Hi fellow landlords.
For the first time in 19 years, I don’t wish to return the deposit. My tenants jet washed their car on the street from three floors up creating leaks and window breakages, chips etc plus ruined oak coffee table and burned a hole in the kitchen cabinets by inserting a high voltage lightbulb to an oven bulb fixture. I have written them a note detailing all the damages, referencing entry/exit reports and asking for an explanation while I try to get builders in to quote for making good.
My question is re: mydeposits. How do I lodge with them that there will be an issue and that I want to deduct? Can’t figure it out of my deposits site?
I am sorry to hear that your tenants left you with so much, presumably undeclared, damage at the end of their tenancy. Having just experienced something similar myself, I know how annoying it is when the damage is undeclared.
My tenants’ deposit was held with a different deposit scheme - the Deposit Protection Scheme (DPS) - which seems to be quite functional - though I have not reached the end of the dispute procedure yet.
I itemised the major damage, got quotes for repairs or replacements and made an attempt to agree with the tenants on their share of the costs. This came to no avail, so I simply informed the the DPS Dispute Resolution Service that I was claiming the entire deposit providing evidence to justify my claim. The adjudicator now has 28 days to view all the evidence before coming to a binding decision on how much of the deposit is needed to cover repairs.
My tenants were in the property for 10 years. I trusted them to look after things (big mistake) and so never carried out any thorough inspection visits - also because I am resident abroad.
I don’t think OpenRent existed 10 years ago; anyway I used an estate agent (another big mistake). Although the DPS Dispute Resolution Service is free of charge, the estate agent took £250 simply to mediate between me and the DPS which entailed forwarding my evidence by email to the DPS.
Being an inexperienced landlord at the time, I found myself caught between a rogue estate agent and rogue tenants.
Life is a long, learning experience, and I now know that I could have asked the DPS to transfer the deposit to my management, thereby avoiding the costly mediation of the estate agent.
The deposit placed by my tenants is not adequate to cover all the repair costs so I am considering going to the Small Claims Court once I have heard the decision of the DPS adjudicator.
If anyone has experience of a similar Small Claims Court procedure, your advice would be much appreciated. My fear is that tendentially the court will be more favourable towards the tenants.