Concerned about losing deposit - unusual end of tenancy

hanb

Hi all,


Bit concerned about what could happen to our deposit. Any advice as to whether we could have an issue would be great!


Due to end our tenancy on Friday (30th) and give back keys. Headed there this evening (after moving out last week) to finish off the cleaning and defrost the freezer etc.


When we got there we found the front door had been broken in to. All 3 flats in the main building had also been broken in to! Quite a lot of damage to the doors from a crowbar or something but no obvious damage at a quick look through the door. The two flats below have always been empty (awaiting planning permission) so luckily no one had anything stolen. We immediately called 101 and after finding the out of office number for the agency informed them too. Originally the police had said they would be there shortly and would make an attempt to contact the landlord (we have no contact number for him).


The CSI team then called back to say the police would be unable to attend without consent to access the properties from the landlord and that we were not allowed to touch anything and told to leave seeing as we weren't living there now. We explained this to the agent. The CSI lady also explained that forensics would be needed and so the place would need to be fully dusted etc and that it would be quite the mess "so lucky you hadn't cleaned yesterday"..! After updating the agent, he advised that we drop off the keys on leaving the flat to their office round the corner and not to worry that we couldn't defrost the freezer or finish up due to the police telling us to leave everything alone and not to touch anything! We confirmed that the flat was empty of our belongings and I'm fairly certain that's the case (we didn't poke around after initially entering and calling the police, just in case!)


However, I'm now concerned that we'll somehow get stung for the deposit due to now having completed the cleaning! We'd pretty much finished up but needed to give the floors a mop and needed to finish off cleaning a stain from a carpet.


Could we be forced to pay for these costs even though we've been told to hand back the keys and can't access the flat due to it now being a crime scene?!

Marvel1

If they attempt to deduct any deposit, appeal against by whoever is protecting the deposit.

Guest101

It's your flat and you have 2 days left on your tenancy.

The police do not need landlords consent to access a crime scene.... They don't even need your consent in many cases

hanb

Guest101 wrote: »

It's your flat and you have 2 days left on your tenancy.

The police do not need landlords consent to access a crime scene.... They don't even need your consent in many cases

Thanks, I'm just repeating what I was told. The police said they needed the landlords consent because the other flats were unoccupied and that they'd want to investigate all flats together.

Should I have refused this and cleaned the flat anyway? Should I have rejected the agents offer to deal with it going forward and to drop the keys off? I'm not really sure what I should've done in the situation. Was taken aback by the whole thing and just went with what I was told.

Guest101

hanb wrote: »

Thanks, I'm just repeating what I was told. The police said they needed the landlords consent because the other flats were unoccupied and that they'd want to investigate all flats together.

Should I have refused this and cleaned the flat anyway? Should I have rejected the agents offer to deal with it going forward and to drop the keys off? I'm not really sure what I should've done in the situation. Was taken aback by the whole thing and just went with what I was told.

Ask agent to put it in writing today.

TBagpuss

I agree that the best thing to do is to ask the agents to confirm in writing what they’ve told you, and then for you to reclaim the deposit immediately.

If the agents don’t provide confirmation, make you get a crime reference number and ask the police to confirm to you that they have asked you not to go into the property.

Then write to the agents yourselves, and keep a copy.
Brief letter saying something like
"further to our telephone conversation /conversation at your office yesterday, I confirm that, as you directed, we have returned the keys to you. As you are aware, the property, and the neighbouring properties, were broken into after we vacated the flat, and the police have denied us access as it is a crime scene.
You have confirmed to us that we will not be panelised for the damage caused by the break in or police investigation, nor for the fact that we had been unable to defrost the freezer or finish other minor cleaning jobs.”
As it is the landlord, not the agents, who actually make the decision, you could also write to the landlord simply stating that the agents have confirmed to you that you will not be penalised for the mess caused by the break in, and that in the circumstances the agents have instructed you to return the keys to them and not to return to the property to finish the minor cleaning jobs, and request that the full deposit is released immediately.

hanb

Thanks all. Small update to say I had an email to confirm they'd received my email explaining everything I said in my post (was just putting the phone call with the emergency contact in to writing with the person who deals with our property). They also confirmed that they, the landlord and the police went around this morning (I wasn't aware at the time) and the neighbour in the basement flat (separate entrance etc) messaged me to tell me the same and that also the locks had been replaced - which presumably means that they're comfortable that the tenancy has ended two days early given we weren't told about it and we couldn't now get in if we wanted to! They also confirmed that due to the circumstances the fact that we couldn't finish cleaning would be taken in to account when they carry out the check out inspection. I don't know whether that means they'll only look for damage rather than cleaning at all, or they'll look at the cleaning but take in to account that we were unable to do anything in the last 3 days (I don't see how that can work but who knows). I guess we'll find out when we get the check out report but, having had a terrible time with the agents and the landlord being a nice guy, I have no idea how it's going to go! Thanks for the advice though, much appreciated as always!

Claree__x

If it's been broken into how can they possibly prove that you caused the damage (if any) and not the people who broke in?

hanb

In case any one is interested, they have just let us know the deposit will be returned in full. Phew.