Deductions from deposit

apronedsamurai

Hi;

Landlord is making deductions from my deposit.

However, I did not sign an inventory, or condition report, but in their invoice, they are charging me for the creation of an inventory and condition report.

They are relying upon dated photographs for the property, before and after I left the property.

I feel like I am being grossly over-charged: £25 to put a shelf back on the wall, £40 for an iron that went missing. I tossed a lot of the items, because they were not workable, an easy chair that first time I sat on, it broke and I fell on the floor, an iron that did not turn on at all (had a friend who is an electrician change the fuse for it, it still did not work).

What defences/arguments (if any) could I make to contest their charges please?

Yes, the deposit has been registered with the appropriate tenancy deposit scheme, and I am in Scotland if that is any relevance.

Comms69

It sounds like you did actually cause damage and or loss. In which case your defence would be purely on the amount being charged.


£25 for a shelf is cheap - I'd expect this to be in the region of £60-75
£40 for an iron sounds expensive, I'd expect this to be £15-20 (however it could be an expensive iron!)

seashore22

siravikitchen wrote: »

Thanks for sharing this information.

I assume you're not the op, so just posting random comments?

We can spot that from a mile away you know.

kathrynha

Comms69 wrote: »

£40 for an iron sounds expensive, I'd expect this to be £15-20 (however it could be an expensive iron!)

But the iron isn't new. The landlord can only charge for what that iron would be worth now otherwise it's betterment. One could argue that an old not working iron has no value.

seashore22

Anyway back to the op.

Did you tell the landlord about the broken stuff and did you get permission to chuck it. That would have been the sensible thing to do.

I don't think £40 for a half way decent iron is all that much. The last time I bought one I was surprised at the price of a fairly basic one.

Comms69

kathrynha wrote: »

But the iron isn't new. The landlord can only charge for what that iron would be worth now otherwise it's betterment. One could argue that an old not working iron has no value.

It depends on why it's not working! But my point was if the iron was £50
new, a few years later it would be worth £15-20 pounds.


The value goes down proportionately based upon the expected 'life' of the product.




It's not second hand value necessarily.

apronedsamurai

Um, the shelf was not removed. It was taken off wall (it slides off). So, fail to see where the £25 is coming from, the shelf is still there; so what they charging for, labour?

Shelter have advised that I should not charged at all for the cost of an inventory report.

G_M

apronedsamurai wrote: »

Hi;

Landlord is making deductions from my deposit.

However, I did not sign an inventory, or condition report, but in their invoice, they are charging me for the creation of an inventory and condition report.
Does your tenancy agreement say you must pay for these?
If yes, you must pay.
If no, you don't have to.

They are relying upon dated photographs for the property, before and after I left the property.
That seems sensible and acceptable

I feel like I am being grossly over-charged: £25 to put a shelf back on the wall,
I own my one home. There is no way I could get a carpenter to come to my home and put up/repair a shhelf for less than this.

Why did you not put it back yourself - usually a simle DIY job.

£40 for an iron that went missing.
You are liable. What make/model? What does it cost new to replace? How old was it?

I tossed a lot of the items, because they were not workable, an easy chair that first time I sat on, it broke and I fell on the floor, an iron that did not turn on at all (had a friend who is an electrician change the fuse for it, it still did not work).
Was that a 2nd iron?
Did you report the broken iems at the time, in writing, to the Landlord?
If not, why not?
What was his response at the time?

What defences/arguments (if any) could I make to contest their charges please?
Try 'betterment' for the iron. Otherwise, pay up.

Yes, the deposit has been registered with the appropriate tenancy deposit scheme, and I am in Scotland if that is any relevance.

My advice is based on English law.

parkrunner

apronedsamurai wrote: »

Um, the shelf was not removed. It was taken off wall (it slides off). So, fail to see where the £25 is coming from, the shelf is still there; so what they charging for, labour?

Shelter have advised that I should not charged at all for the cost of an inventory report.

So why didn't you just slide it back on before you left?

badger09

seashore22 wrote: »

I assume you're not the op, so just posting random comments?

We can spot that from a mile away you know.

siravikitchen has made several random posts on a variety of boards. Time for the :spam: button

baldelectrician

The landlord should have put the deposit in a scheme - have they?


They cannot charge you for an inventory or condition report- in Scotland


Did the landlord give you an electrical report (EICR)?
This is a legal requirement for all tenancies in Scotland after December 1st 2016 (existing tenancies) or December 1st 2015 (new tenancies after that date)
The EICR report should include any appliances the landlord provided- no report (or inventory at start) = no appliances


Link to the Scottish Government website
https://www.housingandpropertychamber.scot/repairs/repairs-application-and-guidance


Have a look at the above site and check your rights and the landlords responsibilities


The landlord is also required to install mains powered smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detector(s)