My daughter and 3 friends recently left a flat they’d been renting and they just found out that the thieving scum of a landlord is planning to retain their entire 6 week rent deposit against damages. This would be funny if it wasn’t actually serious. He is charging 20 quid for 2 lightbulbs, 250 for a new mattress, 250 for damage to skirting boards, 550 for marks on walls, 250 to “move furniture back to its original position”. No serious person can justify this, but the money is in a deposit scheme.

I am wondering what course she has to dispute this? Of course if she had a detailed inventory, with photographs, there woudl be less of a problem, but of course being a new graduate she just moved in without thinking ahead and ignored advice from older people. Advice gratefully received!!!

https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/disputes-and-problems

Raise it with the DPS
fitting 2 lightbulbs £20 easy – you have to account for time
£250 for mattress – well if it’s damaged you need to get a new one deliver it and dispose of the old one
Whats the damage to the skirting board?

Marks on wall sounds dubious, how much furniture has been moved?

Remember there are always 3 sides to these
The Landlord
Your Daughter
What your Daughter tells you.

The DPS is there to resolve these things so your claim goes to them.

No chance those charges will stick if it goes to dispute resolution.

Even if something requires replacement you have to account for betterment, e.g. if a damaged carpet is already 8 years old the landlord can’t claim the full replacement costs.

How long had they been there?

Hopefully the landlord will have registered with the DPS as he can be fined up to 3 times the deposit amount for not registering. There are set procedures in place now.

I’ve been in this situation a couple of times. The landlord won’t get the money from the DPS until it’s been agreed.

You can dispute it easily through DPS but you need to have factual evidence.

You need to get a copy of the inventory when she moved in. The DPS will side with the landlord if he can provide evidence (e.g. a photo) showing the item’s condition is different to that listed on the inventory (fair wear and tear accepted). So, if the mattress was listed as “in good condition” on the inventory but is actually pish stained (regardless of whether it was like that originally!) they’ll side with the LL. Same for walls and things like that.

Really it all comes down to how good the originally inventory was. It can work both ways, if the inventory misses something out which he’s claiming is damaged then obviously there’s a good chance of the DPS siding with your daughter.

How long had they been there?

They were there a year, so doing hundreds of quid damage to skirting boards is a bit much, even for my daughter (how do you actually damage a skirting board, anyway?).

Thanks for the advice. I will order her to dig out the details of the deposit protection – I think it was with the DPS.

Ask your daughter for her DPS certificate (it will have been sent in the post to her/her flatmates) and contact them. If he hasn’t deposited the deposit they WILL fine him. I’ve had to go through them after my last flat and they are very fair. At minimum they’ll get those charges reduced.

As for the inventory, the landlord is also responsible for documenting what is in the flat before handing the keys over. Any semi-decent letting agency does this in my experience. He has to prove the damage was done within their tenancy dates to the DPS. IIRC all this should be done within 14 days of the tenancy terminating, check the landlord has notified you and the DPS inside the deadline otherwise you’ll get the deposit back automatically.

I helped s colleague through this the DPS were very good and sided with her one reason being because the landlord had not done a condition inventory and taken photos to prove the state of the property when she moved in.

Thanks everyone! Very helpful !!

Sometimes landlords do over claim for damage, and without valid reason, thats why there is a deposit scheme in place

From experience of student lets,

fire alarm control box smashed off wall,due to key to cancel it going missing,

stair spindles smashed out of staircase,and use for play sword fighting,

fridge door wrenched off after being left open and frosted up and wouldnt shut, they didnt defrost the thing first,

Bedroom painted black and purple,

Bed soiled with blood and other body fluids,

new double glazed windows forced beyond their restrictors, damaging them irepairably,

bin bags been thrown out of upstairs windows in to rear garden,

Light fitting smashed with footballs after games of indoor football,

scores given to male partners written on floor under bed, after carpet was removed due to soiling,by a female student,

Doors wrenched off hinges as a joke on fellow tenants,

not all students are innocent little educated geeks at all times.

Not sure who was suggesting they were. Equally there are plenty of rogue landlords who take the utter piss. The vast majority though, in either case, just keep their heads down and don’t create trouble.

I could’ve swore this thread was about tents.