[Closed] Potential landlord issue

Have you paid your last month's rent? if it is same as deposit! don't then you can bargain with him. Normally though if it's not through letting agent you will be lucky if you can reason with him sensibly! Most landlords I've met over the years have been crooks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorr doesn't really help.

Do you have pictures of how clean you left it?

Next step is wait - ball is in his court. Then FIGHT!

Yeah we're paid up fully and out. Never defaulted, never messed him around.

Smash the house up!

been shafted a couple of times. most times they try it on because they can, and because no-one stands up to them.

wait and see, but then complain, ring and tell CAB. get advice, inform him that you have advice and are willing to push legally etc.

landlords can be d1cks. one tried to charge me for 'stealing' a bed, which she had hired a load of burly men to remove from the house and put in storage 8 months before.

nice.

Has the landlord put the deposit in a scheme as he is supposed to? If not he is liable to be fined so that is a bargaining chip

More info here
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/DG_066374

yes he has TJ.

Then apply to the scheme for a full refund and make your case. That's what they are there for!

Tim (landlord)

That's what I've done. The website says tell your landlord you have sent your request, and he's said this crap about the cleaning calculations.

My immediate gut response is "well it wasn't clean when we moved in, it stank of old food, the floors needed scrubbing and steaming, and the surfaces we're fully cleaned. By us."

I had this with an ex girlfriends landlord, one mention of the Inland Revenue and there interest in the landlords rental income miraculously made them pay up.

Pook,

Did you not do a walk through with the Landlord/Agent after you'd moved out?

At the end of the day the vast majority of tenants leave properties in a dirty state when they leave. You don't say whether the LL has seen the property since you left. If they have then it sounds like they're trying to obtain more monies in the these hard times. If they haven't then it sounds like they're just following what the process they normally follow.

This is pretty common amongst landlords I've come across, and exactly why the deposit scheme was set up; to stop them making easy money from tenants. What does your lease say about cleaning and your deposit? Were you provided with an inventory of items, fittings and fixtures with a record of their condition?

As a landlord I have had some experience of the TDS, they tend to come down on the side of the tenant, if the landlord cannot prove conclusively hat the place was spotless when you moved in, and you present your evidence, he is ****ed. Stick to your guns, it'll be fine.

m1fan - despite regular requests, we never got an inventory. On the day before we moved out he gave us 4 hours notice that he wanted to show someone around and "make sure it's clean and tidy". Which it was.
We scrubbed the bloody place down.
Didn't think to take photos. Damn.
Also don't know if he's seen the property.

I'll see what the DPS says.

Photos "in and out" and preferably third party present (agent) are your best bet. You'll know for next time.

I'm a landlord (not really by choice) and its more stress than its worth. We've been lucky, 2 out of 3 tenants have been fine. The one in the middle was a nightmare. Law seems heavily in favour of tenants these days. Don't give up if you feel you are in the right.

Seems to me that its people that are a PITA, some are tenants, some are landlords. The exception is ALL agents are such.

If there is no signed inventory stating what condition it was in when you took it over, he cannot prove to the deposit scheme people that it's worse now than it was. This happened to me, I ended up keeping a load of furniture that wasn't on the previous inventory (the landlord was selling the place and wanted to keep it to sell for a few quid, even though it had been left by previous tenants).

To be honest though you should've covered yourself by having him inspect it prior to handing over the keys.

I know, I know. Never having had a problem before I guess I'm naive.

dave_rudabar - Member

If there is no signed inventory stating what condition it was in when you took it over, he cannot prove to the deposit scheme people that it's worse now than it was.

This is exactly right.

pop round to your old place and ask the new tenants if they would sign a letter confirming the condition when they viewed and when they moved in . the biggest problem we have is getting the lazy letting agents to earn the fee!! they get a signed inventory at the start and end of each contract ,inspection every 3 months, any damage missed they pay for not the out going tenant ,

Paul (landlord)

Just been through the same. There was one stain on the carpet in smallest room that we were happy to pay towards. They wanted us to pay for half the walls to be painted, white kitchen floor grouting to be steam cleaned or replaced. They wanted over 350 quid. I sent many emails with examples from arla website, talked about proportional costs and avoiding betterment and also mentioned that landlords get tax allowance because of fair wear and tear. They didn't want to budge so i said i'd go to dispute service. I had photos of how we left the place. They weren't keen on going to dispute service at all so we finally agreed on an amount - less than 5th of what they originally wanted

me and a mate moved out of one place we were renting

desperately needed the deposit, scrubbed the crap out of the place

we cleaned every corner, were scrubbing away the previous ten tennants grime

landlady still charged us £7 in sundry cleaning costs and replacement lightbulbs!

£7 i can deal with.

Active rule- know when you are leaving and DONT pay the last months rent.

hora - Member

Active rule- know when you are leaving and DONT pay the last months rent.

Despite me not liking this from my end, it makes the most sense. Let them chase you for the money.

if it turns nasty I'll get my bro on them. His last landlord took a shite in the toilet and put rubbish in the corners when my bro has moved out. My brother's a lawyer. Got his full deposit back, plus costs and the landlord ended up with 2 CCJs.

Pook - Member

if it turns nasty I'll get my bro on them. His last landlord took a shite in the toilet and put rubbish in the corners when my bro has moved out. My brother's a lawyer. Got his full deposit back, plus costs and the landlord ended up with 2 CCJs.

Shoulda gone to him first, his knowledge is probably more than the collective wisdom on here..