L withholds deposit, perhaps unprotected, and claims T's breach

[theothersideofthestoy]

Hi all,

(sorry for the long post)

I have been placed in a situation where I am unsure what move I should make. I have spoke to my local CAB for legal advice and was told that I shoudl take the landlord to coutny court, for breach of agreement.

We moved into our propery by paying a deposit and signing a lease online. The tenancy document stated that our deposit will be held within a deposit protection scheme but we were never given the name of the oganisation. We were later assured that it was in a protection scheme. Because we did not not the laws on letting we just assumed that the landlord or agent would take care of it all. We are unsure where our deposit is even though the landlord states it is within a deposit scheme which he will not be giving back for us because of damage to the property.

During the time at the property there was alot of dampness which has caused some damange within the property (floors, walls, ect), to which under our undestand is not because of anything we could have done.

Now we have moved out and recieved a letter and inventory from the landlord stating that we will not recieve our deposit and requesting more money for damage of the property along with other untrue claims with a 'filty property' (as she states).

Im not sure what my rights are or what I should do as we did not sign an agreement about the inventory or state of the property. We did recieve an inventory via email after we moved in though. The landlord is stating that we have ruined the property and furnishings which will need to be redecorated and furnishings fixed which is untrue.

How can we dispute this matter...the advice given to me was to take him to county court since we were never given the information about the deposit being protected even if it is actaully protected, we should have recieved some sort of certificate or writing to notify where it is located.

Should we try to contact the agent (AGAIN) to see if they will let us know who the organisation is (if there is one)..or should we just make a claim with the county court?

[westminster]

Im not sure what my rights are or what I should do as we did not sign an agreement about the inventory or state of the property. We did recieve an inventory via email after we moved in though. The landlord is stating that we have ruined the property and furnishings which will need to be redecorated and furnishings fixed which is untrue. LL must prove the alleged damage, and without an inventory signed by you at the start of the tenancy, showing the original condition, he will struggle to prove such allegations.


How can we dispute this matter...the advice given to me was to take him to county court since we were never given the information about the deposit being protected even if it is actaully protected, we should have recieved some sort of certificate or writing to notify where it is located.

Should we try to contact the agent (AGAIN) to see if they will let us know who the organisation is (if there is one)..or should we just make a claim with the county court?
Call all three of the deposit schemes, and ask if they are protecting the deposit. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/DG_066391

If it is protected, raise a dispute with the scheme, and the matter will probably be settled via their adjudication service.

If it isn't protected, issue a claim via Money Claim Online against the landlord (not the agent) for return of the deposit. It will then be up to the landlord to prove they are entitled to keep your deposit (and it sounds like they won't succeed).

It is inadvisable to issue a claim for non-compliance with deposit protection without first seeking specialist legal advice. This is because non-compliance claims are not allocated to the small claims track, but to the multi-track, where court fees are high (£1,000 for the hearing alone), and you are exposed to the defendant's legal costs. It's also possible you may lose if the landlord either returns the deposit or protects it late (meaning you could end up having to pay all the court fees plus the LL's legal costs). See http://blog.painsmith.co.uk/2009/05/21/proper-place-for-tds-claims/

[justaboutsane]

Call all three schemes and see if your deposit is listed. If not write a letter before action stating you will sue for the return of the deposit. Give a time limit.

If it is in a scheme let them know you are disputing the deposit being handed over to the LL

[theothersideofthestoy]

I posted a thread a week or so back about landlord and Estate Agents holding deposit.


Basically landlord says that the condensation and dampness to floors are our fault and he is also requesting that we pay for extra cleaning, damage (that was there when we moved in) and replacment of items that he gave us permission to throw out.

After recieving false claims about the damage and cleaning issue (which we see as normal wear and tear or either items already damaged when moved in)

Asked Landlord for the infromation of the scheme that my deposit was being held and he stated that he didnt know and to ask the agent...moved on toe ask the agents and they said they would get it to me asap but they still havent given me the infromation although they stated that it was put into a custodial scheme when we first moved in. We however never recieved any documentation. It has been almost 2 weeks and when I asked the EA again they said they were waiting for photos of the property to decide how how to move forward.

There has been no communication with Landlorda nd Agents since then althought I have send several emails stating that we would take the matter to small claims court if they did not show some sort of proof that the deposit was in a scheme. We also let them know that we were very upset with the photos and 'iventory report'that the landlord sent, stating that we were filthy tennants.

Let me say that we left the property very clean with a few minor mishaps (not a perfectly clean washing machine, oven or defrost freezer) We are more then happy to pay for the supplies and time that it took for the landlord to clean these items..as we agree that those items were not at top notch although they were fairly clean.

My question is... what are our rights with this situation, and what should we do at this point...oh I forgot to mention we never signed a move in inventory or had a proper walk through of the property. The exit iventory however was done by the landlord which we didnt know about so wasnt present. He has now produced a list of damages and asking for more money on top of our £1,400 deposit.:eek:

[westminster]

My advice is the same as last week.

[Snorkerz]

1) Find out if it IS in a scheme - this form will send an email to all 3 (they'll take a couple of days to reply)
http://www.snorkerz.com/deposit.html

2) If it is protected, visit the schemes website and find out how their arbitration scheme works - and submit an objection to your landlords proposed deductions

3) If not protected, send a leter like this (but read the notes that acompany it) http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/residential-commercial-lettings/232265-trouble-landlord-deposit.html#post2576374

In either 2) or 3) you should not suffer any deductions for damage due to the lack of signed inventory. The basic principal is that the deposit is YOUR money and the landlord has to PROVE any damages were caused by you - that will be very difficult without the inventory. In any case, you would only be liable for a small percentage - you would not be expected to pay for a new carpet if the damaged one was 5 years old.

[theothersideofthestoy]

Thanks for the link snorkerz. I am waiting to see if my deposit is within one of those schemes. I have however already sent a letter basically saying what was stated in the link you posted, sent 3 days ago...Ive yet to recieve a response from them.