A few years ago, I moved into a flat in London with some close friends at university – as most people do.
Unfortunately, as is also all too common, our landlady was less than scrupulous.
We had problems with mould which the local council eventually forced the landlady to remedy.
But it was moving out that proved to be trickiest.
When renting a flat, you lay down a deposit to cover damage, missing items and any outstanding unpaid rent – often the value of a month’s rent up front.
As we prepared to leave, we anticipated our deposit back in full; as model tenants, we had damaged nothing.
However, our landlady didn’t agree.
The full price list
In fact, disagreement fails to capture the scale of the difference of opinion.
When we vacated, we were pleased with how well we’d cleaned the place, and looked forward to the return of our money.
Our landlady, after her own inspection, found a few issues: a radiator hanging off a wall, holes in the hall ceiling, paint on a bedroom blind, a missing coffee maker and blender.
None of which we were aware of.
As a consequence, our landlady proposed deducting £750 off of our deposit.
Legal protections
All tenant deposits must be placed in the Deposit Protection Scheme or another such registered protection programme.
This means that the landlord must apply to have the deposit released at the end of the tenancy period.
The landlord is obliged to put the deposit they receive in the protection scheme within a short period of receiving it, and they must apply to deduct any money from it.
The scheme permits the tenant the opportunity to respond to an application.
A right to dispute
In reality, this means that the tenant has the right to dispute a landlord’s version of events.
In the past, where the landlord had full discretion with a tenant’s money, some deductions were unfair.
For this reason the deposit protection schemes were brought by the Housing Act 2004.
As the Deposit Protection Scheme puts it: “The legislation aims to ensure that tenants who have paid a deposit to a landlord or letting agent and are entitled to receive all or part of it back at the end of that tenancy, actually get it”.
The negotiations begin
As you will, by now, begin to appreciate, I wasn’t going to take this sort of unfair treatment.
I couldn’t believe that our landlady had the audacity to attempt to charge us £750 for a completely baseless collection of complaints.
So I wrote back:
Allow me to address your concerns:
- The radiator hanging off a wall: we’d be interested to know which radiator you are referring to, as all of them seemed to be level and in a good state of repair;
- The holes in the hall ceiling: we’d be interested to know how you believe these would have been made by us;
- The missing coffee maker and blender: we’d be interested to know if these ever existed. The receipt for purchase will be fine in that regard;
- Finally, the paint on a bedroom blind: I can only think of one individual who has been playing with paint in the bedroom, and that would be your contractor who had to add the mould resistant paint following the intervention of the environmental health officer.
- In short – the answer is no. Please give us a full breakdown as to how you think this adds up to £750 and we’ll begin the dispute process.
A special offer: reduced price
Immediately, the most outrageous of the demands had been tactfully dropped.
The landlady’s response omitted the painted blind and the holes in the ceiling.
We could settle our tenancy at a special offer price of £250 for the reattaching of the radiator to the wall and the replacement of the phantom coffee machine and blender.
At this point, you can see the tactics.
By negotiating, our landlady was looking to get whatever money she could out of us.
We decided not to accept this generous offer and again requested the receipts for the appliances and a breakdown as to the full £250 proposed cost.
“I reiterate: we will then begin the dispute process”.
The final bargaining chip: the inventory
Our landlady pointed out that the coffee machine and blender were both listed on the inventory we signed when we began our tenancy.
She therefore had every right to request their replacement, despite not having the receipts.
Lesson learned: check your inventory extremely carefully when you take up a tenancy!
To this day, I refuse to believe me or my fellow tenants are blender thieves, but it was there in black and white.
Deal done
Agreement was therefore reached.
We’d pay £50 for the coffee machine and blender, in recognition that it was on the inventory.
Then our landlady would release the full deposit to us.
This was frustrating, as our landlady didn’t deserve a penny.
Still, £50 was better than £750.
Don’t let your landlord charge you unfairly.
It’s the same principle as any other company or organisation.
You have rights – more so now than ever before – so be prepared to use them.
The take-home
Don’t make the same mistake we did.
Check your inventory carefully and challenge anything that seems out of the ordinary.
You can ask for time to fill out the inventory away from your landlord’s gaze.
The Deposit Protection Scheme gives you, as a tenant, the right to have your deposit fully protected.
Ensure your landlord protects it promptly and gives you all the details.
Use your right to dispute if you think you’ve been unfairly treated.
A landlord will back down if they think they won’t win.
The scheme exists to protect you, so use it.
Any further questions?
If you have any questions about the topics I have raised in this case study, or stories of your own experiences with rogue landlords, please leave me a comment below or send me an email.
I personally respond to every question – no matter how trivial!