Estate Agent asking for Rent even after Moving Out

tomirving92

I was renting a property in London for 12 months with 3 other people covered by an AST (Assured Shorthold Tenancy)

The period was from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015. We moved out on 30 June 2015 as required.

The deposit for the house was £2000. We are being told that not only will we not receive the deposit back, we're being charged additional money.

I have asked for a reason for this and got back a few things:

£400ish on cleaning (@ £14.5 / hr, over 27 hours of cleaning?!)
£275 to cut the grass in the garden.
£50 to reattach a door.
£1000 for rent for the past two weeks (1 July 2015 - 14 July 2015)

The cleaning, grass and door I'm willing to somewhat accept (even though there was no inventory done and we cleaned the house prior to leaving).

What I'm struggling with is the charge for rent for a period outside of our tenancy agreement. I'm pretty sure they can't do that, or can they?

Thanks in advance,
Tom

dgtazzman

Is your deposit protected with one of the schemes, if yes, dispute and request the entire deposit back. Charging 2 weeks extra rent has no foundation as the minimum they would need to request would be a rental period, which is likely a month, you left at the end of your AST as required anyway, which means no notice would have been required if that is what they are claiming. As there is no inventory of any kind, there is no legal ground for any of the other deductions.

If your deposit isn't protected, tell them to return it in full within 14 days or you will file a claim against them for failing to protect it, which could end up costing them 3 times the original deposit in damages and all the court fees.

Call their bluff and stay strong...

tomirving92

Hey there and thanks for the reply:

Their claim for the rent is that because the house isn't clean, the new tenants can't move in until 1st August - to me this doesn't sound right at all, but legally I'm unsure.

The deposit is protected by mydeposits.co.uk so I am able to file a dispute. In regards to the inventory, is it still invalid if we never asked to see or sign one prior to moving in, or is this on them also?

Thanks again!

maninthestreet

If there is no check-in inventory, the EA doesn't have a leg to stand on.
What did the tenancy agreement state about cutting the grass?

rpc

tomirving92 wrote: »

The cleaning, grass and door I'm willing to somewhat accept (even though there was no inventory done and we cleaned the house prior to leaving).

Ask for evidence of the condition of the property at the start of the tenancy and at the end. If they don't have a dual signed inventory, they may struggle.

Claim for the whole deposit from the protection scheme and, until they provide evidence of their claim, deny responsibility for anything.

If the door was genuinely damaged, you should own up to that if you morally owe it. Or you could choose to teach the landlord what happens if they don't do it properly.

Their claim for the rent is that because the house isn't clean, the new tenants can't move in until 1st August - to me this doesn't sound right at all, but legally I'm unsure.

Not your problem. They can charge an amount as compensation for damage to the property but that's it. If a landlord wants to re-let with no void, the risk is entirely on them.

G_M

They cannot charge you the rent.

Well, they can charge you of course, but you don't have to pay it!

Make an immediate appeal, at the least for the rent and also fo any of the other charges that you dispute, whether on the basis that you did not cause the damage/leave the proeprty dirties (longer grass) than at the start of the tenanc, or on the basis of the amount being charged.

[Deleted User]

lol yes £275 for cutting grass is outrageous, £14 an hour for 27 hours of cleaning is also ridiculous.

I hope you took photos on moving in and moving out, that will help you but either way, unless the LA have the same and a signed inventory, they will have difficulty keeping the deposit plus other claims.

sidefx

£275 for cutting the grass:eek::eek::eek::eek:

How big was the garden?

At £20 an hour that's over 13 hours of grass cutting:eek:...your property must have had very extensive gardens!!

Utterly outrageous!

m0t

As others have said they need a dual signed inventory in order to make deductions from your deposit.

In addition the inventory must make clear mention of the cleanliness of the property, length of grass etc. If it is silent it can't be assumed to be in the landlords favour.

Our landlord attempted to charge us something like £350 to clean our flat at the end of the tenancy (we had left it spotless). The deposit protection scheme assessor said that even if the landlord submitted evidence of the state of the flat when we moved in (he didn't) and proved the need for cleaning they would never have agreed anything to that value as it was excessive.

tomirving92

Thank you so much everyone, we're going to file a dispute with the deposit company.

It also turns out they "registered" a fake cleaning company with a contact number that goes back to their company.

G_M

tomirving92 wrote: »

Thank you so much everyone, we're going to file a dispute with the deposit company.

It also turns out they "registered" a fake cleaning company with a contact number that goes back to their company.

When you file the dispute, include this in your submission.

Most common reason why people lose at arbitration (this applies to both LLs and tenants) is failing to submit comprehensive support for their claims.

Better too much information than too little.