Deposit advice - Updated 10.06.08

Tori_Bellatrix

If I were you, I'd be tempted not to give my aces away and tell them about the proof - just say that you have further evidence in addition to the inventory which confirms the state of the property when you moved in (rather then actually mention the photographs).

Just my opinion of course but I remember not wanting my LL to know what was in my arsenal (so not speak) ... just to go straight for the kill. Be quite firm and say that if the requested information is not received by you (by a certain date) you will instruct further proceedings ... and then do it!

Tori_Bellatrix

sexki11en wrote: »

Very good point Tori and one I have discussed with my OH. The LA carried out inspections every 12 weeks (which i'm sure does not give us 'quiet enjoyment!) and no, they never commented at all during those inspections.

As an aside - We have found the photo's we took on the day we looked round the flat. These are dated and show several areas which were clearly not cleaned including mould (shower and living room skirting), hair in the sink plughole, dirty mirrors, general dirt, cobwebs and even a used and empty toilet freshener left in the bathroom. All things which they are now trying to charge us for, despite the fact we had professional cleaners in.

The photos werent even taken for the purpose of recording this info so goodness only knows what they would have shown if we were specifically taking them to show the dirt!

I'm glad we found them as although they aren't crystal clear, surely it gives us some defence?

Hmmm ... very useful. It's highly unlikely a judge would believe that they inspected the property each 12 weeks and failed to notice the cats .. every time!! Not 3 cats anyway ..

sexki11en

Comrade wrote: »

Do you have any written confirmation that cats were allowed/disallowed in the property? Did you AST state that?
Unfortunately not, no. This has never been written into any ast that we have had previously (and I have rented for 10 years+ now - this is the first time any damage has been done in all that time) The LA didn't make it known to us that we should have written permission

If they are unable to produce original receipt for the sofa then, i think, they won't be able to claim the maximum price there is on the market for it. Find the cheapest quote for the same type sofa.
The LA aren't giving us the option for that. They are insisting on getting the quotes from the most expensive shop in the area saying that's where it was from originally. Strangely enough, everything else in the flat was Ikea and stated so on the inventory. I find it odd that someone who has furnished a rental flat with Ikea furniture would then go and spend £1,300 on a sofa for the same property when somewhere like Ikea or even DFS would have much cheaper options

BTW, why didn't you claim on the insurance straight away? Whats the point of having the policy if you don't benefit from it?
Because right now I am disputing the value. I am not claiming on my insurance for the full value when the sofa could be 3-7 years old and raising my premiums for the pleasure

Unfortunately if you don't have the inventory signed by both you and them, you won't be able to proof that the property was dirty before you moved in.
I stated several areas on the inventory that were dirty/problematic before I sent it back to them signed and dated. I have a copy, they have a copy but they didn't sign it. That inventory was the one they used for the check out tho...

Anyway, you won't get the full deposit back. Maybe half, depending on the judge.
Why would we only get half back? Half of £975???? Rather a lot if you ask me when everything they are claiming for is on dodgy ground

Next time follow al procedures correctly and NEVER trust agents/landlords.
We did follow procedures correctly as far as i'm concerned. The only mistake we made was not getting EVERYTHING in writing but hindsight is a wonderful thing!

sexki11en

Tori_Bellatrix wrote: »

If I were you, I'd be tempted not to give my aces away and tell them about the proof - just say that you have further evidence in addition to the inventory which confirms the state of the property when you moved in (rather then actually mention the photographs).

Just my opinion of course but I remember not wanting my LL to know what was in my arsenal (so not speak) ... just to go straight for the kill. Be quite firm and say that if the requested information is not received by you (by a certain date) you will instruct further proceedings ... and then do it!

Thank you Tori. I have ammended the email to state this.

Re the cats, this is only an issue because of the charge for flea treatment - the LA says they are sure the LL will give up on the charge for the flea treatment if we pay towards the replacement of the sofa (how nice of her!:rolleyes: since she wants us to pay £650 for HALF!)

sexki11en

Right - e mail sent to LA. Lets see what excuses tomorrow brings shall we?

Thanks all for your help so far - it's really spurring me on and really helps having so many different opinions - we can't all be wrong can we?

SK x

Comrade

Unfortunately not, no. This has never been written into any ast that we have had previously (and I have rented for 10 years+ now - this is the first time any damage has been done in all that time) The LA didn't make it known to us that we should have written permission

If they didn't state in the AST that you are not allowed pets than, I think, judge would decide in you favour because its quite obvious that you couldn't be hiding three cats from the LA all this time!

The LA aren't giving us the option for that. They are insisting on getting the quotes from the most expensive shop in the area saying that's where it was from originally. Strangely enough, everything else in the flat was Ikea and stated so on the inventory. I find it odd that someone who has furnished a rental flat with Ikea furniture would then go and spend £1,300 on a sofa for the same property when somewhere like Ikea or even DFS would have much cheaper options

I'm not entirely sure, but the common sense tells me, that in court if they can't prove that the sofa was expensive, they will have to use quote from Ikea minus reasonable deduction for wear and tear.

Because right now I am disputing the value. I am not claiming on my insurance for the full value when the sofa could be 3-7 years old and raising my premiums for the pleasure

Well, its up to you, but you will still have to pay LL something for the sofa.

Why would we only get half back? Half of £975???? Rather a lot if you ask me when everything they are claiming for is on dodgy ground

OK, it will probably be more than that, but you won't get it back in full because of the sofa. Everything else that they claim seem to be unprovable.

sexki11en

Oh Oh Oh it gets better!

The quote from the sofa shop doesnt say corner, it says Conner (that's the model name) it's a badly faxed copy so I couldn't make it out properly.

The written quote from the shop says this will cost £1,049 to replace

This is the link to the clearance dept for the store - see if you can spot which bit doesn't make sense....

http://www.sofaworkshop.com/f/specials/Sofa-Specials.html

!!!!! They are trying to claim the sofa replacement is costing double what it actually is!!! What can I do with this info? Surely this proves they are just trying to take us for everything we've got?

Tori_Bellatrix

sexki11en wrote: »

Thank you Tori. I have ammended the email to state this.

Re the cats, this is only an issue because of the charge for flea treatment - the LA says they are sure the LL will give up on the charge for the flea treatment if we pay towards the replacement of the sofa (how nice of her!:rolleyes: since she wants us to pay £650 for HALF!)

If I were you I'd offer to pay the price of the flea treatment as long as the rest of your deposit is returned promptly. Cheeky bu**ers

zebulon

sexki11en wrote: »

Oh Oh Oh it gets better!
!! What can I do with this info?

at least, print the page, save the web page (accessible offline) etc...
What to do with it, not sure, but at least you'll have it with you before it disapears!!!

sexki11en

Should I email them and tell them that we know ther quote is double what it should be, give them the link to the website to prove it and say as long as they can prove the age of the sofa we will pay the percentage (dependant on the depreciation) of the price on the website and no more?

I'm so angry that they are trying con us! :mad: