Deposit agent/contractor scam?

yasscor

Hello,
I have left a flat (and the country) in early June. We got the flat new, and stayed 2 years. The flat has never been properly painted, the wooden floor never varnished correctly and already had chips in the check in report.
We had made some holes to hang mirrors, and I filled them up and sanded but I couldn't repaint the concerned walls because it would have looked very weird next to the other unpainted walls (I tried, I bought the exact reference of paint and it showed the flat clearly was never painted... If you touched the walls of the flat you would have white powder left on your hands, this was showed to the agency when they came to inspect the flat, and I have a written email ). The checkout report mentions no stains on the carpets but the agency claims there are stains. This is just to set the context.

The agency have sent two "contrators" to evaluate the works needed and get quotes :
BOTH CONTRACTORS MENTIONED : "Move all furniture from the living room to the bedroom" ... Problem : it is an empty flat. I found it extremely suspicious that two separate contractors would make the exact same mistake! On top of that one quote is not detailed in the least..

To me it looks a lot like very easy scam : the agent agrees with 2 contractors for quotes and they alternate being the cheapest each time and overcharge a lot.

For all these works (polishing the floor, replacing 2 carpets and painting a 2 bed flat) they are quoting 6000£ and 9000£ respectively...My deposit is of 3000£, the agent clearly wants my deposit and has no grounds...

I decided to look into both companies : one I can only find a dissolved company of the same name, and for the other it was "dormant" as of April 2017 and the Director owned another company between 2003-2014 which was dissolved in 2014 "compulsory strike-off"... he opened the new one in 2016, the previous one never paid any tax and never had a turn over of more than 5 times the quote I was handed...

I really believe I am being conned.
What do you think and what should I do?

Thanks for reading.

HampshireH

Presumably your deposit is in a deposit scheme and you have your check in inventory, photo evidence and check out. So put a claim in to have your deposit back and dispute the amount when the LL refuses.

Pixie5740

I think you should do as all other tenants who face issues getting their deposits back are advised to do and use whichever scheme your deposit is registered with to claim it back and/or raise a dispute.

See G_M's Deposits: payment, protection & return.

yasscor

Hello,
Thank you for your answers. Neither of you find these facts suspicious ? You do not believe the estate agent is trying to fraudulently raise the bill ? The quotes seem at the least very disproportionate and the companies don't seem serious at all, to top that off the fact that both would make such a stupid mistake (quoting for furniture to be moved when there clearly is no furniture in the house) means that at least one of them didn't enter the flat, if not both.

I can go to the deposit scheme and raise a dispute, which I probably will end up doing , but I hate these kind of practices and would like to know if action can/should be taken.

Pixie5740

You asked what you should do and if I were in your shoes my focus would be on getting my deposit back.

I don't necessarily find the facts suspicious. Both contractors could have done a copy and paste job from previous quotes. The quotes could relate to a completely different property. In other words there are a number of possibilities.

yasscor

Hello,

Yes I will focus on getting it back, but the lower quote is almost double the average price for the work, the work is not my responsibility anyways...
The companies don't seem to have a valid legal existence, or a very fishy one... It looks to me like this letting agent who works for a very big firm is abusive with tenants.

2 different quotes with exactly the same mistake in letting agent world is not a coincidence...

yasscor

Hello,

Yes I will focus on getting it back, but the lower quote is almost double the average price for the work, the work is not my responsibility anyways...
The companies don't seem to have a valid legal existence, or a very fishy one... It looks to me like this letting agent who works for a very big firm is abusive with tenants.

2 different quotes with exactly the same mistake in letting agent world is not a coincidence...

Pixie5740

Is there an echo in here?

Grezz24

i had the same issue where the letting agent sent me a quote for several items for repair that i didnt agree with.

I rang the number on the 'quotation' and got straight through to the landlord who had said the quote was needed. safe to say i got my deposit back.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

yasscor wrote: »

Hello,

Yes I will focus on getting it back, but the lower quote is almost double the average price for the work, the work is not my responsibility anyways...
The companies don't seem to have a valid legal existence, or a very fishy one... It looks to me like this letting agent who works for a very big firm is abusive with tenants.

2 different quotes with exactly the same mistake in letting agent world is not a coincidence...

What are you asking? Are you asking whether there is a case to go to the police? What?

HWG

Grezz24 wrote: »

i had the same issue where the letting agent sent me a quote for several items for repair that i didnt agree with.

I rang the number on the 'quotation' and got straight through to the landlord who had said the quote was needed. safe to say i got my deposit back.

This is hilarious!

OP - I think this deffo sounds like a scam. You've already checked Companies House - maybe you could do some more digging, call the contractors, inquire about their mistakes, maybe find a connection between the two.

Failing that, I'd be tempted to send a short statement without making any direct accusations. State that you've noticed the same obvious error in both supposedly independent quotes, and that you'll be proceeding down the formal dispute route.