Hi,
We moved out of our property a couple of months ago, and we suspected that the landlord would try and deduct as much as possible from out deposit, and they are trying! Our deposit is £850, and they are trying to claim £2500!
We are shocked. We left the house absolutely spotless, and I took 60 time and date stamped photos. All of these have been uploaded to DPS as evidence, as well as a statement from us and other bits of evidence such as email and texts over the time from our landlord.
We lived there for 12 years, and there were 4 of us. Some of the things they are trying to deduct are £600 for re-decoration, when I have an email from the landlord that they sent the month we were moving out, to tell us we didn’t need to paint any walls, just fill in any holes and sand down, which we have done.
Other things such as saying we have not cleaned, when we have and we have a receipt from the cleaner we used. I think they are just being very fussy and as they are not happy with us, they want to try and get to us this way.
There is no actual damage to the property.
The main piece of the puzzle seems to be missing though. They forgot to do a check in inventory when we moved in. They realised this, after we had been there for 4 years, and they did one then but it is very basic and has no photographs, doesn’t say anything about the garden for example.
How likely are we with getting our deposit back? I mean, surely no check in inventory is a major thing?
You are very likely to get your deposit back. You lived there for 12 years, so almost all the Landlords claims are likely to be deemd fair wear & tear. Go to the DPS arbitration process.
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Any decent landlord would be happy to have a decent tenant for 12 years that paid the rent and looked after the place. The landlord is supposed to do an inventory when you move in and one when you move out. The burden of proof lays with the landlord. They will need to provide quality time stamped photos of before and after for the adjudicator to compare. Okay he did one 4 years into the tenancy so he can only provide evidence from year 4 to you moving out. Any issues from moving in to the 4th year inventory won’t count. In 8 years the adjudicator will put any differences in the before and after down to wear and tear as long as things aren’t broken or damaged. Cleaning is often a contentious issue. You using a professional will go in your favour. If what you are saying is correct, the landlord will not get a penny of your deposit.
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@Angel1234
Well it does depend what you class as damage. A contrary view from the LL might be:
“If there are holes all over the walls even filled in, then to let out again in a reasonable state (uniform colour) as before, it will need repainting the whole wall - you can’t just paint where the hole was because it’s impossible to match with the existing paint colour in practice. The damage isn’t wear n tear.
You chose to make holes in the wall when you could easily have used a no nails adhesive alternative that could be removed without damaging the wall, or simply not put anything on the wall”
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I think most LLs would accept there are likely to be redecoration costs between tenants to make good this sort of thing and absorb these for a good tenant of 12 years, but what if this happened in a flat and tenants change every 2 years or so?
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It’s up to you as tenant.to make sure you know from LL what they would count as damage that can be claimed before you do anything to the property. So eg if LL allowed you to paint walls a garish yellow, if that was your taste and you were long term tenants, you’d expect end of tenancy costs to return it to a neutral colour wouldn’t you. You’d certainly check. Putting nails or screws into the wall is exactly the same. LL will be able to evidence that there were holes in the wall even though you have filled and sanded, and that to return to the state it would have been without the holes (ie a uniformly coloured painted wall ) will require repainting. If there were just scuff marks that would be wear n tear but holes (even filled) are damage.
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I discuss with tenants moving in what they can and cant change. I do have some good long term tenants I’ve allowed to make changes (putting up shelves, a TV wall bracket) because I know he’ll do a good job -he’s a handyman- but they always ask and discuss with me first and we always amend inventory and I wouldn’t dream of charging when they leave to undo anything. I have a new tenant and have specified face to face that as it’s newly decorated no nails or screws are to be used to fix anything to the walls (except for curtain poles or blinds which I’ve left for him to put up according to his preference). I have told him I do allow more leeway to make changes after tenants have been there a while but that everything has to be discussed upfront
Good luck
Sounds rough, but you’ve done the right things.. time-stamped photos, cleaner receipt and that email saying you didn’t need to paint are the kind of evidence DPS will look for, and in my experience after a long tenancy adjudicators treat most redecoration as fair wear and tear unless there’s deliberate damage, so upload everything and write a short chronological statement with dates so it’s easy to follow.
Keep all communication in writing and don’t get pulled into angry back-and-forths; some landlords are definately over-claiming because organising repairs and paperwork is a pain, but the DPS exists to stop that, and if your photos show it was spotless you should get most or all back — sometimes a small compromise speeds things up but let the adjudicator decide.
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