Letting agent having a laugh

Michael Myers

Michael Myers

Michael Myers

Associate
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
1,199
Location
Northampton
Hi Guys

When i moved into my rented flat one and a half years ago the letting agent decided to do the check in report with a poor quality video camera, the flat was not new and had marks all over the place which you could not pick up on the video.

Fast forward to last weekend, the letting agent is doing the check out as i have just moved out, but now they are taking pictures of the flat with a decent point and click camera which picks up every little detail, they have sent a report to me of all the marks that they claim have appeared since i moved in, they even claim i have touched up the paint in places with an mismatched colour! ( i have never done any painting its all how it was they just couldnt pick it up in the video)

So look like they will try and take most of my deposit, is there anything i can do to prevent this on the basis they are comparing a very poor video with high quality photos?
 
Personally I would contact a solicitor. Seems the only way to do it.

Have you told the letting agents what you have said here?
 
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No way can they take your deposit on this basis.... Your deposit should be held by the DPS anyway and it's them that diceds just cause for who gets the deposit refund
check there website: http://www.depositprotection.com/

Yea get a solicitor invovled in most cases you can pay £25 for a letter from a solicitor stating the facts that would never stand up in a small claims court...... the letting company will soon back down.... as if they lose it's them that has to pay the court costs and for a deposit of what im guess it's no more than £500 it's not worth it for them to persue it
 
It should be in the protection scheme in which case you can dispute it. You should have gone through the list yourself and not let them do it though.
 
I despise Letting agents. They are up there on my "first people up against the wall" list come the revolution.

I've let from 4 different agents in my mediocre life and come deposit time its always been a similar story. I'm convinced you have to have undergone some kind of Moral lobotomy to run one of these companies.

One place we had in Cowley, Oxford the agents tried to charge us 2 years running for work from previous tenants that they charged to fix when they left!! Arggh it annoys me !!
 
i have stressed my views but i will have to wait until they have spoken to the landlord about the issues they have found. i will be disputing it all the way.
 
You should ALWAYS do your own dilapidation report / photos when moving into a rented place. For the couple of hours it takes to walk round with a digital camera and write a few words down for each room and then forward this to the letting agent at the start of your tenancy. It saves an absolute mountain of bother when these sort of things inevitably arises at the end of the let.

I used to take them in by hand and get them to sign my copy of the document to say they had received it. In the several places I rented when I first moved to Nottingham I never once failed to get all of my deposits back. Its hindsight I know but people renting really need to wise up. This sort of thing happens all the time.
 
Aye...My first place was a nightmare, I took hundreds of photos :p

come to the new place, it was okay, but some things where not on the inventory (catch scratch marks / paint on skirting boards) so I added them to the inventory myself...You have to just cover yourself SO much, even if they seem nice as pie to begin with
 
Dont forward it, if possible get them at the house with you. If they won't do that ensure both you and them sign it and each have a copy. Remember this for the next house.
 
If you have signed off a form when you moved in regarding the state of the flat without commeting on the condition, you will have to pay and learn from the error. As LOAM stated it is well worth a couple of hours when you move in to document every mark, scratch etc. Will save you every time.
 
hood1971 said:
If you have signed off a form when you moved in regarding the state of the flat without commeting on the condition, you will have to pay and learn from the error. As LOAM stated it is well worth a couple of hours when you move in to document every mark, scratch etc. Will save you every time.
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We approved it on the basis they used the same equipment on check out, its even in writing, and they agreed at the time.
 
Mr Jack said:
Enter a dispute with the deposit scheme.
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This

If your deposit is legit, its gone into a government approved tenancy deposit scheme, where disputes like this can be sorted out with a 3rd party.

ninja edit: did they not do a once over before you moved in? sounds dodgy to me, flat im moving into is only 2 years old, but the sealant in the bathroom is getting redone and carpet cleaned, also various marks painted.
 
You not on the DPS (deposit protection scheme), give them a ring. Also, did you not take pictures your self when you moved in?

I took a picture of every surface in the house, even if there where no marks and simply stuck them in a folder. So when the agent says to me "bathroom door has no lock", I can slap the picture in his face with the reply "no ****, we asked for one to be put in since day one" YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

ags
 
As a landlord myself, I know the letting agent cannot do this. Quite simply, if the original inspection was not carried out by an impartial & independant third party, you will get your deposit back. If your money is not in the DPS, you can sue and win 3 x deposit money and landlord is fined 3 x deposit as well i think
 
Lettings agents aren't all bad. Our last landlord was a joke and it was actually the letting agent that helped us out against him. About the only thing he did right was to put our money into a deposit scheme (though I think it was even the letting agent that organised that).

My housemate and I had been there for 10 months when I got a call from the agent telling us that the landlord wanted us out and that he wanted to move family in. He'd even let us out of the 12 month contract a month early if we could find somewhere else quick enough. We found a new place the following week and I personally fronted the non-refundable deposit to secure it. A day later the landlord called asking whether we could actually stay. 'Only if you can reimburse me for the non-refundable deposit on the other place' I propositioned (not unreasonable considering it was him that had inconvenienced us). He gave counter offers, including 'not putting the rent up as planned' but I was having none of it. At that point, staying would have cost us more than moving.

We left that place cleaner and in better repair than when we moved in but of course not long afterwards we received notice that he was claiming for cost of repairs out of our deposit. Major ballache (*salutes*). The thing is, it was only a pain because of the length of time it would take before we got the deposit back. He had no chance of claiming anything from us, and here's why:

- When we moved in there was no inventory taken. The landlord claimed that there was no point because an inventory just lists the furniture, and it was unfurnished. He admitted to us that he didn't know an inventory was meant to list everything from fittings and fixtures to dirty marks and previous damage as he'd 'never done this before'.

- A very specific piece of damage that he'd listed was definitely there when we moved in. Unfortunately we didn't have a clear picture of it as even the agent showing us around when we first viewed it knew it was old so we didn't think much of it. We asked the letting agent for the images they'd posted on the website when advertising the place, and lo and behold, the damage could be clearly seen, proving it was there when we moved in. We also managed to get hold of the previous tenants' number and they confirmed it was like that when they were there too. We had a lot of fun phoning the landlord to tell him these things - we didn't need to do that but it was nice to hear him stammer away as he realised he'd been found out as a liar.

- Finally, before we moved out a letter arrived from a well-known high street bank addressed to the landlord in a windowed envelope. It was marked as private but because of the dodgy alignment of the print it revealed the subject at the top of the letter; "Possible illegal letting of property". I like to think that he got scared, tried to get us out as quickly as possible, then managed to rectify it so tried to get us back in again. Had it come to it we could have raised this as a suspicion and probably used it as leverage for getting our money back.

Anyway, after some agonising weeks of waiting it was decided, with our supporting evidence, that we would get our deposit back in full. It was very satisfying to see 'Amount awarded to landlord: £nil'.
 
In regards to filming the items that the inventory says is in the property... if there is an item listed but not present in the house, how do you stop the landlord from saying: "Well, you just didn't film it"?
 
Forde said:
In regards to filming the items that the inventory says is in the property... if there is an item listed but not present in the house, how do you stop the landlord from saying: "Well, you just didn't film it"?
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You both sign the inventory off.
 
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