Landlord holding my tenancy deposit 'ransom' for waste clearage

macman

Your new LL didn't need to take a revised inventory, and it would have been irrelevant to the prior period of your tenancy anyway. When the new LL purchased the property, they inherited your tenancy, and all it's obligations-including the inventory.
Don't get sidetracked by issues of maintenance, or lack of, as they are not relevant to any claim made for damages against your deposit. You cannot say 'well, yes, maybe I damaged the wall, but then you didn't fix the toilet'. That is not how it works.

oldbikebloke

thereCyberStein said:

That's fair and I have since read that, yes.

The tenancy agreement was a slightly edited template printed from the internet and throughout the tenancy they have made various unreasonable requests and failed on many occasion to carry out certain repairs due to the place just being old and falling apart. On one occasion, I was left without a working toilet for 2-3 days. Another, a broken shower with no other means of bathing for around 5-6 days. I had to bike to a neighbouring village to a family member's place for that.

Regardless, I think I'm pretty confident this will all turn out in my favour, I feel I've got a lot of evidence to support my case and her claims are pretty much bogus anyway.

inevitably there is an enormous gulf between that a tenant thinks is "reasonable" and what an owner/occupier would do in practice. Yes, before you scream, I know the situation is different where you are the consumer paying for a service, but all the same, you try finding a tradesman/woman who will respond within hours at a cost you are willing to stomach  - emergency call out fees are eye watering and rarely an "emergency"

"working toilet" - time you learned how to fix a toilet? It only has one moving part, the washer

no shower? really? My father never had a shower in 87 years of life. Bar the final 6 days before he died, my father washed in front of a sink every day of his life and had a bath once per week on a Sunday. Are you seriously saying there was no kitchen sink you could have washed at?

CyberStein

oldbikebloke said:

thereCyberStein said:

That's fair and I have since read that, yes.

The tenancy agreement was a slightly edited template printed from the internet and throughout the tenancy they have made various unreasonable requests and failed on many occasion to carry out certain repairs due to the place just being old and falling apart. On one occasion, I was left without a working toilet for 2-3 days. Another, a broken shower with no other means of bathing for around 5-6 days. I had to bike to a neighbouring village to a family member's place for that.

Regardless, I think I'm pretty confident this will all turn out in my favour, I feel I've got a lot of evidence to support my case and her claims are pretty much bogus anyway.

inevitably there is an enormous gulf between that a tenant thinks is "reasonable" and what an owner/occupier would do in practice. Yes, before you scream, I know the situation is different where you are the consumer paying for a service, but all the same, you try finding a tradesman/woman who will respond within hours at a cost you are willing to stomach  - emergency call out fees are eye watering and rarely an "emergency"

"working toilet" - time you learned how to fix a toilet? It only has one moving part, the washer

no shower? really? My father never had a shower in 87 years of life. Bar the final 6 days before he died, my father washed in front of a sink every day of his life and had a bath once per week on a Sunday. Are you seriously saying there was no kitchen sink you could have washed at?

Well the tradesman that always came out was her father but I digress. I know these things have little to do with the situation, it's just more me venting my frustration at how she has conducted herself over the years.

macman said:

Your new LL didn't need to take a revised inventory, and it would have been irrelevant to the prior period of your tenancy anyway. When the new LL purchased the property, they inherited your tenancy, and all it's obligations-including the inventory.
Don't get sidetracked by issues of maintenance, or lack of, as they are not relevant to any claim made for damages against your deposit. You cannot say 'well, yes, maybe I damaged the wall, but then you didn't fix the toilet'. That is not how it works.

I'm still not 100% on having to sign an inventory as when I first moved in, there were a lot of issues with the letting agents and initial landlord. The day I was to move in, we turned up and the place hadn't been cleaned, to the point of there being literal rot in and around the kitchen, and sewage and more rot in the bathroom. The letting agents, Haart (at this time I wasn't privately renting and it's a different LL anyway at this point) did nothing to help rectify this situation, which was a massive blow since I was moving into my first property and was really excited to be starting afresh.

Well anyway, I guess this has taken its course for now. I'll just wait for the deposit to be returned to me.

CyberStein

So the claim has been accepted by the TDS and things are moving forward with that now.

My landlord contacted me this morning stating that they can't respond to the TDS without me providing her with evidence of final metre readings, final bills and proof of them being paid. Any bills were between the utility companies and myself, not through my landlord. I do have proof of all these things, however I do not believe she is right to be requesting this information from me?

I'll be double-checking with TDS when they open on Monday but I just wanted to quickly ask here too.

SpiderLegs

Oh that old chestnut. Tell them to get lost.

rik111

Tell your landlord, great don’t bother responding. The TDS will automatically find in your favour if they don’t respond.... You landlord sounds like an absolute idiot. Landlords like this get away with this crap because people can’t be bothered and want their deposit back quickly and without hassle. 

Hannimal

oldbikebloke said:

no shower? really? My father never had a shower in 87 years of life. Bar the final 6 days before he died, my father washed in front of a sink every day of his life and had a bath once per week on a Sunday. Are you seriously saying there was no kitchen sink you could have washed at?

This may be something your father did but that is wholly irrelevant. It is absolutely not acceptable to expect tenants who rent accommodation with a shower to wash themselves in the kitchen sink. I really hope you are not a landlord, you sure sound like one.

greatcrested

* don't get side-trackd by utilities, and don't raise it with the TDS. Most likely they'll say it's irrelevant, but they just might complicate your claim by agreeing with the LL (there was a tenant here recently who was told that).

* don't respond to the LL. The utilities are not his concern. I assume you told them you have left, gave them meter readings, and requested a final bill? But I repeat, that is separate to the deposit claim and to the LL's response. Ignore him

* if he does nothing regarding the dispute because you ignore his utilities request - great! You'll win by default!