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Estate agents deducting from overpaid rent not deposit
tp192
Posts: 2 Newbie
Sorry for the essay in advance! We moved out of the flat a month ago (12th Oct) and were waiting to be contacted by the estate agents about the deposit return and any charges. The place was spotless so I was ready to have to dispute dust on a light switch, a watermark etc. (which has happened in the past sadly). I also overpaid 1 month's rent thinking I had cancelled the SO but clearly not.
Two weeks went with no contact, I emailed about both deposit and overpaid rent and was told I'd be contacted but wasn’t. Called the week after (week 3) and was told there were no deductions and deposit return was approved weeks ago. But the overpaid rent would be passed to accounts who will ask for my banks details, again never happened. I started the DPS procedure and Monday this week called about the rent refund but had to talk to "Jane" and I'd get a callback the next day. No call so I called and was told again the person to speak to wasn't in so I'd get a call back, this went on for a few days this week with no call backs. Called yesterday (8th Nov) to find out that there was now a charge on the account £44 for lightbulbs replacement but couldn't give me details and I'd need to speak to Jane again but she wasn't in and to email them bank details which I did.
I called today and was told the same, so I got frustrated and said how I'd been blown off for the last 2 weeks. Finally got a call back from her today, what a surprise! The charge had been added after last week's call saying there were no deductions, bearing in mind the tenants moved in days after we left - we have friends in the same building and we saw that people had moved in. Jane also said the reason for the delay in adding this charge was the maintenance guy was off 2 weeks having a baby. She then said something about the charge being £37 then maintenance updated it to £44. I know I’d replaced 3 of the 4 kitchen lights a few weeks before I left so they can’t have blown. I also have a video from the last night of cleaning before handing in keys of the kitchen where you can see it’s lit up. Although sadly I didn’t think to record the lightbulbs directly
Also our check in inventory was carried out independently and states that 3 bulbs in the whole flat weren’t working before we moved in and they hadn’t fixed them when we did. So we replaced them ourselves. So I don’t understand why they didn’t replace them when we moved in and are now suddenly charging us for 4 bulbs when there were many bulbs not working to begin with. I bought a pack of 10 from Asda for £3 to replace them all before we left and they were all working apart from 1 which was never working to begin with and needed a different bulb.
However the issue is that I’ve now just received an email from them saying they’ve returned the full deposit through DPS but are deducting £44 from the overpaid rent and if I was to dispute it I send the evidence directly to them. Also they never received my bank details email. I called the DPS and council but they couldn’t help me. I will try and call Citizen’s Advice tomorrow before I respond but I wanted some advice on whether this is legal? As it sounds quite suspicious to me that they would be looking over the evidence. I said to her that I would definitely dispute it via DPS, so this seems like a really odd response. I haven't replied yet so any advice as to whether this is legal or what I can do would be very much appreciated!!
Two weeks went with no contact, I emailed about both deposit and overpaid rent and was told I'd be contacted but wasn’t. Called the week after (week 3) and was told there were no deductions and deposit return was approved weeks ago. But the overpaid rent would be passed to accounts who will ask for my banks details, again never happened. I started the DPS procedure and Monday this week called about the rent refund but had to talk to "Jane" and I'd get a callback the next day. No call so I called and was told again the person to speak to wasn't in so I'd get a call back, this went on for a few days this week with no call backs. Called yesterday (8th Nov) to find out that there was now a charge on the account £44 for lightbulbs replacement but couldn't give me details and I'd need to speak to Jane again but she wasn't in and to email them bank details which I did.
I called today and was told the same, so I got frustrated and said how I'd been blown off for the last 2 weeks. Finally got a call back from her today, what a surprise! The charge had been added after last week's call saying there were no deductions, bearing in mind the tenants moved in days after we left - we have friends in the same building and we saw that people had moved in. Jane also said the reason for the delay in adding this charge was the maintenance guy was off 2 weeks having a baby. She then said something about the charge being £37 then maintenance updated it to £44. I know I’d replaced 3 of the 4 kitchen lights a few weeks before I left so they can’t have blown. I also have a video from the last night of cleaning before handing in keys of the kitchen where you can see it’s lit up. Although sadly I didn’t think to record the lightbulbs directly
Also our check in inventory was carried out independently and states that 3 bulbs in the whole flat weren’t working before we moved in and they hadn’t fixed them when we did. So we replaced them ourselves. So I don’t understand why they didn’t replace them when we moved in and are now suddenly charging us for 4 bulbs when there were many bulbs not working to begin with. I bought a pack of 10 from Asda for £3 to replace them all before we left and they were all working apart from 1 which was never working to begin with and needed a different bulb.
However the issue is that I’ve now just received an email from them saying they’ve returned the full deposit through DPS but are deducting £44 from the overpaid rent and if I was to dispute it I send the evidence directly to them. Also they never received my bank details email. I called the DPS and council but they couldn’t help me. I will try and call Citizen’s Advice tomorrow before I respond but I wanted some advice on whether this is legal? As it sounds quite suspicious to me that they would be looking over the evidence. I said to her that I would definitely dispute it via DPS, so this seems like a really odd response. I haven't replied yet so any advice as to whether this is legal or what I can do would be very much appreciated!!
0
Comments
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Totally crooked, they have absolutely no claim over the money you accidentally overpaid. If they have a legitimate claim on your deposit it needed to g9 through the proper process, but they think you are less likely to be able to stand up for yourself if they do it this way.
Send a letter before action giving them 5 working days to return your money or you will go through the small claims court to get it back. Don’t communicate in any way except this letter.0 -
Thanks for the advice! They folded immediately saying it's not worth arguing over £44 and refunded it. Funny that!0
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