Landlord refusing to return deposit

Mrs_Keyses

Hello,
My husband and I have just moved house (last weekend). We lived in our previous home for almost 4 years but moved due to it being too small for our growing family but also because it was an old, damp house with mould in every room no matter how long the windows were open for or the heating was on for, it was constantly cold because the double glazing was awful and the window seals were damaged (we tried to fix a number of times ourselves and stated the issue to the landlord but nothing was ever done), no matter what mould spray or paint we tried, it always came back. The kitchen of our home was a badly added extension by our landlord, no insulation, no radiator, essentially a concrete block with tiles. You could see your breath in front of you at any time of day throughout the whole of winter, meaning cooking was almost unbearable at times, our son was simply not allowed in the kitchen because it was so cold.  The kitchen was incredibly damp (we left the extractor fan on and the windows open permanently in there, even through winter and it made no difference). Therefore, part of the lower kitchen plaster crumbled away due to being internally damp. Our landlord was aware of this and stated he would get a plasterer, which never happened. 

We cleaned the house to the best of our ability (my mum helped and she is a professional cleaner) before we left. The only minor changes were that we had our son’s room professionally painted (purple so a colour that would suit a boy or girl) but left the tin of paint for touch ups, the bathroom professionally painted with anti mould bathroom paint, which we also left, and we had our tv put up on the wall because the living room was tiny and there was no where else for it, our landlord was also aware of this as he visited on numerous occasions throughout the 4 years and never had a problem while we were living there, we left the £40 bracket for the next people so no holes were left in the wall. We had pets living with us, which was agreed before we moved in. Nothing was decorated or freshened for us moving in, the stair carpet was vile (it used to be cream but the person living there before us had 3 dogs and the whole house stank of stale dog pee) we replaced this at a cost of £150 to a much love stylish dark grey that can be bleach cleaned, lots of chips out of the paint on various walls, windowsills and doors etc. Nothing was done for us moving in at all. The kitchen cupboards were still grimy. 

My husband went yesterday to return the keys and after a quick walk round, the landlord said he would be keeping all of our deposit because the ‘whole place needs re-decorated and cleaned’ and that our deposit ‘won’t even cover what needs done’. 

No specifics were given. My husband, being a numpty, didn’t ask. So I text the landlord (so I have it in writing) asking can I please get a full breakdown of what needs done to the house that wouldn’t be classed as normal wear and tear. I have received no reply. 

Is there anything I can do? 

I’m in Northern Ireland, if that makes any difference.

We were relying of receiving at least a good portion of our rent back as my mum lent us our deposit for our new home and I want to start paying it back ASAP. 
Thanks 

iampetesmith

Is the deposit protected in a scheme such as DPS? You normally create an account online with them before you move out and you fill in your tenancy details. You should be able to dispute it with that, details of which scheme it's in are usually provided with all the paperwork at the start of the tenancy. 

Bookgal88

Did you get permission to do the painting / discuss what should be done at the end of the tenancy with things that had been changed? Properties should usually be left as found, so whilst you may have left the TV bracket and the paint, the landlord may well not see them as a benefit. I certainly wouldn't. Landlords tend to like neutral colours when letting a property, so he might not be crazy about one of the bedrooms now being purple, and will likely want to put it back as it was. Ditto with the TV bracket. It wasn't there when he rented the property to you, you'll have created holes in the walls to mount it which he'll now have to fill in at a cost when it's removed. Just because he didn't say anything didn't mean it was OK. He might have just felt that it was too late by that point. So I think your landlord has every right to charge you for these things. 

How much was your deposit? Did you take pictures when you moved in and when you left? 

Mrs_Keyses

iampetesmith said:

Is the deposit protected in a scheme such as DPS? You normally create an account online with them before you move out and you fill in your tenancy details. You should be able to dispute it with that, details of which scheme it's in are usually provided with all the paperwork at the start of the tenancy. 

I’m nearly sure it was protected as we originally letted through an agency first and the the landlord started his own independent letting business and broke away from the agents. It was my husbands name on the lease etc so I would need to ask him but I remember seeing a deposit receipt when we were packing to move. 

If we did owe money from our deposit, what kind of thing would we be expected to pay for? I understand damage to the property, which there was none apart from the kitchen wall which wasn’t our fault in any way. Can they charge us for wanting to redecorate the house if it wasn’t decorated for us moving in and if there’s only minor wear and tear like a corner of frayed carpet or a paint chip out of a wall etc? 

Mrs_Keyses

vickya said:

Did you get permission to do the painting / discuss what should be done at the end of the tenancy with things that had been changed? Properties should usually be left as found, so whilst you may have left the TV bracket and the paint, the landlord may well not see them as a benefit. I certainly wouldn't. Landlords tend to like neutral colours when letting a property, so he might not be crazy about one of the bedrooms now being purple, and will likely want to put it back as it was. Ditto with the TV bracket. It wasn't there when he rented the property to you, you'll have created holes in the walls to mount it which he'll now have to fill in at a cost when it's removed. Just because he didn't say anything didn't mean it was OK. He might have just felt that it was too late by that point. So I think your landlord has every right to charge you for these things. 

How much was your deposit? Did you take pictures when you moved in and when you left? 

We left a large tin of cream paint, brand new and unopened and the same colour that it was originally, if the landlord wanted to paint it back. The tenant before us had painted the living room a really dark grey and it was left like that for us moving in, chips out of it included. 

The deposit was £425 (our original rent pcm before it was put up for £450 for some reason; we literally received a letter saying ‘Due to rising costs, your rent will now be £450’. Yet nothing was ever changed or done for us.). Not a chance does painting a few walls with paint that we’ve already supplied and taking down a bracket and filling the holes in (which my husband had to do in other parts of the house because it wasn’t done for us, he bought filler and the tools needed and it cost under a tenner) and painting over them cost £425. 

I am almost sure we took pictures when we moved in but I’d have to hunt for them. My husband took a few pictures when leaving, but not in great detail I don’t think. 

dimbo61

Did the landlord or letting agents complete a written inventory with photos or a video inventory ?
If No then the Landlord can't prove what the house looked like before you moved in !
Contact the deposit people and check your deposit was still registered and claim the whole amount back.
The Landlord has to prove the condition of the property before you moved in and after you moved out.
Did you get a copy of the EPC ? What rating was the property D, E, F or G ?

Mrs_Keyses

dimbo61 said:

Did the landlord or letting agents complete a written inventory with photos or a video inventory ?
If No then the Landlord can't prove what the house looked like before you moved in !
Contact the deposit people and check your deposit was still registered and claim the whole amount back.
The Landlord has to prove the condition of the property before you moved in and after you moved out.
Did you get a copy of the EPC ? What rating was the property D, E, F or G ?

I think a written inventory was done (not 100%, this might have just been for furniture/fixtures etc). I’m sure my husband took photos of damage/paint chips etc when we moved in but will have to look for them) No inventory was taken when my husband gave the keys back, the landlord literally just said ‘you’ll not be getting any of your deposit back, it won’t even cover what needs done’.  

We didnt get a copy of EPC. How can we go about this? 

dimbo61

The Landlord should have supplied you with an EPC when you moved in along with a Gas Safe Certificate if you have gas appliances. IE gas cooker, gas boiler and gas fire. 
The GSC needs to be done every 12 months.
You can check online what a properties EPC is by checking the EPC registry.
Go to the deposit people and claim your whole deposit back.
Don't get into a discussion with your EX Landlord as he/she thinks they can keep the whole deposit while renting a sub standard property.
Take it to arbitration with DPS 

dimbo61

The Landlord should have supplied you with an EPC when you moved in along with a Gas Safe Certificate if you have gas appliances. IE gas cooker, gas boiler and gas fire. 
The GSC needs to be done every 12 months.
You can check online what a properties EPC is by checking the EPC registry.
Go to the deposit people and claim your whole deposit back.
Don't get into a discussion with your EX Landlord as he/she thinks they can keep the whole deposit while renting a sub standard property.
Take it to arbitration with DPS 

dimbo61

Fair wear and tear come to mind with you living in the property for 4 years.
The LL will have to spend money sorting out the property if it has serious mould and damp issues.

Mrs_Keyses

dimbo61 said:

Fair wear and tear come to mind with you living in the property for 4 years.
The LL will have to spend money sorting out the property if it has serious mould and damp issues.

There definitely was wear and tear but no damage to the property apart from the above mentioned due to damp. Literally every single room had mould in it, the bathroom and kitchen were atrocious and we did everything we could to keep it at bay. The loft was damp and had a leak in it that dropped into my sons bedroom, right onto the gas boiler, which we hated. I suffer from anxiety and there were many rainy nights I insisted we have our son in bed with us because of the constant dripping onto the boiler in his room. My husband went up into the loft and tried to seal the leak but it was too big, we ended up just putting a cut in half Cola bottle under it and emptying it regularly, as in my husband would get up through the night to empty it. 

The whole situation is making me really quite frustrated because nothing was changed or freshened up for us moving in so why suddenly do they need to decorate. We did nothing detrimental to the property. The property was completely damp and now they’re trying to make us pay for their issue as landlords.