Getting scammed out of my deposit?

from what i understand, you would have to replace the whole carpet, otherwise it would look mismatched etc.

It also depends on the size of the carpet and where they get the carpet from.

they would also then have to employ somebody to fit the carpet.

Remember that they legally have to put the deposit into a deposit assurance scheme (something along those lines) so they don't actually have the money - it's held by a third party and they will moderate in disputes. Unite can't just say that's what they're going to charge and leave it as your problem.

A very similar thing happened to me with Unite, where I was charged for damage I didn't commit, which was present when I moved in. Ring up the halls and explain that you had nothing to do with it. When i rang and complained that didn't charge me, so it couldn't do any harm trying that?

When I lived in halls, I was charged for damage to a room that I had never even entered. I told them this and said that if they could prove I'd been in the room (CCTV) I would pay the fine, and I never got a reply.

I think you'll have agreed to something along the lines of "any damage you cause will be taken from your deposit at the end of the year" but it's unfair that you end up paying for things which you had absolutely nothing to do with.

from what i understand, you would have to replace the whole carpet, otherwise it would look mismatched etc.

It also depends on the size of the carpet and where they get the carpet from.

they would also then have to employ somebody to fit the carpet.

Thanks! that's really helpful, I don't know which scheme it's in though, I've checked on mydeposits.com and my deposit is covered by them but I'm not too sure about it all from a legal perspective, I'll have to do some more reading.

In the block I was living in last year a fire extinguisher was tampered with and because no one owned up it looked like everyone would have to pay for it - my flat and the one opposite us got out of it because we e-mailed to complain that as we were on the ground floor and the extinguisher in question was on the first floor we were not in a relevant area.

Think your best bet is to negotiate the cost, perhaps do some reading up online and see if you could find a cheaper quote for the carpet getting refitted?

I think legally they have to inform you which scheme your deposit's being held with, so you should have some paperwork about it already. Otherwise try giving them a ring - if they're obstructive and refuse to tell you or let you know what the dispute resolution scheme is then it will look very bad on them if/when it goes to arbitration.

I got stung (luckily not for much) the year before the deposit protection scheme came in, I was pretty mad - the house was in a terrible state when we got there, we cleaned it, fixed things and generally left it much better than when we arrived and still got fined!

That is really bad, I'm hoping that they are a large enough company not to be pernickety about it but I might be wrong. I'll be calling up later today anyway to see what they say.

I wasn't sure if this was the right place for it but I lived in UNITE student accommodation in Liverpool this year and we have just been informed about how much of the £250 deposit we each got back. We have each had £92.50 kept from our deposits to replace a communal carpet with an iron burn on it, which I had no knowledge of.

Now I cannot say for the fourth person in our flat as she was Chinese and didn't talk much but two of us left in May and the fault we have been charged for was not there when we left. I haven't managed to get in contact with the third person yet, we are good friends so I assume she would be honest with me about if she had burnt the carpet and would pay more for it.

The question I had, however, was not about whether there was a burn in the carpet, as the third person had in fact ironed in there before, whereas the rest of us ironed in our rooms, but whether the typical UNITE carpet would really cost £370 to replace and whether in fact you would need to replace the whole carpet at all?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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This is a bit off topic but I'm in UNITE halls next year in Liverpool. Any chance you can tell me what property you're in? I'm staying at Capital Gate.