Deposit return advice

Jesselinoa

Hi All,

Family of 4 here (disabled 8 year old and 16 year old with myself and my wife) that have just moved out from an AST in england.

We moved in 2 years ago and then the landlord (great guy) sold up around 8 months ago. Well the new landlord refused to fix things like thermostat in the shower despite it being only way to wash.

So we felt we had to move.

Now this landlord has been very tough to deal with. The old landlord said even during the sale this guy was rude and hard to deal with. I wont repeat the exact phrase.

So on leaving 14 days ago I took photos.

The old landlord purchased the house 4 years ago. Didnt repaint or put down new carpet.
Each wall was a slightly different shade due to aging of the walls (we wanted to touch it up but no paint matched).

So in the living room we have left a stain that we are happy to cover. However he is claiming for paint on the walls etc that is just down to not being decorated for a minimum of 4 years .

Any advise on dealing with this guy? It is with DPS

Jesselinoa

Sorry, living room is stain on carpet. not wall

theartfullodger

Simply go to deposit scheme and go through dispute process - landlord sounds  like a rude, ignorant stupid idiot, sorry.  (I'm a landlord).

Deposit schemes put in place after decades of landlords ripping off tenants.

Did new landlord ever protect deposit correction,  if not you could claim up to 3xdeposit on top .

You might even have a case against old and new landlord.

Jesselinoa

theartfullodger said:

Simply go to deposit scheme and go through dispute process - landlord sounds  like a rude, ignorant stupid idiot, sorry.  (I'm a landlord).

Deposit schemes put in place after decades of landlords ripping off tenants.

Did new landlord ever protect deposit correction,  if not you could claim up to 3xdeposit on top 

Hi, Thank you for your reply.

It is with the DPS scheme so all done properly. 

thanks, I have put the request in for deposit to come back as it has been 10 working days now. From what the letting agent says he is "getting quotes" and he is going to try to sting up for existing work etc. Which I have written whatsapp messages of asking him to fix during tenancy. I just didnt want it dragging on.

Regarding stain on the living room floor ( kids must have split something as when we lifted book shelf it left a big stain) would I be expected to fork out for a whole new carpet that is over 4 years old in full?

housebuyer143

Jesselinoa said:

theartfullodger said:

Simply go to deposit scheme and go through dispute process - landlord sounds  like a rude, ignorant stupid idiot, sorry.  (I'm a landlord).

Deposit schemes put in place after decades of landlords ripping off tenants.

Did new landlord ever protect deposit correction,  if not you could claim up to 3xdeposit on top 

Hi, Thank you for your reply.

It is with the DPS scheme so all done properly. 

thanks, I have put the request in for deposit to come back as it has been 10 working days now. From what the letting agent says he is "getting quotes" and he is going to try to sting up for existing work etc. Which I have written whatsapp messages of asking him to fix during tenancy. I just didnt want it dragging on.

Regarding stain on the living room floor ( kids must have split something as when we lifted book shelf it left a big stain) would I be expected to fork out for a whole new carpet that is over 4 years old in full?

DPS will not grant new for old, so if he did get anything it would be for a fraction of the cost of used carpet, so maybe £20. I wouldn't be expecting a huge cost. Don't worry, simply raise a dispute with DPS now for all your deposit back and send in all of your evidence. 
I believe landlord has 14 days to respond and you might be about to respond again disputing whatever he tries to claim. Call DPS and ask. 

saajan_12

housebuyer143 said:

Jesselinoa said:

theartfullodger said:

Simply go to deposit scheme and go through dispute process - landlord sounds  like a rude, ignorant stupid idiot, sorry.  (I'm a landlord).

Deposit schemes put in place after decades of landlords ripping off tenants.

Did new landlord ever protect deposit correction,  if not you could claim up to 3xdeposit on top 

Hi, Thank you for your reply.

It is with the DPS scheme so all done properly. 

thanks, I have put the request in for deposit to come back as it has been 10 working days now. From what the letting agent says he is "getting quotes" and he is going to try to sting up for existing work etc. Which I have written whatsapp messages of asking him to fix during tenancy. I just didnt want it dragging on.

Regarding stain on the living room floor ( kids must have split something as when we lifted book shelf it left a big stain) would I be expected to fork out for a whole new carpet that is over 4 years old in full?

DPS will not grant new for old, so if he did get anything it would be for a fraction of the cost of used carpet, so maybe £20. I wouldn't be expecting a huge cost. Don't worry, simply raise a dispute with DPS now for all your deposit back and send in all of your evidence. 
I believe landlord has 14 days to respond and you might be about to respond again disputing whatever he tries to claim. Call DPS and ask. 

Not new for old, there would be a deduction for use. So if a new carpet cost £500 including fitting and it was expected to last 10 years, then they've had 4 years use out of it, and lost out on 6years. So they would get 6/10 = 60% of £500 = £300. Adjust for the actual cost and actual years of use. 

That's probably quite a bit over £20 though, and minimising things to an extreme is not helpful. 

LoopyLoops

We had to use the DPS 5 years ago as letting agent was trying to keep our entire deposit.  It was a really straight forward process. We gave our side with photos.  I think they came back and asked a couple of questions. Deposit scheme came back in our favour and returned the entire deposit.  It didn’t take too long and wasn’t as hard as we thought it would be.  

With the carpet damage would your previous landlord give something in writing that states they have seen your photos and confirm that carpet was there when they bought the house?  At least that would help reduce any deduction if the does find in favour of the landlord on that.