The GF and I are moving back in to our flat having been let out (2 sets of tenants) for about 3 yrs.

We’ve come back to (aside from poor cleaning and general poor effort to report problems) damage to doors (big cracks through woodwork) and burn marks on the kitchen surface.

Do any other landlords (reluctant or otherwise) have advice for this situation?

The agency is getting the ball rolling by informing the tenants that we intend to retain some of the damage deposit (within the 10 days allowed by the DPS). We don’t know how much the repairs could cost yet.

Yes a few years ago I with held a deposit when I discovered the tenant rebuilding a motorcyle engine on my lounge carpet!

Can you prove it was the 2nd lot of tenants, not the first lot that caused the damage?

I carry out Inspections for Letting agents, So do the Initial Inventory to set a benchmark for condition.
Then depending on the agent I also carry out midterm inspections every 4 to 6months again to check condition, report faults,etc.
And finally a Check/Moving out inspection where the current condition is compared to the original inventory.

All of the above is accompanied with Photographic evidence.

IFyour agent has done the above then there should be no issue with retaining some or all of the deposit to cover rectification costs.

Where you start struggling is a lot of agents have only done a very basic Inventory which is pretty much no more than a list with only a cursory check of initial condition and no photos.

Following on from that some do not do any ongoing checks, or just turn up do a quick walk round and bugger off again, only noting something if it stands out like a sore thumb.

With that kind of poor documentation it basically becomes your word against the tenants.
From my experience the big national Letting agents are the worst for poor documentation.

What unovolo said really. If the letting agency have done their job and have a spot on inventory with written details, pictures (and I like a walk through video as well, but not necessary) then there is no problem just may take a while if the tenants disagree.

Have the tenants vacated the property?
Have the the letting agents performed a detailed check out?

If the letting agents have let you down it might be worth putting pressure on them. After all if you have paid for a service (property management), why should you foot the bill for others mistakes.

I thought it was standard policy for landlords to withhold some deposit regardless of the state the house was left in to avoid paying to sort out normal wear and tear from their own pocket? I have had a landlord take money out of our deposit for every wear and tear related spend (worn window latches, new parts for the Hoover they provided and, most annoyingly to install blinds when there weren’t any there before). Since you seem to have a genuine claim you should be fine.

On the flipside. Letting agent told my sis in law that the landlord wanted £100 extra a month. She decided to look elsewhere. By a freak coincidence she got talking to him and it was news to him. By then she’d already paid etc for a new place and.. her deposit? Watch this space. OP watch the shiesters

I thought it was standard policy for landlords to withhold some deposit regardless of the state the house was left in to avoid paying to sort out normal wear and tear from their own pocket?

It’s about as standard practise as all tennants being complete chavs with no respect for other people’s property.

People don’t have their decency gene removed when they become landlords you know.

Any landlords had to try and get deposit back from DPS without co-operation of the ex-tenant?
I have the form but it needs to be witnessed by a solicitor, wondering how much they might charge me for this!

Tenant cleared off owing rent, left 2 rooms full of crappy furniture for me to dispose of, everything filthy and looks like he was subletting to a bunch of ‘blokes with vans’ to quote the neighbour. It’s not always the tenant who get the shitty end of the deal – plenty of bad tenants out there (about 50% in my experience)

Sorry for the slight hi-jack!

The safe deposit scheme is ment to be a fairer system, ime it is a ball ache to claim back money as the landlord.

We had a Tennant leave large stains in the carpets, trip all power to the flat by steaming the kitchen up so much water was running down the walls and went into the radio. And didn’t clean the place for 6 months. We tried to claim for £80 for the radio and carpet cleaning and got no where.

All costs a are proportional against wear and tear and without documented and photographic evidence of before and after you could find it tricky to get a fair deal if thhey object.

Good luck.

Back in the days when I used to rent I almost never got the full deposit back, despite spotless clean state. Had charge for cleaning carpets and curtain despite having had them cleaned already. Argued and they said it’s standard policy for them to clean them.

Usually was through agents though.

We evicted a tenant for non payment of rent but still had to go back to court to get a court order to release the deposit back to us even though we can a debt order from the court.

I’ve kept most of a deposit in the past due to damage and rent arrears. Turns out one of the tenants had left early and decided that the other guy would tidy/clean the place before leaving, which he didn’t.

After discussions with both tenants and provision of evidence they accepted the decision.

Usually try and get in to see my tenants before they move out to point out where I’d expect them to do some work and what I’ll accept. It then makes the exit inventory less painful as we’ve all got a handle on what’s likely to be a problem and what deductions you’ll make.

I don’t penalise for wear and tear but deliberate damage does get penalised.

It’s much harder for the landlord to keep the deposit now as it has to be held by a 3rd party deposit company, who won’t just give it to the landlord without the renter’s permission or a court order.

my OH claimed on the DPS after a tenant threw a glass of red wine over the middle of a brand new cream carpet and then left it to sink in / stain. At checkout this was raised with the tenant who then hired a carpet cleaning machine and tried to do a “diy” clean that resulted in the whole carpet being stained a dark grey colour because the machine was dirty.

After a lot of back and forwards the DPS would only allow the cost of 1m2 of carpet to be withheld so my OH had to pony up the cost of an entirely new carpet.

Usually was through agents though.

Thats the thing. How many of the owners actually saw these ‘charges’?

I rented a city centre flat for 6months. At checkout I was invoiced for various cleaning charges to the tune of £250 plus vat. One notable charge was £60 to clean the toilet as it wasn’t clean around the sides apparently. I went in daily to question this- the charges dropped and dropped.

We’d cleaned the flat (it was tiny and a new build) ourselves and its obvious if anything stood out. They simply wanted £250+vat in their pockets.

When we moved in the place was dirty.

Thats the thing. How many of the owners actually saw these ‘charges’?

They also probably told the Landlord that they had to pay to clean it themselves and thus charged the Landlord £250.

Basically letting agents are just scum. Wife is always querying random fees which just appear on invoices for work that never needed doing.

Thats the thing. How many of the owners actually saw these ‘charges’?

They also probably told the Landlord that they had to pay to clean it themselves and thus charged the Landlord £250 as well, pocketing £500!

Basically letting agents are just scum. Wife is always querying random fees which just appear on invoices for work that never needed doing.

Im on the flip side of this right now, sorry for the hijack but after advice.

We are at the end of an AST, have been there 4 years, the landlord didn’t put the deposit in the DPS. I don’t remember an inventory or anything like that being done. Private landlord.

He has been lax with regard to fixing things as they come up, there are now loads of things that will all need tidying up/fixing when we leave as we have pointed them all out to him and only the more major ones ever get fixed.

Our 4 weeks paid in advance runs out today, we have agreed with him that we wont pay anything for july but will remain at the place until the 18th, paid for out of the deposit, that still leaves around £900 worth of deposit unaccounted for.

In the last month or so I have painted a couple of rooms with the left over paint from when he last got it decorated to get them back in shape (we have kids, they were bad, I like painting anyway) and I am in the process of fixing things that we have broken that are not wear and tear (plastic freezer basket fronts, who knew they were so expensive).

I think I would be happy with a 50-50 split of whats left to cover getting it back ready for the next tennants, what grounds do I have to ask for this if he does decide to be difficult and try keeping all of the deposit?

We are at the end of an AST, have been there 4 years, the landlord didn’t put the deposit in the DPS

You have him by the short and curlies, he has to by law.

https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/overview

see http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/tenancy_deposits/tenancy_deposit_protection_schemes/deposit_protection_and_tenancy_deposit_schemes

If your landlord should have protected your deposit but hasn’t, you are entitled to have your tenancy deposit returned to you by law. A court can order a landlord to return your deposit and pay you compensation of between 1 and 3 times its value.

Scotland or England ? I did a bit of research into this for Scotland. You have 3 months to file a claim with the courts on the grounds that he didn’t use a scheme and could be awarded 3 times the deposit in question for the mere fact that he didn’t use the scheme, no further questions asked.

I would very politely point this out to your landlord and hope that he does the right thing and returns your money. Mine did. I did leave the place cleaner than when I moved in, it has to be said, and had all the carpets cleaned to get rid of the cat fur.

I would expect the whole lot back if I was you, sounds like you are getting the flat back into good shape.

I was under the impression that you didn’t necessarily have to file it with the DPS. Although if you don’t you need to be registered as permitted to hold deposits in trust, along with associated requirements on the bank accounts etc.

This is based on what our previous agents told us when we were trying to transfer our tenants deposit to the new owners when we sold a flat. Huge PITA.

does one need to file a deposit with the DPS if they’re a lodger, rather than a tenant?

i have a guy living with me, i have his (cash) deposit secreted somewhere very safe, but not DPS.

just more out of curiosity to be honest – he’s a decent guy, renting a single room which’ll be decorated when he leaves anyway…

Probably. You are supposed to do it within 14 days or you face a fine.

Will check the FAQs

Edit: 30 days. Still not sure on your situation but it is a deposit so I suspect so.

AFAIK to get money from the DPS the tenant has to agree to the charge ? Which makes a complete mockery of the system as they just say “weren’t me, guv” and you’re scuppered.

Thankfully I’ve never been in that situation yet. Only once did I have difficult tenants, and it was before the rules came in so I was holding the deposit myself. I basically told the guy to do one. He sent me a looong letter saying he’d been to the police about me, and the council and would be reporting me to the country court. I don’t even know what that is. He even got a letter sent out to me from one of those bulk mailing debt chasing solicitor companies. I found all of this quite amusing. He never followed through with any of it. FWIW the deposit didn’t even cover all the damage; I was still out of pocket over the whole thing.

Oh, and he said I should give him the whole deposit back and then he’d fix the flat for me. PMSL. How stupid did he think I am ???

AFAIK to get money from the DPS the tenant has to agree to the charge ? Which makes a complete mockery of the system as they just say “weren’t me, guv” and you’re scuppered.

Yes, basically.

Although you can go to court and get a one sided release. We had to do this.