Being charged £800+ from our deposit

suga1982

Weve had nothing but problems from our landlords (Circle Living) from the start. To the point ive now got Alopecia.

We handed our keys in to the house on 25th April 2016 but have paid our tenancy upto 30th May 2016. Weve had no work of getting our £1270 deposit back until a couple of days ago. In the letter it explained that they were taking £270 for cleaning costs, these include removing two hairs fro the bath and cleaning one cobweb.... yes you did just read that right, oh and let not forget the wrapped hifi bar she found in the cupboard!!!!
Then we go on to be charged £108 to paint the back door, £97 to paint a window sil, £200 to wait a sqft wall in the living room and £230 to paint a even smaller space in the Hall way.

We have our moving in inventory (which we only recieved two days ago) it notes in there about light marks on the walls and dirty windows, that the carpets hadnt been hoovered and the place was covered in dust. we also had a massive greasy head print on our bedroom wall!

We never received a moving out inventory, only a bit of paper that stated we had to pay a contribution to a few things stated above.

We approached Circle yesterday to ask for the keys back to do the work ourself (Shelter advised me we are well within rights to do this as we are still paying tenats until 30th May 2016). Some hours later we get a reply basically saying the work had already been done and we had no right to anything and just to pay up!!!

We are currently living with our 4 kids at my parents with all our belongings in storage, Circle know this but they seem to be trying everything possible to break us.

Can they really do this to us? The deposit is held at DPS and weve now rejected their 'offer'...... what next????

Please please help, cant handle losing anymore hair, its affecting our relationship and i just want a home for my chidren

Thanks in advance

Pixie5740

All you need to do in order to get your full deposit back at the end of your tenancy is leave the property in the same, or better, condition as it was at the start of your tenancy minus any fair wear & tear.

If your check-in inventory says the place was pretty grubby at the start of your tenancy you don't have to leave the property in pristine condition in order to get your deposit back.

Although you paid rent to 30th May it sounds as though the tenancy was surrendered 25th April when you handed the keys back. If the work has been done then there would be nothing left for you to go in and clean not that I think you are necessarily liable for further cleaning based on the check-in inventory.

You've rejected their offer so now if you can't agree with the landlord as to how much deposit you should receive back you can raise a dispute with DPS. If the landlord declines to use DPS' Alternative Dispute Resolution service then you can go to small claims court to get your deposit back.

See Deposits for more information.