Landlord refusing deposit refund

mandymad

I hope someone can help?
We viewed a house to rent, shown around by previous tenant, we liked it so went to the landlords agent who happened to work for an estate agent (his mother in law as he lives in Australia) signed a contract but was never shown around by anyone else nor was an inventory given. We were asked to list any problems once we were in, which we did the next day. A week or two later the landlords agent came to the house with her boyfriend to check faults we listed, electric sockets next to the bath, double glazing windows fogged up, dangerous hob and oven, damp and mould in extension, no carpet in the main bedroom, rubbish and belongings left by the previous tenant, the list went on. Apologies were given due to the lack of being cleaned and that the work would be done. The previous tenant collected more of their property the week after we moved in, the rest we were told to take to the tip, which we did.
To cut a long story short, 90% of the work was not done, we changed the hob and oven after being electrocuted, landlords agent paid for this as agreed first, but we were still out of pocket. Agents boyfriend tried to fix household electrics but couldn't, only made them worse. Then nothing heard for months re anything!
After 5 months an electrician and boiler man turned up to fix dangerous faults at which point we were told tenancy had been handed over to another branch of the same agency officially. Hence why the work was being done, they also paid us the outstanding monies.
The landlord in Australia then wanted the rent increasing to cover agency fees, we said no, not allowed to in contract for another 3 months as pointed out by the new agent. We decided to move out as the house was getting us down and nothing was getting fixed, not even a sign of the bedroom carpet even though we had been measured up 7 months previously, always a case that the landlord couldn't afford it.
We gave the required notice, cleaned the house, left it in a better state than when we found it. No inspection was taken before we left, the new agent did one 3 days after we left.
The landlord has now refused to give us our deposit back. I have done everything required through the DPS, and got to the point of asking for Arbitration through ADR. The landlord has refused this, the new Agent says its between us and he has no control over it as the deposit was not transferred to them. As the landlord is in Australia, I can't persue it through small claims, so what can I do? Landlord has never written or contacted us as to the reasons behind the refusal but new agent said it was because we had taken the curtains, these were ours, all original items were taken to the tip as told to do by landlords mother in law.
Has anyone any advice on what to do next?

G_M

I must admit I'm unclear what the DPS does with a deposit during a dispute that has gone to court rather than arbitration, but I imagine they retain it pending the court decision- perhaps someone else can confirm?

What is the address for the landlord in the UK "for the serving of notices"?

That is where you serve legal notices (eg for the Small Claims Court).

If LL fails to enter a defence, you will win you case by default.

Enforcing payment may be a problem given the LL is overseas, but ultimately you could get the court to place a Charge on the property so that the LL can never sell it without first paying the debt.

jjlandlord

This is in the DPS's T&Cs.

If your landlord refuses ADR you will have to go to court.
You should have an address for the service of notices in England or Wales in your tenancy agreement. Use it for court proceedings.

As specified in the DPS's T&Cs it is crucial that you request that the court order (assuming you win) specifically instruct the DPS to release the deposit to you.

Once you have such court order, duly send it to the DPS who will then repay the money to you.

mandymad

Overnight the Australian Landlord has now decided to use the ADR to resolve this and has now given us the reasons, he's also now asked for more money over the deposit to cover wallpaper damaged! (this was caused by previous tenant) Surely this is classed as wear and tear? The first time the agent came to the house, note she didn't come before we signed any agreement, she said it needed redecorating as the last tenants had damaged it and her young children had drawn on it. Sadly this was all verbal.
I've read up on Housing Act 2004 and its amendment 2005, this states that I can include the original agent, the mother in law, as a defendant as she is the person who accepted our deposit, we now therefore have a UK address for the small claims court. I'll only proceed with this if we cannot come to an agreement through ADR.
Thanks for the pointer of specifying that any court order instructs the DPS to release the deposit to us.

benjus

The lack of an inventory will work in your favour as the LL will have to prove that the condition of the property/contents deteriorated while you were living there. Without an inventory or check-in report this will be very hard to achieve. Do you know of anything that he could use to prove the claims he is making?

all original items were taken to the tip as told to do by landlords mother in law.

This looks a little worrying. So you disposed of the LL's items? Did you get written authorisation to do this? Can the LL prove that the items were in the property when you moved in and are no longer there? If he has evidence that property has been removed and you don't have evidence that you were allowed to remove it he could potentially claim for it.

SeduLOUs

I'm curious about the items left behind. We rent a property which is 'unfurnished' and we have absolutely no inventory. A fridge and washing machine were left behind and we were told by the agent and LL that we could either use or get rid of them as we please and there is absolutely no mention of them in any of the paperwork. We have disposed of the washer when it broke, and are still using the fridge.

Can the LL claim the washer cost when I leave? If so, how, when there is absolutely no evidence of it's existence?

benjus

SeduLOUs wrote: »

I'm curious about the items left behind. We rent a property which is 'unfurnished' and we have absolutely no inventory. A fridge and washing machine were left behind and we were told by the agent and LL that we could either use or get rid of them as we please and there is absolutely no mention of them in any of the paperwork. We have disposed of the washer when it broke, and are still using the fridge.

Can the LL claim the washer cost when I leave? If so, how, when there is absolutely no evidence of it's existence?

The LL can claim for anything they like, but are almost certain not to succeed at ADR with no evidence of its existence.

SeduLOUs

benjus wrote: »

The LL can claim for anything they like, but are almost certain not to succeed at ADR with no evidence of its existence.

Thank you, sorry for derailing a bit but your previous post re disposing of items sparked a little concern with my own situation.

Good luck getting your deposit back OP and sorry for gatecrashing!

audigex

Did you take any photos at the beginning and end of the tenancy? This would work greatly in your favour - but essentially the important thing to note is that the deposit is YOUR money.

The landlord may attempt to claim it on various grounds, but the onus is on HIM to prove to the arbiter that he has a reasonable claim to YOUR money. If he can't do that, he doesn't get any of it.

He has to provide clear evidence that he has claim to your money. If he doesn't have a clear photograph or signed inventory with the state of the property, he hasn't really got a leg to stand on. If he does supply evidence, you may supply your own counter-evidence if you have any.

If nothing else, it's worth remembering for next time. I'd make it a policy now to take a LOT of photos of any new rental, and then try to take the identical photo on moving out.

Overall, though, remember that it's your money until he proves he can have it. Admit absolutely no liability or fault without evidence, wait for him to supply proof of it.

The biggest sticking point you may have will be removing the landlord's property, especially if your only evidence is the mother/mother in law (who doesn't necessarily have any right to act for him) saying you can. Check your tenancy agreement, though, it may give you some clues or guidance on how to proceed. If he gave you written permission to remove the washer, he's got absolutely no chance, but any other items may be trickier.

mandymad

Hi, thanks for the help. We've got photographs taken of family in different rooms, and photographs that were taken during a curtesy visit a month before we left, they were only supposed to take photos of faults, these look like the estate agent wanting to sell it!
We have learnt our lesson and have taken loads of photos of this property and EVERYTHING goes in writing.
I'm just gathering all our evidence to send off, hopefully this will be sorted soon.
Thanks