UK Landlord Forum / Life

We have some tenants who thankfully have now moved out, but are now being very difficult about paying for the repairs to our property and are threatening legal action as we want to use all of their deposit to rectify the damage. We have provided them with quotes, but now they are demanding receipts and want a minimum of 400 Quid back. Looking back through our files they never signed all of the original lease therefore my question is, is the lease valid did we just have a verbal agreement with them or no agreement at all since the lease was never signed by both parties? Any comments good or bad greatly appreciated.   

 is the deposit secured in a deposit protection scheme?


to take legal action would cost them about £500 through a solicitor. and you could counterclaim for your costs!

its pretty irrelevant whether the lease is signed really as an assured shorthold tenancy is created automatically when a tenant moves in.  if the deposit wasnt secured and should have been then you need to be careful.