property management problems

[chipper]

ok wont go into the long boring story bout me getting pissed off, but basically i moved out of a house 6 weeks ago and ive had nowt but problems with these bastards ever since trying to get my bond back.

they are obstructive and unhelpful and all but refuse to keep me informed with whats going on and ive had enough. im wondering where i stand legally with these pricks. even after ive got my bond back i want to go after these assholes and cause em as much trouble as i can like they have me.

i know theres some legal types that hang around on these forums any help you can gimme would be greatly appreciated

bear in mind the issue isnt giving me the bond back its the amount of time and the hassle ive been put through trying to get it back i know ill get it its just a question of when.

 

[Moriath]

small claims court ?

Legal letter from a solicitor might get them moving a bit quicker ..

they always gits when doing this

 

[Ch3tan]

Do you mean a bond, or do you mean a deposit? If it's a deposit, when did you move into the property and pay the deposit? If the deposit was paid on a property that you were renting under an AST agreement, then it would have legally had to be placed in a deposit protection scheme of some sort (this has been law for the last 4 years iirc).

Under such schemes, the company running the scheme has to perform dispute resolution, but you should have been notified that your deposit was being returned 10 days after leaving the property, or if they were not returning the full deposit due to damages or cleaning etc, you should have been informed what amount was being returned to allow you to dispute it.

If your landlord never sent you information to prove that the deposit was protected within 14 days of you moving in, or did not do it, then you can sue them for 3 times the value of the deposit.

 

[megadave]

Going through some similar stuff at the moment. Left a student rented house a few months ago and now our letting agency is trying to claim hundreds of pounds worth of damage to the property that must come out of our deposit. They're basically telling us to accept the fines because it'll take months to sort out, and since we're students we need money to live off quite desperately.

 

[Ch3tan]

Going through some similar stuff at the moment. Left a student rented house a few months ago and now our letting agency is trying to claim hundreds of pounds worth of damage to the property that must come out of our deposit. They're basically telling us to accept the fines because it'll take months to sort out, and since we're students we need money to live off quite desperately.

Was the house rented as rooms, or the complete house? Is the deposit in everyone's name or just one persons? If it's only in one persons name, make sure they do not agree to anything!

Do you know what deposit scheme it's held with? This is information you should have, tell the agents you are disputing the charges. Basically, when a landlord or agent tries to take the piss like this, they are hoping you cave.

To actually get the money, they'd have to have done an independent inventory when you moved in, co-signed by you the tenants, and then have one done when you moved out, again co-signed by you. If they did not, then they haven't got a leg to stand on, and they will not get a penny of the deposit money, even if there are legitimate damages or expenses.

Don't take any shit from them, and tell them you want the deposit details so you can start dispute resolution.

 

[megadave]

Housemate just found a cd with a load of pictures we took the day we moved in, should be fine now

We did do an inventory but must have missed some stuff. For example in my room i didnt notice there was a fuckoff scratch on the wall behind the chest of drawers, so didnt put it on the inventory. Now they want me to pay for it to be repaired. Obviously we're disputing it, it just takes a long time, which is a pain in the arse when it's £400 each and we're poor students.

In a previous house, the same letting agency charged us for some stuff (we eventually agreed on a price) but when i went back to the house a few months later when new people were living there, i noticed some of the stuff they'd charged us for hadn't actually been fixed. They obviously just kept the money.

 

[Moriath]

all the years i rented and did student digs and all .. i never got my full deposit back even when i broke my neck to make sure the house was spotless when we left ... its a scam they always take a few hundred in my experience

 

[Ch3tan]

It's not a scam, there are clear rules these days. The problem is that epople never read their tenancy agreements properly, so they ignore bits about paying for professional cleaning on move out etc.

It used to be a big problem, which is why deposit protection schemes are now law.

 

[Moriath]

i did this before the change in the law 4 years ago .. it was a scam then
they try it on and if you dont argue it for weeks on end then they take the money .. as it wqas then ...

this was like 10-15 years ago now

 

[Tom]

The obvious solution then is to move out and burn the house down before they inspect it.

 

[Zenith.UK]

If your tenancy agreement has a clause along the lines of...

"The tenant will make good any damage at their expense"

... then you're fucked.

The tenant pays for damage, new for old.
There is no distinction made for fair wear and tear.
There is no mention of depreciation.
There is no mention of the landlord paying for it.

This is the voice of bitter experience talking. A drawn out court case against my ex-landlord completely destroyed any respect I have for the judicial system. :

 

[chipper]

yes chetan there was a dispute, but i didnt get to find that out for nearly 2 weeks. and only after at least a dozen phone calls did they tell me they were unsatisfied with the state of the garden. 2 weeks later after more badgering i recieved a letter saying they wanted 90 pounds for this, i agreed cos it was a state and now a further 2 weeks later im still waiting for them to authorise the release from the DPS

they are just been fucktards about the whole thing ive not been assy with em up until today when i let rip down the phone and got a curt we are sorting it and they hung up on me

i only joined the DPS scheme bout 6 weeks before recieving a letter terminating my tenancy but id joined it by then

 

[Ch3tan]

Hold on, you need to find out from the DPS when the deposit was registered. If it was not done within 14 days of you having paid it, then they have broken the law.

You should have been registered as the tenant, and the DPS given your details, usually email and phone number. It's up to you to dispute it, I'm not sure how the agent has done it on your behalf. I think you really need to get a grip on what is actually happening here, either you've simply relayed the information incorrectly here, or you have no idea what is actually going on.

If the money is with the government DPS, then they will email or phone the tenant asking for confirmation of the release of the deposit. The dispute has to be raised by you if you disagree with the amount being released.

 

[chipper]

chetan i lived in the house for nearly 2 years i recieved a letter nearly 20 months later off the letting agency informing me my deposit was going to be put into the DPS up till this point i had no idea it even existed i originally paid my deposit directly to the letting agency.

im not disputing the bond never said that, im pissed off because of the letting agency taking the piss with the whole thing they have given me no info about how to claim my deposit/bond back ive had to do that off my own back and get the relevant info infact ive done that today.

as i said i know ill get the right money back what im angry at is the way in which ive been dealt with by the letting agency its 6 weeks later and still im having to badger them for information, what should have taken 2 weeks tops is turning into no has turned into a farce

today some helpful person from the DPS helped me set the ball rolling saying they will now contact the letting agency to repay me my bond.

again my issue is with this letting agency been so down right obstructive about the whole thing. i want to know if they can get away with it or if this is standard practice with these assholes.

 

[Ch3tan]

Like I said, if they didn't secure your deposit within 14 days, take them to court.

 

[inactionman]

One problem with the penalty clause for not placing deposits in one of the schemes is that some magistrates are letting landlords/agents do so literally the day before it goes to court. Idiots!

One thing you need to know about deposits is no matter what the contract says, they have to allow for fair wear and tear!

 

[Larossa]

I rent a house out so am technically a landlady but don't use a letting agency as my tenant is a friend's dad. I have heard lots of bad reports from both tenants and fellow landlords about letting agencies and I got the impression that "letting agencies" was an area that was not really policed.
I have heard tales of agencies that ignored the landlord's requirements (no pets, kids, unemployed etc..) and let the premises to anyone in order to get their cut and they ended up with professional unemployed tenants that complained that the property needed improvement/appliances were unsafe etc. Said landlord in particular ended up with no rent paid and a shedload of repairs and upgrades as they trashed the place before leaving. He had lived there for a few years before renting it out. A few years ago this was so I trust this may have improved.

Likewise I know friends who rent property who have fallen foul of letting agencies and now do a thorough check of the property before occupation; each item listed is checked off and any irregularities are logged.

 

[inactionman]

Oh another thing, as a tenant it's often a good idea to ask for a credit reference on the landlord, particularly if you think they are not professional landlords. They generally ask it of you, and the number of amateur landlords that don't have a buy to let mortgage but are letting the property out is shocking! If such a property gets repossessed, as a tenant you basically have no rights and can get chucked out of the property straight away!

 

[Moriath]

only place i didnt have a problem was where the agency did everything ... tick list down to how many tea spoons and knives where in the drawers ..

got all my money back then ..

other places got ripped for carpet cleaning and shit like that when the carpets were clean when i left grrr
yhehe

 

[Zenith.UK]

One thing you need to know about deposits is no matter what the contract says, they have to allow for fair wear and tear!

No. They don't have to allow it at all.
Our defence was based heavily on fair wear and tear, taking into account previous cases, accountancy practice, tax relief and time spent in the property.

It didn't make the slightest difference. In his summing up, the judge said that the clause made no differentiation for fair wear and tear, depreciation or anything else. In clear black text, the clause said "The tenant will make good any damage at their expense". There's no ambiguity, and all that was left was to determine the degree of liability (what we owed and what we didn't).

Landlord got about 75% of his original claimed damages, + interest @ 8% + costs = a hell of a lot of money.
I really despise my ex-landlord and his wife with a passion. I would laugh and take great pleasure if any misfortune was to befall them. Seriously, I hope they both get the worst sort of cancer and die painfully... and I do actually mean that wholeheartedly.

 

[Bugz]

Thankfully my tenancy agreement states "fair wear and tear expected."

Although it does say I'm not to remove anything from the house in another part. But they left us with slightly mouldy blinds. So I brought some new ones; same size & put them up instead and I was going to leave them here when I moved out. Could they really be arsey and charge me for that just because I violated a term of the contract?

Since we're talking about house-related stuff. Does anyone know a good way to remove dried 'damp'? It's just around the rim of the windows. No mould or anything like that. Also are they going to fuck me in the ass for it if I don't remove it since another clause says "keep the place well ventilated."

 

[Ch3tan]

If you've got any kind of damp problems, then you need to report it to your landlord. I'd do it in writing.

If you don't and the problem gets worse, then yes you could be liable to pay some of the costs for repair.

 

[inactionman]

Zenith, I assume this was pre the deposit schemes? They now have to consider fair wear and tear in any claims for deposit.

You also get a lot of Magistrates who know fuck all about the law, unforunately, but they aren't professionals of course!

 

[Zenith.UK]

Zenith, I assume this was pre the deposit schemes? They now have to consider fair wear and tear in any claims for deposit.

You also get a lot of Magistrates who know fuck all about the law, unforunately, but they aren't professionals of course!

Yep, before the deposit scheme kicked off properly. The case only concluded last November though.