Has anyone been through a deposit dispute service? How did it work out?

Comms69

aneary wrote: »

I think the LL should be fined. But only in certain cases how many times do LL claim cleaning, this is not due to different perspectives especially when the check in report says fair and the check out report is good! it's a nice little £180 bonus for them. With deposits being over a £1k in a lot cases people need that money back and will take the hit just to get as much back as possible quickly. If there was a fine the LL would think twice.

Who would fine them? Or more specifically who would pay to take them to court? Because in reality only a court can issue a fine, which would be impossible to finance efficiently

FBaby

But only in certain cases how many times do LL claim cleaning, this is not due to different perspectives especially when the check in report says fair and the check out report is good!

I totally agree when the check out report says same condition than check in, although my experience is that LL are much better to do the check out themselves, or at least be present because it's amazing how these companies can not bother to check things like inside cupboard, windows, inside of washing machine (had a friend who discovered disgusting smelling full of mould clothing in their washing machine when the agency had clearly not bothered to open it during their check out report!).

However, there is definitely an issue with perspective. My tenant wrote to the ADR that they had left the place perfectly clean, which was really quite ironic considering that I had two emails from estate agents stating they were refusing to show the house to prospective tenants as it was filthy and even the professional cleaner said that it wasn't often she had to clean residential homes in such a state, but the tenant was adamant in their correspondence that they had clean the house to a good standard before they left (check out done with them, pictures taken when they were present!).

aneary

FBaby wrote: »

I totally agree when the check out report says same condition than check in, although my experience is that LL are much better to do the check out themselves, or at least be present because it's amazing how these companies can not bother to check things like inside cupboard, windows, inside of washing machine (had a friend who discovered disgusting smelling full of mould clothing in their washing machine when the agency had clearly not bothered to open it during their check out report!).

However, there is definitely an issue with perspective. My tenant wrote to the ADR that they had left the place perfectly clean, which was really quite ironic considering that I had two emails from estate agents stating they were refusing to show the house to prospective tenants as it was filthy and even the professional cleaner said that it wasn't often she had to clean residential homes in such a state, but the tenant was adamant in their correspondence that they had clean the house to a good standard before they left (check out done with them, pictures taken when they were present!).

I moved into a property with the LL's girlfriends clothes in the washing machine!!

My check in and out was done by an independent company and tbh I was really impressed as they picked up a lot of things that I didn't pick up on. There was around 30 pictures (small one bed flat) and the pictures on check out and in were in the same place. They took photos inside the washing machine, cupboards, fridge etc. Check in was fair (lots of use of grubby, dirty, worn etc) check out was good.

The LL still tried to claim £180 for cleaning.

FBaby

Like any company, some are good and some aren't. I had issues huge issues with the check in the agency did with the last tenancy as some of them were so dark you couldn't see a thing, and then many had comments about condition being fair about things that were brand new and stated the oven (brand new!) wasn't working when it clearly was as confirmed by the tenants (the guy clearly struggle to turn it on!). It was both ways as they left out obvious damage and it was me pointing it out to the tenants!

Both myself and tenants had to put include a two page addendum with all their errors. Not impressed!

I'm sure they are LL who try it on, even more agencies that are clueless and as above don't know what they are doing, but as a whole, I think it is much more often a case of different standards, which is even obvious here when you read comments about 'there were only a few cobwebs left', which from my perspective, if that was the case, would indicate that the house wasn't clean to professional standards (I wouldn't pay a cleaner for a full clean if she left cobwebs!).

justme111

I have as a tenant, the dispute was settled about 50/50