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Hi all,
First time post and user here. My dad recommended this website to me.
To cut a long story short but keeping the important details:
I am a university student who has recently had a tenancy end with a local letting agency (10/09/2018 - 08/06/18). I was living with 6 other people including myself, however we all had individual contracts that made us lead tenants of each of our independent rooms, but sharing communal facilities e.g. bathrooms, kitchen, lounge etc.
I had originally placed a £200 deposit down for the duration of my tenancy. However, now that my tenancy has ended, I had recently looked into my online banking account to discover that a £121 deposit had been returned to be despite no communication from my letting agency.
I called them up, and they had informed me that the deductions were made as followed:
'Communal cleaning charge - £40;
Blu-Tak damage charge in MY room - £30;
Communal rubbish removal charge - £9.'
Whilst I couldn't argue against the rubbish and cleaning charge, I originally had taken pictures on my room during the first day of my tenancy, where I had also done the same on my departure. These photos show that the 'Blu-Tak damage' had existed prior to my arrival and had remained unchanged throughout my tenancy.
I had emailed my letting agency to argue that the '£30 deduction for damage that had always been there' was unfair on my behalf and was requesting that it would be returned to me. Their blunt reply was that my photographic evidence was useless. They went on to say that if I wanted to dispute the £30, I would need to return the £121 deposit they gave back to me in order to reevaluate the cost of their return. I chose not to do this as I had never heard of this practise before. Instead, I had planned on gathering evidence to open a claim using 'mydeposit' protection scheme against them for the £30. I emailed them asking for the breakdown charges from the cleaning company as well as the signed inventory report I had written which stated that the damage had existed upon my arrival. Their reply ignored my request and repeated that they wanted the £121 back for re-evaluation.
Despite this, I gathered as much evidence as I could, including electronic 'Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement' 'Guarantor Agremeent' 'Payment Per Month Agreement' 'Deposit Receipts' 'Bank Transfer Payments' 'Arrival and Departure Timestamped Photos' 'Deposit Deductions' and 'Email Communication Photos'.
Whilst gathering my evidence took a few weeks, today I submitted the dispute with the evidence using my deposit protection scheme. I very quickly received an email from the letting agency stating that they would be seeking to claim back 'goodwill reductions' made on the deposit where they specified they had reduced the amount they were to take, including a waived electricity bill charge, reduced cleaning cost etc. which they say totalled to £221, meaning my deposit would not had been enough to cover this.
They vindictively informed me that if I continued the dispute, that they would basically be seeking to get the apparent goodwill reductions back. I'm not sure if this can be done via. the deposit protection scheme or they may take me to a small claims court.
My question is, even though I have a large quantity of evidence to prove that they have incorrectly charged me, would it be wise to continue to dispute the £30 using the deposit protection scheme or would they be successful in retrieving a goodwill reduction they made on my deposit? I feel that what they have done is incredibly vindictive.
I have attempted to seek help from Citizens Advice or Shelter but they could not help me and I'm worried as I have no idea how to proceed from here.
I appreciate any help or feedback on this and would be willing to share documents, photos or communication between myself and the letting agency.
Thanks for reading and or commenting!
First time post and user here. My dad recommended this website to me.
To cut a long story short but keeping the important details:
I am a university student who has recently had a tenancy end with a local letting agency (10/09/2018 - 08/06/18). I was living with 6 other people including myself, however we all had individual contracts that made us lead tenants of each of our independent rooms, but sharing communal facilities e.g. bathrooms, kitchen, lounge etc.
I had originally placed a £200 deposit down for the duration of my tenancy. However, now that my tenancy has ended, I had recently looked into my online banking account to discover that a £121 deposit had been returned to be despite no communication from my letting agency.
I called them up, and they had informed me that the deductions were made as followed:
'Communal cleaning charge - £40;
Blu-Tak damage charge in MY room - £30;
Communal rubbish removal charge - £9.'
Whilst I couldn't argue against the rubbish and cleaning charge, I originally had taken pictures on my room during the first day of my tenancy, where I had also done the same on my departure. These photos show that the 'Blu-Tak damage' had existed prior to my arrival and had remained unchanged throughout my tenancy.
I had emailed my letting agency to argue that the '£30 deduction for damage that had always been there' was unfair on my behalf and was requesting that it would be returned to me. Their blunt reply was that my photographic evidence was useless. They went on to say that if I wanted to dispute the £30, I would need to return the £121 deposit they gave back to me in order to reevaluate the cost of their return. I chose not to do this as I had never heard of this practise before. Instead, I had planned on gathering evidence to open a claim using 'mydeposit' protection scheme against them for the £30. I emailed them asking for the breakdown charges from the cleaning company as well as the signed inventory report I had written which stated that the damage had existed upon my arrival. Their reply ignored my request and repeated that they wanted the £121 back for re-evaluation.
Despite this, I gathered as much evidence as I could, including electronic 'Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement' 'Guarantor Agremeent' 'Payment Per Month Agreement' 'Deposit Receipts' 'Bank Transfer Payments' 'Arrival and Departure Timestamped Photos' 'Deposit Deductions' and 'Email Communication Photos'.
Whilst gathering my evidence took a few weeks, today I submitted the dispute with the evidence using my deposit protection scheme. I very quickly received an email from the letting agency stating that they would be seeking to claim back 'goodwill reductions' made on the deposit where they specified they had reduced the amount they were to take, including a waived electricity bill charge, reduced cleaning cost etc. which they say totalled to £221, meaning my deposit would not had been enough to cover this.
They vindictively informed me that if I continued the dispute, that they would basically be seeking to get the apparent goodwill reductions back. I'm not sure if this can be done via. the deposit protection scheme or they may take me to a small claims court.
My question is, even though I have a large quantity of evidence to prove that they have incorrectly charged me, would it be wise to continue to dispute the £30 using the deposit protection scheme or would they be successful in retrieving a goodwill reduction they made on my deposit? I feel that what they have done is incredibly vindictive.
I have attempted to seek help from Citizens Advice or Shelter but they could not help me and I'm worried as I have no idea how to proceed from here.
I appreciate any help or feedback on this and would be willing to share documents, photos or communication between myself and the letting agency.
Thanks for reading and or commenting!
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