Tweet
What a great website - I can't believe i've never seen it until now! I guess i've been luckily enough to not need it.
In a nutshell, my ex-letting agents have taken £140 out of my £600 deposit for "cleaning".
I lived with my boyfriend, the deposit was under my name, and I am a registered fulltime student. As far as I am aware the deposit was put into the Tenancy Deposit Scheme - though I don't remember ever hearing anything about this after we signed. When I did the last inspection with them before moving out, they said that two rooms needed dusting and the tiles in the bathroom cleaned. I said "ok, that's fine", and then they said they'd be in touch to confirm. Next thing I hear from them is an email saying:
"Following our previous letter advising of the areas of claim from your deposit, we can now confirm that the amount to be claimed is £140.00
In addition to the above, we have also deducted the inspection fee as per clause 4.1.5 of the tenancy agreement of £47.00, along with the £25 X 1 to cover the administration fee for the contractor used to undertake the required work.
We therefore have pleasure in confirming that we have made a bacs payment into your account for £388 as net refund of the amount placed with us at the commencement of the tenancy."
Firstly, I never received this letter. The other chages of £47 and 25 are correct though. But can they take the money before I agreed with them - they didn't even give me a chance to dispute the amount of money? I didn't think so, so I emailed them saying I wanted to see the receipts, otherwise i would take legal advice - I simply do not believe the work they said needed doing could cost so much money.
Got this email back: "The cost of the clean represents the areas as detailed at the final inspection. I would point out that whilst the yard was over grown and weeds not cleared based on the initial inventory photo’s the landlord agreed to cover the cost of clearing that himself, therefore minimising the overall claim.
The level of clean simply reflects the condition the upstairs was left in."
So I reiterated: "With all due respect, you told me that we would agree on the work to be done via letter or email before it was carried out. I have not received this letter, and the first I hear of it is an email informing me that the work has already been carried out at a cost of £140. This is why I want to see a breakdown of the cost of the work, preferably through receipts or invoices, because I simply cannot fathom how it could possibly cost this much. I think I am well within my rights to ask for this – as I do not believe that it could have taken more than two hours. How much, for instance, of the £140 is made up of a supposed ‘admin fee’?
As I said before, if you do not level with me or refund part of the money taken, I will seek advice and dispute this as far as possible – if only as a matter of principle."
That was a week ago, and I haven't received a reply.
What on earth should I do?!
In a nutshell, my ex-letting agents have taken £140 out of my £600 deposit for "cleaning".
I lived with my boyfriend, the deposit was under my name, and I am a registered fulltime student. As far as I am aware the deposit was put into the Tenancy Deposit Scheme - though I don't remember ever hearing anything about this after we signed. When I did the last inspection with them before moving out, they said that two rooms needed dusting and the tiles in the bathroom cleaned. I said "ok, that's fine", and then they said they'd be in touch to confirm. Next thing I hear from them is an email saying:
"Following our previous letter advising of the areas of claim from your deposit, we can now confirm that the amount to be claimed is £140.00
In addition to the above, we have also deducted the inspection fee as per clause 4.1.5 of the tenancy agreement of £47.00, along with the £25 X 1 to cover the administration fee for the contractor used to undertake the required work.
We therefore have pleasure in confirming that we have made a bacs payment into your account for £388 as net refund of the amount placed with us at the commencement of the tenancy."
Firstly, I never received this letter. The other chages of £47 and 25 are correct though. But can they take the money before I agreed with them - they didn't even give me a chance to dispute the amount of money? I didn't think so, so I emailed them saying I wanted to see the receipts, otherwise i would take legal advice - I simply do not believe the work they said needed doing could cost so much money.
Got this email back: "The cost of the clean represents the areas as detailed at the final inspection. I would point out that whilst the yard was over grown and weeds not cleared based on the initial inventory photo’s the landlord agreed to cover the cost of clearing that himself, therefore minimising the overall claim.
The level of clean simply reflects the condition the upstairs was left in."
So I reiterated: "With all due respect, you told me that we would agree on the work to be done via letter or email before it was carried out. I have not received this letter, and the first I hear of it is an email informing me that the work has already been carried out at a cost of £140. This is why I want to see a breakdown of the cost of the work, preferably through receipts or invoices, because I simply cannot fathom how it could possibly cost this much. I think I am well within my rights to ask for this – as I do not believe that it could have taken more than two hours. How much, for instance, of the £140 is made up of a supposed ‘admin fee’?
As I said before, if you do not level with me or refund part of the money taken, I will seek advice and dispute this as far as possible – if only as a matter of principle."
That was a week ago, and I haven't received a reply.
What on earth should I do?!
