UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello,

We have recently vacated a property. Before we moved in the carpet was heavily stained and fraying, which we have pictures of, and an e-mail the day we moved in explaining that (even that bugs were crawling out of it because there was such a gap between the skirting board and where the carpet started!). Admittedly, I did stain it further to the point where it IS quite bad. My landlord is charging me the full replacement of the carpet (£500). I'm not sure how old the carpet was but IMO it desperately needed to be replaced when I actually moved in, and I assume they took money from the last renter but did nothing to improve the carpet. Wondering if even if the carpet is new, but when I moved in it was destroyed by previous tenant if I still need to bare that cost? I accept I need to pay something but seems unfair to pay that much.

They also installed a blind in my room at the start of tenancy - it broke immediately, and they are charging me the full cost. We did say it had broken when a second one broke in a similar way and it was 100 percent the installation that was the issue. Landlord refusing to negotiate...

They never provided an inventory...

Any advice appreciated!

Just advise something like the following right now...

As we cannot reach agreement, I'm advising you that I'm going to raise a Deposit dispute with the Alternative Dispute Resolution process of the scheme used, [insert scheme name here], to protect the Deposit. You will hear from them shortly and they will decide on an equitable outcome.

The Landlord then might choose to negotiate in good faith... as they won't be awarded more than what they want (for the specific items in question), and are quite likely to be awarded less.

As there is no Inventory, the Landlord will be asked to provide evidence they are incapable of providing (it seems) and you can just say: "it was like that when the tenancy started"... no-one can prove you wrong. Sure, you can explore the boundaries of what's acceptable wear-and-tear and depreciation... but I would hope you don't need to.

Hippogriff has covered it. Simply email them to say you disagree with the deductions and why, and copy in your emails to prove you reported all this at the beginning of the tenancy.

If they don't budge then request the undisputed deposit back and raise a dispute.

I think they are trying it on. I would send the photos you took when you moved in,and suggest that they reconsider.If they won't budge, do as advised by Hippogriff.

Because any claim (other than money owed) being made by the landlord has to relate a loss beyond fair wear and tear, which has to allow for existing use and normal use during the tenancy, unless the claim is for the complete loss of an item bought by the landlord just before the end of the tenancy, there is no possible way a landlord can ever recover the cost of a new item (or usually the full cost of a repair).

In the case of the carpet, for example, even if the carpet wasn't worthless when the tenant moved in (and it might well have been), the claim made by the landlord has to be based on the value of the carpet being replaced (plus fitting), not the cost of a new carpet (plus fitting).  The carpet has aged at least the length of the tenancy and was clearly not new when it began.

Imagine the carpet was bought six years ago, and the normal lifetime of a cheap carpet in a trafficked area is probably eight years, so, if it's been completely ruined by the tenant, the maximum that could be claimed is one-quarter the cost of the carpet, because that's what's been lost.
If the landlord isn't approaching the proposed deductions in this manner, there are two options, they don't know what they're doing, or they definitely know exactly what they're doing and are trying it on.

Thank you for your responses!

The landlord has come back and refused to go through TDS.

They have also said that the high cost is because I need to pay for an underlay, carpet grips and the removal of the furniture from the room etc...

It may be so that they refuse.. but you don't just stop at asking them. You have to raise the dispute with the Scheme and then the Scheme will communicate with you both... and then it can be placed on record that it is the Landlord that has refused.

You don't just amicably relay that back here... because that's not worth anything. So have you commenced that process from your side? Even if you know the outcome (the Landlord will refuse) you'll still need to start it.

Then, at the end, it will be a Court that decides... obviously we only have your side of the story here... but as there's no Inventory and the Landlord appears unwilling to consider negotiation, I'm certainly minded to assume you are dealing with someone who is trying to bully you into accepting ludicrous deductions. I wouldn't give in (unless they hold onto a lot of other money you feel you need right now). I suppose - as there's no Inventory - the Landlord is quite canny in saying they'll not go to ADR... I mean, it would be unlikely to go well for them - but the same is true of Court, obviously. They will be banking on you not taking it further and rolling over to have your tummy tickled.

Is the Deposit held by the Landlord or by the Scheme?

Quote from: newuser1 on September 16, 2022, 08:51:14 PMThe landlord has come back and refused to go through TDS.

They have also said that the high cost is because I need to pay for an underlay, carpet grips and the removal of the furniture from the room etc...

You might suggest that the landlord takes some legal advice, because the claim they're making is verging on fraudulent, because they can't claim for the cost of a new carpet, only for damage to the old carpet.
And refusing to use the arbitration service is going to look bad for them if this goes to court.

Raise a dispute to show you tried to go through arbitration. If the landlord rejects then look into going through a small claims court.

It seems to me like the landlord is hoping you'll just give up.

Quote from: Hippogriff on September 16, 2022, 09:17:45 PM
Is the Deposit held by the Landlord or by the Scheme?

Hi Hippogriff, is there some significance in this I,e if held by landlord on insured basis is it more difficult to get deposit back.
My son going through dispute and it's on an insured basis.
Ta

You would think so... if the Landlord physically holds the Deposit and doesn't want to release it.

Understand, what I meant was if goes through arbitration and DPS instruct to return deposit do they have to comply or could they simply refuse and it have to go via court.

Quote from: Tony71 on October 28, 2022, 01:09:59 PMUnderstand, what I meant was if goes through arbitration and DPS instruct to return deposit do they have to comply or could they simply refuse and it have to go via court.

That could happen, but you'd win and the landlord would have a CCJ against their credit history for six years.
It would be a stupid landlord who risked that - but they do exist.

They might threaten or not do anything for a while.

 .

The limitations act has no impact on the lifetime of an asset and its depreciation.

It is not lawful for a landlord to have a contractual term requiring "professional cleaning every six months" as that contravenes the Tenant Fees Act (and is probably an unfair term even if the term required the carpets to be cleaned every six months).