Deposit advice - Updated 10.06.08

sexki11en

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

I wouldn't ever expect my tenants to have to deflea a house I was renting to them...I would be mortified!!:eek:

To sexki11en..I do see your point, but didn't you say somewhere on this thread that the LL /LA 'say' they had no knowledge of the cats? If in truth they did not know of the cats until you moved out and they found evidence i.e, the damaged furniture, then morally, they are as far as I can see perfectly within their rights to de-flea and charge you for it.

They did know about the cats tho - that's my whole point. We stood in front of them and listened to them call the LL for permission!

With the greatest respect, I think you need to step back a bit...they aren't going to add any spurious 'extras' on or they would have done this by now wouldn't they?

I think they are already adding extras on tbh. The flea treatment being one, unreasonable cost for the sofa (telling us it is newer than it really is) and charging us again for cleaning that has already been done. If we step back - they will have all our deposit!

The deflea charge is reasonable and down to you and I think deep down you know this, as is the damage to the sofa. That doesn't mean that I think the LA is entirely blameless tho...far from it...

We have never denied the damage to the sofa or refused to pay for it. What we want is to pay a fair cost, not be blatantly lied to to get more money out of us! I think you can guess my pov on the flea treatment from my comments above. Plus I do not think £94 to deflea a 1 1/2 bed flat is reasonable at all but that's besides the point as they knew we had cats and only mentioned this charge at the end of tennancy after we had moved out.

What they are guilty of, and this is a basic in my book, is not stating fairly and squarely in the contract that the cats were either allowed or not, and any resultant damage/infestation/whatever would be down to the tenant(s) to pay for.

What they are guilty of is lying and cheating to get as much money as they can from us.

As for the cleaning etc with the best will in the world, someones opinion of 'clean' will certainly sometimes be far removed from another persons. Again, the level of cleanliness that the property is in when handed over then handed back should be clearly indicated in the tenancy agreement from the start and most definitely written into the inventory.

Fair point. My point is that the flat when we left it was in a far better state than when we moved in and we have photo evidence to prove it.

The thing about the charges for the sofa is a bit odd...I can't see why they couldn't have researched the costs properly as you have done. It seems clear to me that they either (1) couldn't be bothered or (2) thought YOU wouldn't be bothered!

They did research the costs. They then lied about the age of the sofa in order to get more money from us. Simple

As a LL I would want at least a full set of covers to replace the damaged ones, but other LL's would press for a complete replacement. A bit of negotiating needed directly with thje LL is needed here I think.

The only contact details we have is for the LA. The LL will be receiving letters for court action shortly, she may decide differently when she receives them.

I do wish you luck with this. I can see that both sides of this argument has valid points and there will have to be a certain amount of give and take to settle this.

Thank you for your advice. However the only giving right now is by us and the taking is from them - ie all our money!!!

sexki11en

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

I always deflea every house before I move into it as my dog has an allergy to fleas. You can buy some treatment for the house, from the vets and it only costs a few pounds.



How much!:eek::eek::eek:

£12 plus VAT here:-
http://www.hyperdrug.co.uk/products.asp?dept=195

Nope, apparently over the counter products aren't good enough. Someone must come and spray the property professionally. :rolleyes:

sexki11en

Ok, update from thisafternoon. I received the following e mail from the cleaning company (I had e mailed them explaining the situation)

Thanks for your mail.

I am disappointed to hear your comments, however firstly we have emailed your agent requesting photos of the alleged with NO response, the property was cleaned properly and the gentleman on site said it looked fantastic and informed us we should have seen it when you moved in - we even removed mould going up the walls in the bedrooms, also the carpets were really stained and again the gentleman on site said they were really bad when you moved in and that we had brought them up well even though there were stains left.

Not being aware of the original state of the property when you moved in it is difficult to know what your letting agents expectations are.

As your tenant was on site and said it was a good job and he was very pleased.
Regards
Cleaning Company


She also forwarded a copy of the e mail she had sent to the LA on the 14th May asking for these proof photos. Sounds like she want's to put things right yes? In reply I emailed this to the LA

I am forwarding you a copy of a mail sent to me by the company we employed to do the cleaning. You have not sent them as requested, copies of the photos you have taken. This shows to me that you are deliberately obstructing us getting anything sorted and coming to a reasonable conclusion. It appears to me that your main aim in all this is to keep as much money back from us as you can.

Please forward your copies of the cleaning to Cleaning Company so they can liase with you for a solution.

We still expect a resolution to this problem by 5pm today as previously advised or we will issue court procedings.

I received the following response


Have sent them photos already, but will send some more.

Please direct all further correspondence to the owner of the company who is: emailaddressofowner

So what is clear to me is as I say - they told us they had had no response from the cleaning company - I have the above e mail saying she has sent them proof in response. Response to what? She told me the cleaners hadn't replied!!!

I've really had enough of all this now. As you might guess, 5pm came and went today with no further correspondance, no copies of the documents I have been requesting for 2 weeks and certainly no resolution.

I have also thought - they haven't returned the part of the deposit that isnt under dispute. They should have done this by now shouldn't they?

So now do I issue the LL with letters one and two (threatening court action) or do I just go ahead with filling in the court forms?

puddy

go to court, even if it costs you a few quid. you can go to small claims court online cant you? that would only cost 30 quid, then when they get the court papers they'll know you mean business

Tori_Bellatrix

I think you shoud file papers ... the letters sent already have been seen as LBA's. If you haven't received any monies back, then claim for the whole amount. You can also use the emails from the cleaning company as evidence.

pinkkaz

Grrr this makes me so angry! It seems like you are going about it in the right way though, so good luck.

sexki11en

Below an e mail from the LA just now. I haven't got time to comment on all the inconsisancies until later as I am at work. I will when I get home, I just wondered if anyone had any advice?

have been asked to respond to your email as my colleague is not in the office today;
a) The reciept I have been told is on its way,the landlord does not live in Bristol.I can not comment on date of purchase at this stage.We has been given the date I presume by the landlord.
b) I do not believe we should give you a copy of some elses check out but will happily supply it to the court if necessary. What is relevent is your inventory and although you have marked some points on cleaning which we have taken into account the flat was in no way left in an acceptable condition and we are happy to persue this in the Small Claims Court.I believe the photos speak for themselves.
c)You are responsible for your cats and if they have caused damage and a professional pest officer says there are fleas you are responsible for the cost- why should the landlord pay?
d) I am perfectly aware of ARLA guidelines and we are not prepared to accept your offer.We will however return the undisputed sum of your deposit of £226.40.If you would like us to forward a cheque for the undisputed amount then please confirm by email with the address to which the cheque should be sent.
Should you wish to persue this matter please address any court papers to: address

Tori_Bellatrix

I'm wondering if they are trying to call your bluff.. hoping you'll settle for the £226.40!

sexki11en

In reply to the e mail they sent I have responded as follows:


I have been asked to respond to your email as my colleague
> is not in the office today;
> a) The reciept I have been told is on its way,the landlord
> does not live in Bristol.I can not comment on date of
> purchase at this stage.Sally has been given the date I
> presume by the landlord.

This is entirely fine. However, this information was requested 2 weeks ago. Sofa Workshop have confirmed they currently hold a copy of the original invoice.

> b) I do not believe we should give you a copy of some elses
> check out but will happily supply it to the court if
> necessary.

I have not asked for someone elses check out inventory. I have asked for our checkout inventory which was completed on Friday 2nd May 2008

What is relevent is your inventory and although
> you have marked some points on cleaning which we have taken
> into account the flat was in no way left in an acceptable
> condition and we are happy to persue this in the Small
> Claims Court.I believe the photos speak for themselves.

> c)You are responsible for your cats and if they have caused
> damage and a professional pest officer says there are fleas
> you are responsible for the cost- why should the landlord
> pay?

I have been told the flea treatment is purely a preventative measure. My point is, this was never a condition of the contract either written or verbal and you cannot introduce charges after we have moved out.

> d) I am perfectly aware of ARLA guidelines and we are not
> prepared to accept your offer.We will however return the
> undisputed sum of your deposit of £226.40.If you would
> like us to forward a cheque for the undisputed amount then
> please confirm by email with the address to which the
> cheque should be sent.

Could you please confirm why you are witholding £748.60 when I had an email from Sally earlier this week stating your charges as
Cleaning: £70
Carpets: £70
Flea treatment (should this be necessary): £94 (extortionate!)
Sofa covers £342

This totals £576 not £748 as you have stated above.

tbs624

SK - if you can't get an agreement on the final amount that you feel should be repaid, it looks like you are going to have to pursue it all the way to court, unless they have a very swift change of heart (unlikely IMO). I wouldn't personally respond to any future email/letter(edit!) from them, unless it encloses a cheque for the amount you think is due to you.

Couple of things - did you check your TA for the clause I mentioned previously about costs of pest control treatment at the property during the Tenancy ( remembering what Bungarm says about flea treatments)?

Have you personally checked with your Council what their flea treatment charge is (may be on their website)?

Does your cleaning firm have the name of the person who was at the property and pronounced themselves satisfied with the standard of cleanliness when they had finished, and would they confirm it in writing if it wasn't in the email reply they sent to you?