deposit deductions for phone calls made

theartfullodger

Harvey85 wrote: »

But I did make all the arrangements myself and the phone calls, over 7 calls to United Utilities. As I said this is just another tactic from the landlord.

The problem is that the landlord should have returned all or part of my deposit 10 days after leaving which was the 17th January but as of yet I haven't received a penny, the landlord is refusing to speak to me by any means and told me if I contact her she will go to the police for harassment so I have had no choice but to go to an adjudicator.

So have you started a dispute through the deposit scheme?? That's what it;s there for, when landlords & tenants can't agree over deposits....

kinger101

FBaby wrote: »

They can claim for any loss. Whether it will be accepted is another matter. Their argument though will probably be that you should have made the arrangements yourself before leaving, and therefore the phone calls yourself. If so, they might have a case, but really, how much can they claim £10? Can't you just agree on that amount?

Frankly, if this goes to arbitration, it is insulting for the adjudicator who is legally trained and am sure has much better use of his time than to deal with such a petty dispute.

The landlord is wasting OP's time with this too. It would seem the right for the tenant to change meter has been written in to law (according to prince's post).

I'm sure this isn't the silliest landlord the adjudicator has had to deal with but it might be worth OP sending them the relevant legislation for reference.

westv

The landlady is trying it on.

Harvey85

Yes the dispute was started on the 25th March and accepted on the 29th, as of yet the landlady hasn't responded on the TDS site and I presume she has now ran out of time to show her evidence as she is given 10 days to do so. It was last night near midnight that I received a text message from the landlady stating that she is now also going to take money from the deposit for the cost of calls she has made to United Utilities.

I am unable to inform TDS about this as I have already uploaded all my evidence and it doesn't allow you to add more at a later point.

I'm getting mixed messages from different sites saying that she cannot claim for calls made and some saying yes she can.

Guest101

ll needs to minimise costs.

Calls can be made for free.

Lls problem....

Harvey85

Just wanted to thank everyone for their advice, I haven't explained the situation the best I could have but I am 100% sure the landlady is trying to rip me off.
I will post an update once I hear back from TDS.

FBaby

But I did make all the arrangements myself and the phone calls, over 7 calls to United Utilities. As I said this is just another tactic from the landlord.

So why wasn't it removed before the end of your tenancy? As it wasn't, they still had to contact her to arrange to come and do it etc...

I agree, it is utterly petty and ridiculous. How much is she claiming for the phone calls though? You should know this through the TDS. I do find it very strange that she would be going through the dispute route for only this. It is aggravating you, but will be aggravating her too, so can't see the benefit of doing this for the sake of a few ££. I'm even surprised that TDS would agree to it.

Are you sure she is not disputing anything else?

kinger101

FBaby wrote: »

So why wasn't it removed before the end of your tenancy? As it wasn't, they still had to contact her to arrange to come and do it etc...

What you are suggesting is the landlord has the meter removed, and then when the next tenant arrives, they may well decide to go back to metered.

Think this through. If someone wants to and is allowed to go back onto unmetered, the water company aren't going to remove the meter. They'll just charge by rateable value instead.