Rights for tenants claiming back deposits

npayne16

Hi there, I was hoping someone could clear a few things up for me. I moved out of my rented property last month. A small studio flat where I lived for 6 months. I thoroughly cleaned the flat before I moved out, wrote a letter to go with my key about how i broke a cup and plate and as far as I was concerned I see no reason why anything else could have been deducted from my bond of £550. I have recently recieved a letter back stating that they are taking £135 for carpets and general cleaning and a £25 admin fee. Where do I stand with contesting this? Can i request invoices sent from the cleaning companies to the estate agents for cleaning done on the flat as I fail to believe it could have possibly have amounted to that, i mean it really is a small flat with carpet space about the size of a standard living room? and why do i have to pay an admin fee?

Hope someone can help.

Toodlepip123

Sounds liek a classic cleaning sting. You could chase up the invoice but they'll probably fabricate one via one of their workmen. Over the years I've tried giving them an invoice for the paid cleaning (got told "you should sue the cleaners, we had to reclean"), Cleaning from top to bottom ("not clean"), taking photos of the state of the flat which is invariably filthy when i moved in and using them as evidence that the flat was left cleane than its state when i moved in (didn't get very far) and being offensive and trying ot bully them into giving me my deposit back ("take us to court"). TBH if you manage to claim that back you'll have my respect and admiration.

Toodlepip123

Oh, and the admin fee is for the agent coming round and chuckling to himself while he totted up things he could fabricate to deduct from your deposit.

Must admit I now don't bother cleaning the property apart from a once over because it doesn't make any difference. Although now we're apparently signed up automatically to this deposit clearing system where they hold the deposit in case of any disagreement between the tenant and landmord so we'll see if that makes any difference.

npayne16

Oh god that's depressing. I mean in previous houses i've rented it's been mainly student lets so you start to accept that they are awful at giving anything back but when you get into the "young professional" bracket I thought you would get a bit more respect...but apparently not!! Well i will fight my case nevertheless and let you know if any of my tactics work!!

liz545

When did your tenancy start, and which scheme was your deposit held in?

npayne16

It started in September 2007, I'm under the tenancy deposit scheme, filled out and signed my inventory and all that too...

liz545

In that case, you need to contact the dispute resolution scheme for your tenancy deposit. They should have a contact number on the information that was provided to you at the start of the tenancy. Some helpful advice here:
http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-7507.cfm#wipLive-34145-8