[Deeksie]

Hi, my first post!

I'm a second year and am about to move out of my first house and so we had a meeting with our landlord today. He said he was going to take £25 out of each of our deposits (£100 in total) to clean the house. He then added that the house had been spotless before we arrived at the beginning of the year as he had had a cleaner in and so this was reasonable.

However, the house certainly had not been cleaned when we arrived. My house mate arrived first with his parents, and they spent nearly the whole day cleaning the house! According to them there was meat still left in the freezer, half bottles of alcohol around, dirty carpets etc. I arrived soon after, and it took me two hours to hover the house properly. There were bent staples embedded in the carpet of one of the rooms which I stepped on whilst cleaning; it made my foot bleed. I also found a hand-made 21st birthday present along with various biological remains from the previous tenants.

We relayed this to him, but he said that he inspected it himself before we arrived and that he does not believe us. My house mates and I had a fairly heated discussion for a while about the state of the house upon entry, but he was insistent it had been spotless when we arrived. Stating "I don't care what you say." Ironically the first time he entered the house while we were there he commented on how clean the house was.

Unfortunately neither myself or my house mates had the forethought to take pictures upon entry to the house, and therefore we don't have any solid proof. That said the parents of the house mate who arrived first are very reliable people, and would be willing to testify to the poor state of the house upon entry.

I realise that £25 each is not that significant. But the thought that our current Landlord may take £100 off each years tenants on the false premise of getting a cleaner frustrates me.

If we cannot settle the dispute ourselves then we may have to rely on the deposit scheme that our money is supposed to be held in. Has anyone got any experience with this? If this fails is it a good idea to pursue him through small claims court?

Cheers!

[Shomberlon]

I'd call his bluff on the deposit scheme, did you receive paperwork to say it was in the scheme? If not then the chance are he didn't put it in.
If that is the case then you can threaten to report him as failing to deposit the deposit can result in up to 3x your deposit being paid to each of you.


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[Deeksie]

No, we didn't receive paperwork. I'll look into it, I had an inkling that might have happened.

Thanks for the really useful reply!

[Bobifier]

Did you take photos or fill in an inventory/review of the house when you first arrived?

[Deeksie]

No we didn't unfortunately. Wish we had now; I've certainly learnt for next year!

[GPH92]

Couldnt you lie and say you HAVE pictures of the house before you moved in ? might get some reaction.

[Deeksie]

I could, but that wouldn't be the truth, and the reason I'm annoyed is because he isn't being truthful. Telling lies would also lessen the likelihood we would be believed in court if it goes that far.

I have checked out the deposit, and while he should have given us paperwork and hasn't, it turns out the deposit is with the DPS.

[tsnake23]

(Original post by Deeksie)
No we didn't unfortunately. Wish we had now; I've certainly learnt for next year!

Its completely up to your landlord to prove that the property was clean before. If you haven't signed an inventory which clearly details the condition of the house then its your landlord's problem - your not the one that has to prove it.

The way forward here is to firstly check your deposit is in a deposit protection scheme and if you have been provided information about it. If your landlord hasn't then he's in deep **** as he legally has to and you can possibly claim compensation from him if he hasn't.

If it has, then you need to start a claim with the deposit protection scheme requesting your full deposit. You will be able to do this via the deposit scheme website (there's 3 different ones it could be). If your landlord doesn't agree then he will have to submit conclusive evidence that the property was clean before (e.g. an inventory detailing cleanliness signed by yourself and the landlord). If he doesn't have this then the deposit protection scheme adjudicator will almost certainly rule in favour of you and you get your full deposit back.

[Labqueen]

It would have been an obvious lie anyway. Saying after the fact that you had photographs to prove the condition of the house would only make him ask to see them, he would be aware that if you did have this evidence it would have the first thing you presented to him, not simply tried to argue the fact.

At present it is just his word against yours. However it may be that he is seeing a group of young people who he knows are not familiar in dealing with landlords. What I would suggest is asking the parent who you said was there and had also seen the state of it to contact the landlord and for them to speak with him. Having the landlord deal with someone who he may view as more equal might make him back down, as then he may view it as adult against adult, not adult against child.

You could also ask the landlord to show receipts he was given from the professional cleaners he used before you were given the keys.

[Deeksie]

Thank-you tsnake23 and Labqueen, great advice. We're certainly lacking in experience.

I have asked my house mate who arrived first to get his parents to contact the landlord. I'm hoping that he does back down. If he doesn't I think our testimony + that of my house mates parents, along with our landlords lack of evidence should be enough to convince the DPS to give us our full deposits back.

I asked yesterday by text about records of the cleaners he hired, he hasn't replied.

Thank-you again!

[tsnake23]

You can submit a claim for your full deposit right now on the DPS website: http://www.depositprotection.com You just need your claim ID.

The landlord will have 14 days to respond to your claim. Its worth doing it ASAP so the landlord understands your intentions doesn't keep delaying.

[Shomberlon]

(Original post by Deeksie)
I could, but that wouldn't be the truth, and the reason I'm annoyed is because he isn't being truthful. Telling lies would also lessen the likelihood we would be believed in court if it goes that far.

I have checked out the deposit, and while he should have given us paperwork and hasn't, it turns out the deposit is with the DPS.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_ad...ection_schemes

Here you go, watch him buckle now scroll down to the part that says Penalties after your tenancy has ended

[Deeksie]

Wow...we can take him to court for not providing the information about the deposit, that's really helpful. Thanks.

How do I go about getting our claim ID? Should our agent be able to get it?

Thanks again.

[Shomberlon]

(Original post by Deeksie)
Wow...we can take him to court for not providing the information about the deposit, that's really helpful. Thanks.

How do I go about getting our claim ID? Should our agent be able to get it?

Thanks again.

Ask your agent, if they don't have it then the chances are it was never put in the scheme, the fact that you didn't receive any written confirmation from those that run the scheme say to me that it was never put in, I got a letter with all the information on.


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[Deeksie]

The DPS website allows you to check if money has been placed in the scheme, and so I checked and got a positive hit. It is in there, but the fact we didn't receive any information from it is suspicious. I will make sure that we haven't received anything and then I will file a complaint with the DPS.

Thanks once again. You guys are really helpful + supportive.

[Deeksie]

I have sent the following email to my landlord (bare in mind I'm an Engineering student...so writing is not my strongest point):

Dear XXXXXX,

I have checked with XXXXXX about this, and he claims that he never found the Deposit ID on entry to the house, are you able to supply it yourself? We also have no record of you telling us that you had placed the Deposit ID in the house, which is odd considering the importance of this information. In addition the DPS terms and condtions state:

"The Landlord has a statutory obligation to provide the Tenant(s) with the
Prescribed Information within 30 days from receipt of the Deposit. The
Landlord must give the Tenant(s) the opportunity to check and sign the
Prescribed Information by way of confirmation that it is correct."

"Prescribed Information means the information which must be provided by
the Landlord to Tenant(s) in accordance with the Housing (Tenancy Deposits)
Prescribed Information Order 2007"


A notable inclusion of the "prescribed information" is as follows:

"-confirmation (in the form of a certificate signed by the landlord) that:
----the information he provides under this sub-paragraph is accurate to the best of his knowledge and belief; and
----he has given the tenant the opportunity to sign any document containing the information provided by the landlord under this article by way of confirmation that the information is accurate to the best of his knowledge and belief."

To the best of our knowledge we have not received the certificate described above. Further more myself nor my house mates recall a time where we have had the opportunity to check and sign the prescribed information (which includes our contact details) in order to confirm it is correct.

The DPS website has a feature which allows confirmation that they have our deposit. The website confirms that they do have our deposit, but with XXXXXX as the lead tenant, not XXXXXX, who you claimed to be lead tenant on the 10th June. The DPS terms and conditions state that the DPS will contact the lead tenant on receipt of the deposit, either by email or by letter if no email address has been given. XXXXXX has not received a letter or an email from the DPS. I have asked all my house mates if they have received any information at all from the DPS; none have. I therefore think it reasonable to believe that it is likely the information given to the DPS regarding the tenants of Gilesgate Bank 134 was incorrect.

All of our peers who have used the DPS claim to have experiences that match up with the extracts from the DPS terms and conditions I used in this email. Thus we are concerned about the handling of our deposit. If you do not provide information in one form or another that abolishes our concerns we will have no option but to take action. At first through the DPS, and, if necessary, through the small claims court.

I am not currently in a position to be able to confirm if XXXXXX and XXXXXX have now paid their rent. But I would hope and expect that by now they have. I strongly dislike sending messages of this type, but our meeting on the 10th of June made me reconsider how much trust I should be placing in you. I am sure that if you imagine yourself in our position you can understand why we feel this is necessary. I sincerely hope that everything is as it should be and openly accept that our concerns may well be undeserved.

Regards,
XXXXXX

[Shomberlon]

(Original post by Deeksie)
I have sent the following email to my landlord (bare in mind I'm an Engineering student...so writing is not my strongest point):

Dear XXXXXX,

I have checked with XXXXXX about this, and he claims that he never found the Deposit ID on entry to the house, are you able to supply it yourself? We also have no record of you telling us that you had placed the Deposit ID in the house, which is odd considering the importance of this information. In addition the DPS terms and condtions state:

"The Landlord has a statutory obligation to provide the Tenant(s) with the
Prescribed Information within 30 days from receipt of the Deposit. The
Landlord must give the Tenant(s) the opportunity to check and sign the
Prescribed Information by way of confirmation that it is correct."

"Prescribed Information means the information which must be provided by
the Landlord to Tenant(s) in accordance with the Housing (Tenancy Deposits)
Prescribed Information Order 2007"


A notable inclusion of the "prescribed information" is as follows:

"-confirmation (in the form of a certificate signed by the landlord) that:
----the information he provides under this sub-paragraph is accurate to the best of his knowledge and belief; and
----he has given the tenant the opportunity to sign any document containing the information provided by the landlord under this article by way of confirmation that the information is accurate to the best of his knowledge and belief."

To the best of our knowledge we have not received the certificate described above. Further more myself nor my house mates recall a time where we have had the opportunity to check and sign the prescribed information (which includes our contact details) in order to confirm it is correct.

The DPS website has a feature which allows confirmation that they have our deposit. The website confirms that they do have our deposit, but with XXXXXX as the lead tenant, not XXXXXX, who you claimed to be lead tenant on the 10th June. The DPS terms and conditions state that the DPS will contact the lead tenant on receipt of the deposit, either by email or by letter if no email address has been given. XXXXXX has not received a letter or an email from the DPS. I have asked all my house mates if they have received any information at all from the DPS; none have. I therefore think it reasonable to believe that it is likely the information given to the DPS regarding the tenants of Gilesgate Bank 134 was incorrect.

All of our peers who have used the DPS claim to have experiences that match up with the extracts from the DPS terms and conditions I used in this email. Thus we are concerned about the handling of our deposit. If you do not provide information in one form or another that abolishes our concerns we will have no option but to take action. At first through the DPS, and, if necessary, through the small claims court.

I am not currently in a position to be able to confirm if XXXXXX and XXXXXX have now paid their rent. But I would hope and expect that by now they have. I strongly dislike sending messages of this type, but our meeting on the 10th of June made me reconsider how much trust I should be placing in you. I am sure that if you imagine yourself in our position you can understand why we feel this is necessary. I sincerely hope that everything is as it should be and openly accept that our concerns may well be undeserved.

Regards,
XXXXXX

Hope you get all of your deposit back, I'm sure the email is enough to scare him into not trying to con you


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[Deeksie]

Thanks Shomberlon. I still feel I might have a fight (the metaphorical sort hopefully) ahead of me, but we'll see. I'll post when everything is sorted as best as possible and let you know of the result. Thanks so much for the help!

[Shomberlon]

(Original post by Deeksie)
Thanks Shomberlon. I still feel I might have a fight (the metaphorical sort hopefully) ahead of me, but we'll see. I'll post when everything is sorted as best as possible and let you know of the result. Thanks so much for the help!

Well I hope things get sorted quickly, don't let him bully or threaten you. Either way he's in the wrong whether he's not put the deposit in the scheme or he hasn't given you the details


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[Deeksie]

Hi guys,

Had the last meeting with our landlord today. We'd cleaned the house because we think that's a nice thing to do for next years tenants. He said it was "spot on" and so he agreed that we get our full deposits back minus £40 (£10 each) for a fire extinguisher one of my house mates knocked of the wall. I think that's fair, although annoying that our claims to the houses original condition weren't vindicated.

Still, overall much better result than starting a dispute through the DPS or going to court.

I'll take photos before I leave in case he changes his mind.

Thanks for all the help, I wouldn't be surprised if he'd acted very differently today if I hadn't have used all your advice. :-)

Thanks again!