Letting agents problems and DPS deposit

Hi all,  
I am having significant problems with the letting agents with regards to getting my deposit back for a flat I previously rented. My deposit is with the DPS, and I have rejected the offer the letting agents are willing to pay back. Thay are only offering me a third of a substantial deposit back.
A brief description of everything is that I was due to take a flat, but upon arriving down south on the day I was scheduled to move in, they said the flat was not ready. I was then offered another few flats and took the nicest of the bunch. However, the flat was extremely dirty when I moved in.
An inventory was done detailing the general condition of the place etc describing this. After the inventory was done I demanded the casrpets be cleaned whilst I was away with work. They were, but not very well. They inventory I had signed, of which I have an original copy, was then al;tered and a new one sent to me.
Anyway, upon leaving the flat I absolutely scrubbed the place and left it much cleaner that the original condition. The previous tenants, through a source, were given a full dps deposit back, despite leaving the place a dump. I now feel, that they are trying to recoup money from me for the state the flat was originally in.
Furthermore, they are claiming that I must pay for a new m,attress, whcih is years old(and described as being in poor condition in the original inventory), despite me only using it for 5 months. Surely I am not liable for the end of life of the mattress.?Furthermore, there were two lights described as being out of order in the original inventory.Theynever had bulbs in them and are claiming 30 for two bayonet cap bulbs that were never there.
They have offered to try and settle it before I reject the offer they have made with the dps. But I sincerely doubt they will move. I have photos of the original condition and the condition I left it in and am now of mind to let the DPS adjudicator deal with it, despite their decision being final.
ANy advice on how to deal with these monkeys.
Sorry for the ramblings, but I do not have internet access and will not be able to post for a few days.
 It is the landlords responsibility.
They are also claimimg 30 to move the mattress, 145 for cleaning the place, despite it being much cleaner than the original inventory and a whole host of other ****e.
Last thing, the original inventory was more general in describing the condition but  the check out one is far more detailed. Is this not unfair?
I will also be making a complaint to ARLA.

They'll fold quickly if you phone up and tell them you have photos of before and after and you're not going to just bend over and take it.  Failing that the DPS favour the tenant and you have more than enough evidence that the agent wouldn't stand a chance.  If you feel like having some fun go into their office at a very busy time and make enough of a fuss that other customers notice, that'll panic them

Useless agents are an absolute pain in neck, both from a landlord's perspective and from a tenants, so please do name and shame them.

My Journal

It's really unfair.

Unfortunately letting agents tend to have a policy of clawing back as much of a tenant's deposit as they can for whatever spurious reason they can conjure. They regard your deposit as their bonus.

I'm afraid all I can do is commiserate. They are scumbags. Fight them and keep us posted.

Not good news mate.  I've got a £1200 deposit down and starting to think now that I won't get it all back for whatever reason.

Also just got a letter from my letting agents - saying if I want to extend my contract past the 12 months coming up in May I need to pay a processing fee of £35 + VAT = £40.25.  This is company policy apparently.  Not much money but still, says nothing of this in my contract or any letters I'd previously received.  Takes the p1ss a little bit IMO.

mcl

Good post mouser! 

Hope this works out for you mate, my deposit of £450 is due back on Monday and I'm dreading having problems!

www.fingerpistol.co.uk

I am ****ing raging to put it mildly. I had to initiate the process with the DPS as they could not be bothered. I nearly exploded when I saw the offer of repayment they made despite me scrubbing the flat to within an inch of its life.
I am now buying a property as all the crap I have had to put up with just infuriates me.
I asked to be present at the check out inventory and they said ok, but never answered my phone calls to ascertain when this would occur. They then went ahead without me. What also makes things worse is that the original inventory was lost, and had to be redone afeter I had actually cleaned the flat. But this inventory does detail severe staining to the carpets and marks to the walls.
Furthermore, one of their monkeys fixed the bedroom wall during the year and painted part of it with a shade that does not match the original colour. In the check out inventory it details paint marks to the wall and they are claiming that it will have to be repainted at my expense!
They whole thing is laughable,yet I am burning with rage.

Does anyone else want some of my hard earned cash? How about I pay you to take it. 
One of the things i have noticed is that they reduced the monthly rent by £75 a month as they cocked up my original flat. The money the are claiming back is very similar to this!
 

JohnKerr2


It's really unfair.

Unfortunately letting agents tend to have a policy of clawing back as much of a tenant's deposit as they can for whatever spurious reason they can conjure. They regard your deposit as their bonus.

I'm afraid all I can do is commiserate. They are scumbags. Fight them and keep us posted.

^^This.  One of the places I rented was an absolute S-hole when I moved in - filthy carpets, paint everywhere, except strangely the walls.  It took a lot of work to get it fit for human habitation.  When I left I left the place immaculate except that I forgot to clean the top of the cooker, which I accepted I had.  They wanted to make a £120 deduction for this.  Took a lot of work to knock this down, together with mentioning video footage from the day I moved in and the day I moved out.  Parasites.

http://www.ugm.org.uk

Where the good stuff lives:   http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/postgrad/mathiii/
 
http://rightyrecomp.blogspot.com/
  

 

 

Ha I love letters like that!

www.fingerpistol.co.uk

I've rented three private properties in the past.

One was from a scumbag of a landlord, one from a scumbag of an agency and one from an absolute gent - who even knocked the rent down when my then g/f lost her job. He also used to insist we ate at his Italian restaurant free-of-charge. He was just a totally, thoroughly decent man.

A landlord who is human and not a **** is worth his weight in gold.

Where the good stuff lives:   http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/postgrad/mathiii/
 
http://rightyrecomp.blogspot.com/
  

 

 

Good letter. I hate when companies try to shaft the little people!

'Do not mistake my politeness for weakness' Ian 'The Machine' Freeman

I am a letting agent and i dont make a habit of claiming on deposits unless absolutely necessary I also use the DPS for my deposits. Contact the Agency with the above letter but also add a bit in about insisting on the case being taken to the Alternative Dispute Resolution Service (ADR) and allow them to decide the split.

If the inventory is as you said and you have pics they will not have a leg to stand on.

We have a couple of agencies in my town who are a nightmare when it comes to ripping off tenants and in my own favour i have aided at least 3 people in ensuring they are not ripped off!

"When you can't see the angles no more, you're in trouble." 
My Journal

Selecta


I am a letting agent and i dont make a habit of claiming on deposits unless absolutely necessary I also use the DPS for my deposits. Contact the Agency with the above letter but also add a bit in about insisting on the case being taken to the Alternative Dispute Resolution Service (ADR) and allow them to decide the split.

If the inventory is as you said and you have pics they will not have a leg to stand on.

We have a couple of agencies in my town who are a nightmare when it comes to ripping off tenants and in my own favour i have aided at least 3 people in ensuring they are not ripped off!

I'd argue against ADRS insistance at this stage mate - it just gives them another avenue to slide off up.

The letter I wrote above is designed to show them that getting cash from the tenant will be a protracted event as they'll be asked to justify their actions quoting relevant law each time - a) they won't know it b) it'll take too much time c) if they don't comply with the tenant's "reasonable request" for justification, that will turn an adjudicator or judge against them from the off.

Adding in an ADRS avenue only lets them avoid spending a lot of time in JUSTIFYING their actions.

Where the good stuff lives:   http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/postgrad/mathiii/
 
http://rightyrecomp.blogspot.com/
  

 

 

Hi righty,
Just a quick note of thanks for your succinct letter. I only get to post here once a week, hence the late reply.
With regards to the letter, I had no response whatsoever. After calling the letting agents it became apparent that they had only glanced at it. When I called, they actually thought I was a new tenant for the flat. Utter clowns.
I have taken a log of this and other communications with them. It is now going to the ADR, and I am currently awaiting the letting agent presenting evidence.
Does anyone have any tips with the ADR?
I am compiling a photographic logbook to invalidate their ridiculous claims. I will also be attaching the letter sent and the email read response from it.
I better get my money back.

Shazam!
Got the full deposit back, after sending out the world's longest and most expansive dossier. Photos, call logs, the works.
So, up yours Martin and Co. Utter Charlatans.
Adjudicators verdict was the best thing I have read in months.
Will never use a letting agency again. Time to buy.
Happy days!

Nice result mate

Nice one mate.
Shove it up them.

Where the good stuff lives:   http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/postgrad/mathiii/
 
http://rightyrecomp.blogspot.com/
  

 

 

Happened to me and my wife when we were renting once.

The flat was a pit when we started renting and hadn't been cleaned properly from the last tenants and over the year of living there, we decorated cleaned carpets, tiled etc etc without wanting or expecting the agency / landlord to pay.

Come departure, my wife cleaned from top to bottom, the place was spotless.  When the agency staff came around to peform a check, they found no significant problems and commented on how nice the place looked.

2 weeks later we received a letter and cheque for only half the deposit with an explanation that they were charging us a few hundred notes to clean the place.  Needless to say, we were livid.

I arranged a meeting with the agency manager and had to sit through her explaining to me that according to her staff, the place was dirty and needed significant cleaning....

Luckily, the wife is a lawyer so the next day she got her firm to write them a letter threatening court action.  Cheque for full amount came a couple of days after that.

cowards

I'm a Pharma Company's bitch

martin and co are a franchise as far as I know

I wish I was more attractive like Dagless.

ah good old blighty.  the haves and have nots.the landlords and the tenants...

HELLBOY..


Shazam!
Got the full deposit back, after sending out the world's longest and most expansive dossier. Photos, call logs, the works.
So, up yours Martin and Co. Utter Charlatans.
Adjudicators verdict was the best thing I have read in months.
Will never use a letting agency again. Time to buy.
Happy days!

Good job.

I'm in the midst of a similar battle. Scumbag landlord predictably made 'reasonable deductions' to our deposit for our last place. These included a princely £35 for the repair of a towel ring (a £1.99 Homebase item badly screwed to the side of bathroom unit) and £2.50 for each lightbulb that had burnt out. Most of the items were total lies. I will get my four-hundred quid back. It's just a matter of penmanship.

I rented a sh1thole in Kettering once.

The landlord was a right stuck-up cnut who used to make personal jibes which could easily have gotten him knocked out - ie you look more like a labourer than a bloke with a brain (and not said in a nice way either).

The place was a dump and the promised refurbs were never carried out.

Anyway, we bollocksed the carpet with a load of bleach so, on moving out, I put all our wordly possessions into a pile in the one room on top of the fciked carpet.

Got the deposit back, moved out, then he started phoning a day later telling me we'd wrecked the carpet (was threadbare anyway) and he was going to sue.

I had a good laugh down the phone at him, told him to have a nice day and enjoyed the rest of the evening bathed in a warm glow of immorally-gained oneupmanship.

Where the good stuff lives:   http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/postgrad/mathiii/
 
http://rightyrecomp.blogspot.com/
  

 

 

The place I rented I took over from my ex-partner - so no cleaning or inventory was taken. The landlord gave me my notice 18 months later, no explaination but lets just say the gossips had been at work. I had kept the flat really well, but just to prove a point I had the carpets steam-cleaned, and paid for a professional cleaning agency to come it. I also replaced anything that was damaged or "wear and tear" with items of superior quality.
 
They were probably expecting something different (according to rumour), what they got was a clean flat that was then gone over with a fine toothed comb.
 
My ex said I could keep the deposit since it we carried this forward from his tenancy, and I had paid almost the same to have the place sparkling. Annoying but was really chuffed when I got a letter thanking me for leaving the place so clean.
 
It was may way of saying stick your flat and the nosey neighbours.

I am not sponsored by anyone but I have now found a protein powder I really, really like!

^This begs obvious questions.
Please fill in the missing blank.

The gossips said ______ about me.

Where the good stuff lives:   http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/postgrad/mathiii/
 
http://rightyrecomp.blogspot.com/
  

 

 

Don't worry your little head and I was probably being paranoid they watched every one in that block.

I am not sponsored by anyone but I have now found a protein powder I really, really like!

Thing is, I now find it impossible to live in flats, or rented housing...  I hate that sense of people being all around me, struggling to make the rent, or people/banks getting rich because of me..

again on my list..  becoming homeless.  Doesn't scare me or worry me, just need to look into somewhere to store my stuff.  Alas these are also expensive.

rightyho


14 March, 2009

Dear Sirs,

This letter is to inform you that I reject your offer of settlement with regard to the return of my deposit ref: **flat address/letting agent reference**.

As you are aware, the flat was let to me in poor condition. This was documented in the original inventory.

The flat is being returned to you in significantly improved condition.

As I hope you are aware, being letting agents, the tenant's obligation is to deliver up the property in good condition. Exception is granted where, by mutual consent, an inventory, which can be taken to form part of a general schedule of conditions, is drawn up.

Such an inventory was drawn up and you should have a copy. I have mine.

Therefore, such anomolies as expecting me to pay for a new mattress when the initial inventory clearly identifies it as being in poor condition cannot have legal standing and will be disputed fully by myself and my agent.

Furthermore, your intention to recoup monies for items which were recorded as broken or not working in the original inventory does not have legal grounding - your attempt to launch an over-priced claim for two bayonet cap light bulbs being one such example.

And I reject, wholly, your intention to make me pay for sub-standard painting workmanship carried out under your instruction. Your issue regarding non-matching paint schemes is between yourself and the painter - the two parties within that contract.

There are numerous instances of case law, which have ruled in favour of the tenant, regarding such issues above.

I now ask that you either amend your offer fully in my favour or justify in accordance with law, and in detail, why you feel you are entitled to withhold part of my rent deposit.

Your letter will be forwarded to my legal representative.

I have dated photographs and an independent witness to call upon should the need arise in order to prove my case.

I await your reply.

Yours faithfully,

Mr *****

Big thanks for this one Righy!  I used it as the basis for a claim made by my last landlord for just over £1k, together with a line by line rebuttal of the 60 items he was claiming for.

Result:  Deposit back in full this morning with not even a wimper.  Didn't get a written applogy that I asked for though  But I haven't had to replace the missing door wedge that I did accept as legitimate

Wheels

A fully paid up spokesperson for Big Oil and board member for the illuminati, posting from a tropical tax haven.  Caution: Posts may not have any moral content.

LMAO

sticky thread for further use? lol

Or a rightyo sticky entitled "how to deal with fcukwits on a daily basis"

Zimmer fest continues!!!! Chevaliers de Sangreal!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5FyRZbqfeM 
 
 

 

john_cappa


LMAO

sticky thread for further use? lol

Or a rightyo sticky entitled "how to deal with fcukwits on a daily basis"

Not a bad business idea for him, a website perhaps.  Letters for all situations.

A fully paid up spokesperson for Big Oil and board member for the illuminati, posting from a tropical tax haven.  Caution: Posts may not have any moral content.

Wheels

rightyho


14 March, 2009

Dear Sirs,

This letter is to inform you that I reject your offer of settlement with regard to the return of my deposit ref: **flat address/letting agent reference**.

As you are aware, the flat was let to me in poor condition. This was documented in the original inventory.

The flat is being returned to you in significantly improved condition.

As I hope you are aware, being letting agents, the tenant's obligation is to deliver up the property in good condition. Exception is granted where, by mutual consent, an inventory, which can be taken to form part of a general schedule of conditions, is drawn up.

Such an inventory was drawn up and you should have a copy. I have mine.

Therefore, such anomolies as expecting me to pay for a new mattress when the initial inventory clearly identifies it as being in poor condition cannot have legal standing and will be disputed fully by myself and my agent.

Furthermore, your intention to recoup monies for items which were recorded as broken or not working in the original inventory does not have legal grounding - your attempt to launch an over-priced claim for two bayonet cap light bulbs being one such example.

And I reject, wholly, your intention to make me pay for sub-standard painting workmanship carried out under your instruction. Your issue regarding non-matching paint schemes is between yourself and the painter - the two parties within that contract.

There are numerous instances of case law, which have ruled in favour of the tenant, regarding such issues above.

I now ask that you either amend your offer fully in my favour or justify in accordance with law, and in detail, why you feel you are entitled to withhold part of my rent deposit.

Your letter will be forwarded to my legal representative.

I have dated photographs and an independent witness to call upon should the need arise in order to prove my case.

I await your reply.

Yours faithfully,

Mr *****

Big thanks for this one Righy!  I used it as the basis for a claim made by my last landlord for just over £1k, together with a line by line rebuttal of the 60 items he was claiming for.

Result:  Deposit back in full this morning with not even a wimper.  Didn't get a written applogy that I asked for though  But I haven't had to replace the missing door wedge that I did accept as legitimate

Wheels

Glad it was useful, mate.
He billed you for a door wedge? LMFAO.
Now you have your cash back:

Dear Landlord,
Many thanks for amending your claim in my favour.
In truth, you had no option but it is extremely gratifying for the "small man" to shove one up the jacksy of commercial enterprise.
I would like to thank you for your lenience regarding the door stopper - I appreciate times are hard and 49p could have made all the difference to you.
However, please accept the genetic material left on your curtains following a particularly inspired thrap over "Big Boobs 24" as alternative recompense.
Yours, with 49p to spend later on,
Your former tenant,

Where the good stuff lives:   http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/postgrad/mathiii/
 
http://rightyrecomp.blogspot.com/
  

 

 

rightyho

Glad it was useful, mate.
He billed you for a door wedge? LMFAO.
Now you have your cash back:

Dear Landlord,
Many thanks for amending your claim in my favour.
In truth, you had no option but it is extremely gratifying for the "small man" to shove one up the jacksy of commercial enterprise.
I would like to thank you for your lenience regarding the door stopper - I appreciate times are hard and 49p could have made all the difference to you.
However, please accept the genetic material left on your curtains following a particularly inspired thrap over "Big Boobs 24" as alternative recompense.
Yours, with 49p to spend later on,
Your former tenant,

Door wedge, replacement xmas tree (a dead one was on the balcony when I moved in), scratches on the letter flap, a missing cap from a clothes airer, missing NTL box (he wanted £120 for that), holes dilled by an electrican replacing the main switch board, replacement of all the curtains and blinds (the ones in place where 20+ years old).

And last but not least, full cleaning after the place was pro. cleaned and all of the carpet stains and the filth that was there when I moved in had been removed.

Very annoying indead.  I'm a landlord myself with 3 places let and I've never tried this kind of nonsense.  The tenant needs to do some actual damage to make it right IMO.

The funny thing is, if he had tried for a hundred or so for minor things I most likely would have accepted just to get the bulk back (bond was £1,500).  Show just how out of order he was to go from the thick end of a grand to nothing without any kind of cospondance.

I'll send the replacement door wedge, I'm always good to my word

A fully paid up spokesperson for Big Oil and board member for the illuminati, posting from a tropical tax haven.  Caution: Posts may not have any moral content.