Landlord refusing to return deposit

Durban

if an inventory was completed , I would imagine that your landlord will definitely be able to claim for repainting the purple bedroom and also for the TV bracket depending on the wording of your tenancy agreement

iampetesmith

Our landlord came round about a month or 2 before we left to check it and he seemed really happy and said it was immaculate. During the conversation he asked if I was taking the old sofa, bed, wardrobe etc. and I said no, as it was tatty and we were buying all new furniture for the new house so I was going to clear it out.

He told me not to worry about clearing it out, as he wanted the rooms to look dressed for the estate agent photos so I could just leave the old furniture there. We left the furniture there like he asked, so the wife made the bed, put a throw on the old sofas to cover the worn leather and left some cushions on it to make it look presentable. We also left a couple of DVD racks and some shelving in the other rooms as we weren't going use that either and thought it would make the rooms look dressed for the photos anyway.

So the day arrives when I give the keys back, we'd already moved into our new house so we'd taken everything else with us. Someone from the letting agent comes round to do an inventory and notices all the furniture straight away, then the moaning starts. "Are you sure he wanted you to leave all this?" "Yes he wants it for the estate agent photos, check with him you like"...blah, blah, blah, every room was the same comment. Then he admits that he doesn't really know anything about the landlord, let alone spoken to him before so I just thought oh well that's that then and the landlord will tell him when he sees him.

The letting agent called again a few days later to say they were taking £100 out of the deposit for removal of the old furniture. I later found out that the landlord wasn't actually selling the property but letting it straight back out again to his niece, who moved in a few days after we left. This means the landlord either lied about selling it or changed his mind after he told me to leave the old furniture (I don't care anyway, it's his house so he can do what he likes with it). I was just a bit annoyed that I'd already offered to remove it all before he told me not to, and they'd taken £100 for the removal after he said he'd sort it out after it's sold.

I'd already spent thousands buying and furnishing a house, so having £400 back from a £500 deposit was only like losing peanuts in the grand scheme of things, but it left me feeling glad that I now own my house and I don't have to deal with those people again.