Moving out - deposit return questions

matthewking26

Hi, we are moving out of a rented house at the end of this month. We want to ensure we get our £625 deposit back.

Our contract says we must undergo a housecheck first (which they may use as an excuse to try and keep the deposit due to the things wrong with the house that we have already told them about.)

We emailed the letting agency on the 11th Feb and had no reply. We emailed again today. The emails are copied and pasted below. Are we going about things in the right way and is there anything more we can do at this stage?

(To complicate things, the agency we took out the rental with has now been taken over by a bigger agency, will this affect things?)

Most recent email sent today:

---

Without prejudice

Dear Sir/Madam,

We wrote to you via email on the 11th February. We asked you to contact us to discuss housechecks before our deposit can be returned once we vacate the property at xxxxx. You have not replied. We asked you to contact us to discuss the issues relating to the house mentioned in the previous email. You have not done so.

We again request you contact us by email or in writing to confirm the need to carry out a housecheck before our deposit is returned. We will vacate the property on 10th March, at the end of the six month assured shorthold tenancy agreement.

If we do not hear from you we may be left with no choice but to contact the Landlord directly to discuss this matter.

For your information we have attached a copy of the previous email we sent you, as follows:

"Without prejudice

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are writing to inform you of our intention to vacate the residential property xxxxx on 10th March 2008, this being the final day of the 6 month assured shorthold letting contract we undertook with xxx Letting (now a part of xx and xx).

We request a timescale with regards to the relevant housechecks to be undertaken, the return of keys and the return of our deposit after the property is vacated.

Specifically we would like to request a member of your staff visit us to discuss any undertakings required to as best as possible return the property to the condition it was rented in, with exception to fair wear and tear and to facilitate the return of the deposit after we vacate the premises.

We wish to remind you of issues we mentioned during prior housechecks, repairs of which have not been completed by yourselves:
Broken sash cord in window in bedroom 1
Cracked pane of glass in window in bedroom 2
Radiator not functioning in bathroom
Front room window unopenable
Rear door sticks in jamb, difficulty opening and closing
Buddlea (or similar) plant growing from rear wall in back yard
Rotten window frame on outside of bathroom
Rotten lower part of door jamb into bathroom and related damp
Carpet in kitchen, hall, staircase and front room in poor condition, frayed in places, impossible to clean due to its poor quality
Of particular note, carpet on stairs frayed (holes in places and detached from stairs on bottom step)
Sealant around kitchen sink worn away causing leaks around the sink
Bare plaster on ceiling in kitchen where electricians carried out wiring work
Rip in lino in bathroom due to electricians carrying out wiring work
Oven door extremely difficult to open, (impossible when hot), front right electric hob does not work
Magnetic seal around fridge poor quality
There is a washing machine which does not appear on the inventory but we were infromed belonged to a previous tenant. We wish to make it clear that even if we wanted to remove the washing machine when we vacate we would not do. This is because the wire for the plug has been sealed and tiled into the wall.

We wish to make it clear we have mentioned each of these issues, some repeatedly, during the relevant housechecks undertaken during the tenancy.

In addition with reference to the email dated Friday 03/08/2007 from xxxx at xxx Letting:
"Hi Matthew
I have just heard from the landlord as she has been away.
She is happy for you to decorate but, if at the end of the tenancy, she is not happy with your choice of colours (dark blues and reds) she would ask you to return them to magnolia. I know you have said pastel colours so it should be ok. It must be done to a professional standard i.e no splashes on carpets, ceilings etc.
The landlord is prepared to put some more tiles up but not an actual shower. She has contacted her plumber who will in turn contact us for access. Would it be ok for the plumber to use a key? He will sort out leak, tiles and also look at the sash window that is broken in bedroom one.
Any queries, let me know?
Regards
xxxx"
We would like someone to verify whether our choice of colours on the walls are acceptable or whether they must be reverted to magnolia, preferably by being told in person after checking and then confirmed in writing.

We repainted the walls as follows:
Front room was - faded magnolia, now light pastel purple and cream
Kitchen was - faded magnolia, now light yellow
Bathroom was - faded white, peeled in places, now light blue
Bedroom 1 unchanged
Bedroom 2 was - faded magnolia, now light blue and yellow
Doors, ceilings, areas above picture rails, bannisters, window frames left unchanged

If we hear nothing about this we will assume that our choice of colours are acceptable with reference to the email we received and the return of our deposit.

Yours faithfully

xxx and xxx"

DGJsaver

The only thing i would add is that you should be sending these as recorded delivery letters rarther than emails

It`s about £1.05 for a standard sized letter

matthewking26

Oh, does sending it by email and keeping copies in the sent file not count? (just was loath to spend money on sending letters when the agency is about half a mile from our house)
Could they pretend not to have received emails? Bit cheeky if so!
Lastly would delivering the letters in person count or would I still need a signature for proof of delivery even by hand?

DGJsaver

matthewking26 wrote: »

Oh, does sending it by email and keeping copies in the sent file not count? (just was loath to spend money on sending letters when the agency is about half a mile from our house)
Could they pretend not to have received emails? Bit cheeky if so!
Lastly would delivering the letters in person count or would I still need a signature for proof of delivery even by hand?

It is more professional and shows them that you are organsied and effiecient

It also creates a paper trail should problems occur


imo


Dan

Tozer

And no need to mark them 'without prejudice' as you are not making any offer which you would not want a court to see later. Quite the opposite in fact.

matthewking26

Thanks for that. I always wondered about the "Without prejudice" but remembered advice from years ago of someone telling me to stick it at the top of formal letters, I never knew why and should perhaps have found out! *blush*, will remove it from the letters I'll send them!

Tozer

Yeah, don't worry about it too much. Its not fatal. To be honest if you are entering genuine settlement talks anyway, the law deems things to be without prejudice anyway.

Doozergirl

As it's a 6 month tenancy, did you receive full details of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme that your deposit is being held in?

matthewking26

Although it's a 6 month let, I've been there 3 years. The original 6 month tenancy was drawn up before the tenancy deposit protection thing came in and I've had 2 previous housemates through updated contracts. My current partner moved in and we had a new contract drawn up which was identical to the old one, no mention of deposit protection, just new clauses requiring us to have the carpets professionally cleaned when we move out (which there seems little point doing as they are so thin and frayed they will probably just fall to pieces).
The tenancy ran from 11th Sep until 10th Mar this year, I think this means it was just outside the protection scheme introduction. Am I wrong?
If the letting agency do nothing, would it even be worth contacting the landlady direct or would this achieve nothing as its a managed property?

Tori_Bellatrix

If you signed a new AST after April 2007 then your deposit should be protected by the new Tenancy Deposit Scheme ... A signed renewal of an AST is deemed as a new contract ...

clutton_2

if you hand deliver a letter to :LL or LA take a mate with you - then write a "Statement of truth - Proof of Service " from your mate saying something like

I xxx saw xxx deliver attached letter dated xxx to xx address on xxx date - sign it and get signature witnessed and you have "proof of service !!