Landlord witholding bond

Melly31

If LL did not put money in scheme & your sister moved in after 6th April 2007 she can sue him for 3 times the origional bond amount (so £1500), if this is the case I would tell her to threaten him with this, even if she doesn't want to sue him he will more than likely give her back her full bond just to shut her up.
She should of been given the documents by the landlord within 14 days of moving in if he put her bond in a scheme & as he has retained bond I can't see him having used a scheme?
If he stands his ground & didn't use the scheme tell your sister to contact her local council & ask if they will help her prosecute him as they have been doing this at several councils to help the scheme run smoothly.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/DG_066373

tbs624

Mould is a frequent source of contention. . Some of it you can do something about as a Tenant, some of it is very definitely the responsibility of a LL if there are repairs issues/heating problems. A Tenant has to keep a property properly aired, allowing for the condensation that comes form everyday cooking, showering, washed clothes airing, even breathing. It’s always best to keep a small gap between walls & heavy furniture and to check behind there from time to time so that you can see if there is lack of air circulation and a build up of mould. This all comes under what is headed “tenant-like behaviour”, ie what anyone should reasonably be expected to do within their home. A tenant also has an obligation, as someone has already mentioned in this thread, to notify a LL so that any problems can be dealt with before becoming worse.

That said, there are a couple of other points - one is that the wording of the TA is IMO far too prescriptive. It is not reasonable to be expected to provided “constant airing/heating” - it is likely that if OFT viewed that clause there would be an amendment requested. Additionally, the LL has to provide the means for both adequate heating and adequate ventilation and to me its not clear what form of heating the property has ( you mention electricity bills - is it storage heaters for example) and how efficient it was at actually providing a good level of warmth. You mention flaking of paint on window frames, plus the fact that had been a comment about the frames needing replacement - this does maybe suggest some prior problems.

My suggestion would be that your sister now writes to the LL formally requesting the return of her deposit: list the tenancy dates, refer to the property address, the date moved out, and ask for payment within 7 days.

If she hasn’t already been given the required info on any tenancy deposit scheme used, she can contact each of 3 schemes herself to check, and she can also request in the letter to the LL that s/he confirms where it has been held. (see jo1967’s link above for contact info - it’s on the page entitled “who runs the schemes”)

Keep it all in writing- any phone calls should be followed up with a letter from your sister confirming her own understanding of what has been said, but keeping only to the brief facts.

If she then gets a letter back saying we are deducting x , they must clearly give the reason and be able to justify the amount. They cannot simply deduct a nice round figure or a “guesstimate”. Your sister then has the option to either agree or not. If she doesn’t agree & wants to pursue it further , she should then write a second letter giving her reasons (again, facts only) and asking once again for the deposit/balance of the deposit , this time giving 5 working days. Still no response/no agreement - final letter headed “Letter Before Action”, “ please pay me my deposit/ my agreed balance within 3 working days or I shall have no option but to pursue the issue through the small claims court, and will then need to include relevant costs for doing so plus any interest due on the balance owed.” (She is entitled to have the undisputed part of the deposit back immediately, as someone has already said, but she should confirm in writing that cashing any cheque does not constitute her acceptance of that amount in full and final settlement if she wants to challenge the LL over some or all of the balance)

All letters should be kept, together with any photos or notes on phone calls, including dates, who spoken to etc.

If your sister needs further help she could try the private sector housing team at the local council - Tenancy Relations Officer, who can liaise with the LL and help with letters if necessary. They can also tell you whether in their view it is valid to pursue the issue, in view of the information available to them at the time. There is no charge for their help.

calculatethis

Hi thanks for all the advice, I have e mailed the link to her.

We spoke last night, she has been trying to contact the EA who let the property to her, but the property manager is not returning her calls (maybe they are busy!!)

The property had storage heaters (the sort that "charge up" overnight then release the heat during the day) she kept these on in all of the rooms (except the kitchen)

The house had a back door which was regularly open whilst she was in the kitchen and the windows were the very old fashioned sash windows which just had a sort of top window bit that you wind down with a pull cord (she was trying to describe them to me)

In the main room there were 2 windows which were both painted gloss white. As she wiped up the condensation most days the paint did flake off, and thewindows underneath were rotten apparently. Even just after she moved in she said she used to find slug trails on the stairs and woodlice in the cupbaords so it sounds like the problems have been going on longer than 12 months.

The mould on the walls was in the 2 bedrooms, and she said she did have the veluxes open whenever she could.

She isnt disputing that the walls might need repainted due to mould spotting. (and she said she wished she had just painted emulsion herself before moving out)