Landlord withholding deposits

mhoc

Just wondered what other students experiences were.

My daughter for her first year lived in a shared house with 6 others and their tenancy ran until mid September. Most of them left over the summer from June onwards just leaving my daughter and another right until the end.

Instead of waiting until September to move new tennants in the landlords agent started moving new ones in from the end of August, into the rooms of the girls who had already gone. She also had the painter and decorators in at the same time for weeks on end doing the whole house.

The final inspection was supposed to have been done on the last day but my daughter was not present and as far as I know none of the others were either.

We have now had a letter from her listing all the damage and cleaning up that has not been done. She also sent us a CD full of pictures of the mess in the house and my daughters room after she moved out.

The photos have no indication of the time or date when they were taken so they could have been taken any time in the last year.

She has not said how much of the deposit she is withholding but I assume she wants all of it. She said that she will get estimates and let us know in 7 days. The decorators have already been in the house and finished so I dont know how she can get estimates for work that has already been done.

The letter and CD came here because we have been dealing with the rent etc but there is an identical letter and CD here in my daughters name.

There is a long list of cleaning jobs that should have been done but basically in the last few weeks there was just my daughter and one other left and basically it would have been impossible for them to clean a 3 storey 6 bedroomed house in the time as both girls worked all summer.

Landlords agent even took photographs of my daughters bedroom while she was still living there, without her knowledge. Not sure even wether that is legal.

Also cant figure out how the landlord is supposed to have doen the final inspection whilst the new ones had been here for weeks and the decorators as well

msmicawber

You're right that the landlord shouldn't have been in the property before the girls left without their prior agreement, but is there anything on or in the photos that you can tie in to a particular date - were any of the tenants' possessions in place? It's very difficult for the tenants to prove their case otherwise. Particularly if they weren't there for the handover. On that subject, why weren't they there for the handover? Did any of the girls take any photographs before they left?

I don't wish to be rude, but it's not the landlord's problem that the girls were working over the summer - they should have cleaned the property to the standard it was in when they moved in. If they didn't, then it's perfectly reasonable for the landlord to charge for cleaning that they didn't do. I'm a single mother with 2 children living in rented accommodation and doing a full-time job and I know when I move that I have the choice to do the cleaning myself, or risk the landlord withholding all or some of the deposit to have cleaners in. I manage it. It doesn't matter that others moved out before them either - how could the landlord know who had made what mess and who had cleared it up? The tenancy will set out clearly what state the property should be in at handover and if it wasn't they haven't a leg to stand on. If it was and the tenants can prove it, then now's the time to show their evidence.

BritishNinja

mhoc wrote: »

Landlords agent even took photographs of my daughters bedroom while she was still living there, without her knowledge. Not sure even wether that is legal.

A landlord is required to give 24 hours' notice before entering a property, except in emergencies.

mhoc

A couple of the girls went home after the summer term finished, they lived down south and had been there all year, another one had a lease that finished in June which left 3 including one who had financial problems so the landlord made her leave at the end of August.

D was the only one working all year, needless to say the other non working ones were the messiest to the point where my d never used the kitchen or eat at the house.

No as far as I can tell there is nothing in the photos that might date them.

Christa1

My son finished university this summer having rented houses for the last 2 years through different companies. Landlords are notorious for finding ways to keep the bond, there is a whole industry around it. Reputable companies are often recommended by the University via UNIPOL, so there may be some come back there, however in our experience, the bonds were kept from all the boys and refunded at the same time despite the fact that the boys left at different times. It was the boys' responsibilities to ensure their own rooms were left clean and tidy, the keys then went back to the landlord. My son left last so he had to ensure the bathroom and kitchen were left OK- although the house was a dump to start with. They all received their bonnds back from this house a couple of weeks ago.
At his first house, he was the first to arrive and my husband and I were disgusted by the state of the place. The previous students had even left the forms saying everything had been left OK and obviously no one had been in to check, as the forms were still on the table. I rang and complained that we had had to clean the house ourselves. The owner was an absolute rogue, Leeds was the University, gladly he tried to sue one of the students for non payment of the last month's rent- which had been paid and his father counter sued successfully. You really need your wits about you and young people often away from home for the first time are not always clued in.
Photos are a good idea for your own protection but sadly this won't help your daughter.

Torby

Sounds all too familiar I'm afraid....my wife visited my daughter just before she was due to move out (had to get everything organised to go into one of those big storage facilities), similar situation, 6 in the house in varying degrees of dishevelment and disorder (filth and grunge...lol) one bloke in particular was really bad and it got to the stage if my daughter and her mate wanted to eat/cook in the kitchen, they practically had to wash everything down before they could, thats why near the end they ate out or in their rooms.

My wife and daughter contacted the estate agents, informed them when my daughter was moving out, arraanged a visit on that date and then set about cleaning her room, the kitchen, the bathroom on her floor and the lounge area and common hallway.

When the estate agent called, she viewed all those areas, noted my wife and daughter had scrubbed them clean, took photos as did my daughter (after the agent left) then informed the agents in a polite byt friendly fashion...this is how it looks now my daughter is leaving, we will be expecting nothing less than a full refund of her security deposit...and by the way...the bloke who constantly leaves the place like a tip has been inviting his mates to stay in the rooms of the girls who have already left...at which point the agent proceeded to lock the rooms that weren't being used....

End result: my daughter got her full deposit back (£300) her mate got £240, as for the grunge filth king...we can only assume that his deposit returned was a LOT less than that...he remained in the flat for another fortnight after everyone had left....wallowing in his own filth no doubt...

Moral...don't trash other peoples property, be courteous and respectful and leave the place the way you got it (we took inventory and photos at moving in time), make sure you pay your share of bills up to date of leaving and can prove it (they may want to try and withhold this from your deposit) make sure the agents know, that you will be expecting nothing less than the full deposit back...and will be very happy to pursue it further through the courts if you don't....

That way...the grunge merchants can pay for the repairs from their deposits...well it was them who trashed the place...wasn't it?

There's another thread on here from someone who successuflly took an agent to court...worth checking out...

redkitty_3

My parents are landlords (don't hate me!) and I've also been a student and rented from other landlords. All I can say is that when your daughter is living with others, then everything becomes a shared responsibility, especially if you all sign a contract together as a group. It therefore makes it difficult for the landlord to figure out afterwards who messed up which room, etc especially if it's all common areas like kitchens and bathrooms. I've had money taken from my deposits for items that were broken by other tenants, like hoovers. If there's no proof and you're not going to grass your mate up, what can you do?

We had nightmare student tenants in a few years ago. When they eventually left the property (wanted to stay longer than their tenancy), doors were broken off hinges, the bathroom and kitchen were filthy, beer cans all over the house, skirting boards kicked in, cigarette butts all over the house (despite the fact that they had all signed a no smoking agreement), broken sofas, broken fridge, missing items of furniture etc etc etc. The total amount it cost us to redecorate/fix/replace everything was £1,300 over their deposits. The biggest joke was that the parents of the smoker still tried to take my parents to court for not giving their deposits back. They failed, but the student still calls her threatening to issue a warrant for her arrest. Lol. Don't universities teach kids anything nowadays?

Anyway, we've learnt our lesson - we hand over all deposits to an independent agency who come out to take pics before and after the tenancy. That makes everything easier (and fairer) for everyone. I would recommend that wherever your daughter rents in future that you push to get an independent agency involved re the deposit, and document every breakage if it's not down to her. Keep pictures too. It's called the tenancy deposit protection scheme. I've posted the link but not sure if it's already been done elsewhere on the site.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/DG_066391

RK x

Christa1

I think another important point is to choose who you share with carefully. My son was in halls first year and made lots of good friends. These friends split up between 2 houses. My son was with 3 other friends all boys, but the other house had 6 or 8( including 2 girls), and that didn't work out well at all. One of my son's friends was the best with finance so they all agreed to pay 1/4 of all bills and his friend paid the lot from his account( you can set these kinds of accounts up with the bank). They were friends and remained friends all the way through. Large numbers and sharing with people you don't know well is asking for trouble IMHO.

Colxfile

Agreed. That's pretty much what I did. Whenever I was sharing a house, I set up a basic bank account and paid all the bills from that. The others gave me a share of the bills and when we moved out, I refunded the remaining money. Never shared a big house (2nd yr, myself and 2 others, placement yr myself and one other) got on quite well with each other.