement no deductions are permitted from the deposit.

Secondly, on originally occupying the property we were not provided with an inventory stating the condition of the property and myself and my wife actually have E-mails that my wife sent to Haart detailing pretty much all of the defects you note in your check out report proving that they were already in this condition and supplying accompanying photo’s so we require proof that any damages you are alleging were not already present when the property was originally occupied.

Additionally, the carpet that is in the property was actually paid for by my wife on occupying the property so we are not liable for any costs associated with something that was not in the property when it was occupied and was in fact supplied by ourselves.

I will supply a more detailed response covering the points raised over the weekend when I have more time with the information and photo’s that were sent to Haart when my wife initially occupied the property."

My next step is going to be to go through every defect listed in the report and where I have a photo showing the damage was already there when we moved in I will send it to them. Where we do not have any evidence I will simply be asking them to show us the signed inventory where it proves the damage was not already there(which does not exist as they never did one) and I will again state that all of this is irrelevant as the contractually binding 10 day notice period has expired so they cannot make any deductions from the deposit as per their own terms and conditions.

Is anyone able to confirm if they are able to make deductions from our deposit despite their own tenancy agreement stating the 10 day period?

Pixie5740

Forget the 10 day period clause in the tenancy agreement. If you have caused damage over and above fair wear & tear, and it can be proved, then yes deductions can be made from your deposit.

The fact that there's no inventory from the start of your tenancy will make it difficult to justify any deductions but not impossible.

martindow

I wouldn't get involved in correspondence with the agent. Just claim it back from the deposit scheme as suggested in post no 2.

[Deleted User]

Yes, don't get involved in a debate with the estate agent, forget about the ten day deadline, it is a tangent you don't need to go down.

Just claim the deposit back from whichever scheme holds the deposit. Consult the website as to how this is done. The LA may dispute, they may not. But its a waste of time to get into a wrangling match with them. It looks like they will try to push things, so you need an arbiter like the deposit scheme.

dodger1

AndyBSG wrote: »

Additionally, the carpet that is in the property was actually paid for by my wife on occupying the property so we are not liable for any costs associated with something that was not in the property when it was occupied and was in fact supplied by ourselves.

Did you get written permission to lay the carpet? If not they may be able to charge you for the removal of it as you haven't left the property in it's original condition. Hopefully GM will be along to advise better on that.

If you rent again don't volunteer your own description of the property if the LL or agent hasn't completed an inventory, you may miss something and no inventory tends to benefit the tenant.

With regard to the mould as long as you advised them of the problem in writing and have proof then you should be ok. My daughter's LL tried to charge for clearing a considerable amount of mould when she moved out, however she had repeatedly complained about the problem in writing with no solution offered by the LL so the Deposit scheme awarded in her favour and she got every penny back.

AndyBSG

Just an update on this.

I informed the letting agency of my intention to dispute £545 of the £630 deductions and CC'd them in on the E-mail I sent to the deposit scheme contesting each and every point with photographic evidence or in the case of the damp an explanation showing why this was a building maintenace issue and not casued by lack of heating/venitilation on our behalf.

Surprise, surprise, within 24 hours the letting agency withdrew their claim for deductions and refunded the entire deposit.

I guess they're used to people bluffing about challenging deductions and not preparing a thorough 4 page report challenging each deduction with accompanying evidence and photo's like I did!

Guest101

AndyBSG wrote: »

Just an update on this.

I informed the letting agency of my intention to dispute £545 of the £630 deductions and CC'd them in on the E-mail I sent to the deposit scheme contesting each and every point with photographic evidence or in the case of the damp an explanation showing why this was a building maintenace issue and not casued by lack of heating/venitilation on our behalf.

Surprise, surprise, within 24 hours the letting agency withdrew their claim for deductions and refunded the entire deposit.

I guess they're used to people bluffing about challenging deductions and not preparing a thorough 4 page report challenging each deduction with accompanying evidence and photo's like I did!

Clearly it wasnt time/money efficient for them to dispute

Well done