UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi.

So after being broken in to we couldn't settle in our home and asked our landlord to release us from the contract. They agreed as long as someone else was to take over. The property went for let and someone agreed to take it. After viewing the property they asked could we leave the decoration as it is as they also have 2 girls and they wants the bedrooms the way they are.
Having agreed to put it back to neutral colour we were unsure about this and therefore asked the agent who responded in writing (email) to say that we should leave the decor as it is when we move out. Fast forward 3 weeks (20 days until we move out) and we receive another email from them stating the owner has decided they want us to put the property back to how it was when we moved in and it needs to be done before we move out.
Now obviously we had been willing to do this when we gave our notice etc but having been told not to we obviously haven't haven't bothered. We now have our 4 year old daughter poorly after having surgery 2 days ago and my husband works away Monday to Friday (which landlord knows) there is no way I have time in the next 2 weeks to decorate 3 bedrooms. We knew about the surgery which is why we asked so long ago to ensure we could have it done before she went in.

So my question. Where do we stand?? They are saying they won't give us our deposit back if we don't put it exactly how it was when we moved in. So this has also changed as we have email to say neutral colours. Nothing to say Becky how it was. And to be totally honest the wallpaper was ripped and all walls heavily marked when we moved in which we have photographic evidence of.

So can anyone give me some advice please. What do we do now? Obviously we don't want to lose £1200 deposit but I don't know how we can decorate in the time we have. My daughter cannot leave the house for 2-3 weeks and is prone to infections now. So I don't really thing it would be a good idea to start painting around her if I could leave her for more than 2 minutes to do anything.

If your tenancy agreement says you've got to put it back to how it was, then you've got to put it back to how it was.  But if I was in your circumstances, I might pop in and see the agent and explain things, show them the email they sent you and ask them if there isn't something they can do.

Why would you lose the entirety of the £1,200 Deposit for this? The fact that they say - "They are saying they won't give us our deposit back if we don't put it exactly how it was when we moved in." - is neither here nor there, they aren't final arbiters of this and they certainly cannot unilaterally deduct from your Deposit. The Landlord certainly has the right to state they want it back how it was - and that would be the default position to take... but they really can't change their mind back and forth. An objective third party (Deposit Scheme) would not award £1,200 for this, especially as you have written evidence saying it's OK and, also, extenuating circumstances.

So, anyway, either just re-state to the Agent that they act on behalf of the Landlord in all things and they have previously given you written instructions to leave it as is - the word of the Agent is considered the same as the word of the Landlord - and it's not acceptable to you for minds to be changed at this juncture.

Or... employ a Decorator for less than £1,200.

Or... chat it out.

Or... threaten them with a Dispute via the ADR Process of the Deposit Protection Scheme.

Or... a mixture... probably - in order - chat it out, re-state they can't change their mind from their original written instructions, then threaten a Dispute.