Tenant help please?

[highlander317]

Hi and thanks for reading this.

Last May, myself and partner and then only child decided to move on from a letting managed by a local estate agents. We gave all the correct notice and received confirmation back etc.

We moved out early May '09 returning the keys a few days before we were due to and waited for the agents to contact us regarding the deposit held with a deposit company, and how we would be getting it.

Anyway nearly a year on we still don't have our deposit.

It took the agents nearly 2 months for them to respond to any calls or letters sent to them, and when they finally did we couldn't believe it. A huge list of damages and annomalies was emailed to us made by the agents "inspector" the she had found after entering after we had moved out.
The majority of the alleged annomalies were in fact lies ie: main bedroom carpet was not fitted correctly with what can only be described as some skirting board bridging the gap between the wall and carpet end, yet on viewing the property we stated that this carpet and others needed to be replaced due to pet soilage and was made days before we moved in by the agents "workforce". Other annomalies also included replacing the other carpets in 2nd b/room and hallway due to pet soilage and permission was granted on both occassions. The list goes on.....

The damage and annomalies totaled to just over our damage deposit of £650 which we found laughable. We replied via letter (recorded) and email disputing the alleged problems the same day.

The L has decided that the DPS dispute solution is not the way forward and thats here it pretty much stopped.

Until i saw CAB and was given a solicitor to help and write letters, yet we still have pretty much hit a brick wall. The agents say they can only pass on correspondance to the L and will not provide his address to us or solicitor and want no further dealings with us. We have also asked the solicitor to ask the agents for a copy of inventory before and after, and a copy of pics taken as mentioned in the damage report, yet still nothing.

So nearly a year on and getting fairly fed up of it and refusing to walk away from £650 i did a search today about deposit and L addresses etc.
At no point did the agents give us L's address on any documents ever just said c/o agents, i've read thats illegal? and also they are a member of what was the OEA and now the IPOS and how they failed to offer us to inspect with them, and never having an inventory before or after. Better still we had quarterly checks by the "inspector" who never mentioned anything was wrong but has forgotten the complaints we made about things like leaking windows etc.

Anyone help? or some advice? the solicitor was writing 1 more letter asking for photos and inventory but if the agents have broken the law....?

Sorry for the length and i tried to shortened it lol

Cheers

[P.Pilcher]

The agents have not broken the law, just been a little economic with the truth. Was an inventory prepared, signed by you when you moved in. If not then the landlord hasn't a leg to stand on, and if you have written evidence of the matters you have mentioned above, then you, or your solicitor should commence small claims court action to retrieve your deposit.

P.P.

[highlander317]

No inventory was made or seen or signed by the 2 of us, before or after we moved out. The agents never conacted us to let us know about the alleged damages for us to have the option to do anything about it and just went ahead and made alterations and then try charging us for it all. We have kept all correspondance we have made to agents and from the solicitors and receipts for things that were bought for the property that were missing when we moved in like a fence panel on the patio and power for masthead amp.
The previous tenant died not in the property but during his tenancy. No effort was made to clean during the vacant period and any works/repairs/ painting was made the day before we moved in. I remember opening the wooden stained front door and ripping off the wood stain around the edges because it was closed when still wet. The oddest thing they are claiming for is a battery powered door bell that we took down and placed in the loft along with other LL or previous Ts stuff, the door bell had about 3 meters of cable leading to the front door leading through the door frame to a door bell which was a wireless sort. They to this day still think the both units magically work together yet never will in a million years! lol

Im now unemployed so dont have a great amount of spare cash, am i able to add other costs to my claim if it goes to court? We had 2 years interest on our deposit and whilst it might not amount to much i want to hurt both the agents and the LL as much as possible for wasting my time for so long. How much is going to small claims likely to cost?

Cheers for the help

[jeffrey]

'Highlander': this property is in England & Wales, not Scotland, isn't it?

[highlander317]

yes i,m in england the highlander is reference to a film i like not thr highlands lol

You're not first to think that