Problem: Agreed with my landlord to use the deposit to fix a couple of things in the apartment after longer-term rent. To avoid the landlord is just using the funds for some holidays instead of repairing, I wonder to what degree the landlord is required to document the repairs based on our agreement.
Do I need to agree to the release of funds from the deposit before the fixture is done (based on a quotation)? Can you tie fund releases from the deposit to the agreed repair work (some sort of “contract” which makes the landlord legally required)? Any advice would be appreciated.
Sounds like a bad idea all round from your perspective. Can understand why you might offer this if cashflow is tight. Much depends on the nature of your relationship with your landlord and how honest you are with eachother.
If you are going to continue to rent the property during/after repairs, do not agree to release any funds from protected deposit without presentation of firm quotes that you can check and paid invoices for agreed work that is of an acceptable standard. I think you could fall foul of open ended claims if the repairs are not small or well defined.
If it is an agreement for agreed remedial work at the end of a tenancy, I would look to negotiate a fixed sum with your landlord that (s)he can claim against your deposit and you are done. Cleanest way. You are released from your obligations and landlord can schedule work for when suits them.
You are not paying for repairs, you are compensating the landlord for the loss in value of whatever you damaged. The landlord is not obliged to have the item fixed and can spend the money how he wishes. This is assuming you are not still living there.
You are required to repair/reimburse LL for repairs during your tenancy. Not normal “wear and tear” though, but most LLs will do repairs/cosmetic updates when new tenants move in, not with a tenant in-situ.
Normally money is deducted at the end of tenancy for broken items. There is no requirement for the LL to fix what you have broken during the tenancy (except dangerous things or things that make the property uninhabitable). If he repairs things during the tenancy that you broke you need to pay them asap, not deduct them from a security deposit.
The security deposit is there for end of tenancy situations.
So for some reason you and the LL have misunderstood who needs to pay for repairs.
Just to clarify, since I missed that. I have moved out and repair work is calculated based on the inventory check-out report.
I do get the value deprecation approach, I saw that with Chase Evans in an earlier tenancy, that a decrease in value was used as a calculation method. So I had something like e.g. - 5 GBP for chip on the wall, -7 GBP for limescale at sink etc. In that described case here above, the deposit reduction report was based on specific fixtures with attached quotations for what the deposit is used (worktop) - 2000 GBP. However, as far as I understand, the landlord is not required to tie/proof the evidence to funds used.
The landlord has to show that the amounts claimed are for depreciation, (or cleaning in some cases), of specific items beyond fair wear and tear. The amount cannot be the replacement cost, but has to be based on the original cost of the item and it has to allow for age and normal wear. So if the item originally cost £100, had a life expectancy of 10 years and was 4 years old at the start of a 2 year tenancy, the landlord could expect that its still worth: £100 × (10 - 4 - 2) ÷ 10 = £40 at the end of the tenancy. If its worth less due to damage, let’s say £15, then the landlord can claim either the difference of £25 or the cost of repair if this is less.