Landlord delaying deposit

Invalid_Username

We were renting while waiting for a house we wanted to come on the market. We've now bought the house and left our rented house.

When we took the rented house on it wasn't the cleanest. It took me several hours to clean the kitchen alone and the previous tenant appeared to have caused damage to things like the telephone wiring.

I cleaned like mad and got the phone line fixed myself - with permission.

We paid a deposit of £595.

We ended our tenancy nearly 3 weeks ago. It overlapped our moving in to our purchased home and gave us longer to clean etc. We didn't leave any damage.

The house was spotless. The estate agent commented how nice and clean it was. Their paperwork stated it was average when we took it on and they said it was perfect when they took it back.

Despite all this they've still not paid our deposit back.

I've made several requests in writing and they keep saying they're waiting for the landlord to confirm things. She's a funny person and has caused us issues.

Anyone had this before? How long a delay is acceptable with deposits?

I've started a deposit request today via the protected scheme because they have taken this long so far. Not sure if they'll approve it or not but I got fed up of waiting for their decision when we've been nothing but model tenants.

Pixie5740

You've started the ball rolling by making a claim with the deposit scheme. This will give your landlord a set timeframe to make her claim or the deposit will be returned to you. In other words your landlord will have to !!!! or get off the pot.

Read G_M's Deposits: protection, payment & return for more information.

Invalid_Username

I read that link already. The only point I couldn't see covered was timescales.

1) how long a landlord should normally have until they make payment after tennancy ends

2) how long it takes to resolve if you start the payment request as a tenant.

Pixie5740

That's because legislation doesn't cover exactly how long a landlord should take to return the deposit. As for the timescales for a single claim you should be able to find that information in the FAQ of whichever scheme your deposit is registered with.

Webdak9

Just asking on a similar note as I'm due to leave my property soon, the estate agent is insisting that we do not have to be at the property for the final inspection but how do I know they will give the right feedback that everything is as we found it or better, it would only be our word against theirs surely?

Pixie5740

Webdak9 wrote: »

Just asking on a similar note as I'm due to leave my property soon, the estate agent is insisting that we do not have to be at the property for the final inspection but how do I know they will give the right feedback that everything is as we found it or better, it would only be our word against theirs surely?

It would be better if you started your own thread but in answer to your question there's nothing to stop you doing your own check-out report taking plenty of photographs to back up your claims. Pay particular attention to things mentioned/listed in the check-in inventory. For example, the soap dish tray in the washing machine seems to be a particular favourite of the inventory clerks.

Invalid_Username

Annoyingly the scheme doesn't provide any information on timescales either.

Webdak9

Pixie5740 thanks for advice, would of started new thread but this forum is so confusing, can't find where to start it

Invalid_Username

The 'new thread' button is a good place to start