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Deposit Dispute with landlord
Loubie85
Posts: 5 Forumite
Hi,
I have recently moved out of a rented house (14th Nov).
In our contract we have a pet clause as we have a dog.
Now....it stated we neede to have the carpets professionally cleaned at the end of the tenancy due to having a dog, however when we moved in the landlord stated to us that there were stains due to previous tenants “we did keep some of their deposit to get them cleaned” they hadn’t been done.
On moving out of the property the landlord stated that there were a lot of marks on the walls and that this would need sorting.
So we had the carpets cleaned and painted all of the walls obviously now thinking about it the walls were wear and tear (lesson to be learnt) I’ll just add that the house is only nearly 4 years old and never once been painted or had the carpets cleaned so we’ve just basically cleaned everything for the last 3 lots of tenants that lived there.
Now to the grass it’s quite weedy grass anyway and due to having a dog which they knew as said above it’s become quite patchy, LL said this needs sorting so only thing we could do was seed it which we have done, now LL has come back and said this is not good enough, so now they’re waiting to get their landscaper to have a look and see if it needs re turfing, where do we stand with this? Do we have to pay for that? Having a pet clause in our contract and the LL herself having a dog even she said I know dogs can make the grass patchy we also have children who play in the garden! So basically they’re not realeasing our deposit until they have decided
I have recently moved out of a rented house (14th Nov).
In our contract we have a pet clause as we have a dog.
Now....it stated we neede to have the carpets professionally cleaned at the end of the tenancy due to having a dog, however when we moved in the landlord stated to us that there were stains due to previous tenants “we did keep some of their deposit to get them cleaned” they hadn’t been done.
On moving out of the property the landlord stated that there were a lot of marks on the walls and that this would need sorting.
So we had the carpets cleaned and painted all of the walls obviously now thinking about it the walls were wear and tear (lesson to be learnt) I’ll just add that the house is only nearly 4 years old and never once been painted or had the carpets cleaned so we’ve just basically cleaned everything for the last 3 lots of tenants that lived there.
Now to the grass it’s quite weedy grass anyway and due to having a dog which they knew as said above it’s become quite patchy, LL said this needs sorting so only thing we could do was seed it which we have done, now LL has come back and said this is not good enough, so now they’re waiting to get their landscaper to have a look and see if it needs re turfing, where do we stand with this? Do we have to pay for that? Having a pet clause in our contract and the LL herself having a dog even she said I know dogs can make the grass patchy we also have children who play in the garden! So basically they’re not realeasing our deposit until they have decided
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Comments
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Just because you have a pet clause doesn't mean that you can leave the property with damage caused by the dog. The pet clause is there so that if the dog damages some part of the property like digs a huge hole in the lawn the landlord can claim from the deposit to repair the damage.
Who do you think should pay for any damage caused by your children or your dog?0 -
When you say release the deposit - Has it been placed with a Tenancy Deposit Scheme?
I understand your reservations about LLs not actually doing work that withheld deposits were meant to be paying for... encountered that myself.
Did you take photographs when you moved in?0 -
Cakeguts maybe I’ve not explained very well or your misunderstanding me, my dog or my children have not damaged the grass, my children play in the garden, due to it being quite a shaded garden when my dog has had a wee it has caused it to be a little patchy, the landlord was originally happy with us putting seed now, now she’s not happy with that, we have it in writing that she was happy with the seed being put down, I don’t expect anyone to pay for damage if I have caused it but when I simply google wear and tear this also includes gardens and due to weather and footfall I think this is wear and tear0
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Yes we’ve got all photos from when we moved in and even on the inventory states about stains etc which are now not there, would you say having a few patches on the grass is wear and tear? I don’t know our deposit is with DPS so maybe they could answer that I don’t know0
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Yes we’ve got all photos from when we moved in and even on the inventory states about stains etc which are now not there, would you say having a few patches on the grass is wear and tear? I don’t know our deposit is with DPS so maybe they could answer that I don’t know
The first thing you do is establish if your deposit has been placed with a TDS (it's a legal requirement that any LL does this) - there are 3 schemes - contact them and establish if this has been done. Unscrupulous LL often don't do this and see deposit deductions as an easy way to make a fast buck. If they haven't protected your deposit properly they can be liable to pay you up 3x what the deposit is... regardless of how green grass is or how worn carpets are0 -
yes. There are lots of things other than dogs that can damage lawns and hard to prove either way. Mine has been and I don't have a dog. If your dog really has caused significant damage then fair enough. However grass will recover on its own and your LL is not going get the lawn reurfed. Any retained deposit will simply be trousered.would you say having a few patches on the grass is wear and tear?0 -
We explained to them that due to the amount of snow we had earlier this year after it had finally melted had not done the grass any good and the very hot weather that we have experienced this year caused damage even after watering, what’s most annoying is that on exit inspection they were happy that we had seeded it and that it will grow then a day later receiving an email saying they weren’t happy!!! 🤔 they have new tenants in there already0
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If you’ve nothing helpful to say don’t comment, I was merely stating that they already had new tenants in there the day after our exit inspection, the day they stated “they weren’t happy” even after saying the seed was fine.....have the tenants complained about the grass?? So please don’t comment if you don’t have anything useful to say!!!0
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give them a few rolls of turf to fill in the patches0
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