My landlord wants my entire deposit and has made several unfair claims. OpenRent gave me a week’s time to dispute. But then made it so difficult for me, asking me to provide evidence against each claim. I thought the onus of proof is on the party making a claim. I finally managed to submit a dispute for each of the claims with attached proofs. But it made me feel that OpenRent is not a neutral party.
One claim is £1000 to clean the carpet to remove a stain they found after I left. It’s a one bed flat. They have provided no photo of it. Apparently, the stain arrived after the handover when they vacuumed the carpet. The carpet was already clean, but they insisted on cleaning it. Ironically, the flat was dirtier when I moved in than the state I left it in. “The evidence” provided by the landlord was a written comment next to the carpet in the inventory list that it needed vacuuming.
Well the deposit scheme (not Openrent) rightly asks LLs to supply evidence to support any claim. How is it unfair to give you opportunity to dispute that with your own evidence? It would surely be unfair if they didnt?
Wait and see how deposit scheme decides, if you can show stain was there (or likely not seen) when you moved in because carpet wasn’t clean you may well have the LLs claim rejected as they won’t be able to prove stain happened during your tenancy… have a look at move in inventory
You’re right. The onus is on the landlord to prove it. If you have evidence of your own it would be worth sending it though, along with your side of the story.
Hi David, thanks for your comment. What I meant was that OpenRent did not bother to check the ‘evidence’ provided by the landlord were no evidence. If you claim there is a stain requiring £1000 in cleaning, the least you can do is to provide a photo of it. As landlord claims stain was found on vaccuming the carpet, my evidence is a photo of carpet before vaccuming. In any case, the carpet was clean.
Hi Mark, the inventory is a printed list with some comments written in pen. But she wrote mild cleaning reuires in front of carpet, when I asked her to remove as carpet was clean, she said it’s just light vacuuming she needs to do. There was no photo. She made videos of the flat when I moved in and when I left. But so far she hasnt shown any evidence of stain. I didnt see any stain so I am shocked. In fact, the place was pretty dirty when I moved in and she blamed it on her previous tenants that they didnt clean so she cleaned herself, and blamed them for some small damages to her property. They were small but still required fixing. She claimed carpet was new at the time of my moving in, but I know for sure it was not. Because it was already being used by previous tenants when I went to view the flat.
You are right but OpenRent stated if I dont dispute within 7 days, they would initiate release of funds to the landlord and then made the dispute form very difficult and confusing.
evidence in a checkout inventory report [if not produced by the LL] is certainly not ‘no evidence’. The fact they havent passed you the LL’s full inventory report is neither here nor there - you are guessing that there wasnt a photo
You cant assume OR ‘did not bother’ to check the evidence - and it would be for the deposit scheme to consider the evidence not OR anyway.
Wait and see what the outcome is, but if as claimed by an inventory co, the stain became evident after cleaning, then the fact you didnt find it before their cleaning is irrelevant.
The LL certainly wont have wanted the hassle of £1000 carpet clean - even if they get the cost back, it’s the LL’s time and worry whether they will get it back from the deposit, as generally the deposit schemes do side with tenants unless LL has evidence
If there is no before and after photos/videos showing the area in question without stain at start of tenancy and with a stain at checkout, I suspect the deposit scheme will side with you
I am not assuming. OpenRent allows both parties to see the evidence submitted, and she submitted a photo of her handwritten comment that the carpet needs mild cleaning; there was no photo of the stain.
“What I meant was that OpenRent did not bother to check the ‘evidence’ provided by the landlord were no evidence.”
But surely you’d want the deposit scheme deciding whether to give you back the whole deposit (or not) to see your evidence before they dismiss the LL’s weak evidence.
It would be unfair and unreasonable to make a decision before they’ve seen your reply.
If they have shared everything the LL submitted and it’s week that’s in your favour but just because you consider it "no evidence " is not a reason for them not to wait till you’ve replied. If they are impartial they shouldn’t be deciding based only on one sides’ views. It would be unfair to dismiss LL claim without getting your reply (just like if they had a claim that based on photos seemed strong, it would be wrong to grant in their favour without your reply)