Landlord issues including holding bond

[Russianlion]

Hi when we moved into our property, there were s number of issues.
a live wire formerly for the cooker left unprotected at the height of my 2 year old son.
burns on the kitchen wall where the cooker was.
no electric or gas certs.
filthy floors and woodlice everywhere.

other issues too but we overlooked them as there was a live wire.
long story cut short, after a week we had the wire sorted, lost the food in our freezer, and eventually had our washing machine plumbed in as the pipes installed were not universal but old size.

no we have vacated, and we are both landlords.
the landlord is witholding bond, for cleaning, £120
painting a bath panel scratch 30£.
we left the house extremely clean, it was cleaned twice by us, I have ocpd and my wife ocd . It is clean I have pictures.
we had no reimbursement for the stress moving in which was not how the property was when we viewed it.
And we made no real fuss, as we just wanted to get in, paid all bills early every payment and now being treated like trash by the landlord and estate agents.

can we do anything, do I have any rights, I have evidence of everything.

There is more too but it seems just petty.

kindest regards and thank you.

[Anna1985]

Your bond (deposit) should be in the deposit protection scheme.

If your landlord didn't place it - you have the right to sue and can get all deposit back.
120 - is it for cleaning ?
30 for bath panel?

Did I get it right?

[Russianlion]

Yes it is in the dps. But ive never experienced anything like this before.
yes those prices are correct.
The bath panel we did scratch. So im happy to pay, but the landlord is finding more and more things that we didnt do.
I feel we tried to be good tenants, but are being treated really badly.
can I provide the estate agents, they were awful with the live wire etc , if you saw the emails.

thank you again.

[theartfullodger]

Just go through the dispute process, it's what it's for, brought in after years and years and years of landlords ripping off tenants.

[jpkeates]

In which case, get your login to the DPS sorted and offer the amount you feel is right for the bathroom panel.
All costs should be kept to a minimum and be adjusted for fair wear and tear and lifetime - so if the panel was old, the price of the replacement should be adjusted to accommodate that.

Your landlord/agent can make whatever claim they want, the dps have an adjudication process to resolve conflicts like this.
It's slow but reasonably sensible,

[Russianlion]

Thank you very much for this advice ive never withheld a bond or had one withheld before.

[Russianlion]

Is anyone interested if I keep this updated in case others seek advice?

[jpkeates]

Yes, please keep us updated, the purpose of the forum is to help people.
Far more people read these pages than contribute.

[Russianlion]

Started a dispute now with dps. So il let you all know how it pans out.
Thank you all again.

[Russianlion]

So now being given these quotes, honestly im fuming as the house is much cleaner and tidier since we left than when we arrived.
everything has been sent to dps

[DPT57]

Just dispute anything unreasonable. The landlord will have to prove their case.

[Russianlion]

Just dispute anything unreasonable. The landlord will have to prove their case.

Is this true? Because they never took an inventory , we are the only ones with proof , we also have obviously the email correspondence showing the negligent response from the agent .

[Russianlion]

As you can see its just a complete mess.

[DPT57]

If they didn't take an inventory or can't prove in some other way the condition of the property at the start of your tenancy, they have practically zero chance of winning a deposit scheme case against you.

[Russianlion]

I got told this morning there was no inventory or pictures taken. Its so bizarre as we really looked after the property.